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Post by pauljrmcnamee on Aug 19, 2009 14:12:58 GMT
We have a male degu of unspecified age but we think he's around 5 or 6 months. He was separated from his brothers in the pet shop after they were aggressive towards him.
Recently we've been trying to introduce him to two young brothers around 5 - 6 weeks. We set everything up after a few days and put them in a neutral zone, where they just tried to get out and weren't too interested in each other. There was a bit of bickering at first, and eventually one of the babies started squeaking and the other two just froze, with their ears twitching every time the baby squeaked. Don't know if this is relevant, but it was odd. We took them back to their respective cages, as we didn't feel it was going very well.
The next day we tried again, and when Dave tried to mount the babies (as is normal), they started fighting. This happened a couple of times before we decided that enough was enough and took them back to their cages.
We really don't want three degus who do not get along, and would appreciate any input or advice, as we don't know what is going wrong.
Please help.
Thanks
Paul
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 19, 2009 20:01:51 GMT
One thing might be to put a few drops of vanilla essence on your hands, then rub it on one of the degus. Repeat with all of them. Then put them into the neutral area, and sit down with them. If you see them getting over agitated with each other, squeak at them. But you do need to let the humping happen. If they box . . . that is acceptable. If they start kungfoo kicking, that must be stopped. It will be most helpful for you to have a towel, as water spray bottle, and as loud a squeak as you can make when you are doing the introductions. That way if you see something you don't like, squeak. It will be you telling them to cut it out, and they will learn to listen to you. You become top goo. If things become kungfoo, rolling fur balls of fury, then resort to a spray from the water bottle to separate them and then throw the towel over one so you can catch and separate them.
Your eldest goo is right at the age of becoming sexually mature, so he is being pumped up with testosterone and feeling an unrelenting desire to be boss and to try out the whole mating thing. If there were older males in the cage with him, he would be getting in trouble with them, and there would be fighting as he was put in his place. Since there are only the younger ones, they get the brunt of his impulses. They will manage though, unless there is, as I said before, the fungfoo fighting.
Now . . . you will be faced with the same situation to a degree in about 4-5 months time, as the babies then come into sexual maturity. They will go through more boxing and bickering, maybe even nasty, blood letting fights. You are in almost the exact same position as we were two years ago. We came out on top, but it was, for ME, a long several months of patience and effort. They have been happy and well settled for the last 18 months, and it was definitely worth it all. If you need help, please ask all and any questions, pm me if you wish.
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Post by pauljrmcnamee on Aug 20, 2009 14:24:45 GMT
Thanks very much for your advice, we tried again today with vanilla essence, and water. Although things started a bit wobbly, we saw a few good signs too. They're still not entirely happy, but I reckon given a few more tries they'll be getting on like a house on fire.
Thanks again.
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Post by pauljrmcnamee on Aug 25, 2009 15:57:26 GMT
Ok for an update, we've done about 6 introductions (once a day with a break over the weekend) and we've been using the vanilla essence and the water squirting and we're really not sure if it's working. We've also tried today giving them a lot more space so let them out on the hall to roam around. This was better as Dave didn't get agitated being in a small environment but Dave still tries to mount them, which neither like after a while and they end up boxing and Eko and Yemi (the pups) end up getting really scared and squeaking. We're really not sure whether we're making progress or whether they're never going to get on... We're feeling pretty down about it and don't like keeping the pups in the smaller cage for such a long amount of time. If anyone can give some advice or make us feel better please do! It's very upsetting to see them still not get on  |
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emmag
Newborn Degu
Posts: 6
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Post by emmag on Aug 25, 2009 20:23:35 GMT
Im new to degus and have not had trouble like this myself.Just wanted to say keep your chin up you'l get there in the end. Have you read the articles on this site about introducing goos together? I have read some which have been quite interesting and offer good advice. Degutopia is another good website to visit. I dont know if you know about that 1? Anyway hope all goes well. Keep us posted  |
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 25, 2009 21:59:58 GMT
I'm not really sure what to suggest for you. One more thing that you can try doing is swapping them between cages, so that the babies go into Daves cage while Dave goes into theirs. Or you can swap bedding, so that a handful of bedding from each cage gets swapped into the other. This is for the purpose of getting them all used to the smell of the others. Combining it with their own smells will help to make it a more familiar and comforting scent, so there will be less conflict. This doesn't always work by itself, but in conjunction with the other introductory measures you are taking, it may well be the thing that makes the difference.
The sense of smell is very important for degus, and often there are owners that find that they have to put in a handful of old, dirty bedding with the new bedding when a cage has been cleaned out. The scent markers from the dirty bedding contain all the information about who is boss, and so forth, that make for a peaceful group. So, maybe using the scent markers that are present in their cages, and mixing them in with each other, will help them to know and accept each other more.
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Post by gemmagreaves on Aug 25, 2009 23:16:05 GMT
we've just had this problem and i can say that i does work out in the end! you're nearly there. the fact that the smaller goos appear scared is actually quite good as they'll submit to the older one very quickly. our older one ended up with his nose bitten (and a bit of blood) as he would just not stop sniffing the bums of the 2 little ones and one got annoyed and bit him. we started off with cage swapping every 2 days, then every day, accompanied with a sand bath splashed with a few drops of vanilla essence, then neutral space every day WITH the sand bath about as they actually all used it. then, we went straight in at the deep end, we put the older goo in the cage of the younger 2 so his dominance wasnt as strong as it would have been in his own territory, then we put the 2 little boys in aswell. it was soo perfect we left them for almost 3 hours before returning them to their own homes for bedtime. and then the next morning they all had a cage clean and went into the big cage and have been there since! what we found was that a wheel helped tremendously as if Bills (older goo) sniffing got too much, the boys would just run in the wheel and Bill would get bored of waiting and went to do something else! sunflower seeds or dried carrot worked aswell to stop confrontational situations if bill started pushing his luck. he did get bitten on the nose the first time we put them in the cage together but i left them together as i thought it would be a great lesson for him! all in it took just under 2 weeks for them to be living together permanently. it might take longer with you, but i currently have low blood pressure so i cant do too much so i spend quite a lot of time sitting with our goos. im going to be gutted when they all go back to Bills owners as the little ones grab my fingers in their paws and sniffle and nibble at them and its sooo cute! good luck and all the best - PM me if you need to i check this forum everyday pretty much!
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Post by pauljrmcnamee on Sept 9, 2009 15:20:19 GMT
A quick update! Things are going GREAT! We put Eko and Yemi in the top floor of Dave's cage and left them there for a few days to settle in and kept switching the sawdust around each level so they got a good smell of each other. Then yesterday we put Dave in the top level with the vanilla essence and it went pretty well! One of the babies laid in submission for Dave and they started grooming each other, but then Dave got a little mental and started chasing them again and we thought it would be best to take him out and try again today. Right now we've left them together for the longest time so far and they are getting on GREAT. They're all sitting together grooming each other and they're all looking pretty happy and cosy together. Thanks so much to deguconvert and gemma greaves, you have been so helpful it took a long while but it's so nice to finally see them getting on and being adorable together. Yipeee!  Jo and Paul |
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 9, 2009 18:42:44 GMT
Sounds good!! Keep it up, and you will continue to see wonderful gains. Eventually you will have the whole cage opened up and everyone feeling chummy and bonded. If ever you have questions or anything, please ask away. With degus there are never stupid questions. They are lovely and strange and desirable all at once, these little creatures. Every one of us has been thrown for a loop a time or two!
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