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Post by langooo on Dec 30, 2012 12:21:36 GMT
Hope you can help, after much research we have decided to get two degus. We have purchased an x-trail cage and numerous accessories. We are not sure whether to get two males or females. Can anyone provide the pros and cons of each to help us make the decision.
Also we purchased a29 cm wooden speedy wheel. Will this be suitable for two degus in both size and getting chewed.
Can anyone advise to any good breeders or place to get two degus in the kent, SE london area?
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Post by ntg on Dec 30, 2012 12:38:51 GMT
The only real difference I've heard of between genders is that boys are more likely to have severe fights during puberty i.e. between 6-18 months as they start fighting for dominance. Saying that, I've got 4 boys, 3 of them are nearly a year old and, so far, our problems seem to be stemming from the fact that the cage is too small and they can't 'escape', from each other as easily as they'd like. With the xtrail, you should have enough space for them to be able to get out of each others hair.
Have you thought about modding the cage and putting wooden shelving in with a lip for deeper bedding and also so they have something safe to chew on (I'm assuming the levels in the xtrail are plastic)?
Is the wheel plastic or wooden? If it's plastic you'll have to watch out for chewing but wooden it isn't such a big issue unless it looks like it could be dangerous to them, like eating gaps out in the tread surface.
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Post by langooo on Dec 30, 2012 13:22:11 GMT
Thanks for the reply. I was under the impression the x-trail had metal shelving as that was the reason I picked it over the explorer. I'm not certain of that though as i'm waiting for it to be delivered.
Once I've got the cage I was going to look at putting some guards round the outside to prevent the bedding being kicked on the floor as Ive read that is very common.
The wheel is wooden. I ideally wanted to get a metal one but it was expensive and was able to get the wooden wheel for £10
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Post by ntg on Dec 30, 2012 13:34:59 GMT
It might do, I always get confused whether it's the aventura or xtrail which comes with metal shelving! If it's said elsewhere that the xtrail does then I'd assume those sources were correct
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Post by Kins on Dec 30, 2012 14:02:24 GMT
I have that wheel and it's fab. My boys chewed it a fair bit to start with but they are still in great working order and are all but silent. Very good value too. Oh and welcome to the forum I have 2 pairs of boys and yes it seems they are more prone to fighting than girls. But other than that there aren't really any huge differences, none that I've noticed anyway from being on here. Any other questions though don't hesitate to ask.
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Post by saddlers on Dec 30, 2012 14:09:40 GMT
I would echo what NTG has said, my lot are mainly male and we had some fighting at first but again that was also probably due to my cage not being ideal and giving them enough room for a bit of time out. We had three boys to start with and had to separate one from the other two, but he is now looking forward to a life with a young female after being neutered so I suppose things worked out for him in the end.
Purely from posts on the forum the boys seem to be a bit more of a challenge, but that can also be a fascinating aspect as well.
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Post by moletteuk on Dec 30, 2012 15:19:12 GMT
Have a look on our adoptions board, both at the posts and also look through the link to rescue centres to see who might need adopting local to you. There don't tend to be many responsible breeders but there are lots of accidental litters! The Aventura has metal shelves, I'm not sure about the other models
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gavman
Foraging Degu
Posts: 63
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Post by gavman on Dec 30, 2012 15:51:10 GMT
When I was looking for cages none of them seemed to come with metal shelves neither the aventura/liberta explorer or the ferret/ratnation or the savic royal although I could not find anywhere that was supplying the x-trail or have it in stock
I have two groups of boys and find only one group really seems to fight a lot but all of my boys are currently going through puberty so mileage can vary on the fighting front
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