WOW.... we have baby goos .. :)

[madhoose]

My oh my.. pumpkin has had her babies .. ;D don't know how many as she didn't have them in her nest box, she had them in her hood hammock.. And I don't want to disturb her but I can hear them... poor wee pipsqueak (daddy) is in a proper tiz in his cage and if I'm honest so am I as I don't know what I should do now if anything.. so I've just made sure she has plenty of food hay & water and leave her be... I'll have a wee sneaky peek later to see how many new arrivals we have.. ;D oh time for a wee coffee to calm me down...

[malteser60]

Yay, more babies!!

Ok, so first thing you say that she has had them in the hammock, bless. However is this hammock up high? Any chance of the babies falling out?

Secondly have you baby-proofed the cage? If you have a cage with bars you may need to put some sort of barier around the cage to stop them from crawling out. Also I would move the food bowl and water onto the base of the cage (if they're not there already). This will allow mum to access food more easily, and as the babies will want to follow mum around it will stop them from trying to follow her up onto the other floors. Plus when they start eating solids the food will be there for them.

And finally, we want photos! ;D

[coronasol]

Oct 20, 2011 9:50:50 GMT malteser60 said:

And finally, we want photos! ;D

This made me chuckle!!! Congrats Madhoose!

[nuttz]

hehe, its sooooo totally exciting isnt it...lol ;D my lot will be 2 weeks old tomorrow and im still just as excited as the day they were born "almost" lol
like you, i was feeling sorry for chocs (the daddy) as i could see he was desperate to get to his babies, i let him back in with mum and pups on day 6, although i wanted to on day 5 but i got spooked that he might get mum pregnant again..
i think malteser has advised you really well so i havent much to add really.. food and water as near by mum as possible is a great suggestion as i found that in the first couple of days mum wanted to stay in the nest as much as she could.
at a day old the babies were running around quite a bit, its amazing how fast they are...lol at day 2 one was trying to eat a little left over monkey nut ;D and at day 7 mum and dad completely moved up top of the cage and made a new nest, this is when i first noticed that the babies could climb and jump ledges really quite well so you will be surprised how fast they learn... lol and a couple of days ago (day 11) i really was amazed to see the babies humping eachother and boxing, its dead funny to see!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!! and yesssssss, some pics of the babies would be cool ;D

[nuttz]

oh and just one more thing................
make sure you stock up your degu food supply...................honestly, willow has eaten sooooooooo much this past couple of weeks, i really dont know where she is putting it...lolololololol

[madhoose]

Thanks for advice much appreciated .. I had already lowered the hammock for her last week as she had a few misses trying to get in.. now I have lowered it to the floor.. much to her bewilderment .. had a wee peek in & OMG they are Sooooo teeny weeny.. ;D I expected them to be small but not that small.. so now I have blocked off the bars all way round the cage as we have one that's very active already.. oh Yea meant to say she's had 5 babies that I can see.. but planning to have a proper look in today.. the one that's out & about has it's eyes opened.. think the rest are still closed.. not sure if I should leave them for another day to see if they open by themselves or need a little help.. but poor pumpkin every time she leaves them for a min they all start calling her to come back.. so cute to hear... oh Yea and I will post some photos when I get some .. thanks again for your help.. some things are common sense I know but sometimes it's that obvious that you overlook it... so thanks for keeping me right.. and I'll stock up on food too.. can't believe yours are two weeks old already nuttz... ;D x

[malteser60]

Oct 20, 2011 13:10:00 GMT nuttz said:

oh and just one more thing................
make sure you stock up your degu food supply...................honestly, willow has eaten sooooooooo much this past couple of weeks, i really dont know where she is putting it...lolololololol

I just look at chocolate cake and it goes straight to my hips! Humph!

[nuttz]

lol funny you should say that, the exact same thing happens to me

[madhoose]

Mummy, Daddy, Speedy G & Hope.. ;D

[madhoose]

Speedy G & Hope.. They are soooo itsy bitsy teensy weensy.. Totally melt my heart... ;D

[deguconvert]

Goodness! They surely are itsy bitsy! Totally adorable!!! I'm so glad they are hanging in there and doing better. It's been quite the roller coaster ride for you.

