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Post by foxdog84 on Jul 5, 2013 22:40:49 GMT
I was wondering if anyone had weights on their babies at different weeks old. I have a mom and three babies and am trying to guess how old the babies are (they were born before they came into my care).
Also is there a way to guess age on mom?
I've attempted to sex them, and think we've got 2 boys, 1 girl, which would be awesome as then we could keep mom (separate the girls and boys) and keep the family together.
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 7, 2013 3:40:05 GMT
Degu pups grow very quickly . . . at least in my experience they do! I always marveled at how much bigger they were after even a week of life outside the womb. I would venture to say that most newborn pups are between 3-5 cm in length. The smaller litters are more likely to have the larger/longer pups. As for weight . . . I am sorry to say that I never did weigh any of our pups at any point. I do not have a kitchen scale with a large enough surface and stability, to safely contain a pup, or sensitive enough to display the tiny weights. I would suspect that pups increase in length by 0.5 + cm per week. If you can measure them (which I would think will not be easy to accomplish. Although if you can tape a length of yarn to a table surface and then gently hold the pup next to it with the tail VERY GENTLY held straight [PLEASE NOTE that degu pups have a very soft and tender tail that is VERY easy to de-glove, which means strip of the skin.] making note of where the nose and tail each end. Return pup to mom and use a ruler or something to measure the distance between each point.) we might be able to help you come close to guessing their approximate age.
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 7, 2013 3:44:35 GMT
OH!! Also, pups go through a change in hair around the four week mark where they begin to grow guard hairs and you can see them sticking out from their bodies like they have a bad case of static. Before that, they are a relatively uniform and silky fur that can be a dark grey tone. With the addition of the guard hairs coming in, they begin to lighten in tone and you start to seem more of the agouti colouring they are known for.
BAH! Having said that . . . my avatar features pups that are just a day old . . . and they are definitely looking agouti! However, in average lighting they still look darker than what the flash from my camera is suggesting in that photo. You can also see that their skin looks rather baggy and very wrinkled. Their heads will also look too big for their bodies.
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Post by foxdog84 on Jul 7, 2013 10:46:15 GMT
From what I gathered on another site, I believe they're around 2.5-3 weeks old. And yes, they are starting to get some longer hairs mixed in the the shorter fur. I've been calling them WereGoos!
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 7, 2013 23:33:41 GMT
LOL!! Yeah, that sounds like a good name for them. If they are getting some of the long hair, they must be approaching four weeks.
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