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Post by tse308 on May 29, 2017 17:51:25 GMT
We do have the "old" cage that could act as an emergency house if they cannot live together, although they have lived as a group of 2 boys and a girl for a year now and as of yet (touch wood) we are yet to have more than a little boxing between the males. We are quite fortunate in that Truffle seems to accept that his bigger brother Buttons is more dominant and does not tend to get in the way. That said we did know to watch out for scraps when we took on new boys so have been watching closely for signs of issues there.
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2017 19:11:20 GMT
If you get two Aventuras, and do get the males neutered, and all degus you keep are getting along well, you can join the cages together into a massive cage, which, with the extra shelving added, gives plenty of floor area for a family of 5 or six. If the groups didn't get along, then you could keep them as two separate cages, one males, one females, and all is good anyway. This sounds like the best plan.
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2017 19:15:11 GMT
It is different currently as you have one female with two males. Once you keep the female baby, so you'd have two females, you'll have two males and two females and the scenario deguconvert proposed can happen. The cage idea winic1 suggested to you I believe will be your best way forward if you still are intent on neutering the boys. You need to remember the importance of enough space, which is why we keep recommending at least two Aventura's as you'll have a large large group. Or build something like this: deguworld.proboards.com/thread/21159/zenaidas-enclosure-build?page=1 which houses six degus. The only problem you'd have is if they started fighting you'd have to split them somehow.
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Post by tse308 on May 29, 2017 19:30:38 GMT
The double cage plan could work, only problem is our where it would live in our house!
Think my next steps going forward are to modify the current aventura we have to increase the available surface area. The boys will be moving into our old smaller cage temporarily shortly to stop any further threat of pregnancy.
They will stay in there until they have healed after their operations. We will then move all four into one cage.
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Post by moletteuk on May 29, 2017 19:31:57 GMT
I would urge you to think about all the degus you currently have and try to make sure no degu gets a rough deal. In my humble opinion that would mean keeping both the girl pups because it is not fair to leave one on her own and reliant on somebody else to integrate her into a group. I would try mum with the two girl pups and see how she settles with them and see how Truffle and Buttons settle as a pair. Since the boys have each other for company then their neutering is not strictly 'required' but if you see there is continuing heartbreak at mum being separate from the boys, then it is something you can consider - with the proviso that somebody might get jealous long term making separation necessary. Bear in mind there are risks to the neutering surgery. More than one male with females will usually fight over the females, so that is why we don't normally recommend it, but there have been occasional instances of it working.
Take some time to think it all over. As long as mum is now separate from the boys you have time to mull things over and decide what you would like to do. It seems like a few of your options have caveats and further possibilities that you need to consider, so give yourself time to digest it all.
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Post by Bexi87 on May 29, 2017 21:15:13 GMT
I think that putting Buttons and Truffle through high risk, evasive surgery is not the most responsible course of action. They, by the sounds of it, are happy and healthy and like each other's company.
Toffee has her babies, if you rehome the boys and keep the girls you will have another happy, and hopefully stable, group.
Rodents don't selectively breed. Brothers will impregnate mothers and sisters without a second thought. Males will kill another male's pups to ensure their pups have the best chance.
I implore you to take a few days to think of what is best for your animals, putting your own feelings aside. Neutering the boys so they can live with the girls isn't necessary, unless you see significant decline in their behaviours over the next few weeks (signs of depression or anxiety).
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Post by tse308 on May 29, 2017 23:25:58 GMT
I think that putting Buttons and Truffle through high risk, evasive surgery is not the most responsible course of action. They, by the sounds of it, are happy and healthy and like each other's company. Toffee has her babies, if you rehome the boys and keep the girls you will have another happy, and hopefully stable, group. Rodents don't selectively breed. Brothers will impregnate mothers and sisters without a second thought. Males will kill another male's pups to ensure their pups have the best chance. I implore you to take a few days to think of what is best for your animals, putting your own feelings aside. Neutering the boys so they can live with the girls isn't necessary, unless you see significant decline in their behaviours over the next few weeks (signs of depression or anxiety). I do understand this and it isn't as if I am rushing into this blind. Having seen the group apart while Toffee was pregnant, there was visible distress from both camps. I can understand Toffee being unhappy about being placed in a new cage on her own for a few weeks until after birth but the two boys began calling for her and began chewing at the bars. Neither trait either displayed before and neither has been shown since re-integration. The boys are VERY attached to Toffee as she took them under her wing when we got both as pups at 6 weeks old. They even act out when she is out of the room spending time with me for example. Therefore aside from the current pups my options are very limited to either neutering and hoping they maintain the status quo or trying to re-home two very upset boys. Its a bit of a lose-lose situation! As for the pups I am hopeful that I have found a home for two of the girls together leaving us one. Regardless of the above we will certainly need new homes for 4 male pups. I have managed to get a good photo of one of the pups eyeing up some sand. Although its not letting me upload it to any image hosting sites!
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