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Post by degulovaa on Jul 19, 2022 14:31:50 GMT
So I have had my lil buddy for about 4 years now this week and recently I came home to him unable to walk I've seen him move his back legs to scratch himself but he can't sit up straight once I move him back to his feet and I've been manually feeding and watering him aswell as still letting him travel by putting my hand under his back feet and letting him use his front to crawl around because he loves to travel around my room, he doesn't seem depressed but I'm getting baby degus and I didn't know if they would bully him or if it would over add stress. I can possibly get another cage I just thought it would be nice if he had buddies he never had any because he was a birthday present and my parents didn't get him a buddy. Anyway any concerns I should have and maybe even ideas on what's going on with his legs they don't seem hurt I've touched them and he doesn't wince.
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Post by teemu on Jul 19, 2022 15:02:12 GMT
Hey there, welcome.
It sounds like your boy hasn't been to the doctor over this situation? I would recommend bringing him to a specialist who could take a look at him. It sounds like he's hurt his back and might be partially paralysed. The doctor might not be able to do anything about that, but it's possible that there might be issues that will become more severe if not seen to. On the other hand, he might have injured his foot and that could be fixable. It's impossible to say off-hand as to what exactly has happened, only a vet could really say.
As for the babies, absolutely do get them their own cage, at least to begin with, in any case. Degus are often protective of their space and need to be introduced to newcomers gradually in a neutral area. Some degus accept new family members very quickly, others take a long time. What I can tell you is that you don't want to be stuck in a situation where you don't have a cage for the new babies and you cannot put them in the same cage with your older male.
First of all, though, I would strongly recommend taking your current degu to the vet to be checked before anything else. Deugs that have spent a long time alone can have a hard time adjusting to newcomers, and he would certainly be very stressed and not receptive if this happened when he was also suffering from something like this.
hopefully these answers helped!
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Post by bouncy on Jul 19, 2022 17:16:29 GMT
First of all, you need to get your lad fit and healthy. Degus don't like to show they're in pain or injured so, for you to see this, a trip to the vet is in order. As a minimum, the pain needs to be managed.
Once he's fit and healthy again, I agree that pups are a great addition! I would definitely have a standby cage for them, but the introduction process may be easier than normal. This will depend on the degu and the age of the pups. We usually recommend side by side cages, swapping substrate etc, but it is possible that pups may be adopted almost immediately by your boy as they would in the wild. I've had this happen twice in the past. Once with five week pups, and once with 12 week pups. Likewise, I've tried introducing an older pup, taking the normal approach, but never managed to introduce him.
If your lad doesn't take to the pups, it may be that he's happy just to have other goo company next door, so don't dispair.
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