PREGNANT DEGU!

[laratadegu]

Hii, so we got our first Degu (LR) on the 4th of July, and our second Degu (EC) on the 25th of July. They told us that they were both females and I checked an illustration online and everything seemed to check out. Today, LR gave birth to 3 pups. We had no idea she was pregnant. We did notice she gained a lot of weight in the past months but we thought that it was just because she had bad eating habits or something, we never thought she could’ve been pregnant. We got a new cage around a week ago and I noticed she was building a nest but I thought it was just to make it a bit more ‘homey’ and didn’t think much of it. Today it marks 96 days since we got LR and 75 since we got EC so we think that she might’ve been pregnant since we got her from the pet shop but then she was late for some days so we are a bit confused about that. We are honestly freaking out because we were really not expecting this and our cage bars are definitely too spacious for the cups. We are losing it a bit right now so any information on how this could’ve happened and what can we do now would be very very much appreciated. Thank you.

[laratadegu]

Also two of the babies have a white spot in their heads while our degus are fully brown so that makes me belive she was pregnant from the get go

[teemu]

Okay, first things first, do not panic. It's shocking, but this is not an unheard of situation. The first and most important thing is to secure the area so that the pups cannot escape. They are curious and active. Try to get another cage that is pup-proof as quickly as possible, and do anything you can to secure this one. Keep the room they are in very secure, cover all possible nooks and crannies they might go into and watch the situation very carefully. After you have secured the room, make the cage as safe as possible. Remove the wheel, put literally anything that can block them around the cage bars so the pups cannot escape. Cardboard, newspaper. Anything will do right now. You can build better solutions after you have basic solutions in place.

Are you sure that there are only three pups? If you were not observing them when they were born, there might be more and some might have escaped the cage. It is possible there were only three, but very carefully search the area, keep a close watch on things, be sure to keep an eye on everything. Three pups is possible, but there could be more (though the mother is young, so a smaller litter is not out of the ordinary).

Your first priority is to get a degu-safe environment. Your second priority is to be absolutely sure that both your degus are female, because otherwise the mother will be pregnant in a flash again. Have you seen the mother getting mounted in any situation by the other? If you can get pictures of both of their genitals. If the pregnant degu had been with you for only 75 days, it's more likely that she got pregnant elsewhere. 6 days late is more likely than 15 days early. But do your best to check.

I remember you posting earlier about your degus and mentioning that they live in a rabbit cage, with a rabbit. Is this still the situation? If this is, you must absolutely remove them from the same cage right now. The rabbit could easily crush the babies or simply step on one even on accident. This is absolutely crucial and part of making the cage safe, and cannot be ignored.

For now, if you cannot immediately get another cage, try to find anything you could use to build a secure, tall (at least knee high, hopefully taller) barrier around the cage. Make sure it goes all the way around the cage and has no seams or holes at all. The babies will go through any hole easily. This will do for the immediate situation, long enough to get some sort of a more secure degu cage. Then look at what you can do with your current cage.

Get literally any cage that can house the pups you can as quickly as you can (as long as it's not some sort of a hamster carrier or the like and the size of a shoebox. It does not need to be according to the size guidelines, but it must be big enough that they can live there for some days. A terrarium will also do if you must. As long as it is not actively harmful to them and will hold the mother and the pups for now, it is enough for the immediate situation.) Then look into getting more appropriate cages.

To recap:
- Make the cage safe (remove the rabbit from the cage if it is still there, do this before anything else if this is still an issue, then secure the cage otherwise)
- Secure the perimeter and make sure no pups have gone missing, acquire a new cage as quickly as possible, then sort out whether you actually have two females
- Obtain a more suitable cage and house the degus there.
- Sort out whether you actually have two females. If the other is actually a male, they must be separated quickly.
- Acquire long term caging solutions (you will have to separate the male and female pups when they become able to breed, so you will need two cages in any case going forward.)

This situation will be chaotic for the coming weeks, but you must prioritize and do what you can to make sure that he pups are not endangered. That is priority 1.

[laratadegu]

Oct 9, 2022 1:51:59 GMT teemu said:

Okay, first things first, do not panic. It's shocking, but this is not an unheard of situation. The first and most important thing is to secure the area so that the pups cannot escape. They are curious and active. Try to get another cage that is pup-proof as quickly as possible, and do anything you can to secure this one. Keep the room they are in very secure, cover all possible nooks and crannies they might go into and watch the situation very carefully. After you have secured the room, make the cage as safe as possible. Remove the wheel, put literally anything that can block them around the cage bars so the pups cannot escape. Cardboard, newspaper. Anything will do right now. You can build better solutions after you have basic solutions in place.

Are you sure that there are only three pups? If you were not observing them when they were born, there might be more and some might have escaped the cage. It is possible there were only three, but very carefully search the area, keep a close watch on things, be sure to keep an eye on everything. Three pups is possible, but there could be more (though the mother is young, so a smaller litter is not out of the ordinary).

