young or old?

[lizkitten]

Hi Guys,
Following on from my friend request for Bernard, i have now been offered (for money) either two 2 year olds or two 6 week olds. being as i'm going to be introducing them to a 6 month old, lone degu, would it be better to have the young ones or the older? i'm leaning towards younger cos then they won't threaten bernards authority as alpha male but would he bully them too much cos they'ed be so much smaller? any advice gratefully recieved

[jackdaniels]

6 weeks would be a perfect age to start introductions. Various methods and tips in the introductions and training section(oops thats this section ).


The only problem you will have is at about 6 months old when they will befighting to see who the most domiant one is.


Good luck

[lizkitten]

i'm hoping that as Bernard is already in situ and older that he will just be accepted as alpha male, he's not had the best start in life poor thing so i want to make the rest of it as stress free as possible.

[jackdaniels]

Of course to begin with Bernard will be the alpha male, but when they get older the younger boy may take this role if bernard is not strong enough.



Sorry having trouble explaining what i mean, i haven't been to bed yet

[lizkitten]

go! sleep! thanks for the advice! i have to say whereas when i had a male rat he thought he was alpha, even over me, bernard seems a little less assured but he hasn't been home that long, we'l see what happens. i'm not rushing into any decisions, let me know how your next litter pans out. liz

[jackdaniels]

I really hope she doesn't have a litter so soon she must be exausted poor Bonnie . But yeah if she does i will let you know asap I should hopefully know in a bout 4 weeks if she is expecting

[kimberley]

hey id go for the 6 week olds. Ive learnt from experience its best to keep the age gap as small as possible between them. Hopefully they will then live until the same age roughly and you shouldnt be left with a lone one in the end! x