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Post by degu666 on Aug 20, 2011 17:56:59 GMT
Hi I have 3 degus, 1 neutered male called rio and 2 females called eva and bella. Ive had them for a few years I got rio first them got eva and bella as companions who turned out to be his daughters. They have a massive cage and plenty to do although theyre not handlable as no matter what ive done with them they just wouldnt bond with me. However when I moved out of home with my partner about a year ago and since then theyve seemed pretty unsettled. However they got worse with us over the year and started squeakin at us more and more. Recently its been constant squeakin and theyve been turning on each other. When I looked in today rio has lost half of his tail and bella has had the end of hers damaged. The only thing I can think of isthat they only have one wheel and eva is being protective over it as she is very dominant. If anyone has any advice as to whats happinin with my degus or what I need to do I wud be more then grateful im really worried about them. Thanks for reading x
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des
Newborn Degu
Posts: 11
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Post by des on Aug 20, 2011 18:49:06 GMT
There's a lot of things that could factor in to the problems:
- What size is your cage?
- How much food are they getting, are you giving it to them in one bowl or spreading it out?
- How old are they? Degus can be a real pain in puberty.
- How often do the get new stuff to play with, do they have a playground? They could be agressive out of boredom.
Is it always Rio and bella fighting? Have you separated them? When they get injured that bad, it's definitely due.
Btw, you might want to remove the sandbath from the cage so their wounds don't get infected, and maybe see a vet.
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Post by degualot on Aug 23, 2011 18:57:34 GMT
just a question but how much time do you spend with them in a day, not including playtime. Do you visit the cage here and there. Also do you offer them treats from your hand. Have you went through all the bonding principles. Also will they step on your hand, or jump onto it from their cage.
It feels to me like more than a problem with the wheel.... Also is the cage in a room you live in, or do everyday things in, like your living room. Maybe if they see you moving about all day they will get use to it and stop squeakin. just a thought...
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Post by moletteuk on Aug 26, 2011 19:54:19 GMT
Perhaps you could think about the position of the cage, or what else changed when you moved house. There could be a permanent stress on them that you haven't noticed that is stressing them to breaking point. Maybe there is a massive draught, or they can see lots of birds or cats out the window or tons of traffic noise, or a crazy reflection in a mirror.....it could be anything.
Cage space can really help if they are getting grumpy, and you need to provide different things within their space, like nest area, hidey area, play areas etc.
I'm not really an expert on this, but you might need to separate them temporarily if they are injuring each other. This issue aside, I think it would be useful to watch them very carefully to try to work out what is bothering them.
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