Has anyone had a quiet degu before?

[deguworldwide]

Before I proceed, I'm reading back what I've written and this has definitely become an "In Loving Memory" kind of post, along with being a "General Behavior" one...I have always been a rambler...

Some background information: My sweet little old man PJ had to be put to sleep earlier today after eight lovely years of life. PJ's living situation was a bit unusual, as he'd been living by himself ever since his companion degu, Diego, passed unexpectedly a year ago. Many reasons factored into this decision to keep him solo, but ultimately he was happier than he'd ever been compared to when Diego was around. Moreover, PJ (and Diego too) wasn't a privately owned pet, he was housed in a public space and would get many visitors each day, along with the group of us working at the space who were in charge of taking care of him.

Anyways, PJ and I ended up developing quite a close bond after Diego had passed; before, PJ would be incredibly skittish near anyone who came near him, but after the passing we very quickly established a relationship where he would happily allow me to give him chin scratches and belly rubs. Looking back though, I'm realizing that PJ was an incredibly quiet degu. He never really made any noises; not to me nor any of the other people who took care of him. Does anyone know anything about this quiet degu phenomenon? I'm wondering if it was because he was housed by himself for the year I was close to him. While he was still relatively quiet before Diego passed, I do think I remember him making some noise occasionally.

I realized this yesterday when I was saying my final goodbye to PJ; I was giving him some belly rubs and he did that happy degu warble/chirp for the first time in me knowing him. Nearly brought tears to my eyes. I really wonder if he knew somehow that his time was up...

He was such a sweet and affectionate boy, I'm definitely missing him dearly.

[skittish]

I'm so sorry for your loss

[moletteuk]

Welcome to the forum, I'm sorry it's not in happier circumstances, I'm sorry for your loss.

I think degus with only a human companion are usually fairly quiet. I think they must know we are unskilled and don't get all the nuances so they can't be bothered! I think the happy and conversational noises in particular are often a call and response group activity. I'm glad you got a happy warble at the end.

[deguconvert]

I am so sorry for your loss, Deguworldwide. They are remarkable characters with so much personality. Those happy warbles are so sweet and precious. In the years that I had degus, I noticed that their vocalizations became less and less as they aged. Mothers talk a lot to their pups, and pups have A LOT to say. I used to thoroughly enjoy listening in on our degus as they would bed down for the night. They would be chatting back and forth . . . I'd call it "pillow talk." "Oh, this feels good!" "Hey! Shove over, you're in my space!" "Can you lay on my back?" "Actually, it's MY turn to be on the bottom of the pile . . . ." "Will you all just shut up? I'm trying to go to sleep here!" "You don't have to be nasty about it . . ." "SHUSH!" --------------- "Fine." Yes . . . I could tell the different voices. LOL! I loved hearing them chat. But as I said above, that grew less and less as they aged.