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Post by bouncy on Sept 13, 2017 14:33:30 GMT
Update! Just been asked to judge on Saturday next week, and have asked BG to book me a second night so I can see my niece, and pop in to meet your goobies (if you're around)!
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 13, 2017 17:37:56 GMT
WOO HOO!!! Have a lovely meeting!
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Post by titchycatnipsandwich on Sept 13, 2017 18:39:50 GMT
Is that Saturday 23rd? I'm in work until 5, but I'll drop you a PM with my address and if you can come, you're more than welcome to
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Post by titchycatnipsandwich on Sept 18, 2017 16:48:47 GMT
Oh, I'd just like to smack the pair of them together until they saw sense and played nicely!!!!!
Today's theme was "I'm gonna box you so hard we do somersaults!"
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 19, 2017 2:11:22 GMT
LOL! Well, actually . . . while that is rather violent looking, it beats going into the FBOD and is a true step in the right direction!! You're doing great!
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Post by titchycatnipsandwich on Sept 20, 2017 17:23:43 GMT
Ok, today was a quickly-aborted FBOD I was rereading the intros guide earlier, and it says that noisy fights are normal - Nyota and Best have never been vocal while fighting? They aren't quiet, mainly because they're in a cardboard box and their claws make a scuffly sound as they scrap, and they chitter at each other as their tail vibrates, but... They don't talk to each other, or shout. Sniffing of bits - frequently. Raising their bottoms up and pushing it into the face of the sniffer - always. Tail waggling, grunting and loud tooth chattering - yup. Boxing/wrestling/ shoving SILENTLY which seems to be key (noisy boxing/wrestling/shoving is normal, fairly frequent, and is generally safe interaction between degus) - we quite often seem to skip this part. Kicking and aggressive chasing - never seen them do this, unless somersaults come under this part? Rolling fur ball of death - seems to happen... 30% of the time? I'd say 1 in 3 intros ends with me separating a FBOD, while the other two I probably abort a little early as a result of the previous intro ending in FBOD. And I can be reasonably certain it's FBOD simply because... If they are FBOD'ing, they separate and look startled. If I spray them and they aren't FBODing, they'll start something fairly quickly Both of them want to be the boss-degu. They still get really tetchy when I swap bedding or sand baths about. I get that June/July/August/September isn't a long time in the scheme of things, but I haven't currently got the space to separate them further; all I could really do is put a second divider in so that they can't get near to each other - but they'd still be one-up-one-down. I'm starting to wonder about getting the Thickets cages out of my friend's loft and setting them up side by side, so that they aren't above/below one another, but I don't know where I'd put them at the moment. I might look into that if things aren't improving in a few months. Best's previous owner did say he'd take Best back if things weren't working out, but... it feels a little like that's not the right thing to do at the moment. It's like Garf and Tibbs - as far as I can tell, they're ignoring each other in the cage, maybe pushing it out to sniffing and chattering at the cage divide, but it's instant scrapping outside the cage.
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Post by titchycatnipsandwich on Sept 20, 2017 17:43:34 GMT
(Also, have I misread something? Was there a rescue somewhere that offered to help with introductions?)
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 21, 2017 3:56:22 GMT
Ahhh . . . you know I think there was! I don't remember who mentioned it though. One thing I do remember is that they said they used a very small space for the introductions. This is supposed to force a kind of empathy between them, which blows the usually barriers away . . . at least that is the theory offered . . . as I remember it. Hopefully someone remembers better than I.
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Post by moletteuk on Sept 21, 2017 15:11:33 GMT
I think the rescue that offers intro assistance is Little Bites in Luton.
I think the small space intros was just something that cropped up in conversation, maybe with random or darth.
I think I would try side by side with the thickets or however you can set it up. It will take the stress away and you should get an idea if you are going to see any improvement without the strain and possible damage of face to face meets for a while.
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Post by misscatafer on Sept 21, 2017 15:50:24 GMT
I have had a little research of small space intros today as a possibility for Bella & Boo as Bella absolutely hates her.... I was thinking if I was to do it I would use the pet carry case, but is it cruel? How long do they stay in those spaces for or is it just for intro purposes? Is there a risk of Bella just constantly biting her as opposed to fbod? Im learning that all degu intros are so unique too... Since moving Boo and Bella to being above and below each other as opposed to side by side I have found the aggression has significantly reduced.... There is more of just an interest towards Boo now and there are more little arguments between Harmione & Bella over who gets to watch her or sit underneath her. The grunting has stopped and I only hear teeth chattering when the sisters are arguing amongst themselves. When they are over the 18 month mark I am definitely going to attempt to get them all together again... Right now they are too highly strung. I think using the thickets cage will give you a good assessment of what is going on so try it and let's see!
