mkish
Foraging Degu
Posts: 67
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Post by mkish on Aug 4, 2020 4:14:59 GMT
Hello!! For the past nearly two months I have been working on warming up my four degus, pair 1: Cinnamon and Coco, pair 2: Peanut and Honey. Things felt like they were going good for a bit until tonight! I heard lots of arguing and assumed it wasn’t a big deal because it never has been but when i went to check on my oldest, Cinnamon, her hand was bleeding!! I think one might’ve nipped her finger and I even found the bit of “leftover finger” on the ground. It wasn’t even the size of a crumb thankfully. She isn’t acting hurt though, in fact she’s playing with her favorite toy which she uses her paws to turn the wood with. She even grabs my finger with her paw so I don’t think it hurts too bad. I separated them so they can’t even see eachother. It used to be some bars separating them. How long should they be separated for before letting them interact through bars again? And how should i clean up her paw?
Also these girls make this dream to have 4 degus getting along impossible!! It’s been two months and I haven’t even been able to fully introduce them. I knew it would take long but these younger girls are not having it! They love me already but won’t tolerate the older girls. I added two more full floors to the cage and lots of hammocks, ledges, and other things for room to walk on. Is this normal for them? Cinnamon and Coco only took a month to live in the same cage, but it might’ve been because Cinnamon just lost her sister a month before meeting Coco that made it easy. The first week or two that I put the smaller cage in to Honey and Peanut’s, Honey and Cinnamon were sleeping right next to eachother through the bars. Now they hate eachother. Any advice?
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 4, 2020 18:33:40 GMT
Remind me what age the younger two are?
Introductions can take a very long time. When I had introduced my three boys to each other, they were initially together in a week. But the lone boy was about 6 months old (according to the clerk at the pet store that sold them to us but thinking on it now . . . I think he was probably more like a year or even two), and the younger ones were about 12 weeks. He was lonely, having lost his companion, and they "seemed" to click. Three months on, and the battles began. Separation! Then 8 months of intensive introductions, at the end of which we finally had three very bonded and wonderful degus. (Well . . . with each other. Two loved people and one . . . did NOT. Different story.)
There were two very crucial points in their introduction. 1. When the challenger submitted and all parties accepted their position in the degu hierarchy. 2. They they fell out again, and I took the dominant position, I became top degu, and I absolutely REFUSED to let them get away with fighting and quarreling. It was an attitude and presence that they acknowledged and when I said, "NO" they started to listen. Not everyone can do it, but if you can . . . it can make a huge difference.
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Post by moletteuk on Aug 4, 2020 20:32:39 GMT
The finger should be OK, it's quite a common injury and as you have reported, it usually doesn't trouble them. Just keep an eye out for swelling or redness indicating infection.
You should be able to let them see each other quite quickly, maybe just leave it a couple of days. You'll know it's too soon if they obsess over the other pair. I would leave them biting distance apart for longer. To be honest it doesn't sound like they are going to be ready to live together any time soon, so it shouldn't really matter if they can touch each other or not for now.
Degus are very socially complicated and can also have some hangups that are hard to spot that can prevent them wanting to live together. Sometimes they just don't like each other, often it's a dominance issue and two both want to be boss and won't back down, sometimes it can be a case of not wanting to share territory or certain favourite items, those are the main issues. The good news is that you have two pairs so nobody is lonely and as long as you have space in your home and they have adequate cage space then you can see how it goes with no real pressure.
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mkish
Foraging Degu
Posts: 67
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Post by mkish on Aug 4, 2020 21:05:17 GMT
Thanks for all the help!! Here’s my girls ages, Cinnamon is 6, Coco is 1, Peanut and Honey are 5 months old. I think I’m kind of getting the whole “be the dominant one” when they do something bad like bite, fight, etc. I give them a small blow in their face and it works pretty well. I didn’t think a small blow would be bad but if I should stop please let me know. I’m also thinking about making another full floor but on the bottom rack of the cage for more room. Thank you again for all the advice!!
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 4, 2020 21:40:18 GMT
So, you have a potential of three that could be really feeling the dominance issue. When you say that Coco is 1 . . . is she 12 months, between 12 and 18 months, or between 18 and 24 months? It might seem a strange question, but it can mean a lot of difference in their stage of maturity, and whether or not she is in the middle of the dominance urges or if she is passing out of them. The two that are 5 months old sound like they are right at the starting gate of dominance issuse . . . so their aggression is likely to last a while. In fact . . . for your peace of mind . . . you might want to put off the efforts to try and get them together for a while. Maybe leave them near each other, but evaluate their through theh bars behaviors again in about three months.
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 4, 2020 21:43:24 GMT
OH . . . blowing in the face is generally accepted by degus as a rebuff they can work with, but there are some that get really agitated by it. If you see them getting more upset, then you will know to stop using it. It never worked for my boys. They were an example of getting agitated. LOL They'd run at me instead of calming down. One would bite.
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Post by bouncy on Aug 5, 2020 0:01:50 GMT
Bit late.........
One of mine has two or three toes missing from each front paw, so it's definitely no problem.
I think the biggest thing against you right now is that the elder pair are in their hormonal phase, which could be problematic. As these girls emerge from this, your younger two will be entering it. However, it is entirely possible that today was just a spat. Give it a day or two, then perhaps go back to the bar divider and watch their behaviour.
If it's any consolation, Spud and Sneaky kicked off a bit last night, and they've been living together nearly two years!
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mkish
Foraging Degu
Posts: 67
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Post by mkish on Aug 9, 2020 21:34:05 GMT
Hey!! Sorry for the late reply I went on vaca with a friend for a bit and didn’t have internet. Anyways I just got back and went into my room to change and while changing I look over to the older degus cage and look at where they are. One degu was on the top floor, another was on the wheel and one was drinking water. I got confused and recounted twice before realizing Honey was somehow in the cage!! I quickly pulled her out and covered up the way to get to the smaller cage in the older degu’s and put her back. The part I’m confused about is that I found out by looking and not hearing fighting? They were all completely chill and they all saw eachother too. There wasn’t one squeak, bite, or tussle. They were completely calm. And now that I think about it, they haven’t fought since I let them see eachother after the 3 day separation. Could anybody let me know what this means? Is it possible to fully introduce them soon?
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 9, 2020 23:19:58 GMT
It does sound like Honey has been incorporated and accepted . . . at least for the moment. That could change again as she ages. What about Peanut though? What kind of responses are you seeing there? If there was an opening . . . then Peanut would have had access as well? Have you looked them over to see if there are any signs of fighting? Since Peanut was in the other area alone . . . maybe have a good look at her to make sure there are no wounds?
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mkish
Foraging Degu
Posts: 67
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Post by mkish on Aug 10, 2020 15:46:33 GMT
I didn’t even find a opening and no injuries on any of them. I think Honey might’ve some how lifted up the small cage enough to get through and Peanut hasn’t gotten through from what I’ve seen. But, the interaction with Peanut hasn’t been any fighting just calm. How long should I let this interaction without fighting happen before trying to introduce them?
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 10, 2020 19:21:54 GMT
Well . . . things sound calm and good . . . now might be a really good time to try!
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