Post by misterarkham on Jan 8, 2024 22:13:21 GMT
I have recently become a haven/sanctuary for 3 Octodon Degus. One is blind [cataracts] and the other two are perfectly healthy. I will preemptively warn everyone on this board that I have strong opinions and people who are terrible at rescue/husbandry make me insane with rage, but that does not mean that I'm not open to learning vicariously nor does it mean that I will type the way I speak [ie, with many four-letter-words]. I just want to be part of a community/group that loves these things as much as I do.
A bit about my rodent history: I used to raise rats for snake food [nature is brutal], but fell in love with Pickles the Rat [doo-di-li-doo, ding-dong, doo-di-li-doo-di-li-doo] -yes, that was her government name- and, aside from being born in the year of the rat [flex], I've always been pro rodent. I wanted a rat, but we got guinea pigs and it's definitely a case of "this is how it started and this is how it is" in terms of we started with one and now have 18 between our personal pigs and fosters [because we work with a rescue]. The Degus came from the same rescue and when I met them, instant love and murderous-protective instincts swelled up. They are fantastic and I have a 50/50 balance of hoping the female is pregnant and hoping not. More would be awesome, but I know that would quickly get....we'll go with "cumbersome."
I am staunchly independent in all things, but I entirely accept that there are those out there with more experience than I possess and I can humble myself when my animals are in question.
We have 5 dogs [mostly great pyrenees], a russian tortoise, the pigs and the degus, so, clearly, I'm not an idiot about animal husbandry.
I understand that this may come off as quite preemptively combatant, but that's how the internet rolls and, at the end of the day, this is just a hello-thread. Happy to meet fellow Willards. XD
A bit about my rodent history: I used to raise rats for snake food [nature is brutal], but fell in love with Pickles the Rat [doo-di-li-doo, ding-dong, doo-di-li-doo-di-li-doo] -yes, that was her government name- and, aside from being born in the year of the rat [flex], I've always been pro rodent. I wanted a rat, but we got guinea pigs and it's definitely a case of "this is how it started and this is how it is" in terms of we started with one and now have 18 between our personal pigs and fosters [because we work with a rescue]. The Degus came from the same rescue and when I met them, instant love and murderous-protective instincts swelled up. They are fantastic and I have a 50/50 balance of hoping the female is pregnant and hoping not. More would be awesome, but I know that would quickly get....we'll go with "cumbersome."
I am staunchly independent in all things, but I entirely accept that there are those out there with more experience than I possess and I can humble myself when my animals are in question.
We have 5 dogs [mostly great pyrenees], a russian tortoise, the pigs and the degus, so, clearly, I'm not an idiot about animal husbandry.
I understand that this may come off as quite preemptively combatant, but that's how the internet rolls and, at the end of the day, this is just a hello-thread. Happy to meet fellow Willards. XD