Degus and Chinchillas Together

[degusrock]

Hi! Im just thinking...would a degu and a chinchilla get along together?
My Three degu's need a new friend im thinking. Would it be alright for them? Or Should i just keep the two animals apart?

[buzz]

well now, jackdaniels adopted an established group of degus and chins and as far as I know they've been doing well. But, I don't know what age they were introduced to one another. It will also depend on all the animals personalities and the size of the cage. As chins sleep in the day and don't do very well if disturbed constantly they need a quiet area. Personally I wouldn't risk it, as the degus could well bully the chin or the chin could get aggressive and do alot of damage to the degus. There was another member who tried to introduce her degus and chin but they never got on.

[andrea37]

my sisters going away in july and has asked me to look after her two chins while she is away and she keeps hinting she wants me to keep them , im not sure how this is going to effect to my boy sweep who is going blind and my other boy sooty who seems top dog (the degus) , can anyone tell me how they might all act being in the same room together in two cages of course will they go mad over the smell of each other and play time i would have to get them out seperatley ,what would happen if they got out together, i know degus are daytimers and chins are night timers but mt goos seem to be up most of the nights so how could i work this without upsetting the goos

[jackdaniels]

No I wouldn't advise keeping Degus and Chinchillas together in the same cage. I have noticed that the chinchillas are a lot more happier when the degus are not in with them.

Reasons being... they can sleep undisturbed without degus jumping on heads squeaking so loud they nearly fall of perch. The chins would be able to get first pick of the food and they wouldn't be so jumpey (Degus move Chinchillas run back into the cage).

[jackdaniels]

Jun 21, 2008 9:44:43 GMT buzz said:

well now, jackdaniels adopted an established group of degus and chins and as far as I know they've been doing well. But, I don't know what age they were introduced to one another. It will also depend on all the animals personalities and the size of the cage. As chins sleep in the day and don't do very well if disturbed constantly they need a quiet area. Personally I wouldn't risk it, as the degus could well bully the chin or the chin could get aggressive and do alot of damage to the degus. There was another member who tried to introduce her degus and chin but they never got on.

Pretty much spot on apart from I don't think a Chinchilla would win in a fight . Degus are very strong, Teeth look a lot sharper and the degus claws would really cause some damage to a chinchilla.

[degusrock]

yeah thx.. turns out the day after i posted this, one of degus had babies!! lol