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Post by uglibug on Jun 17, 2014 6:17:31 GMT
Well I thought I keep a blog of the next few weeks or maybe even months. We are adopting 2 new goos tomorrow and we are going to see if we can make our 4 a 6.
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Post by saddlers on Jun 17, 2014 9:11:25 GMT
Oooh that should be fun!!! Remind me what does your group consist of and what are the new additions? Male female, age etc.
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Post by uglibug on Jun 17, 2014 18:56:42 GMT
We've got 4 males, about 3 years old and we're adopting 2 males from mrsdaniels. Not sure which pair yet, going to see who likes me, lol.
See lots of intro stuff for single goos but not seen anything on merging 2 groups so thought I'd do a little blog. If someone has done it before, any advice is welcome. :-)
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MrsDaniel
Foraging Degu
My animals are my family ????
Posts: 60
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Post by MrsDaniel on Jun 18, 2014 13:38:29 GMT
Good luck, hope all goes well :-)
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Post by saddlers on Jun 18, 2014 14:43:05 GMT
It is very much a case of trying to identify the more dominant from each group and start there. There is not as much info on group intros, but I am currently going through the early phases of trying to merge two pairs (two young females and a neutered male and female pair). I currently have them in the same cage with a horizontal divide with about 50mm between two layers of mesh to minimise any bite injuries. I have been swapping handfuls of substrate from both sides on a daily basis, and am in no rush to do the physical introduction. Being in groups does lessen the urgency because there are no lone degus. I have just been observing things lately in preparation for an intro. At first we had strong aggressive reactions from the male in the pair and the less dominant of the younger females in the other pair, but this does seem to be easing with time, we had our first episode of the three females sleeping next to the mesh today so things are looking promising.
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Post by uglibug on Jun 18, 2014 15:40:56 GMT
Well we are all home. 2 new goos Mater and Buddy are in their cage about 12 inches from our 4. No real aggression towards the other group from either direction although Buddy and Mater had a funny five minutes which resulted in a 'blow'. Unfortunately I may have just discovered a problem.
We have had our goos for 2 years or so and in all that time, with 4 "male" goos we have never seen a penis. We have had these for about half an hour and I've seen them umpteen times. I will keep checking our "boys" but I have a horrible suspicion they have been sexed wrong so we are going to end up with a 4 and a 2 still. :-(
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MrsDaniel
Foraging Degu
My animals are my family ????
Posts: 60
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Post by MrsDaniel on Jun 18, 2014 15:59:59 GMT
That made me laugh :-), they always have there penises out, they also have a lot of fights but they always make up, usually only last ten mins :-). Oh no!
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Post by uglibug on Jun 18, 2014 16:17:07 GMT
Well after a FBOD and a ten minute time out, the boys are now on the far side of the room and getting on just fine.
Think I am gonna have words with that vet......
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Post by uglibug on Jun 19, 2014 11:13:17 GMT
Fairly uneventful night, but spotted a few injuries this morning. :-(
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Post by uglibug on Jun 20, 2014 4:58:55 GMT
Everyone seems to have settled. No more squabbles so far, everyone is eating and the boys are sleeping together like nothing happened, so my guess is the smell of the girls wound them up.
They still hide in the corner when we open the door but Buddy came forward after about half an hour last night and put his hand on hubbys arm, so progress there.
Ordered them a new cage on wheels so that may set us back a bit with that taming, but it will give them more room so all in all, aside from a few fairly minor scrapes, all is going well.
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Post by uglibug on Jun 20, 2014 13:11:16 GMT
The boys have just discovered brazil nuts in shells and think they are awesome, lol. Had to crack them a little before they realised what they were but once they did they spent nearly 2 hours chewing them into powder.
They seem to like dandelion, but not as much as the girls, and we're going to try some growing greens tomorrow.
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MrsDaniel
Foraging Degu
My animals are my family ????
Posts: 60
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Post by MrsDaniel on Jun 20, 2014 13:53:54 GMT
Awww brilliant
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Post by uglibug on Jun 22, 2014 7:31:23 GMT
Tried some growing greens yesterday, they seem a bit unsure but one did try it.
They've now got permanent access to a sand bath and have decided to sleep in it, dozy critters, lol.
Their new cage will hopefully be here this coming week and then hubby will put some floors in it (technically its an aviary, lol).
Everyone has stopped fighting and the injuries are all healing up well, so all in all, everything is going well.
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MrsDaniel
Foraging Degu
My animals are my family ????
Posts: 60
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Post by MrsDaniel on Jun 22, 2014 7:49:44 GMT
Aww loving the new life :-)
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Post by uglibug on Jun 23, 2014 9:34:43 GMT
Probably a bit of a silly question, but those who keep both, are boys generally bigger than girls or have we just got particularly large or small goos?
The girls sit comfortably in the palm of my hand and weigh roughly 170g each, give or take. Our two new boys, however look about half as big again, not sure of weight. Is this normal? Neither group appears to be over eating and they all look lean enough when they stretch, just wondering if they are supposed to be bigger.
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Post by saddlers on Jun 23, 2014 13:01:51 GMT
Our girls are generally a bit lighter than the boys, however the heaviest female is probably about the same as the smallest male. How old are the girls?
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Post by uglibug on Jun 23, 2014 13:39:44 GMT
The girls are about 2 1/2, the oldest (Freaky) is probably closer to 3, she was full grown when we got them, the others were still growing.
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Post by uglibug on Jun 25, 2014 10:03:36 GMT
Well the boys have been here a week and all seems to be going well.
There has been no serious fighting since the first night, just a few boxing matches over humping rights and a couple of 'mine is bigger than yours' penis waving contests.
Everyone is eating normally. The boys were producing urine that dried white and I remember reading somewhere that this is to do with excess calcium so they now get the same as the girls and everyones pee is starting to dry yellow.
The boys, we have noticed, seem to be slower than the girls. They have a nice big wheel but they seem to walk in it rather than run. Not sure if this is because they are older or if they need more space, but their new cage should be here soon so will wait and see.
They have come on in the friendly department in leaps and bounds. They now sit at the side of the cage when they hear hubby get up waiting for breakfast, they will now take a treat from a hand and this morning Buddy actually sat on hubbys hand for about a minute or so. Changing cages may set us back a bit but I think they will benefit from the bigger space so will have to wait and see.
So all in all a fairly positive first week for our expanding family. :-)
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Post by uglibug on Jun 27, 2014 8:09:35 GMT
Degu towers mark two is up and running! Will post pics tomorrow but they definitely seem to like the new space. :-)
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Post by uglibug on Jun 28, 2014 11:19:10 GMT
Degu-towers mark 2, up and running!!!!!
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