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Post by misscatafer on Jun 29, 2017 8:07:46 GMT
How wonderful! Congratulations! Really pleased for you ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) it's been 2 and a half weeks now since my last face to face, and the aggression and obsession has not changed one bit, it has become completely normal in my flat to hear the constant sound of squealing and to see Bella always watching Boo either through the bars or the shelf. So I'm not going to be getting anywhere anytime soon!
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Post by moletteuk on Jun 29, 2017 9:57:46 GMT
That's fantastic, Lucy ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png)
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lucy
Warbling Degu
Posts: 29
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Post by lucy on Jul 3, 2017 17:40:40 GMT
Hi everyone, hope you are doing well! I just thought I'll update on how things are going. Girls are obviously enjoying themselves. I'ts amazing what change Mike's presence made. They are sleeping in a pack, cuddling, something they never seemed to be really keen on. The cage is planned for 5-6 degus, so we wanted to get some more sooner or later. And we came accross this baby: ![](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170703/5834fb91dd7616f3a8485a22da1a97ff.jpg) And that's how we got Effy 😀 At this pace, we'll need another cage soon 😀
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Post by bouncy on Jul 3, 2017 22:21:21 GMT
She's sooooooo cute! Thought she was a guinea pig to begin with!
If you haven't taken her on yet, let your current group settle down first. Too much change is confusing, and can lead to some erratic behaviour.
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lucy
Warbling Degu
Posts: 29
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Post by lucy on Jul 3, 2017 22:36:47 GMT
She's sooooooo cute! Thought she was a guinea pig to begin with! If you haven't taken her on yet, let your current group settle down first. Too much change is confusing, and can lead to some erratic behaviour. I've been glued to her cage past two days just looking at her like "Awww" 😀 For now she lives in a separate cage where Girls can't see or smell her. I susspect she looks a bit lonely, but it's better like this.
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Post by moletteuk on Jul 5, 2017 10:44:07 GMT
Congratulations on the new addition ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
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lucy
Warbling Degu
Posts: 29
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Post by lucy on Aug 18, 2017 22:37:15 GMT
Hi everyone, I haven't posted a while, so I tought I'd make an update. The gang is getting on very well, lots of love and cuddles (except for the feeding time 😄): ![](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170818/fd52ad3fe76b3eff5134b8e6ee43274d.jpg) But not much has happened other than that. We've had two introductions and they were just horrible. After introducing Mike so easy, this was quite a shock and I was just too anxious to try again. Effy (the cute small new one, remember?) is a total buly. Girls ended up hidden in the corner and yet she was still running around, jumping the walls, shouting and attacking them. And anything that moved (like my hand in the box, glad I had the gloves). Maddness. She ended up with a small bite on her nose, Apple with bite on her mouth. Since then, I just watch them at the mesh (she seems pretty relaxed there actually, unlike the Girls, who just bite the mesh like crazy, Pear even developed a bald patch on her nose from that) and hope for a miracle. On the other hand, Effy is the most "people-liking" degu we have, she sits on my arm while we walk around the flat, she lets us cuddle her (it's like those cute videos of degus I never tought I'll be able to see on my own - she twists her head or flips her paw in the air for belly strokes): ![](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170818/44346e2bc3027cccec1f79225dfbece7.jpg) Mike also became fan of forehead strokes, if I approach veeeery slowly, big progress there 🙂. And Girls, as usual - if I touch them, they have this "What exactly do you think you're doing? Ew!" kind od face 😄. So that's where we stand. From what I see at the mesh, I am not sure I'll be brave enough for another introduction anytime soon. Girls probably need more time.
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Post by bouncy on Aug 18, 2017 23:11:19 GMT
Thanks for the update!
It's great how you're seeing their personalities come through. Little Effy (reminds me of a hamster with her ginger colouring) is reacting like a lone goo with her tickles and rubs. It's hilarious when they start lifting their arms up so you can get better access to scratch their armpits for them. When he was alone, Squidgy loved it too. I used to attack him both sides at the same time, and he would do a titanic king of the world reenactment. Bless!
You are just better off leaving intros for now until there's indifference on both sides, and substrate swapping hasn't caused any problems.
Just an observation on my part, but I noticed that my agouti group resent Squidgy significantly more that the two agoutis he lives with. Squidgy is the only one who isn't agouti, and I wonder if agouti groups are more prejudiced?
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 19, 2017 0:03:30 GMT
Ditto!!
Effy is adorable in that photo!
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lucy
Warbling Degu
Posts: 29
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Post by lucy on Aug 19, 2017 7:43:28 GMT
Yep, I tought I'll just leave them.
Sometimes I can't resist to have them have a sniff when Effy is out in my hands and Girls cage door is open (my thinking behind that is, that it might count as non-fight encounter, which is good 😀). Girls stretch out almost to the point of falling, Effy has a sniff and turns around to climb on my arm. So I was wondering that maybe she is so aggresive because she is scared during the introductions. But that is just a theory under investigation. Also I can hear Girls making their "chripping" during that - sound I can't find anywhere between degu sounds on degutopia. I think it's their curious or excited sound, they do it when they are let out the cage, when I sit by and they are expecting sunflower seeds...
Well, mysterious creatures, aren't they?
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Post by bouncy on Aug 19, 2017 8:55:31 GMT
Very! Just focus on warbling. Warbling is safe
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lucy
Warbling Degu
Posts: 29
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Post by lucy on Aug 19, 2017 9:25:35 GMT
Oh! Is it? Tail warbling? I tought that it's a bad sign. Thank you bouncy!
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Post by bouncy on Aug 19, 2017 9:45:12 GMT
Oh hang on....We're getting a bit mixed up!
There's tail wagging, stamping, loud squeaks - these are signs of aggression.
Warbling are those happy little quiet squeaks between goos. They're often quite quiet and vary in tone. If you've heard them, think of a guinea pig squeaking to itself whilst it's eating.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2017 14:08:22 GMT
Or like tiny birds muttering to each other
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lucy
Warbling Degu
Posts: 29
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Post by lucy on Aug 19, 2017 18:12:08 GMT
Right, tail wagging I got lost. Both start with the "w" ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png) Thank you! I know what you mean, Girls do it, when they have nose to nose cuddles. It really sounds like birds ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) Never heard that towards Effy though. Patience will be the key here, I guess.
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 19, 2017 18:18:45 GMT
Patience and time. I think you have a great attitude that will help you wonderfully!
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lucy
Warbling Degu
Posts: 29
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Post by lucy on Oct 8, 2018 17:07:00 GMT
Hi to everyone!
No update for a year - there really was nothing to update about. We spent it making introductions, failing, waiting, more introductions, promising results and more failures. Over and over. Thanks for all your advice, we’ve been referencing back to it when desperate 🙂
For the last half of a year that meant all the girls were able to spend a day together at our extra cage but fought when we have put them into their normal cage together.
But after all that time, hours spent supervising them, I can say they finally spent their first night and day together. In one half of their normal cage (so we are not quite there yet, now moving the divider daily to always give them a little bit more space from the other half)
So, this really is a shoutout for everyone out there who is having a hard time with introductions: Do not give up 😀
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 8, 2018 22:06:06 GMT
Well done for hanging in there!! You rock!
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lucy
Warbling Degu
Posts: 29
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Post by lucy on Oct 10, 2018 14:48:22 GMT
Thanks! It was totally worth the wait, they are perfect together ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) Plus that means we can start looking for another addition to our pack as we still have space for one or two more ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
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Post by moletteuk on Oct 10, 2018 15:39:03 GMT
Great! Kudos for persevering! ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
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