Managing a very temperamental degu?

[teemu]

I've talked in the past about how Suti is really hard to manage. She is really energetic and temperamental and demands a lot of attention, playtime and things to do (to a much larger degree than any other degu we have, I mean). In addition, she very much tests her limits at every turn she's able to. She knows very well what she's not allowed to do, and then does it, while obviously aware that I'm going to tell her off. Afterwards she throws angry tantrums in her cage and takes it out on Limppu if she gets too close.

For example, today, she outright screamed to be let out of the cage (I guess she knew that her outing time was close), and outside she spent literally all of her time trying to put teeth on everything she's not allowed to. After I had told her off enough times, she rushed back into the cage and started screaming while she destroyed as much of her furniture as possible and pushed Limppu around fiercely. Now, after I put her back in the cage, she grabbed one of her toys and is running around with it like crazy, smashing it into things. I really don't understand why, but for some reason she also tries to empty both the pellet bowls and put the toys there.

She's obviously very frustrated and very needy like this, and it's all a bit much honestly. I'm not sure what I could do to improve her mood and general situation. She doesn't react well at all to training, unlike some other degus. At the same time, she's obviously smart enough to know completely well what she's not allowed to do. I think her frustration is essentially causing her to act out and make mischief. I wonder if I could ease her situation somehow?

[deguconvert]

Is she in heat right now?

[deguconvert]

If her heats are so very chaotic . . . I wonder if she would do better if she were spayed. Understanding that it is much harder on females to be spayed than it is on males to be neutered.

[teemu]

She's not in heat right now, no. Rather, this is how she tends to be all the time nowadays. Her heats are even worse, but between them she's very temperamental anyway.

It's risky, but it might really be a good idea to ask the vet about her opinion on spaying. I think she'd be capable of doing it, at least (she's done some pretty amazing exotic animal operations from what I've seen, certainly more complicated stuff than this), and something really does seem to be kind of wrong with Suti. I'm afraid she's going to start showing aggression towards Limppu too, sooner or later, with how she's just getting increasingly aggressive and moody...