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Post by NightwishRaven999 on Sept 22, 2011 6:17:02 GMT
@ Stormsong Hello and welcome to the forum ! (sorry for my late welcome ;D) Hope you are well and hope your new degus are settling in nicely.
I am really glad to hear about the improvements you have made in the cage. Feel free to start a thread in the Blog area where you can share your experiences with us. It will be fun to follow you through this adventure you have embarked on.
Again, welcome !
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2011 9:39:31 GMT
Thank you ^^ They've settled in quite nicely and seem to be enjoying their new home. They look so much more alive now than they did in the pet store, it's very rewarding I was planning on taking some pictures today after I've cleaned out their cage. It will be interesting to see how the first reintroduction goes (planning to try on Sunday). Jadzia is very interested in the other and makes those sweet chirping noises everytime they meet through the mesh wire. Elune, on the other hand, is either a little frightened or she just can't be bothered
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Post by NightwishRaven999 on Sept 22, 2011 12:32:06 GMT
Wow ! I love those names ! Are you a fan of Star Trek by the way ? ;D
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2011 13:27:09 GMT
Haha yep! Well my bf and I are both geeks, so naturally our degus had to have some geeky names aswell ;D
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Post by amie on Sept 22, 2011 14:21:02 GMT
I love those names too!
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 22, 2011 14:40:12 GMT
I do too! And I love Star Trek . . . been a life long favorite of mine.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2011 15:57:32 GMT
Thank you, Amie and Deguconvert I've made them a little blog now, so that I can update on their progress as I try to reintroduce them. There are shiny pictures aswell!
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Post by malteser60 on Sept 22, 2011 22:21:19 GMT
Yipee, Star Trek fans!! I knew this forum was my kinda place ;D Welcome to the forum Stormsong, I'm looking forward to hearing all about the cage designs and introductions. One piece of advice I can give for tall cages is to buy lots of smaller levels (as well as the two big levels) and place them in a circle increasing in height, like a screw. That increase the running space as well. I've done that on my cage to an extent... I just need to take some photos to post here
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2011 16:08:20 GMT
Thank you, Malteser I've posted a picture of my new cage with improvements in the cage picture thread and in my little blog. The first meeting went nicely, and today I have swapped sides. I always anticipate trouble, but so far I'm positive that it will work out
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Post by weejock on Feb 27, 2012 23:39:11 GMT
Hello all, I just wanted to introduce myself properly and make my first post!
My girlfriend and I just adopted 4 beautiful boys (Moriarty, Matrix, Ratchet and Steve) from our local pet store and are having lots of fun watching them settle in and get used to their new home. We're able to tell them apart now and have been reading up on as much advice as we can find about feeding and care.
I'm trying to think of ways to enrich their environment, like hiding food in different ways, as I used to do this with my GF's old gerbil. One thing I used to do was fold in the ends of a kitchen/toilet roll tube and hide food and a couple of treats in the folds so I was thinking of giving this a try with the degus; maybe stuffing the inside of the tube with hay as well as they seem to like their hay delivered like this.
Any top tips for a new, and very proud, degu-keeper?
