first intros in a long time

[diet otaku]

as i posted about in the health forum, 3 of my 6 degus passed away a little over a week ago. since that left me with 1 degu in a cage all by his lonesome, i obviously had to start introducing my last pair (R2D2 and C3PO) to the survivor (who at this point i think is spaz). i've had their cages side-by-side for several days, and last night i took the 3 of them out and put them in a big plastic tub. whether it was spaz just eager to have new roommates or the other 2 just being laid back, it went so well i almost put them in the big cage together that night. there were no serious fights, and only briefly did one of the little guys yell at spaz while spaz was doing his alpha male thing. otherwise they were just sniffing and grooming each other. they must have tired themselves out because at the end they were just laying in a pile along the side of the tub. ^__^

tonight i plan on buying some more dust and putting the bath in with them, and if that goes well i'll put them together in the big cage. i really don't expect the younger pair to cause any problems, as they rarely even fight amongst themselves - i think i've seen them shadowbox like twice. and it's a pretty big cage, so there's ample room to spread out and have some alone time if they're getting on each others' nerves. *crosses fingers*

[Sunshinemeg]

That sounds great news diet, and I agree, if a second intro goes well today, put them together and see how they get on. Keep in mind any small scraps in the cage will be establishing dominance, so as long as you give the cage a clean before they go in their, it should be fine!
got my fingers crossed for you!

[diet otaku]

yeah, the big cage is due to be cleaned anyway. and i can put in the little sleepy sack the little guys have been using, and their wood chews so there are some familiar objects in there. the only ones who really had a problem the last time i put 2 pairs together were frenzy and ruckus, frenzy being very high-strung and ruckus just generally being obnoxious. rumble and spaz never really got in on the fights, and it looks like spaz will be pretty flexible this time as well.

[critterrx]

Good luck with the introductions! Got my fingers crossed for you.

[diet otaku]

looks like everything's going perfectly! i put them together monday evening, and even though they didn't use the dust bath, there wasn't any squabbling or anything. so i changed the bedding in the big cage and put some of the toys and things from the small cage in there, and put the 3 in the big cage, and they seem to be getting along fine! it's funny when i go to give spaz some vitamin crunchers, he still squeals at the new guys even though they're completely uninterested (for some reason those 2 won't eat the vitamin crunchers at all). XD i keep trying to tell him "don't worry, they aren't going to steal your treats!" but it's a tremendous relief that something out of this whole ordeal went smoothly. ^__^;