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Post by lilcritterfever on Jun 29, 2011 10:57:33 GMT
About a month ago, I adopted a "male" goo that is obviously female. I've witnessed one of my boys mating with her, so I'm preparing for a big degu family. I'm rather excited, honestly  They are currently living in a large wooden cage, and I'm making arrangements to have another one built so I can separate the boys and girls. My plan is to adopt another girl before Mommy gives birth, and put them both in the new cage. My question is, is it likely the new girl goo will "help" Mommy during and after the birth? I realize that the babies will need plenty of Daddy time to mature normally, and I plan on giving him supervised time with the family regularly. I just want to know that I'm giving them the best possible care and living arrangements. Any advice I could get would be greatly appreciated!  |
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Post by philbailey1806 on Jun 29, 2011 11:16:47 GMT
I agree with smux, it's probably not a good idea to now introduce another female as the stress on the mother goo may not be very good for the unborn pups, my advice would be to leave the dad in with mum until mums close to giving birth, then remove dad until 5 days after mummy goo has given birth (she's very fertile in this time), but then after the 5 days, dad can be left with mum to raise the pups as long as he's taken back out (the male pups can go with him) after 4 weeks of the pups being born.
I'd personally leave it until after the pups are born before thinking of adopting a female, as you never know how many pups you'll end up with, my Edna was only 6 months old when she got pregnant and her first litter was of 8 pups!
Hope this helps, and isn't too confusing! There's always someone here to help if you get stuck, good luck! Let us know how you get on!
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Post by lilcritterfever on Jun 29, 2011 12:54:59 GMT
It helps a lot, thank you both! I'm glad I asked, I never considered how introducing a new female might stress out Mom. So once the babies are 4 weeks old, and I've sexed them and separated out the boys... Mom will be fine with only her baby girls to keep her company?
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Post by lilcritterfever on Jun 29, 2011 12:57:18 GMT
I hope Mommy doesn't become pregnant again during the 4 weeks after her super-fertile time, but nursing should help prevent that, right?
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Post by philbailey1806 on Jun 29, 2011 13:23:38 GMT
Yes, following degutopias advice mum shouldn't get pregnant by dad until 4-6 weeks after the babies are born (I took my male out at 3 and a half weeks just to be sure). But right after birth, mum is very fertile for 4 days, so he will need to be separated for this, I'd say take him out just before the babies are born and leave him out for 5 days after they are born, just to be on the safe side. Mum should be absolutely fine with the female pups and dad should be fine with the male pups, it tends to go that if a degu is going to get on with another degu, it's going to be their own pups. Also this means you don't have to go through the introduction process as they will already be bonded.
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Post by lilcritterfever on Jun 29, 2011 14:51:04 GMT
Thank you! I'm feeling much more confident about the whole situation now.
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Post by philbailey1806 on Jun 29, 2011 15:56:54 GMT
Feel free to ask if theres any other little question niggling you, I know when I first suspected Edna to be pregnant I researched until my eyes bled lol.
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Post by lilcritterfever on Jun 30, 2011 10:27:07 GMT
Thank you, I think I'll play it safe and not adopt any more right now. Well... I'm a sucker for degus that need to be rescued. I recently heard about an unwanted female who wasn't recieving proper care. But I didn't move fast enough, and the poor thing died on the day I wanted to pick her up!  |
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Post by philbailey1806 on Jun 30, 2011 12:32:55 GMT
What a shame! How was she being mistreated? Was she on the wrong diet?
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Post by lilcritterfever on Jul 1, 2011 1:47:42 GMT
No, worse than that I'm afraid. She was solitary, which is bad enough, but they also had her living in a tiny cage, and weren't feeding or watering her on a regular basis. Who knows what they were feeding her. I heard about her through a friend-of-a-friend who was housesitting for someone else.
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 1, 2011 4:28:00 GMT
How completely grim. The poor little goo! I have a feeling that with such long term neglect, you would have needed to be able to get her at least two weeks before she died in order to truly rescue her in time to enjoy a better life. She was probably so severely wasted that it would have been very difficult to save her.
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They are currently living in a large wooden cage, and I'm making arrangements to have another one built so I can separate the boys and girls. My plan is to adopt another girl before Mommy gives birth, and put them both in the new cage.
