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Post by tolisgoal on Mar 1, 2023 22:34:14 GMT
For context, I have 2 degus, male and female (thought they were both male originally), that now live in separate cages. So sometimes and honestly most times during playtime, I get both degus out at the same time (playtime meaning I'm also around and looking at them, not just out of cage time). Other times I give them small visits to each other (again observing them throughout), so they groom and take care of their needs. So far I haven't noticed anything sex related, but I also haven't caught my female in heat(or at least I'm missing the signs). I haven't found anything on how exactly degus mate, like if it's the usual thrusting motion as in most animals, though I imagine it is.
So my questions are: 1. Is it better for them to let them groom each other/interact with each other often or not. They still chirp to each other through their cages at times, so they obviously don't mind each others company. I don't mind keeping watch over them.
2. Are the signs that the female is in heat obvious? I was actively looking for tail wagging and such but I've never noticed anything like that. What should I be looking for? I have had doubts that the degu is female, based on the fact that I haven't noticed them doing anything that looked sex related even though I have had them for pretty long together (had them in the same cage for 1.5 months before I found out one was female and made the new cage and so on) and there are no baby degus to be found (thankfully)
Thank you in advance.
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Post by savvy on Mar 1, 2023 22:44:21 GMT
OK, let's take it one issue at a time;
Let them meet is a big risk if they are opposite sexes. I'm not sure how degus mate as I've never seen it, but where there's a will and all that.....
Female degus on heat are extremely active, constantly running on the wheel, not eating so much, really hyper. Then they spend a day or two in bed recovering, lol. I currently have 4 females so it's a constant hormonal torrent. Their cycle is roughly every 21 days.
I really think you need to confirm the sexes of both your degus. If you are unsure, put some treats in a clear glass bowl, and photograph their genitalia from beneath or wait until the climb the bars and then photograph. You can put the photos on here if you need another opinion, but the way to tell is to look at the gap between the anus and the cone; small or no gap is a female, large gap is a male.
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Post by tolisgoal on Mar 2, 2023 10:15:30 GMT
I have already done this in one of my first posts here that's how I concluded they were female: deguworld.proboards.com/thread/23634/hello-best-forum-light-situation?page=1Their genitals haven't changed much since the post (and them growing up and so on), there is still a clear difference between them. I'm gonna have to be more careful about signs of Mpala's cycle i guess. I get the obvious risk of pups, but I've been doing it for a while and keepin watch on short visits isn't hard, they mainly groom each other everytime since they don't have a cagemate to do it on their cages. |
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Post by savvy on Mar 2, 2023 10:30:17 GMT
Ah, thanks for the reminder, I've read back and you do have one of each.
Would it be possible to get the male neutered?
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Post by tolisgoal on Mar 2, 2023 13:30:54 GMT
Ah, thanks for the reminder, I've read back and you do have one of each. Would it be possible to get the male neutered? It would be and it would be ideal but I have 2 reasons I haven't done it: 1. Money (vets in my country charge a ton compared to what people make) 2. The one exotics vet I have had to google what a degu is, so he hasn't operated on one before. So I decided not to get it done bcz I've heard of accidents with inexperienced degu-wise vets.
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Post by savvy on Mar 2, 2023 14:59:35 GMT
Ah, thanks for the reminder, I've read back and you do have one of each. Would it be possible to get the male neutered? It would be and it would be ideal but I have 2 reasons I haven't done it: 1. Money (vets in my country charge a ton compared to what people make) 2. The one exotics vet I have had to google what a degu is, so he hasn't operated on one before. So I decided not to get it done bcz I've heard of accidents with inexperienced degu-wise vets.
