The longest introduction

[andyf101]

Hi
I thought I might share my storey. A little background is needed. about 5 years ago decided to get degus vic and bob. About year after I was in p@h and looking at the adotion section. There was lone male who looked pretty batterd scratching at the window desprate to get out of the small cage. I adoped him and introduced him to the pair. Vic made frends quickly but bob became quite agressive, but about 12 weeks all was well and the pair became a trio Bob, Vic and arry.

so a couple of years passed and I adopted anouth p@h resue. He was very young 6 months and I through it would be easer to introduce WRONG!. Vic was frendley and arry was but Bob was very agressive had I not intervined Bob would of proberbly killed clive. over 2 years I attemped introductions, poor clive he became so scared of the other goos he would not come of his cage. So I gave up, almost. One day a few weeks ago let my now pair out for excersise all the goos seemed intrested in clive's cage and Clive did't seem scared, so opend the door clive came out and they all sniffing and making noises but no fighting. After 6 weeks of carful supervised mixing I decided to link the two cages with an option of seperation if it all went pear shaped. its been over a week now and they snugle up groom each other. With a ocational scuffle.

I don't know why Bob switched from phyco to freind mode or indeed the sudden change. pahaps it was Vics deathe late last year.

Anyway moral of the storey is never give up. renember the degu mantra time and patience. 2 and half years.

[klbishop]

there is hope !!!!! thank you so much !! i am in the middle of a crappy intro and the end seems so far away!!! this is so appreciated and I am so glad your guys are getting along.
much love k
x

[deguconvert]

That is a brilliant story and one that needs to be seen by others who are in the midst of what can be "introductions hell." As Klbishop can attest. Thank you so much.

[swiffermuis]

This is great inspiration for other people in the midst of introductions. I got lucky and it only took 2 weeks to introduce my two current ones to two adopted pups!

[andyf101]

hi
Just quick update. All three degus bob, arry, and clive are happly living together. Clive's personality has come out and is quite a cheecky chap!

[saddlers]

That is a great read, there are a few people going through intro issues at the moment and positive stories like this one do offer a lot of encouragement...well done you for sticking at it

[suesue]

Hi great story . I am going through same thing I have got 3 girl degus I only had them a month and had to separate them and am finding it so hard to reintroduce them . It's been 3 months up to now and still the two which are together are very aggressive towards the one on its own .feeling so sorry for her she is lovely and gentle and don't want her to ne lonely . They have made her bleed so many times she is scared to death of them . Sometimes if one of them does take a interest in her the other two start fighting as if the other one is telling her off for it .

[harpic01]

Nice one Andyf101 - i think anyone who has had an introduction that has gone bad yets to the point when they question why they are doing it in the first place, the stress on the furries, and yourself and possibly injuries makes you think why am i doing this, but like you a ray of sunshine and hope at the end, a pile of snuggled furries is sooo much better than the lone goo who is sad and lonely, Well done Bob in the end I had such a bad intro that we have vowed never again lol - 7 is enough.... more than enough

[queenroblin]

Thanks for this. We just rescued two girls two days ago and our original pair (who are about 1.5yrs) are quite happy for the company but the two rescues (who are 4) are much more territorial (as we found out today). Thank your for your story (we know we have a looong way to go), it gives a light at the end of the tunnel.