symptoms of a pregnant goo

[cookiedegus]

hello, i wanted to ask what are some  symptoms when a goo is pregnant? any advice is appreciated!

[savvy]

They are usually no signs until the last few days of the pregnancy apart from weight gain and even then, not always, the gestation period is 90 days. In the last week, you will see a single row of nipples down one side of mums stomach, marked increase in weight gain, and increased nesting activity. Degu mums frequently look like they've swallowed a tennis ball during the final few days.

Some degu mums never give any indication of being pregnant and there have been many surprise babies on the forum.

[cookiedegus]

Okay, back to this thread I remembered, I just weighed Kanele, she's 245g, not a lot, but she's on her 1,5month. Also, I have noticed that she is scratching/kicking/scratching with head her tummy so that concerns me, she had birth in december 2020 and I know that degus shouldn't give birth twice in 1year, and it's been 3 or 4 months due her possible pregnancy. (p.s she had 3 babies that time)

I know some animals, like horses, kick their stomaches too when they have a baby in here.
Could this be a symptom too? (she was bathed today morning in sand)

[deguconvert]

Is she super round? It doesn't sound like she is large . . . and it will have been a full 90+ days since end of December, and if she were pregnant she would be very round IF STILL pregnant, and really should have delivered by now . . . UNLESS . . . the male has had access to her more recently than the end of December?

[cookiedegus]

No no, the males are their own babies, which were born in december, we have a suspection that those babies impregnanted the momma, and she should have delivered by may 15~
Im not sure tho

[winic1]

So when (about what date) were the male babies removed from the cage with the momma, and how old were the males at that point?

[deguconvert]

The males shouldn't be able before the age of 7-8 weeks . . . so if they were born early December . . . then latter part of January would be potential days of impregnating . . . which would mean latter parts of April for pups to be born. I'm going to ask . . . ARE the male pups removed?

[cookiedegus]

Apr 5, 2021 14:16:19 GMT winic1 said:

So when (about what date) were the male babies removed from the cage with the momma, and how old were the males at that point?

they were about 2,5months old (they already were climbing on sisters and etc), they were actually a lil early weaned, only 3,5weeks.

[cookiedegus]

Apr 5, 2021 19:51:54 GMT deguconvert said:

The males shouldn't be able before the age of 7-8 weeks . . . so if they were born early December . . . then latter part of January would be potential days of impregnating . . . which would mean latter parts of April for pups to be born. I'm going to ask . . . ARE the male pups removed?

Yes they are removed, they still can see the females, and the momas/daughters are chewing the bars and theres no paint left (facing to males) the cages are: male cage is on a  about a metre tall counter and the females are on the floor with padding, but they still see eachother.

[winic1]

So they were 10-11 weeks old (2-1/2 months) when they were removed from being with their mothers and sisters?
Yes, mothers, and possibly even sisters could all be pregnant. But you usually don't see obvious signs of pregnancy until the last week or two before they give birth, which is 90 days after becoming pregnant.

Males as young as 7-8 weeks old have been known to be fertile and impregnate females. So there is up to a month time period where your males could have gotten any of the females pregnant. You know what day you separated out the males, so 90 days from that is the latest date a female could give birth, if she is pregnant. But they could give birth up to a month before that latest date, if they got pregnant earlier.

So, I think you're saying that May 15 is your calculated latest date to give birth? Yes? That would mean that the earliest possible would be around the middle of April, which is very soon, and you could possibly be seeing signs of pregnancy now, or any time for the next 5-6 weeks.

[cookiedegus]

Thanks for a very clear explanation. Yes, may 15 is the calculated day to give birth. The girls are way bigger than boys and are nesting quite a lot now.