Wise decision. |
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Post by moletteuk on Mar 2, 2023 17:09:36 GMT
I would say that as usual with degus it's not straightforward and as you are in an unusual position, I think you will need to decide about the pregnancy/ company trade off for yourself. My concern is that it is quite difficult to maintain concentration when you are watching them. I had my degus a couple of years before I noticed them coming into heat, but suddenly it became very obvious with hyperactivity, reduced appetite, increased grooming, increased whining and tail wagging for a few days followed by rest and eating more. I don't know if they weren't coming into heat before that, or if they were still fertile before that and they just reached an age where there hormones became more pronounced, which made the signs more obvious. I suspect they can be fertile while having minimal signs of being on heat. One of my degus had a lot more signs of being in heat than the others, and this is quite common. As you know, degus are complicated socially, so I think it would be degu specific and hormone specific as to how quickly they would have intercourse after meeting. I imagine in some cases it could take a while, other cases they may get on with it right away if the female is fertile. You can also get the situation where the male doesn't exactly know what to do, especially if they have never observed it happening before, which can delay things quite a bit. The male will mount the female from behind, and I expect there would be some kind of thrusting or movement, you may even see the penis as he tries to engage, I have no idea how long it would take for completion. bouncy can you give us an idea of timing from the activities of your boys or maybe deguconvert saw intercourse? What country are you in? |
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Post by bouncy on Mar 2, 2023 18:22:50 GMT
My boys all have randy moments. It initially resembles mounting for grooming, except for the upper goo moving his hips like a jackhammer. Usually, the other goo will try to run away within a few seconds. If they manage to finish what is wanted, it's all over after ten seconds. If not, there'll be repeated chasing. One thing guaranteed is that the end is marked by them cleaning themselves, then barking repeatedly, just so that everyone knows.
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Post by tolisgoal on Mar 2, 2023 21:56:23 GMT
I would say that as usual with degus it's not straightforward and as you are in an unusual position, I think you will need to decide about the pregnancy/ company trade off for yourself. My concern is that it is quite difficult to maintain concentration when you are watching them. I had my degus a couple of years before I noticed them coming into heat, but suddenly it became very obvious with hyperactivity, reduced appetite, increased grooming, increased whining and tail wagging for a few days followed by rest and eating more. I don't know if they weren't coming into heat before that, or if they were still fertile before that and they just reached an age where there hormones became more pronounced, which made the signs more obvious. I suspect they can be fertile while having minimal signs of being on heat. One of my degus had a lot more signs of being in heat than the others, and this is quite common. As you know, degus are complicated socially, so I think it would be degu specific and hormone specific as to how quickly they would have intercourse after meeting. I imagine in some cases it could take a while, other cases they may get on with it right away if the female is fertile. You can also get the situation where the male doesn't exactly know what to do, especially if they have never observed it happening before, which can delay things quite a bit. The male will mount the female from behind, and I expect there would be some kind of thrusting or movement, you may even see the penis as he tries to engage, I have no idea how long it would take for completion. bouncy can you give us an idea of timing from the activities of your boys or maybe deguconvert saw intercourse? What country are you in? I see. I think I have noticed mpala being less social and more in her nest sometimes so maybe that was it. Honestly I'd rather they be happier and take my chances with observing them. Mounting and humping is pretty noticeable even when not very concentrated plus the visits are relatively short, so I am not too worried (will be even less once I start noticing the heat cycle, hopefully soon). The goos have been "together" since birth, either in the same cage or separated next to each other, so they must know each other pretty well.
I live in Greece.
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Post by tolisgoal on Mar 2, 2023 22:29:08 GMT
My boys all have randy moments. It initially resembles mounting for grooming, except for the upper goo moving his hips like a jackhammer. Usually, the other goo will try to run away within a few seconds. If they manage to finish what is wanted, it's all over after ten seconds. If not, there'll be repeated chasing. One thing guaranteed is that the end is marked by them cleaning themselves, then barking repeatedly, just so that everyone knows. I had heard about the barking and feared it would happen everyday while I had them together after I realized mpala was female. Thankfully it never did but that'll be a good way to know I messed up XD. If there is such clear humping then I think I can keep giving them the visits and just observing their grooming carefully. Ty for the info
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Post by bouncy on Mar 3, 2023 2:39:59 GMT
Ah! Kali Mera!
