Should I get more degus?

[cherrysparkey]

Hi all! First of all, fantastic site!

I’ve recently bought 2 degus, one is really hyper and runs around constantly and the other is a bit quieter (both are still very tame). The hyper one keeps going up to the other wagging his tail and ‘talking’ and most of the time the quiet one just seems a bit annoyed (squeaking at him and chasing him off, both in and out of their cage). I thought it was a bit funny at first, like they were playing a game or something.

I was just wondering if I should get any more degus to give the hyper one someone else to play with. I know your meant to keep them in groups so I thought 2 would be best to begin with. I’m a bit worried that if I do the quiet one might get ‘picked’ on more though.

Any advice is much appreciated!

[degualot]

Welcome to the site. Regarding your two Degus, to me it sounds like a totally normal family social group. Degus can differ greatly in personality and each Degu is different just like people. So having a Hyper one and a quiet one seems perfectly ok. They will learn to get on with each other.

I'm guessing they are quite young? if so they will exibit all kinds of behaviours. Also Degus as they mature can be very different in nature from when they were young so I would give them time to grow together.

Personally I would not risk upsetting the brothers with another Degu or Degus introduction. Depending on their age it can be very difficult to introduce a new Degu into a male group of Degus. It can also cause a lot of stress and fighting between the group. And when Degus fall out after a big fight over a new Degu, it can sometimes be hard to get the family back together as this is the situation i'm in.

If the two boys don't accept the New Degu you will end up with another cage with a lone Degu or Degus if you try to introduce more than one.

Sorry I'm scaring you off the idea, i'm just speaking from personal experience and what I know others have experienced.

Basically the only time I would try to introduce new Degus is if I had a lone Degu and then I would try. Other than that I don't think it's worth the risk.

good luck whatever you do:)

[cherrysparkey]

Yeah I thought it could be hard introducing a new degu (I was just worrying that the quiet one was getting really annoyed lol). I think they're only about 13 weeks now, hopefully they learn to live with each other

Thanks for your advice, think I was just worrying too much