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Post by chelsy on Apr 29, 2005 18:47:30 GMT
ahhh help, my degu Molly is having babies, she's had 3 so far and she just ate one!! started ripping off its skin and ate its face and brain... i heard that sometimes they eat one if they know its going to die or something, but i dunno... i want to take the other 2 away just incase but then they might die as well....  help... ahhh she just had another one and shes eating the new one too :S.. this one did look different though...hmmm im confused!! |
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northernstar40
Foraging Degu
May you always have an angel by your side
Posts: 102
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Post by northernstar40 on Apr 30, 2005 2:26:04 GMT
Hi Chelsey, yes the mothers do eat the babies if they are sick. they will also eat them if they feel threatened. Take dad OUT and make sure you stay away for a while also. they dont like a audience around. You could put a sheet over the cage so momma feels more secure. I hope there are still some babies left. Remember she can get pregnet the same day she gives birth. So be carefull. hope this helps!
Let us know how things turn out.
Good Luck and Best wishers
Peggy
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Post by chelsy on Apr 30, 2005 15:03:43 GMT
thanks for replying... well Mollyhad 8 babies yesterday, she ate three... the dad Pedro wasnt even in the cage till the last one was eaten... and i took him out soon after. .. still thats sad.. ... and she was still trying to eat the other 5, and she was acting all gross and eating her own crap :S... i kept distracting her by putting other things in front of her, and she ate that instead and left the babies alone... then awhile later she started acting like a actual mom and letting the babies have milk... i wonder why she was acting like that, any ideas? Also, we're almost positive the degus were inbred because my boyfriends a dork and got them at the petstore together and didnt ask or anything, could that be why she ate some, they had problems that way? we got them about 3 months ago, and we think she was pregnant when we got her...cuz she was fat lol... but yeah we're going to keep them seperated from now on... thanks for your help  |
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Post by Aimeelou on May 3, 2005 18:59:15 GMT
Hi Chelsy You say you got them about 3 months ago? ive had the same thought as i bought mine seperatly at different times, but i dont know if the first one (taquila) was pregnent when we got her or if the second one (taco) got her pregnant!?!  (also i was told they were boys!!) I have read that if familys interbreed the babies will come out deformed and wont live very long  Could it be that she mite of got pregnant by her father or brother? Hope ive helped Aimeelou |
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Post by chelsy on May 3, 2005 19:35:59 GMT
yeah im pretty sure thats why she ate the other 3, because they werent fully developed or were sick or something...
... im almost positive that the father is her brother... which is horrible i know, they're not my degus there my boyfriends, and we were gunna go trade one of ours for another one that wasnt related, but then we found out Molly was pregnant so we didnt want to give her away....
the babies dont look deformed at all, they're very active already and there eyes are open.... is there any other way of telling if they're not normal???
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Post by Aimeelou on May 3, 2005 19:50:55 GMT
from what ive read if there are normal on the outside they wont be on the inside and wont live very long |
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Post by chelsy on May 3, 2005 19:53:15 GMT
aww that's depressing .. i guess it's our own fault though |
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Post by shigatsu on May 3, 2005 20:05:24 GMT
I've read that you can get white or silver degus through inbredding, but they usually live a shorter lives then the usual agouti ones, but the agouti ones tend to be healthier. The whole inbredding thing is sad. I read somewhere (today actually), that in North America all the degus come from a set of 10 parents, crazy! (I don't know if that's true or not). We had a beautiful hamster before we got our degus, and read that all hamsters come from one family (and genetic altering and junk). Hamsters were supposed to be extinct, and then this one guy found this mother hamster with children and took them... I can't remember the whole story... it's crazy.
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Post by chelsy on May 3, 2005 20:07:55 GMT
hah thats insane.. actually i JUST read that 10 degus thing on a website about 2 minutes ago lol, weird..  ... hmm i've never heard about them being white or silver tho ugh, but i've seen some in pet stores that look a lot lighter than the other ones, does that mean those ones are inbred ? |
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Post by shigatsu on May 3, 2005 23:45:33 GMT
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northernstar40
Foraging Degu
May you always have an angel by your side
Posts: 102
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Post by northernstar40 on May 4, 2005 1:36:46 GMT
What great pictures of other Degu's. thanks for sharing!!
Peg
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Post by chelsy on May 4, 2005 22:16:13 GMT
yeah wow that last one was really different... lol... thanks a lot for those pics !
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Post by deguqueen on Sept 26, 2005 3:30:18 GMT
thats horrible about the mother eating its babies...i heard that degus were great mothers.
i knew about hammys eating their babies but not degus.
thats just horrible.
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Post by diet otaku on Sept 26, 2005 11:02:40 GMT
quite a lot of species will eat their young, actually. it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad mothers, they're just doing what nature has programmed them to do in the event of a sick or dead newborn.
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Post by Sunshinemeg on Sept 26, 2005 17:41:09 GMT
I dont think it can be called horrible. Animals follow instinct when rearing young. I do know that if a polar bear gets stressed while rearing her young she will kill them! There was a case in Bristol zoo, the mother was shut away in her den to have the cubs, and was due to be let out when they were a couple of months old. as this is the natural course of action. anyway, two days before they were due to open the den, workers started digging up the road outside the zoo, which just happened to be the other side of the wall. the polar bear killed her two pups!
It may shock us humans, but animals DO follow instinct, and if that tells them the young would be better of dead, they will kill them. And in the case of the degus, eating the young allows the mother to absorb some of the energy she lost through having the pups, and it also removes the body from the healthy babies.
meg
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Post by themoosevodka on Sept 26, 2005 19:39:27 GMT
awh, even if it is natural it still makes me want to cry |
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Post by deguqueen on Sept 27, 2005 1:11:12 GMT
i just meant its a horrible thing to hear, not that the mother is hoprrible for doing it.
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Post by Aimeelou on Sept 27, 2005 11:12:21 GMT
They also eat their young if they feel threatened because the "smell" of birth attracts preditors. Eew.
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(also i was told they were boys!!)
... hmm i've never heard about them being white or silver tho ugh, but i've seen some in pet stores that look a lot lighter than the other ones, does that mean those ones are inbred ?
