Update on the girls

[banditcuster]

So, finally have some time to relax, and the girls have been in a lovely place of sitting next to me for the past few days.

Main consern is that Samus (I think) is starting to go bald on her nose... i think it is from playing with the handle's on the cage (there is a pair at the bottom of the cage near the base and they/she hits it back and forth between the bars...thus rubbign her nose against the bar above it.

Other than that... they got two new hammocks this weekend, and have a new sleeping area.. though they poo up in the hammocks and sleep in their poo...is this normal?

Should be moving them into the larger cage by christmas (yay four day weekend), and hoping that will stop Zelda from being a territorial... witch... cause she has been body checking Peach when she went to get food yesterday... I moved one of the two food bowls to a lower shelf (don't like doign this cause they end up pooing in it.) So, hoping once I get them into a larger cage Zelda will cool off a bit.

Samus and Peach are pretty close. Zelda is off sitting by herself some times in a corner while the other two are cuddling sometimes... don't really know what is up with that... I know Peach is the lowest ranking goo, don't really know who is top... Samus seems to be on the bottom with many sleeping piles though.

Not a cute note:

Peach tried to steal my fleece blanket last night... didn't realize it was close to the cage and she pulled in a corner and when i pulled it out she had plenty of words for me.

Then this morning I was bugging them on the hammocks (Zelda left when the cage door opened) and every time I went to touch Samus, Peach would squeek at me.... it got to a point she put her teeth on me and softly tried to pull my finger away from her sister... (Samus was still sleepy so she was just kind of putting up with it... they don't care for pets yet)

and all of Peach's noises are king of the loud warning call type squeeks

[saddlers]

I am still quite a newbie myself and I have no doubt the others will be offering advice as well, but the food bowl issue sounds quite normal. We did the same with ours, but have now learnt to accept that there is a social structure and therefore top goo gets first pick. Sometimes they eat quite normally, other times one will decide that they want to have first look and will shove the other away. This can also happen when something new is put in the cage or the treats come out. The bigger cage will probably help to ease this issue by giving them more room.

We have a goo who is fascinated with his bars, and bites them and rubs his nose up them, but it has not led to a loss of fur....yet..

Poop in the sleeping area is quite normal, it gets everywhere, they do not go in a certain area like Guinea Pigs.

The other comments about sitting alone or being vocal are very much personality traits.

We have a real variation in who will squeak, who will not squeak. Our Elliot does not shut up and must really fancy himself as a bit of a singer, whereas Jose hardly makes a sound unless he thinks there is danger close and then he gives out the warning squeaks, but hardly ever makes any other noises.

[deguconvert]

Saddlers has given you a great reply, well done Saddlers, and I couldn't have said any of it better. I'd have to say that they sound very degu"ish" and normal, so they are being what they are supposed to be. LOL!

So a new cage to put them into soon! WOO HOO!! Can we have some pics? You know how addicted we are. LOL!

[moletteuk]

Nice to hear from you banditcuster

It all sounds normal to me, and hopefully the handle chewing and food bowls things will be solved when they get their new cage.

I love that Peach swore at you when you stole 'her' blanket, and that she communicated so well to you that you were NOT welcome to pet Samus ;D I'm always surprised how skillful they are with their teeth, mine occasionally bite me to tell me something, but they do it very carefully without breaking the skin.

[banditcuster]

I'm glad that they sound normal. XD

I am getting some extra money for christmas, and was wondering would it be better to have a food bowl for each of them? (the two I am using now are from when I had bowls for the gerbils) They don't each have one that they claim but just so when I put in new food for them they each can have a chance to grab what they like. Also, is it okay that i'm leaving their food in their cage 24/7? I give them about three shot glasses (4.5ish oz) of pellets...and it takes them a hair over a day to eat it.

[deguconvert]

I always leave the food in 24/7 with our degus! My goodness, with the numbers we have I'd been in their cages more times a day than I count, measuring out shot glasses of food. Nope! Just wouldn't work in this house! LOL! There is no problem leaving it in at all. I find they are all pretty good at just eating what they need rather than more and more and more.

[banditcuster]

Since I have gotten use to how much it looks like I just fill up the bowls now with out measuring it out every time.

[saddlers]

I agree that they don't seem to over indulge, I can tell days when there is too much because they leave some and other days the bowls are clean, but my guess is now getting more accurate.

[moletteuk]

I think a food bowl each is a good idea, I use old creme brulee dishes!