Neutering or isolation?

[pip]

Further to the post on my terrorising male (below), does anyone have any wisdom on the lesser evil: castration or isolation?

I know degus are community creatures, but he's obviously not enamoured with his sons, who are far happier without him. Is it better to neuter him to be rid of some testosterone, or to put him in a cage on his own, and let him bully his logs, wheel, and bars?

[Lala]

You could try castration BUT it's not always inclined to work! If it doesn't work then isolation will have to be the answer.

[phe]

i agree with lala give it a go n if it dusnt work then theres not much else u can do! xxx

[james]

the only thing with neutering is that it is very risky to put degus under anesthetic and not many vets (in the UK that i know of) know how to neuter degus and the effects differ from animal to animal as if they are naturaly aggressive then neutering will have very little affect on the degu. but from what i have heard when it works it works very well.
good luck with what you choose.
hope it works out for you.

[alex]

I think castration is slightly less risky than female neutering(correct me if im wrong), but agreed, make sure you find a vet who knows what (s)he is doing.

On another note, mention castration and i can gaurantee all male members of the site feel funny!

[jolie]

Heh. Poor guys...

Castration/orchidectomy is less risky than spaying a female, but it still carries risk, and it is not always guaranteed to work. You could try it, and still have the option to isolate your male goo if needed.
If you just isolate, you may always wonder if the neutering would have worked.

[buzz]

I'm no vet but unless the behaviour is due to territorialness then I doubt very much castration would help. If he just doesn't like them the feeling will still bethere. Plus it can take up to a month to see any changes as testosterone is still in his system for this length of time apparently.

I spoke to a vet once about castration and he said that he'd never done it before but there was a step by step guide on how to do it on the internet....said thank you and left. Be very careful who you pick. I found that a few vets were eager to do it to gain the experience, I know they have to start someone but at the end of the day its your little goo.

If it were me I'd seperate him and see how depressed he was on his own before I'd consider the risk of castration. Some goos actually prefer to be on their own. Then again is he used to being with a female?

[pip]

He is used to being with a female, and (since I was advised to leave them together after the birth of a litter) the randy little sod got his claw over straightaway and she's peganant again. So I separated them, putting him with his sons and her with the daughters. The female cage is a picture of harmony ).

She's due to give birth on May 5th, so I can't impose him back upon her. Plus the other daughters will be helping mum with her second litter, and the husband will just ruin the nice domestic set-up they've got going.

I think I'll go the isolation route. It means a new cage (another one!!) but I think it's preferable to surgery.

[pip]

PS
I don't know why my smiley face became a shocked one. But that's meant to be a happy expression!

[jolie]

Perhaps he'll be happiest on his own. Just be sure to give him lots of love...
ps: Your smiley doesn't need a nose, that's why he's shocked. Just do : and the )

[sarah]

I'll just reiterate what the others have said -- neutering might not work. It didn't in our case!