Your first priority is to get a degu-safe environment. Your second priority is to be absolutely sure that both your degus are female, because otherwise the mother will be pregnant in a flash again. Have you seen the mother getting mounted in any situation by the other? If you can get pictures of both of their genitals. If the pregnant degu had been with you for only 75 days, it's more likely that she got pregnant elsewhere. 6 days late is more likely than 15 days early. But do your best to check.

I remember you posting earlier about your degus and mentioning that they live in a rabbit cage, with a rabbit. Is this still the situation? If this is, you must absolutely remove them from the same cage right now. The rabbit could easily crush the babies or simply step on one even on accident. This is absolutely crucial and part of making the cage safe, and cannot be ignored.

For now, if you cannot immediately get another cage, try to find anything you could use to build a secure, tall (at least knee high, hopefully taller) barrier around the cage. Make sure it goes all the way around the cage and has no seams or holes at all. The babies will go through any hole easily. This will do for the immediate situation, long enough to get some sort of a more secure degu cage. Then look at what you can do with your current cage.

Get literally any cage that can house the pups you can as quickly as you can (as long as it's not some sort of a hamster carrier or the like and the size of a shoebox. It does not need to be according to the size guidelines, but it must be big enough that they can live there for some days. A terrarium will also do if you must. As long as it is not actively harmful to them and will hold the mother and the pups for now, it is enough for the immediate situation.) Then look into getting more appropriate cages.

To recap:
- Make the cage safe (remove the rabbit from the cage if it is still there, do this before anything else if this is still an issue, then secure the cage otherwise)
- Secure the perimeter and make sure no pups have gone missing, acquire a new cage as quickly as possible, then sort out whether you actually have two females
- Obtain a more suitable cage and house the degus there.
- Sort out whether you actually have two females. If the other is actually a male, they must be separated quickly.
- Acquire long term caging solutions (you will have to separate the male and female pups when they become able to breed, so you will need two cages in any case going forward.)

This situation will be chaotic for the coming weeks, but you must prioritize and do what you can to make sure that he pups are not endangered. That is priority 1.

Thank you so so much for your your fast answer as we are indeed losing it. We are 99% sure that LR is the mom since she was very fat and quite irritable lately, also she is the one that mainly builds the nest and protect the babies. I am now looking around the apartment as a crazy person for another baby (its 4am now) because I am really scared the baby got away. We have switched the babies and the degus to a baby proof cage but this is certainly too small for then so this week we will baby proof the original cage and transfer them back. Right now we have separated the degus just in case they are not both females and I will post a picture tomorrow that my boyfriend is home and can help me take it. Thank you so much.

Fortunately, we changed the cage on monday and separated the rabbit from them. Apparently the rabbit is very very calm and was never a significant threat to the degus (an exceptional case according to the petshop experts) but we did have to do something about it because the rabbit needed more autonomy getting in and out of the cage. Luckily we separated them on time before the show began.

[laratadegu]

[laratadegu]

That is the picture of one if the babies. I am scared they are older and we missed them because she kept them under the nest

[teemu]

Ah, okay, good to hear that you had a backup cage available and such. That takes care of the first and most crucial situation, ensuring that the pups are safe. Even if the temporary cage is small, it's vastly preferable to any other situation, and they'll make do with it until you're able to get a babyproof cage or proof the one you have.

You can probably find out who the mother is pretty easily by looking at who's suckling the babies. The mother will spend a lot of time with the babies, giving milk. And it's quite unlikely that they've been there for long. Degu pups are born eyes open and fully capable of moving around, so as soon as they're out in the world, they're going to make themselves known.

I agree with your assessment that it sounds like she got pregnant outside your house. I recommend checking the other degu to make sure (if you can get pictures of her genitals, we will be able to help with that), but it's more likely than not the case.

For now, make sure that the mother has access to food an water, keep watching after the babies and start preparing a proper cage. The babies will be in weaning age at four to five weeks (five is the usual number), at which point you will have to separate the males from females, because otherwise accidents (of the "even more degus" variety) can occur. So for the immediate future, make sure that they're doing well, keep an eye out for any problems and see to the cage situation. Then start thinking about the weaning situation.

Do keep checking for a missing baby, but it's entirely possible that you've got them all safe and sound, especially if you noticed the situation quickly.

[winic1]

If you've only had the second degu for 75 days, then your first one, LR, was pregnant when you got her, probably just so.
But, did you get the second degu, EC, from the same place? If so, she might be pregnant also, since they obviously made some kind of mistake with keeping males and females separate. Keep an eye out for her to suddenly rapidly get fatter, and start nest building for herself.

Have you talked to the pet shop about this? They sold you a pregnant degu. They should owe you a bigger cage and extra food and supplies to make up for this.

When we got our first hamster, the store actually gave HIM to us for free (supposedly he was the last of the litter of a mom and babies someone left on their doorstep, and just 2 months old) and we bought some supplies. Two weeks and a day later, HE gave birth to four babies. Hamster gestation is 16 days. We figure, they thought he was a male, and had him in with the males, then saw some "activity" indicating he wasn't a male, and so passed him off to the first idiots (us) they could so that they didn't have to deal with the babies "he" was now obviously going to have. My kids were thrilled. Me? Not so much.