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Post by NightwishRaven999 on Feb 28, 2012 3:03:23 GMT
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mhb
Burrowing Degu
Mystified and Entertained on a daily basis
Posts: 173
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Post by mhb on Feb 28, 2012 12:27:32 GMT
It occurred to me this morning that I joined back in September in a bit of a panic as I was quite concerned about our Goos and have been on here getting advice from all the people on here without actually having properly introduced myself. Anyway my name is Mark and I'm allergic to cats. I say this because my fiancee is/was a massive cat lover, they are her favourite animal in the world. That said she's pretty obsessed by furry creatures on the whole. A few years ago we decided to move in together but obviously her dreams of being a crazy cat lady were somewhat dashed by the fact that cats are essentially my Cryptonite - them and I cannot co-exist for more than a few hours. On a chance trip to Pets At Home with a friend she came across Degus and fell in love with them. Her friend tried to get her to buy them there and then but fortunately common sense prevailed! As this animal was interactive, not nocturnal it sounded to me like an okay compromise - she wanted a pet, an animal in a cage wasn't going to cause me to lose sleep and so she bought a book (from P@H) and read up on them a fair bit. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the rented accommodation we had lined up to move into (which would allow pets) fell through and we ended up in a flat meaning getting them was impossible. At this time, having previously owned my own house, I decided I was fed up of landlords not maintaining the place, the restrictions etc so last April we bought our house which finally meant that we could get these Degus my misses was obsessed about. We bought the starter set up from P@H and set it up for them on a low table in our lounge in the middle of the doors in and out of the room. We went to the store and they had three brown girls who were about 2/3 months old by this point - looking back they hadn't got a wheel or anything in this tiny cage, but knowing so little I assumed this was a fairly low maintenance pet! We had originally planned on two but pleading eyes meant we couldn't leave the one on it's own so got all of them. Given we only live ten minutes drive away they we nearly had Car Goos by the time we got home! Fortunately one of the girls in the shop we bough the kit from had said they would be lively! So we got home and put them in the cage - leaving them to come out on their own. One bounced straight out and ran around the place exploring, the second crept out cautiously, but soon began to investigate their new home and the third cowered in the box - every time she was nearly out one of her sisters would jump on the roof of the box and scare her! So this carried on although Jalepeno - the first out was climbing on to our hands in no time, but the other two were really wary and every time we entered the room we approached from above and behind the cage which caused them to freak out. This made life extremely uncomfortable for us, trying to regulate our movements in our own lounge. After a few days I snapped and decided to hard mount them into an alcove on a shelf so they were face/chest height and could only be approached from the front (mimicking the P@H set up). So I got all the material the day of the Royal Wedding and whilst my fiancee cooed over Kate and Will I cut the wood, predrilled the batoning and got everything ready... I know a fair bit about DIY, enough to know that there shouldn't have been a live cable in the wall where I drilled the last hole... Fortunately I didn't electrocute myself, but I did blow the entire house. Getting an electrician on a Public Bank Holiday when you have a house warming party the next day is interesting! Through this the Degu's ended up securely in the corner and happy on a shelf. The house however revealed itself to be an electrical write off and dangerous which meant between May and November last year we had to have the whole place rewired, which has caused destruction and rebuilding of the kitchen and the lounge so far, but in a way I have to be grateful because if it hadn't been for our girls we would have been living in a death trap. I came on here in September because they were exhibiting weird behaviour and was given great advice. Since then our girls have grown and grown which meant that they quickly out grew the single thickets cage and acted out a fair bit as given the constant building work the place isn't Degu proof in the slightest so following advice from here (Kat in particular) I got another one and stuck it on top and they are much happier. I must confess since coming on here I have become obsessed and I have already planned my (mammoth) DIY box for them - I am just trying to juggle finances between fixing the house and the Goos and I love our little furry creatures! My friends think I'm nuts, but you guys understand! So thank you.
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Post by weejock on Feb 28, 2012 22:57:51 GMT
NightwishRaven, thank you for pointing me in the direction of that brilliant guide. I was supposed to be doing work now, thought I'd quickly log in and check if somebody had replied to my original post and ended up reading the entire article; I've also had a good look through the guide to cage-building as I am rapidly realising that we just do not have enough space for the boys.
Luckily, I am a secondary school science teacher and am good friends with the engineering teacher and technician! I don't think it will be difficult to get something more spacious, with plenty of room to run, knocked together in the next week or two. Thanks again for directing me to the guide: it contains such a wealth of useful information and I only wish that I'd found it earlier.
mhb, your story of escaping goos on the way home is very familiar to me, as I imagine it must be to many new and experienced owners. I was astounded to realise that two of our new charges had gnawed their way through their first layer of boxes (thankfully housed inside a double-layer of thicker boxes) in the time it took us to get from the back of the store to the till! Thankfully, we live literally over the road from the pet shop so we managed to get them home safely before they could completely chew themselves to freedom.
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Post by deguconvert on Feb 29, 2012 1:50:49 GMT
LOL!! Thank you for introducing yourself "officially" to us, Mhb! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. Degus are such fun, and we too have experienced the car goo phenomena . . . actually have had two escape into our family van, and THAT was a fright, as there are so many places they could get into!
Weejock, a pleasure to meet you as well. Welcome to the forum!!
Welcome to you both!
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Post by mtuffley on Mar 11, 2012 22:05:36 GMT
Hello everyone. Its been ages since I came on this forum and it was only a prod from someone looking to buy a spare cage off me that reminded me about the group. I better introduce myself.
