tomm
Newborn Degu
Posts: 15
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Post by tomm on May 9, 2011 13:47:01 GMT
One of my gooz has recently started biting the cage rather alot. Sort of grabbing the bars then pulling and making a pinging noise. The cage is rearranged and cleaned regularly and they have 1-2 hours each day outside of the cage (Plenty of toys and things to nibble on) . Any suggestions as to why she has started doing this? Quite annoying in the mornings.
The cage is 100cm x 100cm x 80cm
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Post by Kins on May 9, 2011 14:21:18 GMT
Any suggestions as to why she has started doing this? Because she is a cheeky little goo... Sometimes they do things like that because they like whatever it is they are doing, no real rhyme nor reason to the behaviour. I really can't see that it would be through boredom as she sounds like she has plenty of toys and a lot of time out of her cage. The only thing you haven't mentioned is whether she lives alone? Or with a mate? If she is one her own that could explain the behviour...
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Post by deguconvert on May 9, 2011 14:25:26 GMT
Could be that she has decided that she wants even more time out . . . or that she wants more to chew on, or that she is bored. Unfortunately there is little that can be done sometimes to stop this kind of behavior. Your cage is certainly large enough for the two that you have. I don't know what to suggest . . . other than maybe if you have the option, put their cage in a new position within the room, perhaps even a new room, and see if that makes any difference to her.
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Post by nibblesmunch on May 9, 2011 18:12:13 GMT
mine do that too, and have just discovered that if they pull on the door it opens a bit so they spend all their time trying to escape /:
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Post by amie on May 9, 2011 18:22:13 GMT
All of mine do that and their cages are 140cmH 90cmL and 22cmD.... and there's only two in each cage. Sometimes they JUST DO IT COZ THEY CAN! I have cages they open the door ever so slightly (not so they can get out, it's just the way the cage shuts). Stefan has fun chewing this and BANGING the door off the cage all the time. He makes a terible racket. I've had to buy padlocks so he can't do it anymore! lol.
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bart
Warbling Degu
Posts: 37
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Post by bart on May 10, 2011 16:11:54 GMT
If it's always at the same place on the cage, it may be that the degu sees something and wants to get at it. My degus, Mocha and Latte, lived in adjacent cages for quite a long time because they were fighting. When I was re-introducing them I'd give them some playtime together but as soon as I put them back in their cages they'd run to the parts closest to each other and try to bite through the cage. When I put them together in the cage Mocha had spent most time in, Latte would spend a lot of time chewing on the bars at the spot closest to the cage he'd spent most time in. So I draped a towel over it so he couldn't see it any more and he doesn't do it.
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Post by deguconvert on May 11, 2011 4:14:42 GMT
That's very insightful! Very cool! I hadn't even thought along that line. Hmmm . . . I'll be looking about now when our boys are bar chewing.
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Post by malteser60 on May 11, 2011 12:34:55 GMT
Well, mine used to bite the cage from the outside when they were out for playtime!
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Post by deguconvert on May 11, 2011 14:44:07 GMT
ROTFL! You know . . . now that you mention it, mine have done the same thing!! I always used to think they were desperately trying to get out, but once I caught them going back to the bars and chewing from the OUTSIDE . . . I decided that it was just an unfathomable attraction to chewing the bars.
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Post by wiserabbit on May 13, 2011 10:37:53 GMT
"Hmmmm. Tasty bars . . . . "
My lads do that too and they get out regularly as well. I worried it was obsessive behaviour for a while as they'd do this spinny thing where they would methodically bite around one square of mesh without letting go, meaning as they flipped over they vaguley resembled something from The Exorcist.
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Post by deguconvert on May 13, 2011 14:32:22 GMT
ROTFL with a really big creep factor as well!!! Now that . . . LOL!. . . that's just WAY STRANGE. I want to laugh and shudder at the same time.
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Post by fred on May 15, 2011 10:07:18 GMT
Just thought I should share the following observation with you. One of my girls also does it a lot. Sometimes she is going at it like mad and drives me into the very same state as a consequence. In these moments she looks so awfully like some desperate guys currently in P&H here. I was sooo disappointed Didn't I provide them with enough wood, enrichment, space But then I had a suspicion. I have just completed a full week of continuous sound recording and, with very minor exceptions, she only does it when I am in the room! I guess using headphones / earplugs will be easier than trying to dissuade her.
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Post by deguconvert on May 15, 2011 18:32:33 GMT
So . . . what you're saying, Fred . . . is you have driven her into a form of spontaneous acrobatic insanity?? Was there a hidden message, buried deep within the layers of sound recording, that clearly commanded this behavior in order to make her human happy? I wonder if you can put a message into that recording that says, "I will now poop and pee in the location my human commands!" And if that works, how about we try, "I will now function like a roomba and clean the floor every day!"
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Post by kovu07 on May 15, 2011 18:38:54 GMT
Oww if that is successful, I predict degus will become a lot more popular.
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Post by fred on May 15, 2011 18:43:23 GMT
nono, how can you suspect me of such a dastardly attitude towards my little diva? I recorded the sound coming FROM the cage just to check whether she is ever at it when I am not in the room.
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Post by deguconvert on May 15, 2011 19:30:09 GMT
LOL! So maybe she has been including subliminal messaging for you. Have you . . . found yourself doing unusual things in the last few hours, hay between your teeth, nut shells littering the floor around your favorite chair . . . or are you missing time? Do you have an unexplainable wood project growing in your back garden that is assuming mamoth proportions?
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Post by Kins on May 16, 2011 9:26:05 GMT
LOL! So maybe she has been including subliminal messaging for you. Have you . . . found yourself doing unusual things in the last few hours, hay between your teeth, nut shells littering the floor around your favorite chair . . . or are you missing time? Do you have an unexplainable wood project growing in your back garden that is assuming mamoth proportions? You nutter DC. You properly crack me up! ;D ;D ;D
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Post by TiffaLynn on May 22, 2011 23:19:09 GMT
So . . . what you're saying, Fred . . . is you have driven her into a form of spontaneous acrobatic insanity?? Was there a hidden message, buried deep within the layers of sound recording, that clearly commanded this behavior in order to make her human happy? I wonder if you can put a message into that recording that says, "I will now poop and pee in the location my human commands!" And if that works, how about we try, "I will now function like a roomba and clean the floor every day!" I like the way you think!
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Post by TiffaLynn on May 22, 2011 23:22:35 GMT
Hey tomm! When i have the wire cage topper on my aquarium, they always go for the same spots of the cage to chew on. I got some of those treat chews that look like mineral blocks for them, they have two wires sticking out the back side to attach to the cage. After I put them in their favorite chew spots(on the wire cage), they stopped chewing on the wires and on the mineral chew treat just an idea i thought id offer as well.
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tomm
Newborn Degu
Posts: 15
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Post by tomm on May 27, 2011 11:18:35 GMT
Still no resolution to this problem. I have put a mineral block in the place that she is chewing along with a wooden dangling toy and she just bites the bars around it. I think she might just be a bit of an idiot. She is oddly defensive of this spot too, she screams at her house mate whenever she tries to get close.
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