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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2018 13:04:10 GMT
Hi my name is Christine. I am English but live in Finland. We got to female degus Molly and Polly for my son about 5 years ago. He is 15 now and takes care of them himself. A few weeks ago Molly was put to sleep after finding tumors in her mouth. Not wanting to leave Polly alone we got two 6 week old females Rosie and Maisie last week. They got along great immediately and now all live together in their new Savic Suite XL cage.
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Post by misscatafer on Jul 15, 2018 13:52:08 GMT
Nice to meet you Christine! Sorry for the loss of Molly, but lovely news that Polly has some company. We love photos on here if you would like to share some of your furry family
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Post by savvy on Jul 15, 2018 17:38:24 GMT
Welcome to the forum! It's lovely to meet you and your degu family.
We always love photos on here, so don't be afraid to post pics.
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 15, 2018 18:33:16 GMT
Welcome to the forum, Cdh!! I read your other post before this one. It is lovely that Polly, Rosie, and Maisie are already getting along so well, and that you are already seeing responsive interactions with the pups yourself. I look forward to getting to know you!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2018 12:55:33 GMT
Sorry! Trying to post pictures of my degus. It's not working.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2018 12:57:29 GMT
If this works. this is our older degu Polly with our three budgies Billy, Bluey and Leila. They all like to come out together.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2018 13:10:51 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2018 13:14:30 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2018 13:17:30 GMT
OK some success now, but don't know how to get the pictures smaller. This is our 2 new degus. 7 week old sisters, Rosie on the left and Maisie on the right. Amazing the difference in size. Maisie is more interested in food ans Rosie more interested in running around. After one week they both come out into my son's bedroom for some time everyday.Both will come onto your hand for food , but Rosie is a bit skittish and runs away like lightning if you move.
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 17, 2018 17:16:15 GMT
The difference in size seems . . . fishy . . . LOL! If they are sisters, they are from different litters. The larger one really doesn't look like she is 7 weeks old at all. Her fur looks different as well. It has the appearance of an adult degu. I believe she is older than you have been told. I also believe Rosie is older than 7 weeks, but not by as much as Maisie is. Although, maybe seeing them all together would help . . . measuring them against someone we know is an adult could blow my thoughts right out of the water. LOL! No matter what their ages are, they are both stunning!! Beautiful ladies all THREE!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2018 9:29:38 GMT
They are definitely sisters from the same litter. When I first saw them they were 3 weeks old and with the parents. The pups had been sexed as 2 females and 1 male. We reserved the 2 females.We went to visit them once in the 3 weeks before they were released and I took some photos of the 3 babies. There was already one bigger and one smaller than the middle one. The difference was greater when we collected them, the middle sized one being the male so we got the smallest and the biggest.I wondered myself and checked back to the photos I took on our earlier visit. I think the fur difference is due to the focus of the camera. Maisie is in focus and Rosie behind is slightly out of focus. Our female Polly is also quite small (her sister Molly was bigger) and when she sits next to Maisie you can see that although they are the same length Maisie is thinner and not filled out yet. They are both quite different characters. Maisie is more confident and also likes her food. Rosie is a bundle of nervous energy always running around.We have been observing to make sure Rosie gets enough food and she has grown quite a lot in the 10 days we have had them.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2018 9:43:30 GMT
If it works, here is a picture of all three of them together last night. You can see Maisie is smaller than Polly and Rosie has put on weight. Maybe she was not getting enough food with the parents and siblings.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2018 9:47:20 GMT
The girls have just been let out and went straight to investigate the millet left there by the budgies. This is the usual state of my son's bedroom flour! But this Mum doesn't mind I love the little creatures as much as he does. The girls were born on 24th May which makes them 8 weeks now.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2018 16:43:18 GMT
Hiya!!
Just want to say that the bigger degu is 99% not from the same litter. It’s FAR too big for an 8 week old degu. The other two look a bit bigger than 8 weeks too.
The bigger degu looks pretty much adult sized to me!
I mean it’s no issue if they all get on, I just think you’ve been misinformed 😁
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 18, 2018 18:20:34 GMT
So . . . at three weeks they were all about the same size?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2018 19:23:50 GMT
HI. The bigger degu is my 5 year old Polly. She is actually quite a small adult. Her sister Molly who died recently was quite a bit bigger than her. When we saw them at 3 weeks one baby was more active and came to the front of the cage and the other two were at the back. When we went the second time the same one Maisie was very active and the male as well but the littlest was hiding more. I can't imagine why they would give the wrong age. She looked back in here calendar to tell me the their birthday. And she would not let us take them on the first visit because she said they could not be separated from the mother before 6 weeks. We were keen to take them as soon as possible as Polly was alone for the first time in her life and seemed restless all the time. If they were already old enough why would she risk losing a home for them by saying they were too young? Also when I saw them 10 days before I collected them all three babies, 2 females and 1 male, were still together with both parents. We have also noticed that Rosie is starting to catch up now. We have 4 food bowls for the 3 of them and have been hand feeding Rosie whenever we can. Todays problem is the temperature. It's been 33 C here outside and 30 C in the degus room.It is not usually this hot here in Finland so no air conditioning. We have the windows wide open and moved the cage closer to get a breeze. Then I found advice here to put frozen waters bottles in the cage. Drove around this afternoon to buy a fan, but no luck everywhere is sold out, including internet shops. If this heat continues I think I will have to move the girls out of their lovely palace and back into a small cage which I can put in the bathroom where it is cooler.
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 18, 2018 22:30:59 GMT
If you can access any stone tile, like from a store that sells construction materials, you could hopefully get small pieces that are leftover, cutoff bits, put those in your fridge to keep them cool and then swap them out to help keep the degus cool.
As for age . . . I think your thoughts on how the original owners were managing the pups up to the right age to let them leave is accurate. Maisie does look so much bigger, but as you say, maybe Rosie wasn't getting as much food and is now making up for it now she is in your home. It's really not an issue at all, so I don't want you to feel worried, and I didn't mean to cause worry or make you feel picked on. We ended up having a fair amount of experience with pups in my home, so when I was looking at your photo and noticing the differences in fur, I was thinking of how it changes quite a bit from pup to three months of age, and again from three months to six months. Maisie's fur just looks more like six months to me than around seven weeks. Maybe she just has exceptionally thick fur!! I have also noticed that degus with the white and brown fur is a different texture than the agouti fur.
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Post by sarahc on Jul 19, 2018 0:48:22 GMT
Sorry for your loss. Also congratulations on your beautiful new pair to keep your other girl company as I've found younger degus give older ones a new lease of life enjoy 😁
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2018 18:23:53 GMT
Still a bit worried about the temperature here. Yesterday I bought a stack of terracottta saucers and have been putting them in the freezer and swopping them round in the cage. I haven't seen them sitting on them much but they must at least help keep the cage a bit cooler. Luckily a relative has offered me the loan of a small air-conditioning unit which I will collect tomorrow. Discovered that all 3 love dried rose petals. Just had them all out for an hour along with our 3 budgies. It is funny to watch a the new 2 approach the budgies curiously and then flee as soon as a budgie flaps its wings. Our happy family! Deguconvert, I think you are right about the fur being different, both the new ones seem to have courser fur than Polly.
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Post by sarahc on Jul 19, 2018 18:33:37 GMT
I have a fan on in my living room and it only slightly hit the corner of the cage and they all want to have a nap on the ledges that the fan hits makes me laugh such weird ways of sleeping but at least they are cool hey
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