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Post by Sunshinemeg on Feb 16, 2006 23:29:10 GMT
I am really pleased to announce, that I have a happy cage of 4 degus once again! Dillan and Dougal have accepted Harry and Houdini into their cage!
I divided the large cage to create a seperate section in which I housed Harry and Houdini. I allowed daily meetings by opening the dividing door, Harry was accepted quickly, but I still kept him with his brother. Houdini on the other hand was stubbord, and not willing to let Dillan be boss. This meant that whenever they met up they would start a kicking fight.
After two weeks of this I decided to move Harry into the main part of the cage, in the hope that Houdini would become lonely, and willing to accept Dillan as boss so he would be able to join the group. Harsh I know, but I was getting desperate! The first night on his own Houdini chattered very angrily at everyone. The next day I tried a meeting, he was still too stubborn, kicking out at Dillan. After the second night on his own I tried the same, still fighting. So I tried a different setting and took Dillan and Houdini onto my sofa to see how they would act here. Bad idea as they instantly launched into a rolling fight that I had to seperate with a towel! Took them both home right away, Houdini then spent the next hour crying in his part of the cage. I dont know what made me try it, but he was so sorry for himself, I didnt want to see him on his own any more, so I put him into the main part of the cage. Right away Dillan came down to see him and act the big boss. For the first time ever Houdini let him!!! And after 20 minutes of this, Dillan was happy that he was boss of everyone, and Houdini stopped cowering and started looking round the cage!!!
As I write this they have now spent 3 nights all in the same cage! tonight will be the 4th night, and I think its safe to say they are all happy together!
The best feeling in the world was Tuesday night when I went in to see how they were, and found all four of them cuddled up in bed!! 4 degus in a bed again! Thats what I wanted!!! ;D
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Post by Aimeelou on Feb 20, 2006 16:21:58 GMT
Phew! Glad theyve all settled in Meg! Fingers crossed it stays peacefull!!!  |
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Post by ra on Feb 20, 2006 21:48:44 GMT
Good for you. Even better for them. You have the patience of a saint.
Would be a good idea to write a "condensed" version of your trials and tribulations and post on a separate "How to introduce new cage mates" thread.
diet otaku could post her experiences too. It's a lot of trial and error. Your experiences will save the next guy lots of time and anguish.
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Post by Aimeelou on Feb 21, 2006 13:25:30 GMT
Yeah thats a good idea Ra, Meg and Diet Otaku have had the whole introducing thing first hand, and you both would be the best people to ask about this sort of thing.
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Post by diet otaku on Feb 21, 2006 23:52:18 GMT
yay! i was wondering how "solitary confinement" would affect a degu's willingness to mesh with the group. my boys have done a LOT of chattering between bars lately, so i think they're finally getting to the point where they don't care who's boss, so long as they can hang out with those interesting degus next door! unfortunately i've been INSANELY busy lately, so i haven't had the time to try more group meetings, but when i do, since the cage i haven't doesn't lend itself to dividing well, i'll turn the 2 cages to face each other with each top door open. then they can commingle at will, but if it gets to be too much they can retreat to their separate cages. poor stubborn degu. *pats houdini on the head* now what have we learned? always let the older degu be boss.  |
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Post by diet otaku on Feb 27, 2006 13:22:06 GMT
OMG OMG OMG!! I DID IT!!! all 4 are now living in the big cage at my new apartment. i've been so busy due to trying to move my stuff over piece by piece (as i don't officially leave my current apartment until june), but yesterday i decided to go for it... i packed up all the supplies, put rumble and frenzy in one carrier and spaz and ruckus in another, cleaned out both cages and put them in my car to drive them to the new apartment. when i got there, i set up a big playpen thing, put the carriers inside, and just opened the carrier doors. to my surprise, the 4 of them spent more time huddled together inside the large carrier than exploring the playpen... there was no fighting, although frenzy did escape a couple of times (and this apartment's much larger so it took awhile for him to trap himself in the bathroom, hehe). so i put in fresh food, water and hay, cleaned out the dust bath, put in new bedding and hay mats, and replaced the climbing rope with a hanging tube that they seemed to enjoy in the playpen.