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 4, 2023 3:48:58 GMT
I would say that as usual with degus it's not straightforward and as you are in an unusual position, I think you will need to decide about the pregnancy/ company trade off for yourself. My concern is that it is quite difficult to maintain concentration when you are watching them. I had my degus a couple of years before I noticed them coming into heat, but suddenly it became very obvious with hyperactivity, reduced appetite, increased grooming, increased whining and tail wagging for a few days followed by rest and eating more. I don't know if they weren't coming into heat before that, or if they were still fertile before that and they just reached an age where there hormones became more pronounced, which made the signs more obvious. I suspect they can be fertile while having minimal signs of being on heat. One of my degus had a lot more signs of being in heat than the others, and this is quite common. As you know, degus are complicated socially, so I think it would be degu specific and hormone specific as to how quickly they would have intercourse after meeting. I imagine in some cases it could take a while, other cases they may get on with it right away if the female is fertile. You can also get the situation where the male doesn't exactly know what to do, especially if they have never observed it happening before, which can delay things quite a bit. The male will mount the female from behind, and I expect there would be some kind of thrusting or movement, you may even see the penis as he tries to engage, I have no idea how long it would take for completion. bouncy can you give us an idea of timing from the activities of your boys or maybe deguconvert saw intercourse? What country are you in? No I can't help with that. We never caught them in the act, and our girls were always very capable of putting off delivery until night. It thing the pregnancies that followed happened in the night hours as well. As for Aslan, the young pup that impregnated all our girls . . . we didn't witness anything there either. He was very sneaky! |
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Post by tolisgoal on Mar 4, 2023 14:51:10 GMT
Hahahah kalimera to you to |
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Post by tolisgoal on Mar 4, 2023 14:52:31 GMT
I would say that as usual with degus it's not straightforward and as you are in an unusual position, I think you will need to decide about the pregnancy/ company trade off for yourself. My concern is that it is quite difficult to maintain concentration when you are watching them. I had my degus a couple of years before I noticed them coming into heat, but suddenly it became very obvious with hyperactivity, reduced appetite, increased grooming, increased whining and tail wagging for a few days followed by rest and eating more. I don't know if they weren't coming into heat before that, or if they were still fertile before that and they just reached an age where there hormones became more pronounced, which made the signs more obvious. I suspect they can be fertile while having minimal signs of being on heat. One of my degus had a lot more signs of being in heat than the others, and this is quite common. As you know, degus are complicated socially, so I think it would be degu specific and hormone specific as to how quickly they would have intercourse after meeting. I imagine in some cases it could take a while, other cases they may get on with it right away if the female is fertile. You can also get the situation where the male doesn't exactly know what to do, especially if they have never observed it happening before, which can delay things quite a bit. The male will mount the female from behind, and I expect there would be some kind of thrusting or movement, you may even see the penis as he tries to engage, I have no idea how long it would take for completion. bouncy can you give us an idea of timing from the activities of your boys or maybe deguconvert saw intercourse? What country are you in? No I can't help with that. We never caught them in the act, and our girls were always very capable of putting off delivery until night. It thing the pregnancies that followed happened in the night hours as well. As for Aslan, the young pup that impregnated all our girls . . . we didn't witness anything there either. He was very sneaky! Maybe this could mean they prefer to do the act when everything is calm and noone is around them? Though this comes from just what I've read here so not really solid evidence. Still interesting to think about if noone has ever seen them in the act. |
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 7, 2023 1:31:07 GMT
Well . . . perhaps they do prefer the calm and quiet . . . but my point was more that because our girls delivered in the night, AND because they are most open/compelled to mating almost immediately after delivery is complete . . . we would not have caught them in the act anyway. It was just a matter of timing. When the 7-8 week old pup mated with all our girls and all were impregnated, we never saw it happen either. I can say that we saw him climb up on their backs . . . but he was so young and so tiny that it just looked like a baby on the back of an adult, not mating. Mating happens incredibly quickly.
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 7, 2023 1:32:31 GMT
OH . . . we never heard him bark after either.
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Post by moletteuk on Mar 7, 2023 11:16:22 GMT
I think they would undoubtdedly prefer to do it when it is quiet as it is a risk for prey animals to have their focus away from danger, BUT I think the drive to procreate would easily override this if they are only face to face periodically.
I think essentially there is always going to be a risk of pregnancy, hopefully you have a little more information now which may help, but I think you would need to be in a position to deal with a pregnancy to continue them meeting.
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