Possible mistake with sexing / unusual behaviour?

[gengarskhan]

Hi all, I recently purchased two amazing degus from P@H (UK) and it's been a pleasure caring for these guys so far! However, I have a few concerns regarding their supposed sexes and behaviour:

Firstly, after taking a look, I can confirm Degu #1 is male. However, it's a lot more tricky to assess Degu #2. I did manage to get a few pictures, so hopefully somebody here could take a look? (I apologise for the quality/angle!) I've also noticed that Degu #1 keeps sniffing Degu #2's tail base/genitals and Degu #2 responds aggressively. Additionally, Degu #1 keeps attempting Degu #2, but I know this can be a dominance-related issue between two degus of the same sex.
Lastly, Degu #2 appears to be considerably larger than Degu #1, and obviously given the above, my primary concern is that (s)he is potentially pregnant.

If any of you more experienced degu owners could take a look /advise me, I'd be super grateful!

[randomname]

Hi gengarskhan , welcome to the forum. Nice to meet you.

Sadly, I'm not the best person to respond as I have no experience with sexing degus. We do have several members who are brilliant at this, & your photos are clear enough I think, so I'll leave it to them to respond properly. I think most of our UK members will be asleep, so you might have to hang on 'til morning. Unless our Canadian or American members are up & around.

P@H are notorious for missexing degus on here - I think we have quite a few members with the same problem. They eventually persuaded P@H to pay for things like extra cages/vet's treatment etc so you're in the right place for advice.

Everything you say is right - the behaviour could be dominance or mating. However degus can vary in size with the top goo usually being bigger than the less dominant one. The thing to look for is shape I think. Does the bigger one look pear shaped from above? If she's bootilicious that may indicate pregnancy.

One thing we have all noticed on here is that male degus like to... ahem.... "clean" themselves.. ahem... "down there" ... for longer than is necessary... if you get my drift the (ahem) man bit is VERY obvious (like half the size of the torso & very red ewwwwww) so maybe keep an eye out for that? They usually decide to do it at the worst times so maybe invite your parents, the local vicar or a small innocent child round - that should prompt them to start doing it! lolol.

Sorry I couldn't be more help. I'm sure someone much more knowledgeable will be along soon to talk sense. In the meantime, welcome to the forum

[uglibug]

Not the best at sexing goos but looking at that last pic they both appear to have the same bits in the same places, so hopefully you've just got a rather plump goo. It is more related to shape, a pregnant goo will get heavy set across the hips and will have a very distinctive pear shape.

[bouncy]

Hello there! It is difficult to see from the photos, because the key is the space between the cone and the anus and, unfortunately, the Pyrex dish has flattened across the wrong way lol.

Basically, as long as they're both the same down there, all is good. Males will have a gap between the two of a little fingernail. Females basically have no gap.

As others have said, P@H are very bad at both sexing, and separating the two sexes early enough. This means that, even if you have two females, one or both may be expecting! Unfortunately, it's difficult to tell until a couple of weeks before the pups are due.

Please keep asking questions about anything. We can all say with experience that keeping a goo is nothing like any other animal or child you could imagine!

[lenithemonster]

Hello
Try to look at this tutorial. I had to sex all my degus in last 3 month multiple times so I think this will help you too.
www.degutopia.co.uk/degusexing.htm

But I don't how about the other people here... i don't think they have the same genitalia. Maybe try to make some better photos?

My pet store gave me a girl instead of a boy and we suddenly had 6 little (adorable) goos. We actually thought she is he untill the last moment We didn't know much about goos then.

[winic1]

Since you have two, look to see if they look the same. There should be the same amount of space between the anus and the cone. If both have a gap, both male. If on one they are very close, probably female. Most important is that your two goos look the same.

I have three boys, and saw some suspicious activity, didn't look like regular dominance humping, looked much more deliberate. Posted pictures here, and the votes went 50-50 on whether that third one was male or female, as he is sort of ambiguous. Wasn't until we had him at the vet, and she confirmed he was male by getting him to extrude his, umm, maleness.

So, if you can't be sure by looking at their parts, keep watch for him to be cleaning himself, there's no doubt as it's really long.

[Deleted]

Hi! Welcome! You've had some great advice so far.

Please feel free to ask us any questions you have, because unfortunately most likely everything they've told you will be incorrect they're terrible! I'm glad you've come here though, you're in the best hands for any future questions.


My two pence is that you have a male and a female there... but it's really hard to see. The picture of the degu on its own on the dish is definitely male... the one with them both on, the one who's to the right looks female, but it could be the angle of the photo, and it's blurry. Could you take more photos of that degu please? I know it's hard!

[gengarskhan]

Thanks for all the advice guys, it's been super helpful!

Thankfully I can confirm that Degu #1 is male after the embarrassing encounter randomname mentioned! 

However, as for Degu#2:



I managed to get a better look, and hopefully got a more detailed picture? From what some of you have said (and thank you for the sexing guide!) it's the gap that determines the sex. From what I can tell, this little guy has a substantial gap, which the photo doesn't totally take into account.

Pretty much keeping an eye out to confirm this when he cleans himself down there, but (s)he seems to be a lot more shyer than his degu-friend.

[bouncy]

I must admit that the photo suggests male, so it looks like you're off the hook both for future and unknown pregnancies!

[Deleted]

Both male!

[savvy]

Yep! Both look male to me!

Now we have the sex confirmed (phew!) I would double check all the info pets at home gave you, they are notorious for bad advice and their info is usually suspect too.

[deguconvert]

I was going to say both male as well . . . however that photo you have of the two side by side, one is most definitely male, the left one, and the other . . . well, in that photo it almost looks female. If that is the same degu in the latter photo, then it certainly looks male.

[moletteuk]

Are you totally certain you got the right degu in the later picture?

[Deleted]

I have to agree with the two ladies..
I was pretty sure in the original photo of the two sat together, that one was female.

[deguconvert]

The hair growth pattern of the degu on the left (in the photo with both degus) matches the hair growth pattern in the most recent single degu photo, so I'm thinking that is the same male degu featured.

[deguconvert]

Gengarskhan, which degu are you wondering about? Is it the degu with the very distinct teardrop shaped hair pattern around the bits or it is the degu with more of an oval shaped hair pattern around the bits?

[gengarskhan]

Hey guys, it was the more tear-dropped shaped one. The other degu (the oval one) revealed he was male whilst cleaning.

[deguconvert]

OK!! WOO HOO! LOL Now you can completely relax . . . and so can we.