One of my gals is squeaking during the night!

[emilyistcb]

I've got 5 girls (one Mama, 4 daughters- all with the same baby daddy...) and without fail, every night one of them squeaks. I've read about this and have heard that sometimes they'll do this when they're scared, or when they do it, it only last 30 seconds- but mine will sometime go on for a minute or two. When they were babies, I was able to just murmur,"Please be quiet" and they would, but that doesn't seem to be working anymore.

[kioshiandtomeo]

my boys do that too, but it's usually when they play with themselves :dies laughing:

dunno the reason for your girls though. maybe little indignant about something another girl did? no clue. . .

*waits for veteran degu handler to rescue everyone in topic*

I'm really curious though!

-Rachel & The Zoo.

[ra]

Mine will squeak when they want attention. I have a mother/ daughter pair. If one is indignant over something the other has done it is ususally just one or two obviously offended squeaks. I would think more prolonged squeaking is one looking for your attention in particular. Either one or both of mine call to me if they hear my voice and I haven't gone in to visit with them. Perhaps one needs a little re-assurance that you are there. Of course in the middle of the night that can be annoying. I'm not sure responding is your best bet - it might just teach them to squeak to wake you up. If you go to them and speak to them do they settle down for the night or are you awakened again later? If they keep it up you might have to try ignoring them for a couple of nights to see if they give up.

[Sunshinemeg]

I have one of my younger degus who cries for a prolonged time if the two older degus in his group fight. He gets really upset that "daddy and daddy" are fighting. Sometimes this is useful, cause I go to tell him to shut up, and can prevent the other two from fighting any further about whatever it was!

As Kioshiandtomeo says, male degus will also make this noise after "playing" with themselves, or "cleaning themselves" as I tell young visitors. In a mixed degu environment the male will make this noise to annouce a successful coupling.

hope this helps.

[emilyistcb]

Thank you for your responses. They are very helpful.
The other night, one of them made a sound I've never heard before. A loud, quick, "SHT! SHT!" (think they were trying to tell me something? )
any ideas as to what they meant. It seemed to me a threatening or threatened noise.
Also, my friend took my boys (4 of them- I don't want any more babies...) and his boys are fighting to the point of injury. There are no females around so we can't figure it out! And sometimes they cuddle, so we know it's not constant fighting. What do we do?

[kioshiandtomeo]

my two new guys that were paired together originally at the store that took them in did the same thing.
They were happy at my place for about a week, then started fighting for no apparent reason, then after settling, would curl up together happily, only to fight 10 minutes later. In the end, I seperated mine. I figured it was because of the space, as we were still building the better temporary cages for them. it was quite a small tank, so that's what i figured.

How big was your cage for them? if it's not very big, they just could be a little tired of each other, and unable to escape the attentions of the other, are angered enough to fight over territorial space.
That's my best guess. . .but i have no other ideas.
I got used to my guys doing their eepings after i figured out what the problem was, lol. I tune the sound out and don't worry about it.
I think i know what you mean about the new sound, but i can't be sure. When mine get really annoyed at each other(through the introduction barriers) they do those hoarse, warning-like lowish shrieks, and dig at the barrier. I didn't blame Taisen for doing that one bit after Tomeo stuck his hairless tail through the cage barrier and teased Taisen into running into it. needless to say, Taisen missed Tomeo's tail by a mile, lol. crazy degus!

-Rachel & The Zoo.