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Post by bouncy on Sept 24, 2017 21:03:41 GMT
Nyota and Best intros are actually going quite well! We tried them together when I went around (after lots and lots of cuddles and kisses). They had over a minute of sniffing and trying to escape the box, then did some very normal kickboxing. I think it was about 5 minutes before we separated them (is that right Sophie?). There were a couple of tufts of fur in the box, but no injuries. There was even some happy warbling between them through the partition later on! titchycatnipsandwich looked like she held her breath throughout the whole thing! And I love that Nyota was hypnotised by nail varnish 😂
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Post by titchycatnipsandwich on Sept 24, 2017 21:56:05 GMT
I thought it was more like 3 minutes, but it was certainly longer than usual - I suspect getting Best calm after being captured before putting them in the box helped a lot On an unrelated note, two *rude word* huge spiders were sat on separate stairs (on the vertical part of the riser) when I tried to get up to bed tonight... both keys and vacuum were upstairs and Señor DeguWrangler refused to come and remove them I ended up with a jug and a piece of junk mail... bleurgh. Just nopenopenope but I had to do it anyway because no one rescues me from spiders these days. On which note, I should turn my light off so I don't see any more. And no, bouncy , I won't eat any in my sleep
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Post by bouncy on Sept 24, 2017 23:46:46 GMT
Lmao! I came home to a big one on my bedspread. It got sprayed!
My mum swears by conkers on the floor in random places where they usually come in.....
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 25, 2017 5:19:45 GMT
As in . . . the spiders are hiding inside the conkers and come in the house that way . . . or the conkers greet them as they walk in the room, scare the freaking legs off the spiders, and that's it for them?
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 25, 2017 5:20:14 GMT
Unless conkers have legs that then fall off and the conkers die?
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Post by titchycatnipsandwich on Sept 25, 2017 9:11:33 GMT
As in . . . the spiders are hiding inside the conkers and come in the house that way . . . or the conkers greet them as they walk in the room, scare the freaking legs off the spiders, and that's it for them? A UK old wives tale says that spiders don't like the smell that comes from fresh conkers... I'm unconvinced. I have a spray bottle of essential oils, and that seems to repel them a little better.
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Post by moletteuk on Sept 25, 2017 9:40:01 GMT
I'd be more scared of inadvertantly standing on a conker than seeing a spider.
Did I tell you guys that I went to bed the other night with a massive and a small spider on the ceiling, and in the morning and ever since there has been no sign of them. I mean I went to bed with a determination to sleep with my mouth closed, but.....
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Post by bouncy on Sept 25, 2017 10:46:49 GMT
You're brave! If I see a spider, it MUST be assassinated before I lose track of it. It can go wherever it wants to die once I've zapped it with fly spray, but it may not be allowed to go free! I never trod on the conkers in my mum's house, and it certainly seemed to lessen the seasonal migration in her house from the front right to the back left corner, and vice versa. Unfortunately, it didn't stop them from running over my feet a few times when I was stood in front of the kitchen sink
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Post by titchycatnipsandwich on Sept 26, 2017 11:32:54 GMT
Ok, so today's intro had a new and somewhat unexpected twist...
Boxing, boxing, boxing, boxing... Holding each other at arms length, with whiskers pointing forwards - there was a point where it just seemed to be whiskers touching, seeing who'd dare to make the first move. Anyway, so boxy boxy, whiskers whiskers...
Then after some somersaulting boxing, Best becomes absolutely adamant that he is escaping the box, thanks all the same, I'm not sticking around here. I scooped him back in twice, then on the third time just scooped him up and put them both back in the cage.
So today's question is... Do degus retreat? Do they say "you know what, I'm not going to win here but I refuse to lose, so I'm just gonna be the bigger degu and leave this fight"? And more importantly, I assume that if they're dead set on escaping/retreating, that I don't force the issue and insist that they stay in the box until it's sorted out?
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 26, 2017 19:34:56 GMT
Yes . . . I would say it is absolutely possible that that is the case. LOL!
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