Looking to Introduce Female Degu

[ilia]

Hi Everyone,

I have two male degus (around 8 months old - had them for 4 months) and I would like to introduce a female degu. The ideal scenario for me would be that the dominant male makes her pregnant; they don't fight, she gives birth to healthy pups and I seperate the male and female degus later to stop them multiplying.

How likely is this? I have a feeling that when I introduce the female degu the males will constantly ravish her; they will have fights, etc and all it will cause is trouble.

I would be curious in observing the degus making nests, giving birth, looking after the young, the baby ones growing up, etc.

I appreciate any insightful comments

[deguconvert]

The two males will fight fiercely over the female, and it is not unusual for them to fight to the death. Even if the female is in a different cage, but in the same room, you will still get dangerous, potentially fatal, fighting. The female must be in a completely different room, where no scent of her is coming through to the males.

Next comes a complex problem, a female is most fertile and receptive to being impregnated again in the first 24-48 hours after giving birth. BUT the male is a huge help to the new mom and is often left with her to make her task easier. YET to have the male present with her at birth or or in the weeks afterward will almost grantee a second litter of pups in 90 days time. It is very difficult to . . . prevent copulation and conception with degus, if you have the male and female together in permanent residence. It is a bit of a tricky problem, and one that has gotten many a person into deep water when suddenly they find themselves with an abundance of degus, with more on the way, and no where to put them. For the most part, we discourage the thought of breeding. If babies come unexpectedly as a result of incorrectly sexed degus, we suggest looking right away to find homes in which they will be welcome and well cared for. Re-homing degus can be a very difficult task.

If you are making this a one time shot, and feel you absolutely must do this, I would suggest the following. Buy two females, but let the desired male and female meet in neutral territory so they can mate. You may wish to have them meet a few times just to be sure a mating has taken. Then always restore the male to his male companion, and the female to her female companion. (Be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you always choose the same female for each potential mating though. You could end up with TWO pregnant females otherwise.) Keep the males and females in separate rooms. Once the pups are born, the second female will help to care for them, and then you will be able to sex and separate the pups when they are about 4-5 weeks of age. Do not assume that the male pups can be put in with the older males without going through extensive introductions. There WILL be fighting among the males and pups, and it might be in your best interest to re-home the male pups. The females will live together as a family unit quite happily and all should be good.

[buzz]

Feb 2, 2009 0:00:31 GMT deguconvert said:

There WILL be fighting among the males and pups

Really? Are you talking numbers or dominance or both?

Studding the female is a much better option. They say the average number is 6 in a litter so if your trying to keep the entire litter then at least its not potentially 20 like with rats. But I have to say this if your breeding to sell please think long and hard, I am sorry for sounding completely narrow minded but there are so many unwanted accidental litters it just seems wrong to add to it for human curiosity Even if it is just a one off.

There is also the option of fostering an abandoned already pregnant female. Offer your services to a number of rescues, accidental litters happen all too frequently due to missexing.

Anyway, let us know what you decide and if you do breed them we'll be wanting pictures ;D

[deguconvert]

I said that, "There WILL be fighting among the males and pups," under the assumption that the female and any pups would be separate from the males until it was time to sex and separate the male pups from the females. Then if at that time the male pups were put in with the older male goos, there would be fighting. I could be very wrong on this. My reasoning is that the older males will be completely unfamiliar with the pups and therefore could/would attack them. Although male goos are excellent daddys, I tend to think they wouldn't be very favorable with what could be multiple unknown male pups suddenly being put in their cage.