Post by Heddy on Mar 24, 2005 13:17:30 GMT
Ra is thinking of getting her single degu Virgil a pal. As she never has established a degu group before, information about how to get it done (or what went wrong with your group) is most welcome.
I know there are many ways to get two degus together, and I would like to describe two of them, which I know most results of.
1) Putting the new degu together with the old one righ away
2) Getting them used to each other over a period of time
First of all, experience shows, that it is easiest to introduce a baby degu to an existing group (or into the existing territory), as they accept the role of the last in the ranking. Nevertheless, ranking fights can occur later, but both degus by then will have accepted to live in the same territory and do usually not try to expel the other one from the cage. This of course doesn’t mean, that grouping up older degus wouldn’t work.
1) When you decide to give it a go and put the newbee in the cage right after brining it home, two things should help to make it easier for the the new one to be accepted:
- Take the old degu out of the cage and clean the cage properly, so all the old smelly “landmarks” are gone and the territory is regarded neutral by both of them. (A mixture of non-perfumed soap, water and a sip of alcohol works very well on this purpose.)
- Give the newbee a chance to have a bath in the dust bath the old degu used before, so he will smell a bit like a group member (degus even do this in the wild when entering an other group’s territory)
- give the new one a chance to explore the cage and put the old one in shortly after or put them in at the same time altogether. But it is always saving you nerves if you give the degus a chance to see and smell each other through the mashes first, at least if they don’t like each other, they cannot do each other any great harm.
If they make singing noises, it’s fine. If they keep beeping, making mocking noises, wagging their tails or they start fighting seriously, take one out and proceed as described below.
2) When you want to give them time to get used to each other, set up a separate cage for each degu or part your cage in two with mashes, so they can see and smell each other, but cannot do each other much harm.
- Let the degus use a common dust bath every day to make them smell the same. Put the bath in one cage let the degu have his bath. Take it out and put it in the other ones cage to give him his bath. You can leave the bath in like one has it in the morning and the other one for the evening, depending whether you usually offer Virgil a full time dust bath or only for an hour a day or so.
- Swap cages: Put the newbee in the old ones cage and the old one in the newbees cage. Swap every other or every third day. Do not clean the cage before putting the the other one in, he should get the full smell of his future pal.
After you have cleaned the cage, let him in the same cage for a few hours or a day and swap then.
- If they can see and smell each other through the mashes and “sing” together and sleep next to each other, you can try to unite them on neutral territory (that can be a fully cleaned cage or a degu-safe room in your house)
If they are happy together: congratulations! But keep watching them for the next days, living together is a new challenge for both of them and they are just starting to know each other.
If they are not happy together go on with the swaping of cages and dust baths.
I know there are many ways to get two degus together, and I would like to describe two of them, which I know most results of.
1) Putting the new degu together with the old one righ away
2) Getting them used to each other over a period of time
First of all, experience shows, that it is easiest to introduce a baby degu to an existing group (or into the existing territory), as they accept the role of the last in the ranking. Nevertheless, ranking fights can occur later, but both degus by then will have accepted to live in the same territory and do usually not try to expel the other one from the cage. This of course doesn’t mean, that grouping up older degus wouldn’t work.
1) When you decide to give it a go and put the newbee in the cage right after brining it home, two things should help to make it easier for the the new one to be accepted:
- Take the old degu out of the cage and clean the cage properly, so all the old smelly “landmarks” are gone and the territory is regarded neutral by both of them. (A mixture of non-perfumed soap, water and a sip of alcohol works very well on this purpose.)
- Give the newbee a chance to have a bath in the dust bath the old degu used before, so he will smell a bit like a group member (degus even do this in the wild when entering an other group’s territory)
- give the new one a chance to explore the cage and put the old one in shortly after or put them in at the same time altogether. But it is always saving you nerves if you give the degus a chance to see and smell each other through the mashes first, at least if they don’t like each other, they cannot do each other any great harm.
If they make singing noises, it’s fine. If they keep beeping, making mocking noises, wagging their tails or they start fighting seriously, take one out and proceed as described below.
2) When you want to give them time to get used to each other, set up a separate cage for each degu or part your cage in two with mashes, so they can see and smell each other, but cannot do each other much harm.
- Let the degus use a common dust bath every day to make them smell the same. Put the bath in one cage let the degu have his bath. Take it out and put it in the other ones cage to give him his bath. You can leave the bath in like one has it in the morning and the other one for the evening, depending whether you usually offer Virgil a full time dust bath or only for an hour a day or so.
- Swap cages: Put the newbee in the old ones cage and the old one in the newbees cage. Swap every other or every third day. Do not clean the cage before putting the the other one in, he should get the full smell of his future pal.
After you have cleaned the cage, let him in the same cage for a few hours or a day and swap then.
- If they can see and smell each other through the mashes and “sing” together and sleep next to each other, you can try to unite them on neutral territory (that can be a fully cleaned cage or a degu-safe room in your house)
If they are happy together: congratulations! But keep watching them for the next days, living together is a new challenge for both of them and they are just starting to know each other.
If they are not happy together go on with the swaping of cages and dust baths.