|
Post by sophie9901 on May 26, 2011 21:52:33 GMT
Hi guys - I've just been given 2 adorable "female" goo's! I know degu's are really hard to sex and i've seen some pictures and watched some videos and I think they are all males (including my 2 that I already have, which we thought and was told were female!) I'm now very confused and aren't sure what to make of them all haha! I'm worried that when I introduce the newbies with my little love's that they will make some unwanted and un-needed babies! I really don't want them to have babies!! Do all degu's have a fleshy protrusion when mounting? I assumed it was a penis but i'm not sure - I know degu's have a cone but I don't know what this looks like, Is anything meant to come out of it? (because thats what it looks like - a really long thing coming out of the cone area) Any help or advice would be awesome, thanks guys
|
|
|
Post by philbailey1806 on May 27, 2011 0:36:24 GMT
I reeeeeeally recommend the sexing guide on degutopia! there is a video on there which even gives you an exercise so that afterwards you will be an expert and be able to tell whether you have boys, girls, or a mixture at a gance
|
|
|
Post by sophie9901 on May 27, 2011 10:37:12 GMT
Guys I have attached/uploaded some pictures of the gang! Hopefully you can help me sex them! I'm worried they're all going to have to be renamed haha Poor little loves! Thanks - This is one of the new arrivals that we adopted yesterday! - This is one of the blue goo's who is around 4 months old! - This is another of the new arrivals which we adopted yesterday! - This is Maisy and she's also only around 4 months old! As you can tell we've been told that they are all girls from the start but i'm a bit curious after seeing the 2 blue goo's with fleshy protrusions when they are cleaning and mounting - and let me tell you it isn't small! haha Thanks guys
|
|
|
Post by kovu07 on May 27, 2011 12:46:28 GMT
1) - definately male 2) - i'm pretty sure is male 3) - i'm not sure but I think it's male 4) - definately male Hope that helps
|
|
|
Post by sophie9901 on May 27, 2011 13:20:36 GMT
Haha thanks - You are more than likely right. I just had an email back from Chloe at Degutopia and she confirmed they were male too! How embarassing for the poor little loves being called "Maisy and Daisy" Haha!! Some new names are in order - Suggestions please?!
|
|
|
Post by kovu07 on May 27, 2011 13:32:35 GMT
Hmmm do you have a set theme you want to keep? E.g nature Thorn River Oak Ash Weather Blizzard Rain Breeze Snow Space names Cosmic Moon Mars Solar Royal names Duke Earl Prince King Firey names Coal Ember Blaze Magma Hope that helps
|
|
|
Post by sophie9901 on May 27, 2011 13:41:10 GMT
Hmm haha, great suggestions but i'm not keen on a set theme! I like the name 'Trot' for "daisy" - just because she loves her food! But Grant (my partner) said definately not So that's that awesome name out the window lol! Umm, just any random suggestions really Thanks
|
|
|
Post by deguconvert on May 27, 2011 14:01:51 GMT
Yeah, I was about to say they all looked male to me . . . then saw that Chloe had already put that question to rest. So . . . LOTS of confirmations that they are all male. At least they ARE ALL male! That's a relief . . . but you should know that introductions with males are much slower than they are with females, so you need to be prepared to take lots of time and use lots of patience.
|
|
|
Post by sophie9901 on May 27, 2011 14:22:17 GMT
Yeah I am a bit gutted tbh, I was hoping to have them all in the same cage within a few weeks! Looks like that times going to be doubled now haha! It has suprised me because "maisy" and "daisy" have never been very scrappy and barely ever fight! & I know that that behaviour is more common in males!
|
|
|
Post by kovu07 on May 28, 2011 8:07:16 GMT
Smux that's a little harsh yes they got the sex wrong but they sold them correctly as a same sex pair.
