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Post by vchan000 on Aug 31, 2020 19:42:58 GMT
Hey all!
So. My husband and I agreed to foster three girl degus from a local rescue to help keep our lone remaining boy (Mac) company through the bars. They were billed to us as a mom of unknown age and her two babies, born on March 28. (We started fostering on July 16)
On about August 15, the rescue organization had us bring them in for a vet visit, when we discovered that one of the daughters was a son >< oh crap
He's been separated out (and successfully introduced to Mac, so... yay?) but we're holding mom and sis on pregnancy watch until at least December 1st. As far as we can figure, that's about a week past the last possible birth date. Our problem figuring out when the EARLIEST possible birth date might be.
When they came to us, they were being fed a diet of guinea pig food only, and didn't know what to do with a sunflower seed, pistachio or a walnut. They've both been putting on weight but we have no idea if it's potential pregnancy weight, or just access to a better diet, and lots of hay. We're honestly more concerned that the mom is pregnant again instead of the sister, as she was so tiny I don't know that she matured enough under the bad diet to 'catch'
If they're BOTH pregnant, do we need to separate cages if there's two batches of babies on the go? What about if they're a few weeks/months apart?
Here's the weights
Azula(Mom)
16/7/20 - 251g
4/8/20 - 254g
20/8/20 - 265g
23/8/20 - 269g
26/8/20 - 271g
29/8/20 - 269g
Toph (daughter)
16/7/20 - 151g
(15 weeks old)
4/8/20 - 168g
20/8/20 - 179g
23/8/20 - 174g
26/8/20 - 182g
29/8/20 - 179g
The boy's weight is in the middle of that roughly. We stopped tracking his weigh ins so strictly after we officially adopted him.
Hubby and I are reading up on all the various files and information on degu pregnancy, baby care etc we can find. We've done rat pups before, but this will be a first for degus.
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Post by savvy on Aug 31, 2020 20:03:28 GMT
Oh dear! I'll try and take this one step at a time.
Firstly, you will not need separate cages for each mum and litter as they will each happily raise each others babies, but you will need to baby proof the cage as the time draws near.
Earliest pregnancy date should be around the end of June when 'dad' would be around 12-13 weeks. At a push, the middle of June at 10 weeks.
If we say end of June, gestation is 90 days which makes earliest due dates in around 2-3 weeks.
About 10 days before they are due are the only time they start to show any signs of pregnancy. From there you should be able to see a line of nipples down one side of their stomachs, a few days before they give birth they will look like they've swallowed a tennis ball.
The pups will be born fully formed and fully active, but will have zero common sense. Think toddler on speed, lol. They will want to explore everything so the cage must be made pup proof by removing anything they can climb, fall off or in, get stuck under etc.
Keep us posted and we'll try to guide you. Don't be afraid to ask questions, there really are no silly ones when it comes to degus.
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 31, 2020 20:07:40 GMT
If both are pregnant, there is no need to worry about separating them. Degus are EXCELLENT mums, and they will share the load between them.
Absolute earliest date of birth would have been around the 25th - 28th of August . . . so that is past and you are pup free. I give that as my earliest date because I had an 8 week old pup that managed to impregnate my females, somewhere in his 8-9 weeks age. However, there are the days right up to August 15th that he could have done the deed successfully. Do you recall ever hearing him bark unceasingly for upwards of 20 minutes? That is male degu "crowing" for successful mating. It is frequent and loud, and he just sits where he is a barks. That is one of the dead give aways. Of course, there are the hours when you are not there or are asleep . . . LOL! Right now . . . their weights do not indicate anything, but that doesn't mean they are not pregnant. The large gains usually happen in the last month, and in particular the last two weeks.
On the flip side . . . while I'm sure it was a shock to realize that one of the pups is a male, it is kind of AWESOME that one was a male and you now how him successfully introduced to Mac!!
If a pregnancy is in the works . . . you are going to enjoy the pups! We will continue to gladly help you with any questions you have!
