is my degu pregnant?

[annanatya]

i thought i have two males..but im not sure anymore
i’ve caught them doing it.. like 2 times but i thought they were just playing
imgur.com/a/XKvMEWn
does this look pregnant to you? i’m not sure oof
i still see him/her running on the wheel sometimes so he might just be fatter that the other one
also i can’t get him/her to stay still so i can check if it’s a boy or a girl but the guy at the pet shop said it’s a boy
sorry for the bad lightning

[savvy]

It's hard to tell, not just from the photo but with degus in general, until they are about to give birth.

Two males will 'hump' as this is a dominance behaviour so you could have two males and they are just trying to sort out the hierarchy.

A photo of their genitals would be really useful to determine their gender. Have you tried putting a few treats inside a glass bowl, getting them to sit in it and photographing from underneath? It's a very good technique if you have hyperactive degus.

[deguconvert]

Hmmm! Well . . . from above . . . the appearance could suggest pregnancy getting toward the later stages. In the last month (gestation in degus is 89-90 days) is when most of the recognizable shape comes into play. At first you can get this sort of triangular shape. Then the expectant goo will start to look more like she has swallowed a tennis ball whole. The larger the litter she is carrying, the more dramatic the look. It is pretty common that 1-2 weeks before birth, nipples will appear along the sides of the degu, between the front and rear legs. These don't travel down the center of the belly, but at the outer edges of it. Sometimes you can see the movement of the pups within. She will be slow in movement. Eating will be reduced and slow. It is strongly suggested that pregnant degus not be lifted and carried about, as a fall, even from a very short height, will very likely cause extreme internal damage and death. If you need to move her, use a steep sided bowl with treats in it that you have coaxed her to walk into on her own.

We have had at least one instance in the past where a very large male had us convinced he was a pregnant female. When he had exceeded the gestation period by a week, then two and so on, it was very clear he was just a large male with somewhat nebulous genitalia. LOL! You may have a similar instance on your hands. However, a large clear glass dish, or square baking pan, or even a very large clear glass jar on it's side with treats for distraction, can all work well for the purpose of "exposure" without putting the degu at risk.

By the way, is this the same degu that was biting you back in March?

[annanatya]

Jun 6, 2019 23:34:12 GMT deguconvert said:

Hmmm! Well . . . from above . . . the appearance could suggest pregnancy getting toward the later stages. In the last month (gestation in degus is 89-90 days) is when most of the recognizable shape comes into play. At first you can get this sort of triangular shape. Then the expectant goo will start to look more like she has swallowed a tennis ball whole. The larger the litter she is carrying, the more dramatic the look. It is pretty common that 1-2 weeks before birth, nipples will appear along the sides of the degu, between the front and rear legs. These don't travel down the center of the belly, but at the outer edges of it. Sometimes you can see the movement of the pups within. She will be slow in movement. Eating will be reduced and slow. It is strongly suggested that pregnant degus not be lifted and carried about, as a fall, even from a very short height, will very likely cause extreme internal damage and death. If you need to move her, use a steep sided bowl with treats in it that you have coaxed her to walk into on her own.

We have had at least one instance in the past where a very large male had us convinced he was a pregnant female. When he had exceeded the gestation period by a week, then two and so on, it was very clear he was just a large male with somewhat nebulous genitalia. LOL! You may have a similar instance on your hands. However, a large clear glass dish, or square baking pan, or even a very large clear glass jar on it's side with treats for distraction, can all work well for the purpose of "exposure" without putting the degu at risk.

By the way, is this the same degu that was biting you back in March?

thank you for your reply! also, no, he’s not the one that was biting me

[annanatya]

this is the best photo i could take
m.imgur.com/a/RWAXpRZ and for some reason the camera wasn’t focusing on it oof
i tried to be as gentle as possible and he/she was pretty calm, surprisingly

[deguconvert]

Looks male . . . there seems to be a long distance between cone and anus?

[savvy]

I'd say male too. I think what you're seeing is normal dominance behaviour.

[annanatya]

thank you all for your help! i guess he’s just a pretty large male