[laratadegu]

Oct 9, 2022 10:39:14 GMT teemu said:

Ah, okay, good to hear that you had a backup cage available and such. That takes care of the first and most crucial situation, ensuring that the pups are safe. Even if the temporary cage is small, it's vastly preferable to any other situation, and they'll make do with it until you're able to get a babyproof cage or proof the one you have.

You can probably find out who the mother is pretty easily by looking at who's suckling the babies. The mother will spend a lot of time with the babies, giving milk. And it's quite unlikely that they've been there for long. Degu pups are born eyes open and fully capable of moving around, so as soon as they're out in the world, they're going to make themselves known.

I agree with your assessment that it sounds like she got pregnant outside your house. I recommend checking the other degu to make sure (if you can get pictures of her genitals, we will be able to help with that), but it's more likely than not the case.

For now, make sure that the mother has access to food an water, keep watching after the babies and start preparing a proper cage. The babies will be in weaning age at four to five weeks (five is the usual number), at which point you will have to separate the males from females, because otherwise accidents (of the "even more degus" variety) can occur. So for the immediate future, make sure that they're doing well, keep an eye out for any problems and see to the cage situation. Then start thinking about the weaning situation.

Do keep checking for a missing baby, but it's entirely possible that you've got them all safe and sound, especially if you noticed the situation quickly.

I am concerned about the other Degu and the chances of pregnancy now. I am thinking about giving away the baby Degus after realizing how big they will be and how much extra space and maintenance they will need. We have a small apartment so we cannot expand the cage much. Regardless of what we will do with the babies, we first must check the sexes (after they grow a bit) and separate them. My best friend is a vet and she double checked that both LR and EC are females so we are lucky they cannot reproduce then. Now we just have to keep an eye out about the other degu and watch the development of the babies. Thank you for all of this information, is has saved us.

[laratadegu]

Oct 9, 2022 17:40:04 GMT winic1 said:

If you've only had the second degu for 75 days, then your first one, LR, was pregnant when you got her, probably just so.
But, did you get the second degu, EC, from the same place? If so, she might be pregnant also, since they obviously made some kind of mistake with keeping males and females separate. Keep an eye out for her to suddenly rapidly get fatter, and start nest building for herself.

Have you talked to the pet shop about this? They sold you a pregnant degu. They should owe you a bigger cage and extra food and supplies to make up for this.

When we got our first hamster, the store actually gave HIM to us for free (supposedly he was the last of the litter of a mom and babies someone left on their doorstep, and just 2 months old) and we bought some supplies. Two weeks and a day later, HE gave birth to four babies. Hamster gestation is 16 days. We figure, they thought he was a male, and had him in with the males, then saw some "activity" indicating he wasn't a male, and so passed him off to the first idiots (us) they could so that they didn't have to deal with the babies "he" was now obviously going to have. My kids were thrilled. Me? Not so much.

Unfortunately, the store we got them from is very crappy so we doubt they will care and offer any other solution besides taking the babies in (we do not want this given the conditions the animals are kept in). My partner wants to keep the babies if they’re females but I am leaning more towards giving them away so we will have to deal with that in some weeks.

[teemu]

For the first 2-3 weeks, you can mostly allow the babies to just settle in with the mother. You can interact with them, but I recommend not removing them from the cage too much. They can become distressed, especially since the cages are changing, so allowing them to be at peace in a calm environment is for the best. At around 3 weeks, you should start sorting out their sexes. It's very possible that there are both males and females in there. Since you know a vet, ask if they can visit and check the sexes at that point (you can also bring them in, but that can be very stressful, so a visit would be better).

If you know already that you don't have the resources to keep the babies, I recommend starting to look for intrested (and responsible, of course) new owners as soon as possible. That way you have better chances of having homes lined up when the time comes for them to depart. Depending on whereabouts you are located, people on the forum may be able to help you find takers, or someone here might be able to do so.

[deguconvert]

I would just like to say, * DO NOT * separate the pups until they are a full six weeks old, even 6.5 weeks old. They very much need the time from weening to six weeks of age to develop an understanding of degu behaviors and colony culture. When they are separated too soon, it results in developmental stunting both socially and mentally, and as a result will face great future difficulties with any other degus. They can be more aggressive, unable to bond, more nervous and timid, may not know how to groom or use a sand bath. There are multiple things that can result.

[deguconvert]

Here is a care sheet that should help you.

deguworld.proboards.com/thread/23456/information-sheet-pregnant-degus-care

[moletteuk]

I hope you are feeling a little more in control today.

I just thought I would add that you should take the wheel out for the babies' safety. It should be OK to reunite EC with mum and babies if she has been confirmed as female and there is enough space in the cage and they were previously well bonded. You would need to keep a close eye on them for a day or two to check that LR and EC accept each other again. If all goes well, EC would normally help look after the babies.