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Post by vchan000 on Aug 31, 2020 20:25:31 GMT
Do you recall ever hearing him bark unceasingly for upwards of 20 minutes? That is male degu "crowing" for successful mating. It is frequent and loud, and he just sits where he is a barks. That is one of the dead give aways. I'm familiar with the sound, we called it the "I got some!" bark and Oz would do it occasionally after mounting Mac (or taking matters in hand himself >< I know, TMI) I don't recall hearing it at any point, and they're just down the hall from the bedroom in Ping's office. As I've been working from home we're pretty confident we haven't had an incident of it since they joined us. We currently have them in a critter nation cage, which has a 1/2" bar spacing (13mm) will we need to block the bars or is that sufficient to keep the little monsters contained? While we're hoping for no babies, I admit I'm a little excited if there are babies. They're so stinking cute. |
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Post by vchan000 on Aug 31, 2020 20:29:39 GMT
If we say end of June, gestation is 90 days which makes earliest due dates in around 2-3 weeks. About 10 days before they are due are the only time they start to show any signs of pregnancy. From there you should be able to see a line of nipples down one side of their stomachs, a few days before they give birth they will look like they've swallowed a tennis ball. We're weighing them about every three days at this point and will likely continue, first to document weight gain from the new diet and if they are pregnant, well it'll hopefully help us be ready in time We've started adding a cardboard box to use as a nesting box if they wish, but honestly, so far they've just dismantled each one we put in and built sleeping nests out of the remains, AND the toilet paper/paper towels we were giving for nesting materials. |
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 31, 2020 20:30:27 GMT
We usually say spacing no more than 1 cm is OK. 13 mm might be just enough space for a newborn to get through.
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Post by vchan000 on Aug 31, 2020 20:30:51 GMT
If there are babies, expect cute pictures, and less cute pictures of degu junk so we're SURE this doesn't happen again.
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 31, 2020 20:33:55 GMT
ROFL!! We are not repulsed by degu junk. We're not degu junk voyeurs either.  |
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Post by bouncy on Sept 4, 2020 6:54:15 GMT
Oh, this is exciting! I'm glad Mac has a new friend, if that's the only good thing that comes from the experience.
Like the others say, you certainly don't need to separate the mums (or subsequently neutered dads), because it's like a big commune, sharing chores and duties. Original mum would benefit from some extra calcium, though. One of our members had two pregnant females and one (safely neutered after she realised) dad. Both females gave birth within two weeks of each other, making a total of 16 goos. The only problem it caused was that, once the first litter became older and started becoming regular goos, mum #1 decided there just wasn't enough space for all of them and started attacking her pups. Something to bear in mind IF there's two happy events.......
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Post by bouncy on Sept 4, 2020 6:54:57 GMT
If there are babies, expect cute pictures, and less cute pictures of degu junk so we're SURE this doesn't happen again. mmmmmmmmm degu undercarriages.......... |
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Post by MistyAnna on Sept 4, 2020 23:11:43 GMT
I have no advice or anything but I just want to say I love their names 😂
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Post by vchan000 on Sept 16, 2020 2:31:10 GMT
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 16, 2020 7:25:34 GMT
Yes . . . there are certainly the beginnings of a belly there. Depending on how far along she might be if she is pregnant, and how many pups she may have in there, she could get a lot bigger yet!
Have you weighed her recently?
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Post by savvy on Sept 16, 2020 9:46:55 GMT
I can't see the picture.
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Post by winic1 on Sept 16, 2020 12:14:13 GMT
The link won't work for me, either.
If you aren't already, now is time to take frequent weight checks. Can someone else advise on how often? Every few days, at least, right? You're not looking for small variations up and down (if she goes wee right before you weigh her, there's a few grams lost), you're looking for an overall trend of increasing weight.
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Post by bouncy on Sept 16, 2020 14:11:01 GMT
I've tweaked the link so it now works  |
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Post by savvy on Sept 18, 2020 21:47:01 GMT
Ooh, she'd either just had a good meal or she's eating for a few.
I'd weigh her every couple of days, at the same time of day, until you start to notice definite signs of a pregnancy such as nipples, very enlarged stomach, nesting etc.
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Post by bouncy on Sept 19, 2020 19:22:35 GMT
Ooh, she'd either just had a good meal or she's eating for a few. Tbh Snoozy has a porky tum a bit like that, but he's just a piggy! |
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Post by savvy on Sept 19, 2020 21:48:33 GMT
Ooh, she'd either just had a good meal or she's eating for a few. Tbh Snoozy has a porky tum a bit like that, but he's just a piggy! Yeah Dixie knows how you put it away as well, he regularly sets up camp on his food pile, lol. |
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Post by bouncy on Sept 21, 2020 8:34:37 GMT
I pick him up to do the same tummy raspberries I give Sausage, but you just can't help notice the perfectly rounded, fawn-coloured blob in front of you!
Apparently, my mum's popped in to give them sunflower seeds, the goositter does, and the builders doing my roof last week all did too! Robust as they are, I half expect to come back to a broken (his favourite) yellow tictac wheel!
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