Help! Degu introduction problems :(

[andrewg]

Hi!

About a week and a half ago, I got two new male degus, about 3 months old as one of my original two passed away and I didn't want the one who's left to be lonely. I read the forum here and followed the introduction method pretty closely. I put the cages side by side, there was quite a lot of communication between the two sides which sounded quite unpleasant for a couple of days but which eventually died down and after 5 days in that setup, I tried a first meeting on neutral ground (the bathtub )

In the first meeting Auron (my old degu from the original pair) sort of stood there and let Flop (who seems the less dominant of the new pair) sniff him a little and then Flip who seems is the more dominant of the new pair then did the same, a boxing match ensued but it was very similar to the type of boxing match I'd seen my degus do in the past, which didn't seem to be dangerous. After a few minutes however, a serious fight seemed to break out, the two were moving very fast and squeaking quite a bit. I broke them up with a towel and ended the meeting.

After this first meeting I have been swapping their sides of the cages daily. After each degu had been on each side twice, I decided to try another meeting. As soon as I put them all together, a fight between Flip and Auron broke out which seemed as violent as the one at the end of the first meeting.

I used a dust bath each time to make them smell fairly similar, but that doesn't seem to have helped all that greatly. I know its early days and these things don't happen quickly, but what I'm asking is should I break them up as I am doing so soon or should I let them go for a few seconds before stopping them? I don't want one of them to get hurt but I'm worried that I may or may not be acting too cautiously.

Anyone have any advice for how easy it is to tell if the fighting is way too serious? Thanks in advance!

[deguconvert]

The nasty serious fighting involves both rapid chasing, and gripping each other while they tumble about. The rapid chasing isn't so very bad. The rolling in a ball made of two growling degus is. When they are doing that, they are most likely biting each other for all they are worth. When you see that, you definitely need to separate them. You do need to be on your guard and ready to jump in, but at the same time, they need to be able to settle the balance of power between them all. This can take quite some time.

We originally started out with two goos, then one died through a very unfortunate series of events. That same day we went out and bought two very young males to be companions for our remaining male. After a week of introductions, thing went very well, for about a month. Then KABLAM!!! Blood drawing fights. I didn't realize how bad they had been getting until I found blood in the cage. Looking them all over, I found which had been wounded, and kept him out for a while. After a couple of weeks, it became evident that things were escalating, and a separate cage needed to be procured to hold the eldest goo. The one goo that loved both was swapped between to keep them each company. I tried again and again to reunite them all. For a stretch of three months it was an on again, off again affair. Sometimes we would get almost a week of peace, then a blood bath fight. Sometimes only a sniff through the bars. I even tried letting them meet on me, but the fight around the inside of me shirt, left me bleeding and convinced that was the stupidest idea I had ever hatched!! Still, I kept at it, hoping and praying hard. Then one evening, I was very tired and clearing not paying as close attention to what I was doing as I should, and I put the two enemies together in the same cage. Over night! Together!! The next morning as I was helping my daughter get ready for school, she went over to the cages to say hello to everyone. Coming back to me, she asked why I had left the placid quiet one in a cage by himself, while the two enemies were together. I FREAKED!!! Running to the room, expecting blood and severed limbs (joking) (at least about the severed limbs) I stared into the cage in great trepidation. There they were, the two of them, huddled up together, grooming each other, looking like they had always been best of friends. From that point on, eldest goo was the proclaimed top goo, and the enemy was his lacky. They are all tremendous friends now. The lacky will even chase the dominant one around, begging to be groomed on his belly. Now THAT is a sight that really makes me laugh!! Especially because by the time Reep (dom goo) give in to groom Peek's (lacky goo) belly, he is so frustrated that he isn't at all gentle. So Reep picks and pulls and gnaws, while peek lays on his back and squeaks . . . but he won't run away. A glutton for punishment.

[andrewg]

Thanks, at least I know what I'm looking out for as serious fighting now, I will try another neutral ground meeting at the weekend and see how it goes