Hello and the like

[lisa9tails]

Hello everyone

My name is Lisa, I'm 22, I live in Glasgow and I drive a transit van delivering car parts.......yes I know, I'm living the dream.

Just wanted to introduce myself to everyone and tell you a bit about my degus. Currently, I have 8 degus (1 pending, which I will write an essay on in a minute) 4 boys and 4 girls. The boys names are Bob, Wagbo, Roger and the other is still being considered and the girls' names are Tblisi, Big chief little tail (for reasons I'm sure you can imagine) Chile and Lima. When they collectively run on their wheels they make a noise equivalent to a relatively large steam train.

Today I adopted my 7th degu, Roger, to add to the kingdom. He's a year old and really friendly although a bit shy. It was such a shame for him, he'd been in the centre for months all by himself in a room full of ferrets. As soon and we got him home we gave him a sand bath because he was stinking and i do mean STINKING of ferret and oh my god it is indeed a powerful fragrance. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go and collect the other little degu because they were at 2 different centres quite far away from each other so we're going to collect him tomorrow. Hopefully once the boys settle in I can start the introducing process as I don't want them to be alone, but I'll just need to play it by ear. I've read alot of the tips on how to do this with adults and I know it might be difficult, but I shall try nonetheless. If anyone has any more tips for introducing males it would be absolutely ultra mega superly appreciated?

[kovu07]

wow that's a lot of degus 8 nearly 9 Please can we have some pictures? Also I hope the introductions go well, and I can only advise following the degutopia introduction guide. If you don't know what this is or where to find it the link below should help

www.degutopia.co.uk/deguintros.htm

Also welcome to the forum

[deguconvert]

Welcome to the forum, Lisa9tails!! Sounds like you are a born story teller, and I look forward to hearing some of your tails! We will definitely do what we can to help you out. I find that there is no one method that works all the time, when it comes to introducing degus. There are the basics, yes, but how/when you do them and what little extras you try, that all kind of comes as you go and figure each of their (the degus) little ticks and oddities out. I like what I hear, sounds like you have the spine and the patience to help them get there. It is not an easy road, I have to say, but it definitely can be done. It has been done, repeatedly! You'll do just fine, I'm sure of it!

[philbailey1806]

Hello Lisa! Wow, thats a lot of degus! lol. I think it's great that you're going to do your best to introduce these lone degus to your group, the poor mites. My advice would be to follow the instructions on the degutopia website as Kovu said. Also, as a little pointer, even though I've never introduced degus before I've read that adult males can be particularly tetchy with eachother when they can smel in season females, and your females will come into season once they can smell the males, so I would recommend keeping your cage of females in a separate room to your cage of males, at least while the introductions are taking place or permanently if at all possible.

[cazara]

Welcome Lisa9tails great name. I hope everything goes well with your rescues and that they settle in. This forum is really good and lots of people will give you advice to try help you with any questions you have. I'm new to Degu's and have 2 girls. I live just out side Glasgow nice t have a fellow person from my neck of the world lol All the best with it all x

[lisa9tails]

Thanks everyone, you are all so nice, I love the fact that so many people love degus. I've been taking lots of photos so I should hopefully get them up soon.

Got the final addition to the clan today at the SSPCA. He is sooooo cute, but he must of had a wee accident because he has a tiny little stump of a tail, it makes him look so much smaller than all the others. He's really really friendly and doesn't smell like ferret, but still not got a name for him yet. Rogers getting well settled in now, his flying saucer came today so he's pretty much been stuck to it the whole day. But I was comparing him to all the other boys and he is MASSIVE, i know he's a little older but he is an actual tank, think he might be a little over weight but he didn't have a wheel in his cage in the centre so i'm sure if he carries on at the rate he's running at, he'll lose the beef or it will turn to solid muscle and he'll look like a bicep.

Thanks again everyone for welcoming me to the forum and the advice. I'm going to give it a few more days then the beginning of the degu love shall commence.
xxx

[kovu07]

I can't wait to see pictures, so many degus will make for some very cute pictures i'm sure.