URGENT! Unexpected Degu Babies

[soupy]

Hey everyone.

My name is Shia. I adopted two female Degus about a month and a half ago. These are my first pets and I've never owned Degus in my life. I got introduced to these little awesome critters via friend in the UK (I live in the USA).

Anyway, I signed up here because I'm rather panicking about my Degus. I had no idea she was pregnant (you can call me stupid). My roomies and I thought she was just getting fatter due to eating a lot more food than her sister to show her dominance in the cage. But, four days ago...that wasn't the case at all. We came home to find that there were NEWBORN babies in the cage. I was attempting to clean the cage a little when I picked up the nest ball they have to find a baby.

We think that there are 4 healthy alive pups (don't know if there are any dead or others in the nest). Other than that, we ran to google to try to find out what to do. We haven't touched the cage or anything else due to we don't want to do any further damage to the babies and mother degu (along with her sister). I was very lucky the mother survived the labor...because she fell a couple times when we played with her...And they fall in their cage trying to jump on certain ledges.

So, here is what really is driving me crazy. I've been worrying about this the past couple of days. The mother degu and her sister seem to fight or have squabbles. I did remove her from the cage after the birth because I hit my panic button afraid she was a male. She is a she since I checked how to sex Degus. She also had some blood under her eye from her sister? I'm unsure but she looked slightly wounded. But after a day, I put her back in with her sister and the babies. She helps out taking care of the babies.

Like I said, they fighting each other (I hear a lot of angry Degu hisses from them). They also chew the cage like crazy which is unusual for the sister. The sister is more quiet and obedient unlike the mother Degu. I have no idea what could be the problem. I don't know what accommodations are needed for the mother to take care of the babies. There's the basic supplies of water, hay, food, bedding, and chewing toys. It's been driving me up the wall. I let the adult Degus out to run around the room to exercise more or blow off some steam. I mean I did that beforehand too but it seems like it doesn't satisfy them that long after they're back in the cage. My roomie has tried to put more nesting material and that calmed them down for a good while...Could it be stress?

Please help. I have no idea and I don't want to do these creatures any wrong. T_T I really love them and hope you guys can help.

Thanks,
Shia ♥

[philbailey1806]

Hello Shia!

Deep breaths! Lol, as you say, the second female in the group will help the mother A LOT with the babies, and since theres only four and she has help, her stress levels shouldn't get too high!

Dominance fights are common in any degu pairing when there's a slightest change in cage, environment or situation, it's absolutely nothing to worry about as long as they aren't fighting all the time. From what I've heard, it's the silent fighting and your degus rolling around in a ball of fur biting eachother that you have to watch for, as if this happens they will more than likely need to be separated, at least for a while.

As for the babies, don't panic! Mother and cage mate will raise them well, they make excellant parents and babysitters and it is extremely unlikely that the babies will get hurt in a dominance fight. Also, they are nothing like hamsters or other rodents in that they will reject their babies if you touch them, it's perfectly OK to take all the babies out to clean the cage (as long as mother is there too), the earlier they're handled, the tamer they become.

I started handling my babies from 12 hours old, they are just over 3 weeks old now and will come and jump on your hand if it is in the cage and expect a cuddle.

As for the cage biting, it is usually a sign that they want more out time, which is understandable as I'm presuming you have the same cage you had before, but it just now has 4 more degus in. Although sometimes it's just a habit that degus pick up, and is pretty harmless.

So take a deep breath, relax and enjoy your babies. Just keep an eye on the fighting if it is concerning you a lot. If you have any more questions or queries don't hesitate to post on here, there's lots of people can offer advice.

Congratulations!! ;D

[lollie24]

Jun 20, 2011 11:52:08 GMT smux said:

It would be worth you reading through the guide in this section so you are armed with plenty of information about handling and caring for them. If you handle the babies at any time, remember to make sure the room is warm as they don't generate their own body heat at first. They will get enough heat from your hand, but just to be on the safe side :-)

It would also be worth it to make sure her sister is definitely her sister and not her brother...or you will find you have even more babies to cope with in a few months :-P

I agree with this as I used to breed Siamese mice and I had one that had (what I thought after 3 years of breeding) two girls, it wasn't until I went to the cage that I discovered that the two sisters were in fact brother and sister and both the mother and the sister were pregnant I was not a happy Bunnie but luckily managed to separate them, I would recommend double checking just to be sure.