after chasing frenzy down, i had rumble, spaz and ruckus in the big carrier and frenzy secured in the small carrier. so i put the 3 well-behaved degus in first, and then frenzy, hoping that as the last in the cage he wouldn't get too territorial. they spent a lot of time just walking around, stepping on each other and exploring. then all of them (i think, or at least rumble and frenzy) started teeth-chattering, and some scuffles broke out... there was some flipping, but rarely any squeaking, and i was watching closely to make sure they weren't hurting each other... i broke up fights when it was getting too heated, but after awhile of policing i was tired and decided to just lay down nearby and let them work it out themselves.
after a couple of minutes of silent or near-silent tussling, and then quiet, one of them (i couldn't tell which) let out an absolutely blood-curdling scream. but no one was bleeding or limping or anything, just some running around, and then things seemed to settle down. the teeth-chattering stopped, and they seemed to resume their normal activities. when i came by this morning, rumble and frenzy were huddled underneath the wheel, and spaz and ruckus were huddled on the top level. i had a mini degu-pile when i tried to pet ruckus and he ran down and sat on rumble and frenzy, but spaz kept to himself up top. will stop by again this afternoon to see if they're mingling better. i'm sure once they get adjusted to the cage and their new surroundings (there's a cat - who simply sits and curiously watches the degus), they'll bond with their new roommates. i'm just glad no one's killed anyone yet. ^__^;;
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Post by Aimeelou on Feb 27, 2006 15:18:09 GMT
Oh wow! Fingers,toes and everything else crossed for you! |
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Post by diet otaku on Feb 27, 2006 16:16:42 GMT
i wish it wasn't so hard to recapture escaped degus, or else i'd let them out more often... it was kinda cute watching frenzy bound across the living room. i was wondering if he'd try to go upstairs or not, but he didn't.
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Post by ra on Feb 27, 2006 20:20:49 GMT
I wish it were safer to let them loose too. Too many things to hide under, too many electrical cords to chew.
Hopefully both of your new communities will settle and flourish now. Took a lot of hard work and patience on your parts. Congratulations.
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Post by diet otaku on Feb 27, 2006 23:54:22 GMT
i checked the guys this afternoon, nobody's dead yet (LOL). they're still huddling in groups of 2 in the same spot... couldn't tell if it was the same 2 degus, though. frenzy seems to have chewed more hair off his front paw than normal, he's actually chewed through the dark hair underneath the light hair and almost down to the skin. i felt his paw and it felt stubbly. he also doesn't budge to avoid my hand and won't take treats. the other 3 perked right up when i offered treats, though. but then, frenzy IS rather high-strung, so i sort of expected he would have the hardest time coping. as long as he's not lashing out at the other boys, though, i'm sure he'll calm down soon enough.
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Post by diet otaku on Mar 1, 2006 13:41:11 GMT
i checked on them again yesterday... frenzy has chewed more fur off his paw, so it's totally bald on top of his wrist now. spaz appears to have some hair missing from the middle of the tuft at the end of his tail (looks weird, hehe). and for some reason he's having trouble running on the flying saucer wheel... it could just be that he's not used to it, i checked him over and he's not injured or anything, but when he tried to run on it, he kind of skittered along, and then flew off and tumbled down the ramp to the first level. i really wish i could move the wheel to the ground floor (would probably decrease the cage rattling it causes), but there's no room. any of this raising any red flags with you guys?
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Post by Aimeelou on Mar 1, 2006 14:35:51 GMT
It does sound a little like stress with him chewing the fur off the tops of his feet, but i think id be chewing my fingernails if i had 2 new roomies! lol Maybe it is that hes not used to the wheel yet, but id just keep my eye on him |
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Post by diet otaku on Mar 1, 2006 16:48:26 GMT
yeah, frenzy had started chewing his fur before the move, so i'm sure it's just stress, but i don't want him to inadvertently hurt himself. same with spaz.
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Post by Aimeelou on Mar 1, 2006 17:03:56 GMT
I dont think theyll hurt themselves on purpose, but i have read that they just do it anyway. A bit like some people are more nervous than others perhaps. I guess its just like we chew our fingernails?
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Post by Sunshinemeg on Mar 1, 2006 21:28:32 GMT
If you cant find wounds on them I wouldnt worry too much, maybe take the wheel away for a few days to allow things to settle?
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