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Post by squirrelygirl3 on Feb 2, 2006 18:36:27 GMT
Cocoa gave birth a couple of days ago, but I think that Yolanda is also very much pregnant. Tubby w/ teats, although she has always been a big girl. Any thoughts on how to cope with 2 new litters?
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Post by diet otaku on Feb 2, 2006 20:25:36 GMT
my best advice would be to make sure the cage is secure, and let nature take over.
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Post by ra on Feb 2, 2006 20:44:46 GMT
Oh dear it does sound like you have another birthing pending. How large of a cage are you housing your girls in?
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Post by squirrelygirl3 on Feb 2, 2006 20:55:57 GMT
it is 2 1/2 'x 2 1/2 'x 1 1/2'. The cage is also in my bedroom, as per agreement with my room mates.. It is going to be insane. I found a very good exotic small animal rescue/ adoption centre/ educational zoo to be my plan b. The problem is that I don't want to break the girls up.
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Post by diet otaku on Feb 2, 2006 21:56:47 GMT
what i would suggest is rehoming as many of the babies as you can via the adoption center. it might be pretty hectic and crowded while the babies are all weening, but at 6-8 weeks you can sex them, give all the males to the adoption center, and if you'd like to keep any of the female babies, you can do so and give the rest of the females to the adoption center.
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Post by ra on Feb 3, 2006 14:16:48 GMT
I did just what diet otaku suggested. Sexed (and re-sexed and re-sexed again to be certain!)the babies at 6wks. Gave two girls to a friend of my sister, kept one female (Tanzania) as a companion for Mocha and gave the five boys to the pet shop where I bought Mocha - along with Degu information sheets to hand out to prospective buyers, food suggestions etc.
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Post by squirrelygirl3 on Feb 5, 2006 2:13:58 GMT
Well it happened: Last night I was a degu midwife. Yolanda was quite agitated, with Cocoa's babies hanging offf of her teats ( no questions about possible pregnancy anymore). Actually, Yolanda did it herself, I just helped keep her quiet, and Cocoa's babies away from her. Yolanda had 3 healthy babies early on Saturday morning. This is on top of Cocoa's six that were born on Tuesday morning. I wish that I had a webcam. The girls are quite amazing; Yolanda, and Cocoa swap out on mama duties, and little Pisco is a diligent babysitter. As wonderful as it is to watch, this also saddens me. I learned a couple of nights ago that my one roommate is allergic to the degus. 3 were tolerable, 12 is out of the question. They are such an amazing family unit, that I don't see how I could seperate them from each other. The humane answer is to send them all to foster care as a unit. This probaby means giving up my girls forever.
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Post by diet otaku on Feb 5, 2006 4:42:18 GMT
if your roommate is only mildly allergic, perhaps you can keep the degus in a closed-off room to limit the spread of allergens? 12 degus would be quite a handful, though, so i'd recommend at least separating out the boys and adopting them out, if you don't want to give away all of the babies. degus naturally live in large colonies, so they have the instincts for managing large families, but they're also perfectly content in small, close-knit family units. and especially considering the size limitations of your current cage, you don't want to try and pack too many in there. not to mention, it would be extremely difficult (if not impossible) to find someone who would adopt all 12 together, so they're probably going to get split up anyway. better that at least some of them stay with a familiar face.
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Post by Sunshinemeg on Feb 5, 2006 11:58:58 GMT
I totally support what Diet says. I understand you dont want to seperate the family, but even if they went to a rescue centre the males would be seperated from the females, so it is quite reasonable for you to wait for the babies to be about 8 weeks old. you would have to ask someone like aimee for the right time frame there. and then take out the babies, seperate them into two sex groups, and then re-home them. realistically they wouldnt be able to stay in that cage much longer than that anyway, as its not big enough for such a large number.
good luck, take some pics, would be lovely to see them all!
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Post by Aimeelou on Feb 6, 2006 12:00:59 GMT
Well done Squirrelygirl, one brood of babys is a handfull, but two lots! Phew! I have read and been told how nursing mothers will share the baby duties, but i i would love to witness it myself! Please be sure to post some pictures! As far as seperating the babys, but sure to do this 6 weeks after the babys where born.
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Post by squirrelygirl3 on Feb 6, 2006 15:24:57 GMT
Unfortunatley tha cage is already in my bedroom with a door that always closed. I don't think that i can do six weeks with 12 degus. In fact I would proabably get evicted. Moving is out of the question for me, as there is no place for me to move to ( I live in a very small village) Right now, it seems like the only option is to take all of them (including the adults) somewhere else in the near future, so that they can do thier thing and raise the babies. That is the only responsible option. It's nice to think that I could keep them for awhile, but what good am I to the degus without a roof over my head? I never would have got the girls if I knew that they were pregnant. This is probably going to be a foster home for the shelter. These people at least know what they are doing. Back to the degus- When should I install the baby water bottle? They seem to be eating, or at least playing with solid food.