|
|
|
Post by philbailey1806 on May 28, 2011 10:18:00 GMT
ROTFL Smux! but I have to say I whole heartedly agree! IMO they just seem to guess what sex they are, coz hey, theres a 50/50 chance they're right eh? I got a free cage, large bale of hay, nest box, water bottle, large bag of carefresh and a water bottle out of them for getting the sex of my goos wrong, although they did sell me a boy and a girl and she is preggers lol. To get it though, it did take a letter, an email and a phone call to the customer services and I had to be VERY specific as to what I expected them to give me. If I was to do it again though I'd have just asked for it in store and if they said no, rang up the customer service number on the website, as letters and emails are just ignored. Good luck! lol
|
|
|
Post by philbailey1806 on May 28, 2011 10:21:54 GMT
oh and I also got a bag of degu nuggets, I forgot lol, and yes, before reading anybody elses replies, I looked over the pics and thought they were definately all males, the gaps there on all of them, as is the connective line of skin.
|
|
|
Post by fred on May 28, 2011 10:45:20 GMT
Kovu, I am afraid I have to agree with smux here. We all know from posts on this forum how useless many (not all) stores are at sexing degus. With two degus you have a 50% probability that they are the same sex and I would strongly suspect that they just got “lucky” here selling a same sex pair. (bit of repetition here, philbailey beat me to it while I was typing).
I really can't see the P@H issue going away. One may disagree what the right tone and approach is but I believe that smux is absolutely right that only pressure can change corporate behaviour (I am talking about the company here and NOT about the individual employees).
I may be beaching etiquette here but it is too good an opportunity to let it pass. Chloe from degutopia had a meeting at P@H head office (her words) yesterday and reported on the degutopia yahoo group. She has arranged that she can pass on any complaints about P@H stores and degus directly to the Head of Customer Services. If we all use this direct line, we may over time affect some change.
|
|
|
Post by kovu07 on May 28, 2011 10:48:49 GMT
I never said they were training staff correctly, I just think it's a little unfair to lie to P@H. Perhaps they should have people who sell specific animals rather than all of them though, since it must be tricky to remember how to correctly sex so many different breeds.
|
|
|
Post by kovu07 on May 28, 2011 11:22:44 GMT
I still wouldn't lie since many people have genuine reasons to, where as I don't.
|
|
|
Post by philbailey1806 on May 28, 2011 11:36:31 GMT
I dont think theres any doubt that what Kovu is saying is the honourable and conscientious thing to do, but if pets at home are going to be constantly out of pocket from making the same mistake over and over again, then maybe they will either look into training staff better, or stop selling degus all together, which in my opinion, would be for the greater good from the point of view of the degus.
We are all lucky here and most have done research before buying a degu, and know of this site for advice, but what about someone who wanders into pets at home looking for a hamster or a rat and sees the degus and thinks actually... I'll have one of those! (with a little encouragement from the staff) and before they know it are bombarded by god knows how many babies, without the room or time to care for them properly.
What P@H are doing is wrong, I don't know what method they are using to sex degus? whether they are checking for testicles like I think they do on rats, but its almost as if they are too stubborn to sit up and take notice of the correct way of doing things, and sadly, the best way of getting them to take notice of what is being said is to hit them where it hurts, their profit margins.
|
|
|
Post by sophie9901 on May 28, 2011 13:58:21 GMT
philbailey1806 - Well said. I couldn't word it any better myself. I actually got these degu's from a market in Plymouth (well my partner did) He suprised me one day and brought them home not knowing much about them. Luckily we're the sort of people that have time to put into our pets and properly look after them - giving them the time and things they need. This site and degutopia have been a godsend not to mention youtube! Without people's help I don't think our degu's would have been given the things they need without us knowing about them. I do think P@H need to rethink their training etc from the hundreds of negative comments I've read on here they all need shooting (Pardon the expression) Thanks to everyone that has confirmed that they are all male - luckily the little guys I adopted we're male too otherwise I'd have been in trouble! The adoptee's have now been re-named Trotters and Grunters We are thinking of new names for "maisy" and "daisy" haha!
|
|
|
Post by kovu07 on May 28, 2011 14:02:11 GMT
Cool names, and yes Maisy and Daisy don't really suit them anymore do they
|
|
|
Post by sophie9901 on May 28, 2011 14:19:54 GMT
Haha I just love calling him Trots he does love his food
|
|
|
Post by kovu07 on May 28, 2011 14:23:15 GMT
I can't help imagining your degus are actually pigs though, what with the names grunters and trotters
|
|