Post by battybigsister on Jul 17, 2010 11:03:15 GMT
Hello and nice to meet you!
I've just joined you guys today and am expecting my very first degus in the next week, so I'm very excited and I'm really hoping you'll be able (and willing) to give me lots of good help and advice so I can give them the best possible home.
They're rescues from our local RSPCA pet sanctuary, who seemed to be swarming with the poor little critters. Apparently they were handed a tank full of them when the owner was sent off for a long term prison sentence and, of course, all the females were pregnant. This was back in January and it seems that since then there'd been hardly any interest. They've only managed to rehome one group of three before my lot, so when I went - yesterday actually - to look around I took one look at how long they'd been there and said, "Right! I'm getting some degus!". I'd been thinking of getting some anyway, so it wasn't much of an impulse thing - just brought forward by quite a few months.
I'm getting an established group of three (I thought that would be best for my first time, but I have said I may just go back for more); a Mum and her two daughters. I held them and (though they didn't like being picked up much) they all seemed very friendly and happy to be held - quite remarkable seeing as they only get handled once a week during cleaning time. They didn't have names, but I've picked them already. Mum is going to be Pandora and her daughters will be Scribonia and Hecuba (once I learn to tell them apart. I think the future Miss Scribs has a slightly stubbier face, but I'm not sure).
To business though, since coming home I've done lots of research online and reread my book on degus. I've ordered the cage (and food and an awful lot of other accessories) and done my best to prepare for their arrival. I'm fairly confident that I'm reasonably geared up and ready for Pandora and her family, but I've still got a few worries left. If you don't mind I'll list my questions here to save people having to look through loads of other boards.
I've just joined you guys today and am expecting my very first degus in the next week, so I'm very excited and I'm really hoping you'll be able (and willing) to give me lots of good help and advice so I can give them the best possible home.
They're rescues from our local RSPCA pet sanctuary, who seemed to be swarming with the poor little critters. Apparently they were handed a tank full of them when the owner was sent off for a long term prison sentence and, of course, all the females were pregnant. This was back in January and it seems that since then there'd been hardly any interest. They've only managed to rehome one group of three before my lot, so when I went - yesterday actually - to look around I took one look at how long they'd been there and said, "Right! I'm getting some degus!". I'd been thinking of getting some anyway, so it wasn't much of an impulse thing - just brought forward by quite a few months.
I'm getting an established group of three (I thought that would be best for my first time, but I have said I may just go back for more); a Mum and her two daughters. I held them and (though they didn't like being picked up much) they all seemed very friendly and happy to be held - quite remarkable seeing as they only get handled once a week during cleaning time. They didn't have names, but I've picked them already. Mum is going to be Pandora and her daughters will be Scribonia and Hecuba (once I learn to tell them apart. I think the future Miss Scribs has a slightly stubbier face, but I'm not sure).
To business though, since coming home I've done lots of research online and reread my book on degus. I've ordered the cage (and food and an awful lot of other accessories) and done my best to prepare for their arrival. I'm fairly confident that I'm reasonably geared up and ready for Pandora and her family, but I've still got a few worries left. If you don't mind I'll list my questions here to save people having to look through loads of other boards.
- The bar spacing on the cage I've ordered is about 12mm, I think. Is that too wide? My degus do seem to be fairly young. Should I get some chickenwire or something to sure up the cage? (Edited to add: I forgot to mention the younger two where born in March, so that's about... three months I think.)
- I read somewhere that it's a good idea to add some chinchilla 'clay' to their sand (I have loads of chinchilla sand anyway for my hamster to play with, so I'd like to use that mainly) to properly absorb grease etc from their coats. I can't find chinchilla clay anywhere when I looked online, but I did notice that chinchilla dust seems to be made of the same stuff. Is this what was meant?
- I've read that it's best to have one foodbowl each as they can be quite possessive. Should these be positioned in different places around the cage or can they be lined up in a row, for example?