Venk joining the 221b household

[ntg]

I've officially got my baby boy back!



He's been a bit withdrawn and skittish since we lost his dad but seeing other goos has seemed to perk him up somewhat.

I've had to transport him in an 84L really useful box (£25 for a set of 5 different sizes at B&Q at the moment - free largest box is huge and perfect for long distance degu travel) as the two tier lazybones that I bought as a travel cage is apparently too tall for my car he spent the whole journey in the safety of the tent house and seemed a bit nervous when we took him into the house but perked right up after we put him in the playpen and he could properly see Sherlock and Watson and went straight back to being confident with me.

We put him in the lazybones rather than the thickets since it's bigger and the second level matches up to the bottom half of the liberta, he's shown some interest in the other two and chirped at them from time to time but is also happy to do his own thing (typically he's been a bit of an independent goo so that's unsurprising). Sherlock and Watson however are bar chewing more than usual but that could be down to them not getting out much with me being away, we'll just have to wait and see!

[deguconvert]

Welcome home, Venk!!

[randomname]

Aww that's lovely. They look pretty chilled in the 'photo, just having a little chat So glad he's not alone & he's doing ok. How are you doing?

[Deleted]

YAY! Welcome home!!

[ntg]

He's still a little quieter than usual - I haven't been yelled at through the cage yet but everyone has been pretty chilled out with each other so far (phew).

I'm doing okay random, I'm happy in the knowledge that I did the right thing by Gandalf and Venk on his own couldn't really be helped since I wouldn't have risked intros as pairs since Gandalf would have been practically helpless if a fight broke out

[Emziedee]

I can't see the photo 😔

[ntg]

I've hosted it through tapatalk to see if that helps garf

[moletteuk]

Awww, welcome home Venk. Great to see the initial signs are promising I hope your dad gets some more goos!

I'm sure you and Venk are still deeply grieving but it's good to hear your mind is easy about Gandalf, I think that's the best we can hope for.

[ntg]

Sept 20, 2017 18:04:53 GMT moletteuk said:

I hope your dad gets some more goos!

Working on it I was looking into a pair in Glasgow that are in a hamster cage with a hamster wheel but the guy seems unwilling to sell them without the cage and wants £100 for it all... Now found a pair in a proper rescue (along with a single 7 years-old boy... Maybe that thickets in the loft will be put into use after all if I can sweet-talk him into three) in Berwick so I've emailed my dad their details

[ntg]

I've just had a fight break out between Sherlock and Watson, I'm not sure what triggered it, just that there was a squeak then when I looked over all three of them were face to face with one another. S+W then spent 5 minutes shoving bums high in the air at each other's faces and progressed to serious boxing - totally silent, aggressive body language and then progressed to kicking.

I don't know if I stopped it by shouting and blasting them with air to distract them or if they decided enough was enough but poor Watson seemed distraught by the end to the point where he hid under the wooden bridge to get away from Sherlock.

They seem to have settled down a bit now but have been humping each other a few times so it seems like Venk is causing them to rethink their hierarchy a bit.

Problem is, I'm not sure if Venk is actually instigating something as when I look over he seems to be chewing the bars right next to them, but as soon as I move he stops whatever he's doing and innocently starts eating hay instead

[deguconvert]

You could pull his cage away from theirs by a few inches and see if a little more distance calms things even further.

[ntg]

Everything has calmed down again between Sherlock and Watson. Moved the cages slightly more apart as suggested and haven't heard a peep from them.

I think Venk might be feeling like he's being watched though...



And here's some snoot shots

Watson


Sherlock


Venk

[Bexi87]

SNOOOOOTS ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[ntg]

Had my little Venk to the vets today for a general check-up before I start intros. He got nothing but compliments and aww's from the vet (Emma again) and the three vet students in the room. He was surprisingly a dream, sat in my hands without much fuss until the dreaded scoping of the mouth. He has some cloudiness in his eyes but everything else seems good, so he's sat on his heatpad with a few "forgive me" treats.

Sherlock was straight over to see him when I put him in the cage and I even heard a few chirps from someone this morning. Sherlock still likes biting at the bars though but Watson seems to pretty much ignore him. So I'm just waiting until the biting calms down before starting intros.

[bouncy]

Awwwwwwwwww! Venk looks really snug there, and glad he's happy and healthy!

I think all of us go into the V.E.T. by apologising for our goos in anticipation of their behaviour........because you never know when they're going to sink their teeth into one of the vets or nurses. Or wee on them. Or poo on them.

[ntg]

Venkybubs has been here for 5 and a half weeks now and things haven't calmed down much - Sherlock is still very intent on him but doesn't chew the bars any more and I haven't seen much tail wagging on his part recently. Venk is mostly ignoring them still but I noticed his tail is balding so he's fur pulling a little bit that might be due to his wheel being taken out for a week after he hurt his leg a couple of weeks ago.

All is not rosy with Sherlock and Watson at the moment though;the autumnal fighting has decided to rear it's ugly head. No injuries but I'm fearing that it's only a matter of time - Watson has been squeaking non-stop today and their interactions are tense with lots of teeth chattering, bum dancing and hesitation going on. Their (particularly Sherlock's) attitude towards me has also changed as a result, showing more fear and uncertainty than they were just a couple of days ago. So no intros are going forwards at the moment since I think it'll end up causing more friction between them both.

On a positive note, Venk is back to his cheeky self and telling us off whenever he can. He's even become happy to be lifted on my shoulder again and loves chilling out on my phone to tell me to give him attention during free-range

[bouncy]

Yay to Dr Venkman!

If Venk is his cheerful chappy self again, I don't think he will thank you for introducing him into the chaos next door. It's a good decision to wait.

[moletteuk]

Sounds a bit one step forward another step back, but good overall if Venk is doing well

[deguconvert]

Glad to hear how well Venk is doing! I think you are wise to not pursue introductions at this point. Venk is coming back to his normal self, so he is moving past his grief and to some degree is being consoled and comforted by the presence of Sherlock and Watson. Sherlock and Watson need the time to figure out their relationship and you are right not to add Venk to the mix. Time is on your side! No need to push things at this point.

[ntg]

Progress? I cleaned them out last night since it was bin collection day today and mixed some old smelly woodshavings and put a handful into each cage. Sherlock was straight over to investigate the new smells but just started picking out pieces of forage from it rather than showing any aggression. So I took a risk - I took a tiny amount of loo roll from each degus nest and put it in the opposite cage (not in their beds but on one of the levels). Came back an hour later and Sherlock and Watson had stuffed the bedding into their house and Venk was happily telling me off because he wanted to be out of the cage. I'm taking it to mean they must be accepting him to some degree or there's no way it would have ended up in their bed.

Fighting has also calmed right down since I put their new metal wheel in, they had a wooden one in already but I wonder if they just don't like it since it's a bit narrower than they're used to.