Let the bonding begin... :D

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Been very excited to share the good news with you all... We have been given the all clear by our vet to begin bonding Patchy with Chewy & Chuckie
Fingers crossed he won't be a lonely goo for much longer.

Obviously it is going to be a long process as they are all adults, all males and we are introducing one to a bonded pair but we are very hopefully and believe taking the introductions very very slowly and on the Degus terms, we are praying for a good end result.

We have bonded Degus before so have some basic knowledge but situations have been slightly different and easier...
- Sucessfully three pups aged 2 months with adult (Chewy) this was an easy introduction.
- Successfully bonded two adult females with adult (Chewy), (Were meant to be males but P@H sexed wrong, learnt lesson the hard way to check for ourselves!) pretty easy introduction.
- Successfully bonded 6 week old pup to his Daddy (Chewy), another very easy introduction.

I'll keep you updated about how the bonding goes... Any hints, tips or guidance will be gratefully received as obviously we have some bonding experience but this is going to be tricker.

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We placed the cages next to each other side by side so they can see each other, smell each other and interact but cant quite touch each other to avoid any injury's.
Basically Chewy & Chuckie are reestablished their hierarchy as up until now Chewy has been the dominant but the last few months Chuckie has been showing more and more interest in being the alpha... The last week, I have seem Chewy submitting to the dominant humping from Chuckie so we believe Chuckie could soon be the new alpha.

When we first put them near each other they acted slightly different...
Chuckie was interested initally, he went over and had a sniff of Patchy and started warbling, didn't really show any aggression. After seeing Patchy, Chuckie continued playing and hasn't really taken much notice of Patchy the rest of the day, he only seems to go over there when he sees Chewy near him and looks like he is trying to calm Chewy down and telling him to walk away...

Chewy is showing more signs of aggression, we have had some teeth chattering, tail thumbing and loud squeaks, Chewy has also tried scratching Patchy nose. He has been like this on and off during the day but this evening he was quite happy to sit on his bed on the top ledge and Patchy sat on the top ledge of his cage which is at the same level as Chewy's (So they were about 20cm away from each other without any fuss). The interesting thing is Patchy always use to sit on top of his hideaway house on the base level but this evening he is sat on the top shelf so he can see C&C.

Patchy has remained his normal quiet self and hasn't really made a single noise towards them.

Hopefully after a few weeks of being near each other we will see a change in Chewy's behaviour.

[bouncy]

The warbling sounds really positive!

[deguconvert]

Sounds like a great start!!

[misscatafer]

Good luck!

[Deleted]

Yay it's all sounding pretty good! Good luck!

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Its sure does bouncy. Just hoping Chewy has calm down and will continue not being fussed about Patch like he was last night.

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Thank you deguconvert. Chewy has bonded well before so going he will accept Patchy as his adopted son and Chuckie will have an adopted brother

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Thank you misscatafer.

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Thank you emily! It has started of better then I thought, so hopefully we continue to progress in the right direction.

[Emziedee]

Oh I love reading about successful bonding well done with the previous intros and good luck with this one 💖

[misscatafer]

I really am rooting for you, I am 10 weeks into introductions with my lot....it is just a waiting game for me now, things are improving at a snails pace. I love hearing success stories though as it gives me hope! (as well as making me think, what am I doing wrong??)

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Thank you Garfunkel&Tibbs85. Hopefully this one will be as successful as the others.

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Thank you misscatafer. It can be a very long process but as long as the process is taken slowly at a speed the Degus are happy with its never impossible.

That's it, the good old waiting game - I have just had a look at your threads. Looks as if your not doing anything wrong it just all depends on the Degus personality, the hierachy and willingness to accept a new Degu. I think you are doing great by taking the introduction slowly this will help them to form a close forever bond, if rushed they still might develop a bond but not a strong bond which means it could only be temporary. I think our last introduction were quite quick due to introducing young pups and male to female (Accidently!). But I think even though they are showing some good signs, its still going to be a long process like yours... Just stick with it, and it will be a great reward at the end

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This first week has been excellent, the bonding has gone even better then we could of imagined.

It seems that Chuckie is now the alpha, we have seen him dominating Chewy most of the week and Chewy surprisingly has been submissive. So hopefully that side of it is sorted.

C&C seem to be bonding with Patchy very well, they like sleeping on their bed and Patch will sleep near the bars next to them. Also C&C have been warbling and chirping through the bars and Patchy has been warbling and happily chirping back. There is no longer any signs of aggression .

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When do you reckon they would be ready for a face to face introduction?

They have been living near Patchy since we first adopted him nearly a month ago, he lived in the bottom half of the cage, then they are now next to each other and showing excellent signs, we have been swapping some of the soiled litter between the two cages. But we don't want to rush it or do it wrong and cause issues.

Just thinking this is obviously different from other introductions we have done, as we have never bonded adult males together before. Any advice would be a huge help.

Thanks

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They have also had several sand baths using the same bath to get then use to each others scent and don't seem to be bothered by this.

[deguconvert]

Do you have plans for how to do a face to face . . . a location in mind?

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We were planning on doing the introductions in our bedroom as this is neutral territory as the Degus don't go in the bedroom. We have very large cardboard box to use like a play pen. Would of ideally used a bath tub as this id were we have done introductions previously but unfortunately only have a shower at our new house.

[deguconvert]

So the box will be used to restrict their access to the rest of the bedroom? I think it sounds like a good plan. As for the when, it sounds like things look good for trying now if you feel up to it.