[madhoose]

yea they are totally itsy bitsy and it really has been a roller coaster ride here Deguconvert that i never want to go on again.... I was looking at the pics of fuzzymum's wee pedro at 5 days old, then my 2 wee ones at 5 days and pedro seems much better developed than mine, that brings me to believe that perhaps mine were premature and that's why the rest didn't make it. but my 2 wee ones are still hanging in there.. I'm still doing all i can think of to help. I check them every couple of hrs day and night not to mention leaving the heating on 24hrs to keep the room at a constant temperature. I've done that since we lost the third little angel.. now i think I've become superstitious and am afraid to put it off.. lol
If i read right somewhere they can start to regulate their body temperature from around 8 days i think.. but then if they were premature would it take them longer.. I'm not sure of anything at the moment so any advice would be welcome..

[Kins]

I don't really have any advice but it sounds to me like you are doing everything you can for the little gooeys!

Possibly they were a little premature, who knows. All you need to do is carry on as you are and just keep an eye on the remining 2 little ones. It sounds like Dad is doing a good job and Mum is coping much better now too.

So sorry for your losses, but keep strong for the remaining little ones! Keep us posted!

[fred]

Forget everything you read on Degutopia about temperature, it's utter nonsense (I will come back to this in another thread). That said, I would suggest to keep the temperature up for a few more days. Warmblooded animals spend quite a bit of energy on keeping their temperature up. If you keep your room nice and warm, the pups can put more energy into growth and that must be a good thing at the moment (in particular since we do not know why the other three didn't make it).

[madhoose]

Thanks kins, i am trying to do everything i can for them just frightend that i'm missing something that's why i'm looking for any advice i can get doesn't matter if it's through experience or not.. as they say many heads are better than one...

Thanks Fred, i'll just maintain the status quo for now... they seem to be doing well though they very seldom leave the nest & are not very active yet.. but as i've said previously looking at fuzzymum's pic's & i've just seen nuttz pic's at 5-6 days mine are Sooo much smaller in fact they look like nuttz 3 day old pic's ..not sure if i should try to weigh them.. haven't done it before as they were so small & fragile... but it can give me a starting place for monitoring how they are getting on...

[nuttz]

how are your little ones getting on now?
bless, im sorry for the lost ones but im sure hope and speedy g will grow into fine little goos ;D ive seen the pics and they are both adorable, its quite sad how fast they grow though, mine are 3 weeks today and are really quite big now but hey, i still love them to bits, especially when theyre in a big goo pile together, so sweet!

[malteser60]

hey madhoose, I'm just going to second there what fred says about temperature. And also to say that with the little ones keep that temperare reading up high. They do use energy to keep their body temperature at a constant but pups lack that ability (hence why they need to stay with mum as much as possible). If you have the room temperature up at a suitable temp (say 20 - 25C) means the goos (both baby and mum) don't have to worry about it and they concentrate their energy on other (degu) issues.

[madhoose]

Hi nuttz, the wee ones are doing great thank goodness.. yesterday, 8 days old they finally came out the nest.. Not to run screaming to mummy but to explore the cage for the first time.. ;D ;D ;D I was almost in tears (with joy)... I can't believe how big they have got and are starting to look like proper mini goos ... i feel we have had a breakthrough and i am feeling positive that all will be well.. Oh and needless to say i had the camera at the ready and got a few pic's that l will post with the rest after this..

Hi malteser, thanks .. I've kept the temp around 20 - 22 day and night.. and as i've just said above things seem to be really looking up.. ;D I'm sure they aren't out of the woods yet but it's really looking good for them so i'll just keep things the same until they are weened..

I am just so happy at the minute i could burst .. i have been walking about with a grin from ear to ear since yesterday ... ;D

[nuttz]

seen your pics, theyre are lovely, i left you a message there..!

so glad they are ok, i keep thinking of you and your bubbas......bless their ikkle toes ;D

[madhoose]

Thanks nuttz, it's day 12 and they really are coming into their own... They starting to climb all over the cage and i'm having kittens as they still so itsy bitsy and i only blocked the bars with cardboard half way up .. so now need a rethink.. !! Every time i see my wee ones run about i think of yours and what a handful they must be.. but what a joy to watch... ;D