Keeping degus of different sexes beside each other

[pollux]

Hello, lovely degu owners! I was hoping I could get your insight and input into something.



I’m a first-time degu owner, and two months ago, I rehomed two degus named Castor & Pollux. I quickly realized that Castor was a boy and Pollux was a girl; unfortunately, they already made with the degu loving and Pollux gave birth to four pups three weeks ago. Castor has since been neutered, and I believe I have two girl babies and two boy babies. My original plan was to find new homes for the four babies once they were weaned. However, I’ve since fallen in love with the babies and it breaks my heart to give them away.



So, I’m planning on keeping them and am going to be purchasing a two-level Critter Nation to house the boys. The girls would be kept in the two-level Ferret Nation cage that the whole family is currently living in. However, space in my house is at premium and I’m trying to figure out the best place to keep a second huge two-level cage. I think I’ve figured it out, but it would require the two cages to be side-by-side. I thought it might be comforting for the family to still live beside each other and hear/smell each other, even if they can’t cuddle as a family like they’ve been doing. For owners who have degus of different sexes, is this a good idea? Or will the close proximity of the boys and the girls cause the male degus to freak out when the girls are in heat? Would it be better to keep the boys and girls away from each other? I’m concerned that the boys might fight if they can smell/hear the girls during mating season.



Also, since Castor has been neutered—are there any concerns about keeping him with the un-neutered boys? Will they bully him? Would it be better to keep him with the girls?



Thanks so much in advance for the help! I’ve been relying on the information on this board for the past few weeks, and I’m very grateful for the advice of more knowledgeable degu owners!

[savvy]

Welcome to the forum. I'm not surprised you fell in love with the pups! They are adorable.

I currently have one of each, Dixie, an 8 year old un-neutered male and Reggie, a 17 month old female.

Reggie came to me as a mis-sexed male in December following the loss of my champagne banded male Bumblebee due to a respiratory infection and possible heart problems.

They each have an Adventura cage and are kept side by side.

I've found the opposite to what you describe, when Reggie is on heat she is constantly badgering poor Dixie! He just ignores her, but she follows him up and down the cage squeaking loudly and trying furiously to get his attention, lol. Poor lad gets no sleep when she has designs on his body and her nickname is now Reggie Randy Pants.

I'm not sure about a neutered male degu with un-neutered males, but I do know it can cause problems in other species. I'm sure there will be others who can answer that question.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask, there are no silly ones when it comes to degus, lol.

[pollux]

Ha! It never even occurred to me that the reverse could happen instead: that the females would be chasing after and fighting over the men! D'oh! Female degus have needs, too!

[savvy]

Yep, the need to procreate, lol.

[deguconvert]

Hello Pollux!! It is lovely to meet you!

I had two large groups of males and females. My cages were home built wooden cages, and I kept the females in the cage below, and the males in the cage above. There was no increase in aggression . . . though for a time my females were adept escape artists and would climb the outside of the cage, looking for ways to get in with the males. Likely with designs on mating while in heat. I did get that particular problem resolved though, and every one was happy! I would suggest that you keep a small amount of space between the cages though . . . say 5 cm . . . so that mating can't happen between the bars.

I have a question for you . . . is Castor still in the same cage as Pollux and the babies? It is recommended that male degus be kept separate from females for a six week period after neutering, because it takes that long for any sperm that is present outside of the testicles to die. While it is difficult to understand how sperm can be present when the testicles are gone, the sperm really are there, and we have had stories of pregnancy occurring when the male was reunited with the female sooner than the end of those six weeks. I mention this because, A. Pollux may already be impregnated again, and B. female pups can be impregnated as early as 6 weeks of age. REALLY. And not only that . . . male pups can do the deed as early as 7-8 weeks of age. Speaking from personal experience. So, I think you need to have Castor separated for now, but beside the others. He will mourn the separation. Then I think you need to separate the male pups from the females when they are about 6.5 weeks of age. At that time you can put them in with Castor.

Then it's a matter of what you observe. Do you want to have all male and all female groups, or do you want to have Castor back in with the girls. If you see conflict between Castor and the male pups, maybe you will want him with the girls. If they are getting along, maybe you will want to leave them be. However . . . the closer you get to six months of age, the more you will begin to see the onset of adolescent hormonal behaviors and the contest to be the dominant degu. This is often a chaotic time, and while both males and females go through it, it can be much more intense among males. You may find that you want to have Castor with the girls. The girls will challenge each other as well, but it is not usually as bad. Depending on the personalities of the girls. Some are very feisty! At this point, it is only guess work based on typical degu behaviors of that age, and we won't know what they will be like for sure until they reach that age.

So . . . keep in touch, we'd like to know you . . . and ask any and all questions as Savvy recommends above. You will be enjoying your pups and all that comes with them, but they may well throw you some curves as well, so please do pick our brains along the way.

[pollux]

Yikes! It never even occurred to me that they could mate between the cages! Thanks for your suggestion on keeping the cages slightly apart. I'll be sure to do that.

Yes, Castor is currently in the same cage as Pollux and the babies. We kept him out while he was recuperating from his neutering, and for 48 hours after Pollux gave birth while she was the most fertile, but we put him back in after that. He was so miserable on his own that I didn't have the heart to keep him out for much longer. (Clearly, I'm a soft touch when it comes to degu discipline!)

The plan is to definitely separate the males and the females as soon as they're weaned. Thanks for letting me know about the hormonal behaviours that come at 6 months! I'll have to prepare myself for that. I'll see how Castor does with the males; it's good to know that he can always join the ladies if he neeeds to.

I'm loving being a degu owner, though I didn't expect to have so many so soon! So far the family has been getting along really well--except we're starting to seem some occasional fighting between Castor and Pollux. Mostly over food, but they won't stop fighting when we take them out into the playpen. I figured it was territorial issues due to there being more degus in the cage; that and Castor's neutering as I figured maybe he was initially dominant and now has to reestablish himself.

[deguconvert]

Degu pups will be weaned at about the four week stage, but that is too soon to separate them. They still need the education that comes with being around the older degus. There is a lot to understand about degu colonies and the culture that is part of that. Pups that are separated too soon from their parents, or at least the female, will not have good behavior with other degus, and they tend to be more difficult to manage. I strongly urge you to keep them in there until they are about 6.5 weeks of age.

The issues that we have seen that arise from being separated at weaning are very significant.