only 1 baby

[rosberry]

Hello I am new to owning Degus. We have had 2 females for about 1 1/2 months now. Well yesterday when I checked the cage their was a baby in it. Now from everything I have read there should have been more. And unfortunately we did not know she was pregnant so we did handle her some. So do you think something might have happened to the others or do they sometimes have just one. Also is there anything that I need to know about raising a baby? Please help!

[diet otaku]

another member here has a female that has twice had only one baby, so i don't think it's necessarily a bad thing... as for raising babies, can't help you there, but there are other members who are raising babies, so they should have some advice.

[Anna]

I remember reading something about how your not supposed to handle a pergnant female or she'll have a misscarry or something. I donno why I just thought of that but you should try looking around the site it has some very useful tips.

[Anna]

deguworld.proboards31.com/index.cgi?board=breeding&action=display&thread=1118235367
^ That should help ya!

[Aimeelou]

Hi Rosberry
Dont worry about her only having one baby, some degus can have one or two, and some can even have up to eight or ten!
As for handling her, as long as you wasnt chucking her around a bit, shouldnt realy cause her to only have one baby. You just need to be a little gentlier with her, but as some other degu owners can tell you, including me, they didnt know they are pregnant untill theres babys in the nest one day!!
The degus are quite self suficient, they will let you know if they need you to help with the babys.
Good luck!
Aimee

[Bosley]

Rosberry,
I worried about the same thing - my female Mabel just gave birth for the second time since we got her, and both times there was only one pup. Unfortunately the first one wasn't very healthy and didn't live more than a week, but this time we are so thankful that Mabel and her new baby both appear to be doing very well. I have no idea why she only has one each time - it seemed odd to me too, but I guess she's only able to carry one at a time. The good news there I guess is that nursing won't be as taxing on her with only one to feed. Our other two Degus are just as involved as Mabel with little Rudy and it's so cute when all of them are pile in the nesting box together to sleep!! They are all very protective of Rudy and right now we are just trying to give them the space they desire - I think they all are being extra cautious after losing the other one. I finally got a couple pictures of the wee one and will try to get those downloaded and posted later this evening.

As long as your baby and it's momma are heathy and doing well, I don't think there is anything to worry about - enjoy your newly expanded family! I'm learning as I go as well, but from everythin I know so far, the adults will take care of the little one - our job is to make sure we keep the adults happy and heathy, lol!

Congratulations and good luck!
Leslie

[ra]

Hi! Don't worry, there's really nothing you would have done to cause your female to only have one pup. Heck, I though Mocha was a boy - "he" loved to have "his" chin and then belly scratched!!! After she delivered 9 babies, I got real busy reading up on the care of pregnant Degus and nearly fainted when they said to not handle your pregnant female! Obviously it didn't hurt my girl. I wasn't picking her up though. Just allowing her to sit in my hands and then giving her a scratch when she wanted.

[rosberry]

I am so thankful for all of your responses! We called our little one Mira (pronounced Meera) short for Miracle. Mira is doing very well. I can pick her up and she will just nestle in my hand so cute!! We are still trying to find names for mom and her female friend. Everyone is getting along great!

[Aimeelou]

Glad we could help!
Good luck with every thing!
Aimee