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Post by philbailey1806 on Oct 5, 2011 11:47:37 GMT
Has anyone got any experience with degus having a phantom pregnancy or with them storing sperm and impregnating themselves like some species do?
I'm a little concerned that Edna is looking VERY rotund again, and I can't think why? She doesn't eat or drink any more than the others and she has shared a cage with her two daughters (120% sure they are both female) for the last four and a half months.
The male cage is next door, but the cages are separated by a 2 inch gap, so not sure if the smell of them is causing her to go into season, which could be the cause of her weight gain?
I Also know that they haven't been accidentally put in the wrong cage, as I'm the only person who opens the boy cage because one of the young boys is a nutter, flings himself at you, climbs all over you and is difficult to put back because he wants out again straight away.
Has anyone had any experience with a degu that has gotten big around her hips without being pregnant? I'm worried, because last time she had eight pups! I kept four and Amie took four, but this time round I may have to find homes for eight!
Thanks in advance for your replies,
Phil
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Post by amie on Oct 5, 2011 12:16:56 GMT
Oh dear, I can't offer any advice here! Hopefully she's just a fat madam!
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Post by philbailey1806 on Oct 5, 2011 12:25:59 GMT
fingers crossed! I hope it's gas!
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Post by malteser60 on Oct 5, 2011 13:15:58 GMT
I haven't read anywhere that degus store sperm for future dates like some animals do. You sure she didn't get pregnant straight after giving birth to her last lot? Just checking...
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Post by philbailey1806 on Oct 5, 2011 14:37:33 GMT
I don't think that possible, she hasn't been in the same cage as the dad in over 5 months, whereas degu gestation is 3 months, thats why I'm so confused! Sometimes though when I open the cage, she will run up the door, climb on top and wedge herself next to the boys cage. I do get her straight away though when she does this as she nips at the boys through the mesh. Do you think she could have done something through the bars? Were talking roughly 10 seconds or so.
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 5, 2011 14:59:18 GMT
I don't think she will have been able to do something in a 10 second span. Degus are fast, but not that fast. LOL! Unless they can get pregnant just by touching the bars of the cage that male degus live in. (Did you ever believe that you can get pregnant just by holding hands, or kissing, when you were a kid?) Pretty sure the answer is, NO! LOL! However, is there any doubt in your mind about the gender of her daughters?
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Post by philbailey1806 on Oct 5, 2011 15:19:56 GMT
Hello DC lol, her daughters are definately daughters, I checked roughly a trillion times to make sure when I split the babies into the boy and girl groups and I've checked again today and their cones are near enough on top of their, well, their hole lol. I'll just have to monitor it, I can't think what else might be causing her to swell like she has.
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Post by fred on Oct 5, 2011 15:29:37 GMT
Do you weigh her? How quickly has she become “fat”? If she isn't pregnant (which seems unlikely to impossible) than she either has become fat quickly or something is wrong with her. I would be a bit concerned that it could be the latter if she increased weight / volume rather quickly.
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Post by philbailey1806 on Oct 5, 2011 15:40:05 GMT
Hello Fred, I don't weigh her, but she hasn't suddenly exploded in weight, she has been pregnant before and the rate of weight gain seems similar to that, fast, but not impossibly fast, and its in the same place around her waist/hips, she's starting to look tear drop shaped again.
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Post by fred on Oct 5, 2011 15:51:35 GMT
Hi Phil, that doesn't really sound like she's getting fat. Keep a close eye on her. I don't want to alarm you but if it's neither fat not babies, it is very odd.
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Post by Ady on Oct 5, 2011 16:47:15 GMT
Hi, I don't have any advice but the same thing happened to my girl. She (Silver) gave birth about 2 weeks before yours did. About 6 weeks ago she started slowly to get fat again and then she was 290grams. I was sure she was pregnant, but there were no babies and she slimmed down suddenly to 250. (I did change their diet meanwhile a bit but not in quantity). I was thinking- when they're pregnant, lactating they eat more to support babies. Their bodies got used to higher food intake and their metabolism gets higher, right? Do u think it's possible that when the lactating stop it just takes their metabolism a while to slow down and they're still as hungry as when pregnant? But this time all the extra energy isn't used for babies but is stored as fat - weight gain? Does it makes sense? I'm probably way off here. It's just a thought, I don't know much about physiology.
Also, my girl too lives with her babies and I wasn't sure how much food babies need so would give them about the same as to their mum. Maybe she was eating all the food babies left and gain weight?
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Post by philbailey1806 on Oct 6, 2011 0:33:15 GMT
Hello Ady! That is very interesting! She hasn't yet got to full pregnancy size, but she looks like she's bloated! i think I read a post of yours and that's why I posted! Fingers crossed edna will slim back down and the problem is just her metabolic catchup! I will keep a close eyel, thankyou for your input.
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Post by malteser60 on Oct 6, 2011 9:57:33 GMT
phil, i would recommend you weigh her though so you can keep track and see if she's putting on weight. My two older girls recently have become bigger and stockier, well, that's what they look like, but they only put on about 10g each (now both weigh about 250g), so it seems to be more of a chang in body shape, growing up more (if that makes sense). You know, how us humans also change shape as we get older, even if we don't necessarily put on loads of weight. Well, I know I have
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Post by philbailey1806 on Oct 6, 2011 10:02:39 GMT
Oki doki, I'll have to find a big enough treat so that she sits still long enough for the sales lol, a monkey nut should do it. She could just be filling out, shes only about a year old (P@H didn't know for sure how old she was when I bought her) but Ernie who I bought with her has filled out too, but its a more even weight on him.
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Post by Kat on Oct 6, 2011 11:02:30 GMT
I find that crushing a treat and putting it on the scales keeps my boy still long enough.
Kat x
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Post by philbailey1806 on Oct 6, 2011 11:08:45 GMT
Oh, thats a good idea, thanks Kat, was thinking it might be easier to weigh her in her ball and then subtract the weight of the ball afterwards.
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Post by Kins on Oct 6, 2011 11:58:34 GMT
I normally put mine in either their carry case or dust bath and then subtract the relevant weight off. It perhaps doesn't give a 100% accurate result, but it does the job...if they don't fidget too much
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Post by fuzzymum1 on Oct 6, 2011 17:30:13 GMT
When I weigh mine I put a container on the scales with a treat in then zero the scales, then add the degu
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Post by malteser60 on Oct 6, 2011 18:09:52 GMT
Hmm, I manage to get away with not using a treat. I plonk mine on the scale and whilst they do their instinctive 'freeze in case there are predators' i read the weight. Then it's catch the degu as they run off over the kitchen counters!
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 6, 2011 21:04:27 GMT
PLONK!! Love it!! LOL!
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