Introductions not working with one

[bopeuph]

We got a few more from that poor lady down the street; two males and one female. We tried introducing each two at a time in the bathtub (the baby male was in his own separate cage). Nausicaä tried mounting each one of them, and anytime it was protested (every one of them did), Nausicaä attacked. So, Nausicaä attacked all three of the new ones. Even the baby male refused to be mounted, and when we had to separate those two, he tried to come back at her. Man, I had no clue they were vengeful little things. Toki got along with every one of them. We are trying to put the females in one cage, and the males in another. The males got along great, since the older one is very timid at the moment. If Nausicaä is readily attacking each new introduction, does that mean she refuses to get along with anyone else?

Nick

[dreamcatcher]

Hi there,
how long have you been trying to introduce? I heard that females are much more vengeful than males. It may take a lot longer for the females and it may take more than a few weeks for the intro to go smoothly. I was very uninformed when I did my intro's and the girls all ended up in the same cage, within a day.
Should have taken longer for the introduction but like I said, I was very uninformed.
I should have read up a little more about adding to the family.

Anyway, I hope things work out for you and I hope eventually you can get the little cuties to get along.

[Erica]

I'm glad that you're kept the males and females in separate cages. I wouldn't introduce the males to the females since they're not going to be sharing a cage. Just focus on getting the females together.

Have you put a divider in the girls' cage again to let Nausicaä and Toki get used to the scent of the new girl without being able to hurt each other? I suggest that you mix their bedding and have them use the same sand bath every day so that they all start to smell the same.

You're smart to let them meet on neutral territory (your bathtub). Well done!

Just be patient because usually female degus are much more accommodating to each other than males. It's actually the males that are more territorial and aggressive than the females.

(Dreamcatcher, correct me if I'm wrong but I think that female gerbils that are more aggressive than male gerbils. It's opposite for degus.)

Hang in there... it may take a few days or a few months.
Keep us updated on the introductions.

[bopeuph]

Well, the males are doing great. The females are just bugging us. Nausicaä is making fighting squeaks while she is sniffing the new female at the divider. If Toki gets inquisitive, Nausicaä attacks her. Nausicaä seems to be upset at all the degus, including Toki. However, Toki is the only one that just runs away from Nausicaä, who can't climb that well, so Toki gets away easily. I think Toki will get along faster, so I think we might put Toki on the new female degu's side before Nausicaä will get the chance. She even whines when we pick up another degu and if we pick her up, she makes different noises and doesn't just sit on us any more like she used to. She is a little more jumpy.

By the way, last night, Nausicaä was in my hand, and Jenn was playing with the males. Nausicaä got away from me (I didn't think too much of it, since before the new degus, she usually comes right back to me). She ran straight to the males' cage, jumped in and attacked one right away. I grabbed her. She keeps running to the nearest degu and attacking. All the other degus, including Toki, are much more reserved.

Four of the five degus are related that we now have, including Toki. But they weren't all kept in the same cages. The young male was kept in one cage with the last litter of pups, and the new male and female were kept in the same cage together. Toki was in a different cage when we got her a few weeks ago.

[bopeuph]

The boys were doing so well, we already put them together. They haven't done anything but groomed, cuddled, and played together all day. We put Toki and the new female (San) together. They have been doing very well in the bathtub, and we figured Toki would fight less with her than Nausicaä in the small introduction spaces. They shared the alfalfa block without fighting, and haven't fought yet, either.

Nausicaä is going to stay by herself for another week in the introduction cage. We will try to get all three girls together then. She just seems to be a bitter old lady with possesive tendencies despite her young age.

Nick

[bopeuph]

Well, Toki and San are doing well together. We went to my parents' home for the weekend, which I thought would be a perfect neutral ground to try to introduce Nausicaä and San again. We did it in the bathroom/hallway area and we both sat on the floor with them. Within five minutes. They were a little furry dustball once again, and San ran into Jenn's lap and started squeaking. I think at this point, Nausicaä just isn't compatible with San. Toki has been doing very well with San; they haven't had a single fight yet. Jenn put Toki back in Nausicaä's cage, and they aren't fighting, either. Maybe we will just move Toki back and forth like a kid with divorced parents. Or maybe we will probably get another female for San.

Nick

[Erica]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with socializing Toki, San and Nausicaä.

So Toki's got a friend's house to visit!