What to do when a degu dies?

[robbb]

About a week ago my degu died, but I only had 2 so the other one looks quite lonely, I play with him as much as I can but I feel quite sorry for him. Will it be ok for me to house him with a new degu or will they not get along or what? Please help, thanks

[Maravilla]

I am very sorry for your loss! This is always a hard thing for us degu owners.

Yes, you should look for another 1-2 degus for the lonely one. The most important thing is to check his sex if you are not completely sure and then look for new partners of the same sex and make sure that they really are. Only if you have a neutered male you could consider taking on females.
Introductions of new animals are a little bit tricky and need some preparation regarding the cage. You will need to separate it for some time and it must provide enough space for both parties. If you are not sure how to do it, it would be helpful to have some photos.
Then, you need to read up information about how to proceed during an introduction as it is not easy. You will need a lot of time and patience as degus are little characters with strong personalities who do not get along with every other degu but decide individually. This is what makes it more complicate. But there is always hope and lots of introductions are successful!! Only a couple of days ago I put 4 degus (3+1) together and so far it looks very good.
Have a look at the adoption site here if there are degus available near you or just ask people here if they know about degus for adoption around you.

Good luck.

[redheaddegu]

I'd suggest a read of the introductions thread, it has a how to guide and members experiences and questions as well. It appears lots of us have had success at introductions. I had a solitary male who had had a rough time with other male degus. Had him neutered and now he is quite happy with his harem of 3 females, but it can be a looooooong process. Depending on the age of your male, getting him neutered and getting a couple of females may be the easiest option. if you can't divide the cage, maybe getting a second cage is a possibility. Mine had their own cages, and I put them next to each other so they could see and smell each other, and chat, then did meets in a neutral area. I also switched sand and bedding to get them used to each others scents. That took about 2 weeks before initial intro. I think I got lucky as mine played well together from the start, and actually things went faster than I planned. Some people however have found it has taken longer. It is definitely worth it though, degus are happier with others of their own kind.

[robbb]

Thanks both of you. He is currently not neutered but if I did get him done would you suggest getting males or females?

[redheaddegu]

You only need to get him done if you are planning on getting females, as far as I can make out from the information I've gleaned. Which you go for may partly depend on his age. Older degus appear to be easier to introduce to females, although I think there are age considerations in the safety of getting them neutered too. A good vet with experience in this is a must, a local animal hospital may be able to help, or find one that has experience in 'exotic pets'. If he's young then introductions to male degus are possible. My chap is young, but given his previous experience I decided to go for females. Might be worth a post on the fighting and introductions section, giving your location (someone may be able to suggest a vet) and the age of your little fella.

I apologise I never said sorry for your loss, losing a pet can be really tough. Hope you are doing ok too!

[robbb]

Yes I know thats what I meant, if I get him neutered for females. He is 9 months old, which I imagine is a bad age as he is currently going through puberty. Which is one of the reasons im worried about because he often used to fight with his brother, so will they fight when I introduce a new degu?

Oh and thanks, I am doing ok yes:)

[ntg]

I'm sorry for your loss robbb

9 months could be quite a difficult age to introduce other males to, you might be okay neutering him at his age - they produce testosterone elsewhere in their body as well as the testes - but he still won't be fully grown and you may feel more comfortable waiting a bit longer, and giving him time to grieve for his friend. Do you know the cause of death at all? Could it have been an infection on something that would require the surviving boy to be kept in isolation from others for a while?

I do think females will probably make an easier introduction but every intro can have it's difficulties because they have such strong personalities! Until you find some suitable partners, he will be likely to require/want more human interaction from you for company, so try to spend as much time as you possibly can with him! Best of luck!

[robbb]

Thanks
And yes I think it was some sort of infection because for a few weeks he had been acting dirrerent, like he used to be incredibly active, like he would never stop running about, but he suddenly just sat there still, he was always asleep, I remember earlier in the day when he died, he was asleep on the floor and I picked him up and he was just lay there on my hand looking at me like he was tired. He has never been comfortable with me picking him up, He would let me stroke him and everything but I dont think he liked it at all. so that was strange when he let me. I dont think my other one has it as he is acting the same as always. And I think I will get some girls, but I will wait a bit to see if he has anything, should they be the same age?

[redheaddegu]

Age probably doesn't matter quite so much, although a more knowledgable member might want to correct me on this.

The adoption zone on here is worth checking on, and also investigate local animal sanctuaries to get a couple of girls. Have a read through the fighting and introduction threads to get yourself ready too.

Hope all goes well for you, when you are ready there are lots of people here to advise and support you! I couldn't have done it without them.