Chewie doing very well after losing his brother

[chrisbirch1987]

After being worried that Chewie would be
upset about the death of his brother, he seems to be doing very, very well. He's becoming more and more "trainable". Chewie now like coming over to me and peering out the cage and when he's very brave stands on my hands, something he never used to do. He's becoming more of a Fuller character. I can't wait for his training to continue.
I'm glad that his coping so well.

[deguconvert]

This is actually a fairly normal occurance. Chewie is now looking to you to supply the companionship that he used to have with his brother. This doesn't mean that he isn't lonely or grieving. He will be missing the cuddles, grooming, communication, humping, etc that is part of a degus daily life with other degus.

I have to admit, we humans do find the deeper attachment that suddenly begins to form when a degu loses his cage mate very appealing and satisfying, but it isn't the best for our degus. I think it is totally OK for you to enjoy this, and work with his training and bonding with him, but I encourage you to keep a plan for finding him another cage mate or two in the near future. He will bond with the other degus, and you will notice a reduction in the way that he spends time with you, but the bond you build now will remain. He may even be a great help to you in building a trust bond with your future goo(s)!

We lost one of our three boys in August, and it was a terrible blow to us all. We were quite shattered and it was difficult to overcome. Something I haven't yet mentioned on the forum is that within a week of Reeps passing, both remaining boys began to exhibit the very beginnings of cataracts. They are both now quite blind, and their eyes show a snowy white in the pupils. I didn't notice a lot of mourning with them, but bit by bit they began to fight with each other more, which was largely non-existent with Reep here. Now that we have the pups, the original two are SO much happier. They play more, explore more, talk happily, eat better, and they haven't been fighting. No change in the eyes, which I am watching with interest, because I want to try and learn if it was a bodily response to their loss. (They are not loosing weight, or showing any other symptoms, so I know it isn't a diabetic issue.) If the cataracts begin to diminish, I will be sure to post about it. Anyhow, they are both much better in all aspects . . . I had become accustomed to the way they were behaving to some degree, but seeing this turn around shows me that they were clearly mourning Reep a lot.