Post by henrys on Jan 3, 2015 23:52:56 GMT
Hi, I'm Henry, almost 18 years old, and I live in Iceland.
In October I got two degu boys for free, Albert and Scar. Albert was really shy but pretty curious, while Scar was just a total dramaqueen.
Unfortunately, before even successfully introducing them, Albert died. He seemed to have fallen asleep and never woken up, so he didn't die painfully. I have a therory that he might have died due to a cloud of toxins that came here from the eruption, but I can't be sure. I didn't get to know him all that well, sadly.
Scar was having the time of his life, living in a homemade cage on his own, but he never looked sad or lonely. I guessed he was just a loner, since he was bullied by his siblings shortly after birth, and lost his tail when picked up. In the beginning of December, we all went out of town for a few days, so I left my keys with a friend and asked her to go feed him at least twice. When I got back home, He was laying on the top floor, and he looked dead. I picked him up and realized he was breathing, so I tried to get him warm and comfortable, but he only started moving a bit. I called the vet, and took him there. They don't have much experience with degus since it's a fairly new species in Iceland, but the lady injected some fluid under his skin (she said he was dry), listened to his heartbeat and confirmed that it was strong, put a bottle full of warm water next to him to warm him up, and gave him some syrup. We took him home and proceeded to keep him warm, trying to get him to drink. He was starting to swallow a little, and I could see him getting stronger, but all of a sudden he started struggling, making weird noises, and then he was gone.
Since Christmas was coming, I decided to wash everything: the cage, food bowl, bath, wheel, etc. and get a new degu. This time it was a female who had lived with a grumpy older degu who ate all the food from her and picked fights. I decided to only get one, and keep her company myself. I named her Mia, and she's such a brat.
She struggles to jump between floors (which Scar managed very well) so she doesn't have that much space on the top floor where I've put all her things, but I let her out at least once a day and let her run around my room.
Here's Mia
In October I got two degu boys for free, Albert and Scar. Albert was really shy but pretty curious, while Scar was just a total dramaqueen.
Unfortunately, before even successfully introducing them, Albert died. He seemed to have fallen asleep and never woken up, so he didn't die painfully. I have a therory that he might have died due to a cloud of toxins that came here from the eruption, but I can't be sure. I didn't get to know him all that well, sadly.
Scar was having the time of his life, living in a homemade cage on his own, but he never looked sad or lonely. I guessed he was just a loner, since he was bullied by his siblings shortly after birth, and lost his tail when picked up. In the beginning of December, we all went out of town for a few days, so I left my keys with a friend and asked her to go feed him at least twice. When I got back home, He was laying on the top floor, and he looked dead. I picked him up and realized he was breathing, so I tried to get him warm and comfortable, but he only started moving a bit. I called the vet, and took him there. They don't have much experience with degus since it's a fairly new species in Iceland, but the lady injected some fluid under his skin (she said he was dry), listened to his heartbeat and confirmed that it was strong, put a bottle full of warm water next to him to warm him up, and gave him some syrup. We took him home and proceeded to keep him warm, trying to get him to drink. He was starting to swallow a little, and I could see him getting stronger, but all of a sudden he started struggling, making weird noises, and then he was gone.
Since Christmas was coming, I decided to wash everything: the cage, food bowl, bath, wheel, etc. and get a new degu. This time it was a female who had lived with a grumpy older degu who ate all the food from her and picked fights. I decided to only get one, and keep her company myself. I named her Mia, and she's such a brat.
She struggles to jump between floors (which Scar managed very well) so she doesn't have that much space on the top floor where I've put all her things, but I let her out at least once a day and let her run around my room.
Here's Mia