Fighting over new arrivals

[Stacy]

Hi,

On Wednesday we adopted 2 degus from Pets at Home. They have been in the back for over 2 weeks as the recent owners said they were too loud during the night. Also the smallest has lost the end of his tail.

'Apparently' they are 2 males and are about 3 months old.

I have read up on doing the introductions and have placed them in a cage next to our other two male degus.

Now the newer ones (Mac and Cashew) seem fine, they are happy to explore their new cage and will often sit at the end by the other cage to sniff and 'speak' to the older residents (Chino and Gizmo).

The problem seems to be Chino and Gizmo fighting (drawing small amount of blood.. ie split lip) since the new cage has been put next to them. They seem fine with the two new ones, again sitting next to them and sniffing/speaking. Although they do fight occasionally it has never got this bad, yesterday they were rolling around on the floor in a blur and I couldn't actually tell them apart!

It appears that if either Chino or Gizmo go to speak to Mac or Cashew the other will go nuts and attack.

This first happened yesterday so in the end we moved M&C to another room and C&G seemed to calm down after an hour or so.
We tried again today and after a little while (say 30 mins) the same thing started again. Now Chino is doing the high pitched squeek constantly.
When they are fighting I have squeeked at them, blew on their faces, spritzed water at them and yesterday I even divided the main cage for an hour.

So questions are:

1. Is this normal dominace
2. Is there any danger of them seriously hurting each other. They have been happy cohorts now for 4/5 months.
3. Should I let them get on with it until someone wins
4. Is it possible that the two new ones were sexed wrong by Pets at Home and they are actually fighting over 'females'
5. Anything else I can try to do to help the situation along?

[Stacy]

Arrrggghhhh. I'm so angry!!!

I've just sexed both the new arrivals and discovered that they are in fact female!
I feel awful because I know that we should keep the different sexes in seperate rooms to stop the fighting but we simply do not have the space. Plus I just don't think it is fair to breed them as there are already so many degus finding it hard to find loving homes.
These poor girls have been rehomed once already and now we are going to have to take them back to that awful pet shop! They will be even more skittish about being moved around.

I've never sexed a degu before but from the numerous pictures we have seen on the internet and a video on youtube I am 99% certain and find it really hard to understand how you could mix them up!

I'm shaking becasue I am so angry!!! ARRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

[listracian]

If it helps, I am going to have the same problem as I will have a male cage next to a female one. I am planning on finding some wood or something to put between the cages. I don't know if it will make a difference but am hoping that because they can't actually see the females they won't fight.

Also, Enigma and Allegra always seem to fight about who gets closest to Houdini and Saphira and they are all females in cages next to each other, so either way the fighting could be possible.

[suzannem]

i dont know how big your room is and what space u have but if its a big enough room and u put them at opposite ends they should be better, it may be worth a try.

[Stacy]

Well Peter has just returned from taking them back to the shop. We did think of the other options about keeping them but none of them seemed fair to either pair. We made a huge cage so that we could introduce another pair so the group would be larger and only had a normal sized cage left. Plus they would have had to be stored quite close toghether. If the fighting between Chino and Gizmo had just been a little scrape then I think we might have chanced it but they were really going at each other, enough to draw blood and it seemed unfair to put them through it.

They had some more in the shop (male) but I really liked the idea of rehoming some which couldn't find a home. Now I feel like I'm just as bad as the original owners.

This is my mission for a while now. To find some unloved male degus to which we can give a loving home! I've already tried the RSPCA but they don't have any in our area. Does anyone have any other suggestions for adoptioning degus?

[suzannem]

is there a blue cross in ur area? or another animal rescue charity (cant think of ne right now!)
but i think itll just be a case of leaving your name with all the rescue people and waiting.

[deguconvert]

Oh I am so sorry for all of you, and I share your anger. I feel badly for the two little ladies, and truly hope they will soon have a permanent home. Did Peter make sure to inform the pet shop that they are actually females, not males? That could make a big difference for the the girls. I hope you will soon be able to rescue some males!

Suzannem: I fear that putting a piece of wood between your male and female cages won't deter any fighting. It is not only the sight but the scent of the females that will drive males into bloody, and potentially fatal, combat. Now if they are all females you are separating, then out of sight out of mind.

[silverfox7]

i have to keep eye on my degus as the big cage has got male and 3 females in, where the other cage has got 2 young males in.

both cages are in same room, 2 young males get on great together, but keep eye out in case anything happens if they smell the females.

[samantha]

aaaarrrrggggg PETS AT HOME!!!!!!! They have just sold us 2 degus who are infested with ringworm! We noticed when we got them home! They call themselves a pet shop! xx

[n64play]

There seems to be a problem with Pets at Home these days, the lady who is very kindly donating me my first degu's tonight, got hers from P@H, and was told they were two boys - she has ended up with a litter of 7!