Introducing a new pup to a loner adult

[carrot]

Hello everyone!
I was reading silently until now and here is my first message.
There is a lot of you with many experience that could give me advice on my situation, if you don’t mind!
(Excuse me by advance if my English sound weird)

I have a 3 years old degu that I take care of for about the same time. I could never found him a friend where I live until 1 month ago I found somebody giving degu pup. They had only one male left and I have bring him home 1 week ago. (He was 7 weeks and a half)
For one week I have mixte the 2 sand box and put their cage together.
They were interested and talking to each other. They would always try to go next to each other.
I decide to present them in the bathtub with a sand box and treats.

This is were I have question, they didn’t fought at all, but my adult one was mounting the pup a lot. I had read that it was normal, so I let them be. But I wasn’t expecting that much. When the pup showed sign that it was enough for him ( the adult wanted to go out too) I put them back to their cage.
(Note that the pup never seems to want to run away and always followed the adult. And he is still searching the adult by “speaking” with him from his cage)
Is my adult a mounting addict or it’s just normal at the beginning?

Thank you so much

[winic1]

This is normal at the beginning. The adult needs to prove to the new young one that he is the boss, that he is in charge. He wants to make it clear to the young one that he is, and will remain, the dominant goo.

It is good that they appear to like each other and are getting along so well at this point. Introductions of lone adults to very young pups often go well, and more quickly than introducing two adults.

It is good that you stopped their meeting when it seemed the young one had had enough. You want to keep their meetings happy, so they end feeling good about having been together.

Your English is not bad at all. No problem understanding you. Where are you from?

[carrot]

Thank you for this quick answer! ( I come from France ^^)

I feel better! I don’t want neither of them to have bad experience.
I will continue to let them meet for 1 week and when they will be chilling more with each other I will link their cages.

[deguconvert]

Hello Carrot, and welcome to the forum!!

I am very pleased you have found another male pup that you have brought into your home to become a companion for your three years old male. I am so glad that things are going well, and that your three years old male degu is very happy to be joined by his new companion. This is exciting for you and your degus!

Are you familiar with the adolescent stage? It is not quite as apparent with a solitary degu as it is when you have more than one. Dominance becomes a primary issue, and with adolescent degus, it sooner or later becomes their only focus. When your new pup is nearing 5-6 months of age, he may become pesky and irritating, always following the older degu, sniffing his bum, and trying to mount. This does not always start at 5 - 6 months, sometimes it is later than that, but it often does start then, and can last up to the 18 month old age. It can become very intense, and sometimes requires that the degus be separated for a time. This is very normal behavior for all degus. It is also quite stressful for us humans. Something that is very important for this stage, as well as for the general well being of the degus, is a habitat/cage that is large and accommodates their ground squirrel behaviors with lots of surface space to run and move about on. May I ask, what are you using for cages (What are their dimensions?) for your two boys?

[carrot]

Thank you so much for the advice!
I definitely to keep that in mind.
Right now I have 4 cages that I have linked by tunnels, they are into 2 cages each(they are side by side and not on top of each other)
When they will know each other better I will linked their cages as well.
Each cage is 43,5x50x62 (centimeter), in foot 1,4x1,6x2. It was the bigger I could found so I decide to buy multiple and linked them.
I have put a lots of platform, hamac and house area.
The little one is still in a limited area for training/taming when out, but the adult have access to all a room for a minimum of 2 hours a day.

[deguconvert]

I would really love to see your set up!! It sounds so intriguing! What are the tunnels made out of that you have linked them with? If they are plastic, have you had any sign of them being chewed?

[winic1]

I always wanted to put a series of small cage-rooms connected by clear tubes all over one wall, so it would be like looking at a cut-away of their underground den complex. Too complicated to build by myself, though.