Post by xquisitedegu on May 8, 2012 22:47:00 GMT
I had a previous thread regarding my babies, but this is a new problem, so I'll fill-in a little background.
Had a pair of males, but sadly lost one last October. A relative got a 1yr old male rescue from Pets at Home (I know!!!), who turned out to be a girl. We did our own checks at the time, comparing Rascal to our own Saffron. We could see a gap, so were confident she was a boy.
So we now have 7 babies who are just over 7 weeks old. Last week we separated them. First count was 3 girls and 4 boys - perfect split for our goos.
Not wanting to get it wrong, we re-checked a couple of days later. The boys all still looked like boys, but now so did 2 of the girls.
We had noticed that the boys all had a little line between the two openings, now (when we lifted the tail), the 2 'girls' had small gaps with a little line, not as pronounced as with the others.
The mum and one confirmed girl both looked like their parts were right next to each other and when the tail is lifted, everything kind of moves as one - doesn't separate.
So, figuring that we had made a mistake (myself and my daughter, who has done an Animal Care course at college, which included degu care), we placed the two 'boys' in with the other boys.
Yesterday morning, Saffron started chirping loudly and I got a sick feeling in my stomach as I realised what had happened. Sure enough when I checked the babies, one of the ambiguous ones had definite signs that 'she' was the subject of Saffron's advances.
Checking them over again, the two ambiguous ones now looked more like girls again. When relaxed, just being held, their parts are close and look like a girl, but when the tail is lifted the bits separate a little and show a line.
I now have the two girl/boys in with the girls as it is safest until the 'boys' come of age in just over a month.
I live right at the bottom of Cornwall and finding a vet who even knows about degus is rare. I had a good one, and when he left the practice, my current vet began learning about them as Saffron has multiple mouth problems (inbred, also possibly from an inbred mother) and should never have bred in the first place - btw P@H gave me a cage for my trouble! My vet is looking into it, to see what info he can get on the matter.
I tried one (35+ miles away) that is recommended on a degu website, but the only comparison they could make was with guinea pigs - I didn't know if this was a good comparison or not, so declined making an appointment.
The only other good one, who say they are degu specialists, is in London - about 300 miles away! Although I might phone them, they may be able to advise over the phone.
I just need to know if females can have the little line too.
I also wondered if it was a matter of temperature - if they had been snuggled up and warm, the skin might be looser and so allow for a little movement. If they had been sitting on a cooler surface then the skin could be tighter and so keep everything together. Just a thought.
Photos, so far have not been possible, but they are becoming more patient with being held and there is a chance I can get a photo in the next day or two.
At the moment, I think I will cross the possible pregnancy bridge when we have a better idea (inbred degu breeding with daughter) - if she is a girl and is pregnant, there is not a lot I can do at the moment, so I am best to concentrate on getting the sexes sorted out.
Any advice on ambiguous degus would be very much appreciated. Just to know if anyone has a female with a line would be good to know.
Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can give with this.
Jackie :-)
Had a pair of males, but sadly lost one last October. A relative got a 1yr old male rescue from Pets at Home (I know!!!), who turned out to be a girl. We did our own checks at the time, comparing Rascal to our own Saffron. We could see a gap, so were confident she was a boy.
So we now have 7 babies who are just over 7 weeks old. Last week we separated them. First count was 3 girls and 4 boys - perfect split for our goos.
Not wanting to get it wrong, we re-checked a couple of days later. The boys all still looked like boys, but now so did 2 of the girls.
We had noticed that the boys all had a little line between the two openings, now (when we lifted the tail), the 2 'girls' had small gaps with a little line, not as pronounced as with the others.
The mum and one confirmed girl both looked like their parts were right next to each other and when the tail is lifted, everything kind of moves as one - doesn't separate.
So, figuring that we had made a mistake (myself and my daughter, who has done an Animal Care course at college, which included degu care), we placed the two 'boys' in with the other boys.
Yesterday morning, Saffron started chirping loudly and I got a sick feeling in my stomach as I realised what had happened. Sure enough when I checked the babies, one of the ambiguous ones had definite signs that 'she' was the subject of Saffron's advances.
Checking them over again, the two ambiguous ones now looked more like girls again. When relaxed, just being held, their parts are close and look like a girl, but when the tail is lifted the bits separate a little and show a line.
I now have the two girl/boys in with the girls as it is safest until the 'boys' come of age in just over a month.
I live right at the bottom of Cornwall and finding a vet who even knows about degus is rare. I had a good one, and when he left the practice, my current vet began learning about them as Saffron has multiple mouth problems (inbred, also possibly from an inbred mother) and should never have bred in the first place - btw P@H gave me a cage for my trouble! My vet is looking into it, to see what info he can get on the matter.
I tried one (35+ miles away) that is recommended on a degu website, but the only comparison they could make was with guinea pigs - I didn't know if this was a good comparison or not, so declined making an appointment.
The only other good one, who say they are degu specialists, is in London - about 300 miles away! Although I might phone them, they may be able to advise over the phone.
I just need to know if females can have the little line too.
I also wondered if it was a matter of temperature - if they had been snuggled up and warm, the skin might be looser and so allow for a little movement. If they had been sitting on a cooler surface then the skin could be tighter and so keep everything together. Just a thought.
Photos, so far have not been possible, but they are becoming more patient with being held and there is a chance I can get a photo in the next day or two.
At the moment, I think I will cross the possible pregnancy bridge when we have a better idea (inbred degu breeding with daughter) - if she is a girl and is pregnant, there is not a lot I can do at the moment, so I am best to concentrate on getting the sexes sorted out.
Any advice on ambiguous degus would be very much appreciated. Just to know if anyone has a female with a line would be good to know.
Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can give with this.
Jackie :-)