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Post by ra on Feb 6, 2006 21:17:04 GMT
You really are in a tough situation. I think I may well be allergic to my Degus but what the heck, I'm allergic to my dogs, horses, rooster, hay, dust, mold .... I just take antihistamines and live with it. I realize that is my choice. Your roomate did not choose Degus and may not be able to tolerate the allergic response.
Perhaps you could keep Yolanda, her three babies and Pisco. I would consider keeping Pisco because she and Yolanda could be companions if you find out the three babies are all males.
Or you might want to just keep Yolanda and her babies and send Pisco with Cocoa to help with her larger brood.
I hate to see you give up all of your Degus. They are such good pets.
I put a small bowl of water in the cage for the babies. It seemed easier for them to drink from a shallow bowl than a drinking tube or bottle. They were cute. They sure didn't like getting their feet wet if they accidently stepped into the dish.
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Post by squirrelygirl3 on Feb 6, 2006 21:27:00 GMT
I don't want to give them up either. SO far they have been pretty fun ( especially Pisco- she's definatley a runt and not all there, but sweet and happy). The big problem is Yolanda and Cocoa are co-parenting one giant brood. They are 4 1/2 days apart, but the physical differences are rapidly diminishing. It is just a bunch of tiny brown critters leaping all over whichever mother is available, and the timeline on me sending the degus away is pretty quick.
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Post by ra on Feb 7, 2006 15:38:53 GMT
What a shame. Perhaps if you explain the situation to the rescue group they will take the Degus for you for now, then once the babies are weaned you could re-adopt Pisco, Yolanda and Cocoa. None of which should be pregnant again so you'd have your three girls back.
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Post by squirrelygirl3 on Feb 7, 2006 17:36:07 GMT
It is almost a "done deal". I could probably adopt them back. On Sunday,myself, a friend, and twelve degus are going on a road trip to meet the ladies from the shelter. It seemsl ike fabulous place. If there is anyone in Western Canada interseted their website is www.chaoticexotics.ca . The Humane Society and the SPCA can't vouch for private shelters, but the person that I have been talking to seems quite knowledgeable. It sounds like there will be huge habitats. I tried to talk to the closest exotic animal vet yesterday as a final resort. The person that I spoke to, didn't seem to listen, and basically judged me as a bad person. She told me how dangerous it is to have 12 degus in a cage. I agree, but it is a huge cage, the three adults are female, and the other 9 are newborns. It's actually a good situation for now. I seemed to know more about degus than she did- but she pretty much gave me the works for being a flake and a bad pet owner. Last night was my first serious opportunity to really clean the cage, and change the bedding since the pups were born. It was so cute, one of the pups was picking up little bits of timothy hay, and kleenex and moving it to the new nest. I really with that I had a webcam. Little Pisco (who is my favourite, and quite possibly somewhat retarded degu) sat on my shoulder and helped me. It was the first long- term handling that I have done with the girls. I have pet them and such, but they are still pretty nervous around me. I discovered that I am violently allergic to them. Hives, and my eyes look worse than most drug addicts. I think that the girls deserve a home with people who can play with them. This makes it easier, but Sunday ought to be tough.
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Post by squirrelygirl3 on Feb 7, 2006 18:30:19 GMT
By the way I do have pictures ( I had to show the vet that I used to work for; after all I am a grandma at 34). I will be sure to post them, as they are the cutest little things that I have ever seen. I realize that although the two unplanned pregnancies were the "downfall"of my degus, that they have given me the most amazing opportunity to be part of something that is very special. I would like to share it with those that can appreciate it. I did find very good references on the shelter, so I feel somewhat better about the whole thing.
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Post by squirrelygirl3 on Feb 8, 2006 23:40:25 GMT
A wierd question:
When do the babies tails get their cute little tuft of fur?
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Post by Aimeelou on Feb 12, 2006 14:47:09 GMT
It will gradually grow and about 10 weeks they normaly get a full "tuft".
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Post by squirrelygirl3 on Feb 13, 2006 16:06:06 GMT
Thanks- I have a bunch of picures, and movies on my degus. Yesterday I took the degus (all 12 of them) on a road trip to meet the nice ladies from the exotic animal shelter. It was a nice day and the degus travelled the 1000 km well. The ladies were genuinely delighted. They promised to pay extra attention to little Pisco, and that they even raised and placed a retarderd cockatiel. It is a bittersweet end to the degu saga. The good news is that I will be able to track the girls'and pups'progress from a website. I still have hives from cage cleaning yesterday. I guess that i can't get hives from viewing a website, just'"watery"eyes.
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Post by diet otaku on Feb 13, 2006 17:32:21 GMT
awwww... you're giving ME watery eyes! T___T
you got MOVIES of the babies? that's so AWESOME! you should PM meg to see if she can host them for you. i would love to see baby degus in action!
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