2 Boys + 1 new boy - need a bit of help please

[karen72]

hi, hope someone can give me a little help here, i have got 2 Boys, Jake & Elwood, i got them back in April i have just adopted a boy (Flintstone) who is 6 months old, i have had Flint for a week now and their cages are next to each other so they can all smell and get used to each other, today i put Jake and flintstone together and it went really well, Jake is a very kind boy and by the looks of it, being top Degu does not bother him, i knew putting Elwood and Flint together was not going to be as easy, and i was right, they had the normal boxing match, then they were chasing each other, there was quite a lot of noise going on but nothing too bad, they ended up boxing again and were doing high jumps and giving each other quite a kick, i did keep splitting them up and letting them have a sniff again etc, i only let them be together for about 10Min's, (i didn't want to push things to much) i do want them all to live together (in the end) i was thinking of leaving it a day and then trying again, do you think i should do this or try them every day? i don't want to force them into liking each other,
i was pleased at how it went today and i am looking for a little guidance on what to do next please.
one thing - Elwood kept putting his back to Flint and i have read that this could mean he is trying not to fight and letting Flint be in charge, is this true?
Many Thanks, Karen

[critterrx]

I would continue with the supervised playtimes for a while and see how that goes before leaving them all together in one cage. If they get into a fight when noone is there to break them up, one or more of them could really get hurt.

Good luck!

[karen72]

do you think i should try them together everyday or every few days? i am not putting them into the cages when i put them together, when they are ready to live together i will have the cage totally cleaned out before hand so there are no smells etc in there.

[critterrx]

If you have time to watch them together every day I'd try to do that. The more they're together and getting along okay the better. If you're having to break up fights often, you might want to slow down some with the playtimes. It's really a judgment call depending on your time and how well they're doing together.

When I was re-introducing my boys, I'd let them out each day together. They could stay out together as long as I didn't have to continuously break up fights. Some days they would fight over the silliest things ("I want THAT chew toy, even though there are 3 of the same right next to me, YOURS is better." : If I broke up a fight, or an almost-fight, and they went right back at it shortly thereafter, I'd just put them up for that day. They gradually got to where they'd get out, groom each other, and then play without aggravating each other. There were some relapses where they tended to fuss more, and I don't think I'd ever let them live together, but they're doing well with the separate cages but next to each other setup.