spay / neuter a degu

[fillapolly]

My daughter started of with 2 female goo's and a few weeks later there was another seven running about. Sexed them and there was seven boy's and got them checked by my local vet to make sure. The big question is, i have 2 cages. 1 for girls and 1 for boys. I'm thinking of getting 2 boys spayed / neutered so i can put with the girls, to make more room in the one cage. Will the degus get on being family or fight. The female cage is on top of the male cage at the moment and will stay there for the time being. No room lol. The cages are john hopewell large degu cage appx 36x18x23.25”. Plus are the cages big enough for 5 degus. Thank you in advance
Richard

[deguconvert]

Whoa!! That is a lot to deal with. So . . . while the pups are small the cages will be OK, but as they grow they will need more space than what you have with those cages. Degus can become aggressive with each other when they are in cages that are small in size, and this can lead to ugly and bloody fights. The cage size you mention is acceptable for 2 degus, but I (personally) wouldn't put in more than 2. Sorry.

Degus really should not be neutered/spayed before a year of age . . . which poses a problem for you, because you want to have some with your older females, and the boys will definitely put forth a strong effort to impregnate them, family or not. Also, any males that are living in the same cage as females will become fiercely combative over the right to sire, and the threat of fighting to the death is considerable. You should really avoid it. Not only that, but because you have the cages right over top of each other, once the males are of sexual maturity, the very scent and sounds of the females will drive the males in the cage below insane and they will fight fiercely. Now . . . that age is reached around the 6 months of age mark for males, often sooner for well nourished females, and it is a very tumultuous time. They can become extremely annoying to one another as they vie for domination in their group, and if you throw in the scent of females to the mix (as in your case) it will get really ugly really quick. You may find degus with their throats ripped out, dead in the cage. If you have the potential to re-home some, or all of the males, I would encourage you to look into it. Otherwise, you need to keep one of the cages in a different room of the house, where their sounds, scent, and sights will be removed from the opposite sex.

[fillapolly]

Thank you for the reply. The males are 5 month's old at the moment. There is 1 male pushes all the other goo's out the way when a hand goes into the cage(food/treats). There was little bit of boxing/tail wagging between 2 of them a few weeks ago over a popcorn seed, thats all we have seen at the moment. Will sit the kids down tonight and and explain things and let them decide which ones to keep, male or female. Thanks again for the advice.

EDIT.
Few tear's but daughter understands, so the 7 boys are looking for a new home. Daughter picked the girls to stay because they came first. Cheers

[deguconvert]

I kind of thought that would be a difficult discussion. I have a daughter that is very attached to our degus. In fact, they came into the house due to her desire for a "live" furry that was all her own. Our two dogs didn't count, LOL! So we ended up with three males . . . but she would LOVE to have a female so as to have some pups . . . and she makes the plea every once in a while. The reason I say no is I know how hard it would be to say goodbye to any of them. I feel for you, having to chat with your daughter. It would be hard! I'm glad she is agreeable to the change.

[deguconvert]

There are pre-loved sites that you can advertize on. Although I am not knowledgeable about what they are exactly, many other members on here have used them with good results. I would recommend looking into them, as I think you will have quicker results with that direction.