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Post by marumba7 on Feb 24, 2006 7:55:01 GMT
 We built a rope ladder out of 550 cord and bolts.  At first, no one would use it. Homer here (with no markings on his ears) scaled the wall and looked down at the rest of them.  After we moved their food to the upper levels, they took the risk. (That's Norbert in green.)  Eventually, each of the five had climbed the rope successfully.  Here are two of the three ladies. Ophelia in Pink and Penelope in Orange.  Truly, the degus love their new home and their family. At night, they sleep in a pile of bodies.  And finally, and so as to not leave her out, this is Dunya. THE RUNDOWN Homer: no marking because he has no fur on the end of his tail Norbert: green Ophelia: pink/purple Dunya: blue Penelope: orange |
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Post by ra on Feb 24, 2006 21:33:16 GMT
Just wait, they'll get busy and you'll have a pile of bolts and string!! I had one of those wooden ladders seen in pictures 2 and 5. My Degu Girls loved to chew that thing. Mocha used to throw it down to the bottom of the cage from what ever level I had it set up. She also kept trying to fit the ladder into their cardboard nest box. One evening I watched her try to fit it through the door way this way and that and finally she picked up the corner of the box and shoved the ladder under it!! I was astounded my her resourcefulness.
You sure do get nice pictures inside your cage. How do you do that?
What did you use to color your Degus ears for identification? I don't know if Tanzania, being the runt of the litter will ever catch up in size with her mom Mocha. I think Mocha's head is going to be a little bigger but at first glance it is very difficult to tell them apart.
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Post by marumba7 on Feb 26, 2006 0:58:06 GMT
The degus, as of today, have finally chewed through the bottom rungs of the wooden ladder. Although, they don't tend to move it about all that much. Sometimes we take away the ramps so they have to use it. As for the homemade ladder, they've only chewed on the knots a bit; no serious damage.
The pictures? Yeah, I open a cage door and reach both my hand and camera in there. I have many shots of a degu nosing the lens.
When we had just the two boys, it was easy to tell them apart. Homer is bigger and has a stubby, tail whereas Norbert is small with a poufy tail. But when the ladies joined the family, we realized only Sharpies would do. So yeah, the Click Sharpies, the ones without caps, they're great.
However, we're thinking of switching to food coloring, as the sharpie colors wear off from dust bath to dust bath.
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Post by Sunshinemeg on Feb 26, 2006 12:41:54 GMT
I am curious as to what the effect of constantly staining the ear will do. Degu ears are very sensitive and delicate. I wouldnt have thought it sensible to use this as a long term method of telling the degus apart. As a one off should you need to visit the vet ok, but long term? Im not so sure.
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Post by flibble on Feb 26, 2006 15:19:31 GMT
Hey.
Another option for identifying the degus is tail marking. I work with rats and we tail mark them with a black marker pen that is safe to use on them. They have these marks re-newed once a week and it doesn't cause a problem. We use different numbers of lines to identify individuals. I also did this when i had 5 identical albino pet mice!
Just an idea!
Naomi ;D
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Post by marumba7 on Apr 21, 2006 3:42:55 GMT
I do hope we're not damaging them, but the ear marking technique we've been doing is so effective. At a quick glance, we're able to identify them, and that's nice. "Oh look, Homer is with Ophelia. And look at what Norbert is doing." There is no second guessing who is who. Tail marking is so hard on these degus.
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