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Post by Degumagic on Mar 30, 2006 20:11:55 GMT
Will my Degu's ever get over they bad start in life.
I've had my 6 Boys ( now girls) for about a year now. they all came from the RSPCA, as you will all have read two of them gave birth last week.
I don't know how they ended up there but they have never been as trusting as alot of the people on this site say they are. I do know that every morning the rspca would suck all the dirt out of the cages with a henry hoover. The shock of that must have been horrible of them.
Thats the reason i can't send the babys back there.
I time will they trust me more or do i just back off and leave them to just be Degu's. Will i just frighten them more.
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Post by Sunshinemeg on Mar 30, 2006 20:51:15 GMT
I think part of the problem is having 6 of them.. they dont NEED you, as they have each other, so they are happy to not become any more familiar with humans. I doubt you will get them over tame, you would if you had just one or two, but i dont think its really going to happen with 6 sadly. sorry
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Post by ra on Mar 30, 2006 21:35:56 GMT
SunshineMeg is right though you might be able to get one or two of the more friendly Degus tamed by handling them. I was a bit saddened by Mocha's not needing me as she once did before the babies were born. I spent hours with her (thinking she was a he and not knowing what was to come!). She would even sleep in my two hands for 5 - 10 min at a time. I could get her to come out and sit on the cage door and let me scratch behind her ears, under her arms , her belly. Originally she was very standoffish and it took a good month to develop this relationship then she had the babies. She became frantic and avoided me. I think she was awfully young for having her first litter and she had no companions to help her. I left her be until the babies were weaned and re-homed or sent to the pet shop.(that was so very, very difficult for me to do. If you read my old posts, I made sure I supplied the pet shop with all the educational information on Degus I could find.)
Once things were settled and there was just Mocha and her daughter Tanzania Peaberry, I thought we would get back to being closer. That really didn't happen. It will be a year April 7th since she gave birth. She just this past week started to come for me to give her a scratch. Tanzania has become friendlier than her mom. Of course she was never traumatized like her mom.
Building good relationships take lots and lots of time and patients. It really has to be on their schedule not ours. We have to wait for them to come around. Keep trying , move slowly and quietly - offer treats and just sit with them.
Though I do miss the closeness I had with Mocha I know she is happy with her daughter as a companion and she is coming back around some. I don't have the worry about what if I need to go away for a few days now. I know the two Degu Girls are there to keep one another company and my dad will provide food water and a little attention. I never went away for the first two months because I was afraid to leave Mocha by herself and then to leave her with her babies by herself.
Now when I go away both girls come running and chattering to me when I come home. That in itself is a good feeling.
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Post by thegrouchybeast on Mar 31, 2006 1:59:18 GMT
My three degus are rescues too. Honestly, the best bribe to get them to trust you is food, but you have to be careful not to overdo the treats. To get round this problem, I started handfeeding my three their ordinary food, a guinea pig pellet/chinchilla pellet/JR Farm mix.
In the beginning I put the pellets in my palm and my hand inside the cage, and let them take them from there. I gradually moved back toward to cage door so that now they have to come out on to my hands to get their food. Mostly they still jump back inside the cage to eat, although Tricksy and Scoop will sit on my hands to eat if they've found a particulary tasty small bit they doesn't think is worth running off with.
Tricksy and Scoop will now also tolerate me moving back from the cage and handling them for a while before letting them run back inside. And sometimes when I go to put them back, Tricksy especially will turn round in the cage entrance and run back onto my hand, if she's dropped or eaten her bit of food.
Degus have amazing associative memories, and they'll quickly learn where the food is and how to get it. Now they associate the Big Things outside the cage with food, and they've learned that if they don't come out, they don't get the good stuff. The trick is to do it every day, and be patient -- they'll quickly work it out if all they have to do is wait a couple of minutes and you'll give up.
Now I've got mine trained, I'll often hand feed them half, and then scatter the other half over the cage floor so they can search for it. But if they show signs of deciding they don't need to come out any more, I'll have a couple of days of hand-feeding only.
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Post by Degumagic on Mar 31, 2006 10:02:08 GMT
thanks for your advice. Its all really helpful I do have them, in 2 cages, 3 in each. the first 3 i got do come out on our hands and run over us, it's the other 3 that are more nervous.
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Post by diet otaku on Mar 31, 2006 20:32:56 GMT
my 4 boys are pretty standoffish too, but rumble is still the friendliest, being the most passive. rumble's the only one left who will come to an open doorway and sniff me or put his paws on my hands. never did get any of them to voluntarily sit in my hands. but i'm content to watch them behave more like natural degus than end up dependent on me for companionship, where i'd worry about not being able to spend enough time with them.
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Post by Aimeelou on Apr 4, 2006 13:48:37 GMT
Its true, Degus dont need us the way we need them! They make the rules im afraid when it comes to handling!
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