I am 33 years old and have a group of seven Degu's. I have one girl, Bumble, who is now coming up to eight years old. She is blind in both eyes, only has a partial tail left and is currently running like mad on the wheel! She came to me as part of a group of three rescue's and has certainly had a far happier life with me. My other six girls are 18 months old and are all sisters. They come from a woman who had decided to "have a go" at breeding her degu's and ended up with 72 babies! I kid you not! I went to her home and although they were clean and healthy she was over run and did not know which way to turn. I only went for four and ended up with six and the rest, I am happy to say, have all been rehomed sensibly. I have owned Degu's for years and have always been able to identify them easily but I have to say that with this last group with the exception of Bumble, they are a nightmare to identify. They have the same weight, length tail etc etc. Its like having six clones. They have the same personality, its just weird lol.
On a personal note, I am recently a widow. My darling husband passed away six weeks ago. It was very sudden and very unexpected. He was disabled and I had been caring for him for the last seven years but even so it was only mobility issues. We both loved the Degu's and even travelled to Plymouth, three and a half hours away, to get our first group of girls. The Degu's have been an important part of our life. My husband loved watching them and my Border Collies are mad for them too. Willow is especially besotted with them and would sit by the cage all day if I allowed her to. the Degu's just look at her and then ignore her. They are not bothered by anything.
Well sorry that was a long intro, the posts won't be that long from now on, promise. Michelle
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 12, 2012 3:46:45 GMT
Welcome back, Michelle. Don't be worried or bothered by the length of your posts. We are like family here, in many ways, and we quite enjoy the chance to get to know each other.
I am so very sorry for your very recent and deeply life changing loss. The great impact this has no doubtedly had on your every minute of every day cannot possibly be over stated. My heart goes out to you, and I will be remembering you in my prayers.
Hearing you share that your degus were a source of great joy to your husband, I am hoping that you will find a special forum of comfort in them now. And here as well, with others who also share your enjoyment of them.
Peace be with you, Michelle.
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Post by dusty on May 15, 2012 17:50:37 GMT
Thought it was time we said hi. Hopefully our first ever goo family will be coming to stay tomorrow. Been studying this site for about 3 weeks (everyday ) so think i know enough to start out, but errrrrrrr, . We have been thinking of getting degus for about 3 years but have never got this far before. I now have space and money! and the time. I do have a question but not sure where to post it...... If we have one blue, will the others bully it because its different or do they all except eachother. Looking forward to getting more involved here, hope everyone is happy Debsx
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Post by deguconvert on May 15, 2012 18:17:48 GMT
Hello, Dusty! Welcome to the forum!! I'm glad to hear that you have been reading through and doing research on your degus before you get them!! That will be a big help to you to have this information to draw on from the start. However, you might still find that the learning curve at first is huge . . . degus don't really fall in line with the usual rodent behaviors.
Degus don't seem to react at all to the different colours, so there should be no difficulties over that. However, they are heiarchal animals, so there will always be one in the group that is lowest in the pecking order, and then there will be the top goo. Most conflicts come as a result of figuring out who is the top goo, or keeping a challenger in line. Goos hump each other regardless of sex, this is part of their way of asserting and maintaining dominance, so you will see that lots.
Are you bringing home a pre-existing group, or are you planning to add/introduce groups/individuals together?
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Post by dusty on May 15, 2012 19:18:06 GMT
They are a family of 6 females, unfortunatley I cant take all 6!!! we have agreed to take three and have been assured that the other three won't be seperated. I think they all seem to be getting along together although they are still rather young, about 8-10 weeks I think looking at their size etc. There are 3 of each colour, was just a bit worried about them not accepting eachother if they get seperated. Hopefully will bring them home tomorrow and begin the degu adventure with the rest of you
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Post by dusty on May 17, 2012 2:40:23 GMT
Ok so we got our girls home today- We have one blue in the mix, they all seem very friendly but are only youngsters yet. We had names all picked out but now they are home you tend to go with the flow - we now have, Chunky(cos she is rather large and sedentary), Blue(cos she is a lovely blue and oh so tiny, and TROUBLE cos we have sussed that one - they have only been here a couple of hours and already she is the most outgoing and troublesome
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