Squabbles over JR farm premium!

[flibble]

Hi,

I got my JR farm degu premium the other day, the degu's absolutely love it, they rush to the front of the cage when I open the tub!! Only problem is that Eric guards the food bowl when he's eating and won't let Alfie near it - he makes a squawking (spelling?) noise at him. i have tried giving them two food bowls but Alfie wants to eat out of the same one as Eric. Just wondered if anyone else has had a similar problem. Eric is fine with Alfie eating out the bowl when he's not near it.

[Sunshinemeg]

in a word, yes. And there is no way you are going to solve it other than by keeping 2 bowls fully stocked. Its a dominance thing, he is boss, he gets the first choice!! As long as Alfie knows this, he will be ok.

[flibble]

Cheers for the reply Meg. It's weird cos when I got them Alfie was definately the boss but recently the tables have turned, Eric has been mounting Alfie a lot and generally acting like the boss! I will keep both bowls in the cage and hopefully that will help - trouble is that food is too good!!! hehe! ;D

[thegrouchybeast]

Mine will fight over the nice food (pellets and JR) too. If I put the food in a bowl, then Tricksy just sits on top of the bowl and won't let the others come anywhere near it without the whole thing erupting into a storm of furious squeaking. Another reason for hand-feeding :-)

[Aimeelou]

The best and least violent option is to have two food bowls or more or like Meg has giant dog food bowl (dont tell the degus!) that they can all sit with their backs to each other!

[Sunshinemeg]

yes, the dog food bowl works the best, it fits four degus inside it!! But we DO turn the dog wording to the wall so they cant see it!