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Post by staceygiles on Sept 10, 2011 18:36:29 GMT
Can someone help me ?
My degu has just had a litter of 4, im not toop sure on the sex of them all yet, i may need help with that later on.
They are now 4 days old and things seem ok (she killed her last litter)
When can i clean them out as it means moving the nest, i dont want to risk her going on another killing spree.
Also if the babies are mixed sex can i keep them all together, i will be having the males neutered so stop inter breading.
Also if she has been caught again since having this lot, how do i go about making it safe for the new babies ? Will the first litter attack them, i dont really want to take mum away from the group once they are established, if thats possible.
Any advice would be appreciated xx Thank You xx
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Post by Maravilla on Sept 10, 2011 18:59:29 GMT
First of all, Welcome to the forum.
Sexing degus is possible from a very early age on. I wouldn't do it at the moment, but you can try in a couple of days when the little ones are moving around more freely.
Don't move the nest at the moment, but take away dirty/ bloody tissues if you had provided them and offer new ones.
Is the father of the little ones still with them? What do you want to do with the possible next litter? Why don't you separate the father and have him neutered? Or put him together with the boys in a new group if there were any? This would be possible in about 6 weeks... but prevent any mating of the little ladies.
It's not a good idea to have a group with different males and females no matter if all are neutered or not. They still have plenty testosterone and will most probably fight for the girls. They don't care about being father, mother, sons and daugthers.
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Post by staceygiles on Sept 10, 2011 19:15:21 GMT
i havent really got the space to have 2 cages, is it possible to keep the girls with mum and dad, id like to keep the lot really as i hate making the decision of who they will go to, but i guess if i look on here at least i know they will know what they are doing x
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Post by Kat on Sept 10, 2011 19:29:00 GMT
You could keep the girls and mom with the father providing he is neutered. As Maravilla has said though please don't keep more than 1 male in with females. Was this an accidental or planned litter? Regarging the safety of more babies...It is very rare that degus will attack babies even if they are not there own. They usually tend to them as a group and all help out. How long ago were the pups born? Depending on this it may be too late to prevent another litter but it is always worth trying. Back to back litters are very stressful for mum. Below is taken from another thread. Thank you fred. I thought I should put this into a new thread so that it can be easily found for future reference. It is my take on the issue based on what information I have been able to find so far. There are still too many uncertainties for me to call it advice; it is simply what I would do if I were in the situation. If you know the female is pregnant, separate dad well in advance of the expected birth. Once the babies are there, it may already be too late and they may have mated during mum's post-partum oestrus. If the babies come as a surprise, separate dad immediately; depending on when birth took place, there is a chance that they have not yet mated again. From a biology point of view, I would think it possible to reunite dad with his family two days after birth but if you want to play it safe you can go for three or four days as suggested elsewhere. Two recent cases here suggest that suppression of the oestrus during lactation may not be as tight as previously thought. The observation of a very tight suppression comes from a large colony at the University of Illinois and there may be differences in the general captive population. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, dad should be separated before the first oestrus after the post-partum one. The shortest cycle observed in adult females is reported to be 17.8 days, so it would seem prudent to separate dad on day 16. Kat x |
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Post by staceygiles on Sept 10, 2011 19:41:21 GMT
Many thanks for your comments, he will definately be going for the chop as soon as we get back from our holiday, i think he has tried mating again but shes not having any of it, shows him whos boss. I will take your advice and just have dad in the cage, id hate to seperate them as they have such a strong bond.
The babies are 4 days old and not a planned pregnancy although we thought it would happen as she had a previous litter of 4 but killed them hence why if she did get caught again we wouldnt mind keeping these x
Id like to keep as many as possible without overcrowding and the males will have to go to new homes as hubby said no more cages x
I will take pictures of the 'bits' when i get back, they should be ok to handle then, i havent a clue what im looking for x
Many thanks for your help
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