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Post by cutewizzy on Mar 11, 2013 21:42:39 GMT
Hi,
I'm a first time Degu owner (well I've actually took over from my daughter who has lost interest). We have had 3 male Degus ages 6 months since Xmas and they have all got on really well other than a few squabbles over food or dominance issues. There is a dominant degu, a middle less dominant degu and a really timid and quiet one who hides all the time. Yesterday for no apparent reason the timid degu and the middle degu started fighting and this had obviously been going on for some time but we didn't realise....the middle Degu was quite badly injured and was obviously terrified so we removed him. We have tried to introduce them all again during 'playtime' but the timid degu just attacked immediately. Is it worth trying to reintroduce or should we just keep them seperate....I don't want them to get injured again. I know they fight due to breeding season but I'm quite perplexed as to why it was the timid degu who attacked rather than the dominant No1??
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Post by saddlers on Mar 11, 2013 22:09:51 GMT
Hi,
Sorry to hear about the fighting, I know it can be a traumatic experience seeing them brawl after a period of calm. And it tends to put people on edge through the re-introduction process. One thing to have ready when trying a re-introduction is a towel and water spray that can be used to split the pair up if a fur ball starts. How badly injured is the degu?
It is possible that the submissive degu decided they fancied a move up the chain of command, or it could be that something has changed within the cage, have you cleaned the cage recently or changed/added anything? We also get quite a few fights start as a result of cage size, and this normally happens after a period of normal behaviour when things just become tense and suddenly erupt. What cage do you have?
You have tried the initial quick re-introduction, and it has not worked, which is quite common because they can hold grudges for a while. I think instinctively we try and separate the injured degu, but it can be better to take the aggressor out for some time alone (if you know who started it). Re-introduction after such a fight can be a slow process, do you have another cage/or the facility to separate part of the cage off? It may be worth giving things a day or two to settle. I am suer some of the others with a bit more experience will be along soon to offer further advice.
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Post by cutewizzy on Mar 11, 2013 22:22:10 GMT
Thank you for that advice....I did try to remove the aggressor but the other two tend to squabble a bit so given how terrified my injured degu was I decided he'd had enough torment and put him on his own. He was literally hanging on to the cage, wide eyed and frantic...I was actually concerned that he was having a seizure or something! I don't have another cage at the moment, I'm hoping to pick a second hand one up tomorrow. At the moment he is in a large plastic container with loads of air holes drilled in the lid....the best I could do at the time! He actually seems quite settled and it is helping us to handle him which we never really did before. I feel less stressed about it now I've read through other peoples' experiences and if he can't go back in with the other two then we will just have to give him extra attention.
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Post by cutewizzy on Mar 11, 2013 22:24:24 GMT
I also think...looking back on the fighting, that it was walnuts that set the whole thing off! I have noticed them get a little bad tempered with each other when I give them walnuts, they get possessive so I always try to ensure they have one each. I have the 2 tier cage from Pets at Home which may be the problem...perhaps they need more room or maybe more time out of the cage which we hadn't really been doing as Pets at Home said it wasn't a priority as long as they had toys etc.
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Post by saddlers on Mar 11, 2013 22:32:12 GMT
It is good that you have figured out what may be the cause, because at least you can manage the situation in future. Given their age it is also likely they are establishing a hierarchy. I am sure we had someone else on here who said their degus had a squabble over walnuts. It sounds like separating the scared one may have been the best approach given the circumstances. They can be quite traumatised after a fight, and can be quite trance like.
How badly injured is he, is it just small cuts?
Another cage in the meantime would be ideal and at least will give him and you time to gather your thoughts before having to think about the next step, and they are always handy to have where possible because it does give you options in the future should anything similar occur. As I say you could always look to separate off a section of the cage for the lone degu, but it is not always that easy with some cages. It tends to be the ones with full levels where this can be accommodated easily.
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Post by cutewizzy on Mar 11, 2013 22:42:48 GMT
Well there was a lot of blood in the cage which was worrying....Simon (timid degu) has bitten through Marty's ear. It isn't swollen or bleeding anymore and doesn't seem to be bothering him. My main concern is ensuring he gets enough excercise as the container he's in isnt really big but he does seem to have adapted to it. I'm glad there is no rush to reintroduce them.....I have put him in the cage whilst the other 2 were out on the floor to ensure his scent is in the cage.
We haven't even got them to the handling stage yet so the whole incident seemed worse than it was I suppose and they look so cute and friendly, when you see them fighting so viciously its hard to know what to do.
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Post by saddlers on Mar 11, 2013 23:04:48 GMT
Did you actually witness the fight? Do you know if they locked into a fur ball or whether it was just a single bite that did the damage? When you tried the re-introduction again did they lock into a furball or was it punching, kicking, chasing?
Sorry to keep hounding with all the questions, it just makes it easier for us to get a picture of exactly what has happened so that we can try and give the best advice.
As you say they look so cute most of the time and to see them descend into violence can be quite distressing especially if you have never witnessed it before.
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Post by cutewizzy on Mar 11, 2013 23:20:50 GMT
Well I think they had been fighting for quite a while but because we were in another room, and hadn't had issues with fighting before, we thought they were just being giddy. They were locked together, bouncing around the cage and banging into things, falling off shelves together, squealing and biting. They fought on multiple occasions until we separated them. We separated them for the night, as it was really late when it happened...the next day we put Marty and the dominant degu called George on the floor and they, for the most part were okay. A little boxing and mounting took place but at that time we didn't know whether that was serious...if there hadn't been such a fight between Marty and Simon the day before we would probably have left them but we were worried about Marty as everyone seemed to be picking on him!. When we got Simon out of the cage he immediately lunged at Marty and we had to seperate them.....he didn't seem to be trying to dominate him, he seemed to want to get him! I have had Marty and Geporge together tonight and noticed they were mounting each other, nibbling/sniffing each others faces and showing their backs to each other and it went okay apart from a couple of nips. Simon(the timid degu) wouldn't even come out of the cage...he's terrified of us and we have to use tubes to get him out!
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Post by saddlers on Mar 11, 2013 23:38:04 GMT
Okay, you definitely did the right thing separating them when they are furballing, that is when the damage is caused when they are locked together. A water spray is ideal for splitting this when it occurs, but obviously this is only useful when you are expecting possible trouble through any re-introduction.
The boxing, mounting and turning backs is fine and is normal social behaviour, although after a furball I know it can be very tense when watching them waiting for it to erupt again. When they are at that stage where they just launch for the other degu, it is generally time to give them a break apart.
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Post by ntg on Mar 11, 2013 23:51:49 GMT
I am sure we had someone else on here who said their degus had a squabble over walnuts. That might be me, we had to confiscate walnuts off the boys when we gave them some in shells... They weren't too happy with me afterwards o.O It seems Saddlers has given you some great advice, I hope they're all settled back in soon! |
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Post by cutewizzy on Mar 12, 2013 0:02:16 GMT
Thanks guys....I was really stressing yesterday, imagining this poor degu all lonely and living on his own but I'm feeling that it will be okay in the end if we just give them time.....definitely no more walnuts though!!!
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