Boy pups

[ryanj]

Hi all!

So on Monday the pups will be 5 weeks old and I was wondering when we can put the 2 boys in their new cage? Should we wait for the 6 weeks? With them getting bigger it's beginning to get a little crowded in the cage and although everyone is getting along nicely (except when Enya is feeling aggravated!) it may not stay that way in time for new homemade cage.

All the pups are drinking water and eating solids and I haven't seen Mum feeding them for the last few days (unless it's been happening at night).

What do you think?

And any advice on taking the boys out and putting them in the new cage? Or is it as simple as that? With Mum or the others girls care?

[deguconvert]

The biggest thing right now is that they learn degu behaviors, and that can only happen by being with older degus that teach them. Otherwise they can become rather maladjusted and that can make for trouble. Although you can separate them now because they are no longer nursing from their Mum, they are still learning a whole lot from her and from aunties, and it is important stuff. If you can keep them in for another week, it would be most helpful to them.

[Maravilla]

I would not separate them before finishing week 6, and personally I would even wait another 1-2 weeks, unless you have found a new home with adults where they can go to. As DC already mentioned, they are learning a lot of social behaviour right now and separating them too early from mom and sisters would mean to interrupt this process and some severe consequences. You can see this far more often in cats and dogs that have been separated too early from their family and which show some really bad behaviour towards other conspecifics. I have a cat that has been separated too early from his mother. He is really crazy about us humans but does not know how to play with our other cat as he missed those important lessons. And as degus are pack animals, a stunted social behaviour can lead to fights, aggressions and lonely animals that will be hard to introduce to others.

[ryanj]

Thanks both for the advice. We'll keep them together for now then. To be honest they're all getting along just fine so I guess there is no real need to separate them until they get rehomed - which will be around the beginning of November.

Thanks again!