degu alone because of being ganged up on

[rhiannon123]

hello! i have 4 degus, 3 from the same litter and the same age and one who is much older from a different litter. Buffy (oldest) lost her sister willow about 3 years ago so we got 3 young degus for her shortly after, and they got along so well at first but then fast forward
a few months they start ganging up on her to the point she was bleeding all round the cage and lost a claw. now i know it’s been a while obviously as it’s been a few years, but i’m really concerned about buffy being alone. they are in the same cage but it’s a multi-storey cage so we’ve blocked off the entrance between the two levels so they can’t hurt her anymore.
the other three are still really quite vicious a lot of the time to eachother, and as buffy is about 7 or maybe a bit older, (we weren’t too sure when we got her but she grew a lot which tells me she can’t have been very old), we don’t want to distress her or have her hurt.
i can’t help but feel sad that she must be lonely though, and i try and spend time with her, as do my parents, but there’s only so much you can do when you’re all working. she can still hear them i presume from above her, is that going to help her feel less alone? would a heat pad help her in the night to feel less alone sleeping? we sadly cannot get another degu but i really want her to be happy and i’m just scared she isn’t. she eats all her treats and still eats her food but doesn’t use her wheel really, but that may possibly be age related? any advice would be much appreciated thank you x

[savvy]

I'm sorry to hear they are fighting. Unfortunately it happens and there's little we can do until tempers cool.

Buffy will need to be kept alone until her injuries heal. Please make sure that she doesn't have access to a sandbath as her wounds may become infected. A heat pad will help her greatly, especially as the weather is turning a little now.

You don't say how old the others are. If they are still quite young (less than 2 years old) then what you are seeing may be normal hormonal adolescence fighting as they are trying to sort out whose going to be in charge. Further details will help us work out what's going on.

You did the right thing by separating Buffy from the fighting, even though she's alone, she's safer away from the others for the moment.

[rhiannon123]

Oct 4, 2020 3:42:40 GMT rhiannon123 said:

Oct 4, 2020 1:53:43 GMT savvy said:

I'm sorry to hear they are fighting. Unfortunately it happens and there's little we can do until tempers cool.

Buffy will need to be kept alone until her injuries heal. Please make sure that she doesn't have access to a sandbath as her wounds may become infected. A heat pad will help her greatly, especially as the weather is turning a little now.

You don't say how old the others are. If they are still quite young (less than 2 years old) then what you are seeing may be normal hormonal adolescence fighting as they are trying to sort out whose going to be in charge. Further details will help us work out what's going on.

You did the right thing by separating Buffy from the fighting, even though she's alone, she's safer away from the others for the moment.

oh no she isn’t injured now, i mentioned in my post that the fighting was a couple of years ago but all the time and that the other 3 fight eachother, buffy is still separated as she isn’t safe with the others so would a heat pad help her feel a similar feeling to being with another degu when she sleeps? and is the noise of the other degus helping in any way? the other 3 are about 3 years old

[deguconvert]

Hi Rhiannon123! I expect it has been a great disappointment to you that Buffy is alone after all this time. Do you know if the other three are all female, or is there the potential that they are all male?

Can you tell us what kind of cage you have them in, and what the size of your cage is, and the number of complete levels? I feel like there is a strong potential that the space your three degus are in, is feeling too small to them. For them to be siblings and fighting as much as you say they are, describing them as quite aggressive, that is not normal behavior for degus at all. I can't help but wonder if they are trying to chase each other out of the cage territory so that the demands placed on their "habitat" are not a threat to their survival. Which may seem odd to us, knowing that we do about the supplies we keep on hand for them. For them however, they are functioning on instinct and there is no explaining to them that they are not going to run out of food and water.

If their aggression is related to cage size and overall surface area available to them, there will be no changing things until they have space appropriate to their numbers. Do you have space in your home to accommodate a larger cage? How are you with DIY skills and the idea of designing and building a cage? Do you think you could afford to do this?

[bouncy]

My initial thought was space. Even the largest cage on the market needs modifications to provide enough running space for three, let alone four. Definitely look at your cage floor space!

[moletteuk]

She will love a heatpad. It won't exactly replicate the feeling of a degu pile but they love them nevertheless, especially as they get older.

I think having Buffy side by side with the younger gang, so she can see them, would be the best thing for her company wise, if you can possibly arrange it.

[rhiannon123]

Oct 4, 2020 5:49:28 GMT deguconvert said:

Hi Rhiannon123! I expect it has been a great disappointment to you that Buffy is alone after all this time. Do you know if the other three are all female, or is there the potential that they are all male?

Can you tell us what kind of cage you have them in, and what the size of your cage is, and the number of complete levels? I feel like there is a strong potential that the space your three degus are in, is feeling too small to them. For them to be siblings and fighting as much as you say they are, describing them as quite aggressive, that is not normal behavior for degus at all. I can't help but wonder if they are trying to chase each other out of the cage territory so that the demands placed on their "habitat" are not a threat to their survival. Which may seem odd to us, knowing that we do about the supplies we keep on hand for them. For them however, they are functioning on instinct and there is no explaining to them that they are not going to run out of food and water.

If their aggression is related to cage size and overall surface area available to them, there will be no changing things until they have space appropriate to their numbers. Do you have space in your home to accommodate a larger cage? How are you with DIY skills and the idea of designing and building a cage? Do you think you could afford to do this?

hi, so yes they are all female. i am not sure of dimensions myself as my dad was the one who bought it and put it together a few years ago, but there’s two levels but they’ve both got another half level of shelf if that makes sense. the levels are much bigger than the standard cages, and is quite wide too. it’s not 24/7 fighting and two of them are much more aggressive than the other, though she does get involved sometimes. half the time it’s over treats, though any time we’ve tried to reintroduce buffy, they’ve all still bullied her unfortunately. i’m no good with diy and money is tight at the moment, and this cage cost a lot
of money as it was, but i could look into something, however we do have lack of space currently as my sister and her boyfriend are in the process of moving out.

[rhiannon123]

Oct 4, 2020 8:10:37 GMT bouncy said:

My initial thought was space. Even the largest cage on the market needs modifications to provide enough running space for three, let alone four. Definitely look at your cage floor space!

thank you i will see what i can do

[rhiannon123]

Oct 4, 2020 12:49:14 GMT moletteuk said:

She will love a heatpad. It won't exactly replicate the feeling of a degu pile but they love them nevertheless, especially as they get older.

I think having Buffy side by side with the younger gang, so she can see them, would be the best thing for her company wise, if you can possibly arrange it.

thank you, i’ll definitely get her a heat pad. are blankets safe for inside the cage like ones you get from pet shops? i don’t want her chewing it and choking or getting any digestive problems, but i thought it would be good to wrap it in? unfortunately side by side is not possible due to the build of the cage.

[Bexi87]

Can you post some pictures of the cage so we can help you by suggesting modifications?

[moletteuk]

fabric safety tends to depend on the degu. Snugglesafe heatpads come with a fabric cover, sometimes they chew them, sometimes they don't, as long as they aren't swallowing the fabric and as long as they can't get caught up in it, it is OK.