My pregnant degu? Please help?

[thedreamer12]

Hello there. I was hoping you could help me with a few questions. I'd greatly appreciate it.

Information:
I bought my lovable Degus at a Buckle's Feed Depot in Indiana. The cashier there assured me that both of my degus were indeed male. Trusting in the competency of their staff, I named my furry friends Dexter and Connor. As you've probably figured out, the cashier was dead wrong about the sex of my degus.

The past few weeks Dexter had been gaining a bit of weight in 'his' mid-torso region, and being the ever curious person I am, I did some research online to see how easy it was to sex a degu. It turned out to be surprisingly easy. After the initial research and feeling confident in my ability to judge the sex of my degus, I checked them.

As it turns out, Dexter is actually a female, and Connor is indeed a male.

They were both six months old when I got them (I'm assuming around the correct breeding age), and I'm taking a wild guess in saying that Dexter is probably pregnant. I'm not sure how far along she is, but a few weeks after we got them, Connor started doing the signature I've-just-mated chirp. He is the only possible father. They were the only two in the cage at the store (they aren't well known in Indiana in the least bit), and I have no other degus.

Dexter has gotten slighly less active. She lays around a bit more often. To test my theory, I put soft toilet paper in her cage to see if she'd do any nesting with it. As soon as I put it in there and closed the cage door she started making a toilet paper nest in the corner of her home. Currently, Dexter and her partner are sleeping in the nest corner.

Questions:

I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me. I would be incredibly greatful, as I've never had to take care of baby degus before.

When females are pregnant, due to the mucus plug, is it harder to see the vaginal opening or does that have no visual effect?

I've gently touched her stomach, and I feel nothing inside her. Is that normal in early degus pregnancies?

What should I do to make her feel more at home?

Is there any bedding I should give her?
I've given her a towel that is in her wooden house and the toilet paper.

Are there any other signs that she would portray that would be signs of a pregnant degu?

How do I baby proof their cage?

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated as well.

I apologize for the length. I figured you'd be more able to answer the questions if you knew more about their situation.

Thank you so very much for your time.

[thedreamer12]

www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.113988155405336.17238.100003824568848&type=3#!/photo.php?fbid=113988335405318&set=a.113988155405336.17238.100003824568848&type=3&theater

Here is a picture of my degus. The seemingly pregnant one (Dexter) is on the right.

[thedreamer12]

If you can answer any of these question, or just have simple comments, it would be appreciated.

[moletteuk]

Hi there, welcome to the forum, I'm not an expert on babies or pregnancy, but I can answer a couple of questions.

I think it's very hard to be sure about a pregnancy until the last couple of weeks, by look or feel. In the picture, both degus appear to have their coats fluffed up quite a lot, so that disguises their true outline quite a lot.
In terms of preparation, make sure the possible mum is getting plenty of calcium; sesame, celery seeds & fennel seeds or dandelions are good supplements. They may like cardboard and tissue or toilet roll for nest building, but degus who aren't pregnant can also enjoy nest building, so this isn't really an indicator.

To make the cage safe you need to try to protect any long drops, and reduce any wide mesh size. I get a hint from your photo that the cage base is plastic, and I'm not sure about cage size, you might like to have a look at the forum recommendations on cages. You will find that as pups grow, the demand for cage area grows dramatically.

My main comment is that degus usually mate again straight after giving birth, so it's important to separate the parents for about 3 days immediately after a birth to prevent a further pregnancy.

[thedreamer12]

Thank you. ;D

Yes, the cage base is plastic. The cashiers at Buckles didn't even tell me that they chew plastic...

I will be getting a new cage soon.

[fuzzymum1]

Hi, I had a similar situation last year, I bought 4 girls and turns out I had one rogue male I ended up with a total of five litters!

From that picture it's hard to say if Dexter is pregnant. How long ago did you hear the chirping from Connor? I had no idea any of mine were pregnant until I found babies in the cage one day! Towards the end of the pregnancies I did know about I was able to see fetal movements on the mum's belly - it was fascinating to watch you can see it a bit here www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bJdQ-Kl_XE

If you can remember the date of the chirping I would remove Connor about 85 days from that date just to be safe so he doesn't mate with her straight after the birth. Once the pups are 3-4 days old he can go back in with Dexter to help her raise them, he will need to be separated again around 19-20 days after the birth (for a few days) as it's possible mum will come into season again. It's not likely but it happened here with my girl Nancy.

Degus are excellent parents and will require very little help from you other than providing somewhere safe to have the babies, some soft nesting material and good food for mum to ensure she has a good milk supply.

As for baby proofing - if the gaps between the bars are wide then perspex around the base is a good idea.

Most importantly - enjoy them, babies degus are amazing little things, born fully furred with their eyes open and just the cutest things I have ever seen! Oh and pictures - we love baby pictures here

[Ady]

May 13, 2012 9:08:03 GMT thedreamer12 said:

Are there any other signs that she would portray that would be signs of a pregnant degu?

How do I baby proof their cage?

About 7-14 days before giving birth, female's nipples will get swollen and start showing. It is very hard to spot them by eye but you could gently run your finger under her chest and belly to feel for them. They are very tiny! Nipples are in the line between front and hind leg.

Baby proofing - if you have a mesh cage, you can cover the sides on the lower part of the cage, remove wheel, check for any gaps a baby could fall into (gap behind house,..), if you use water bowl, move it onto higher level...

[Ady]

May 13, 2012 9:08:03 GMT thedreamer12 said:

When females are pregnant, due to the mucus plug, is it harder to see the vaginal opening or does that have no visual effect?

I thing the vaginal opening is visible only when female is in heat, but I could be wrong.

[thedreamer12]

Fuzzymum1:
I noticed the chirping around two months ago.

I used a status update on my facebook to figure out what the date was around the time Connor was chirping. I know this varries quite a bit, but I've calculated that it's around fifty-six days ago (March 18th).

Oh, I've seen that video on youtube (shortage of degus videos on there), and I thought it was amazing.

Oh, you better believe I will be posting baby pictures.

Ady:
Thank you for your advice.