Post by cleorvn on Feb 14, 2021 18:40:19 GMT
Hello, in need of some introduction help as feeling pretty hopeless about this one.
Background:
I had a neutered male/female pair both around 4 years old, male sadly had to be put to sleep recently due to a large inoperable tumour. I had known this was coming for about a year, hence deciding to plan for the future and adopted 2 girls with the hope of providing companions when I eventually lost Charlie (boy).
The girls were 6-7 weeks at time of adoption, and my initial intro attempts didn’t go well - the adults did not want to accept them for some reason. I scaled back the introduction for a while after a bad scrap when one of the girls got injured, and when I eventually tried again the girls were then being aggressive to the adults. I eventually lost heart with it a bit as I was so worried about injuries.
During this time they were living in a split Savic Suite cage (there is limited space for a side by side cage situation although I know this is the ideal). This is still currently the case with single adult female Ponyo in top half.
Current situation:
The young girls are now about 5 months so I know this is an even trickier introduction age as they are entering puberty (and I believe it is also breeding season in the northern hemisphere?), and adult Ponyo is generally coping ok on her own but I do think she is missing degu company.
For a couple of weeks I have successfully been able to have her and Kiwi the less dominant girl out for supervised playtime in the bathroom (neutral area), and there is lots of tweeting and grooming which is a good development, but a couple of times I think I have left it too long and irritation has started after Kiwi tries to mount Ponyo and Ponyo gets annoyed.
The more dominant girl Papaya has been more difficult - gets very riled up and aggressive towards Ponyo if she sees her through the cage bars, and has charged at her and bitten her on occasion when I have tried to introduce them in the past, so I have been very hesitant about trying her again currently.
The main issue that I can see currently, even with Ponyo and Kiwi the less dominant, seems to be this: Things will be going ok, then young degu tries to exhibit dominance mounting towards Ponyo, which Ponyo does not appreciate. Ponyo then turns round and shrieks at degu trying to mount her (although she does not actively bite - just vocalises and resists) causing a scrap to break out and the young degu will bite Ponyo.
This has happened once or twice with Kiwi as well as Papaya. I think Ponyo is too old and settled in her ways to want a young degu trying to dominate her, although she is not particularly dominant herself (Charlie was the dominant in her previous pair), and I just wonder if this will mean the introduction simply won’t work. Both young degus are very quick to bite her when scraps ensue.
I really don’t want Ponyo to live on her own, but equally dont want to be responsible for injuries to anybody by trying to persevere with this.
I guess my question is, are the young girls likely to become less aggressive and quick to dominate/bite as they mature and get past adolescence? Or is this a total personality clash?
Any similar experiences/advice greatly appreciated.
Background:
I had a neutered male/female pair both around 4 years old, male sadly had to be put to sleep recently due to a large inoperable tumour. I had known this was coming for about a year, hence deciding to plan for the future and adopted 2 girls with the hope of providing companions when I eventually lost Charlie (boy).
The girls were 6-7 weeks at time of adoption, and my initial intro attempts didn’t go well - the adults did not want to accept them for some reason. I scaled back the introduction for a while after a bad scrap when one of the girls got injured, and when I eventually tried again the girls were then being aggressive to the adults. I eventually lost heart with it a bit as I was so worried about injuries.
During this time they were living in a split Savic Suite cage (there is limited space for a side by side cage situation although I know this is the ideal). This is still currently the case with single adult female Ponyo in top half.
Current situation:
The young girls are now about 5 months so I know this is an even trickier introduction age as they are entering puberty (and I believe it is also breeding season in the northern hemisphere?), and adult Ponyo is generally coping ok on her own but I do think she is missing degu company.
For a couple of weeks I have successfully been able to have her and Kiwi the less dominant girl out for supervised playtime in the bathroom (neutral area), and there is lots of tweeting and grooming which is a good development, but a couple of times I think I have left it too long and irritation has started after Kiwi tries to mount Ponyo and Ponyo gets annoyed.
The more dominant girl Papaya has been more difficult - gets very riled up and aggressive towards Ponyo if she sees her through the cage bars, and has charged at her and bitten her on occasion when I have tried to introduce them in the past, so I have been very hesitant about trying her again currently.
The main issue that I can see currently, even with Ponyo and Kiwi the less dominant, seems to be this: Things will be going ok, then young degu tries to exhibit dominance mounting towards Ponyo, which Ponyo does not appreciate. Ponyo then turns round and shrieks at degu trying to mount her (although she does not actively bite - just vocalises and resists) causing a scrap to break out and the young degu will bite Ponyo.
This has happened once or twice with Kiwi as well as Papaya. I think Ponyo is too old and settled in her ways to want a young degu trying to dominate her, although she is not particularly dominant herself (Charlie was the dominant in her previous pair), and I just wonder if this will mean the introduction simply won’t work. Both young degus are very quick to bite her when scraps ensue.
I really don’t want Ponyo to live on her own, but equally dont want to be responsible for injuries to anybody by trying to persevere with this.
I guess my question is, are the young girls likely to become less aggressive and quick to dominate/bite as they mature and get past adolescence? Or is this a total personality clash?
Any similar experiences/advice greatly appreciated.