Does this fur make me look pear shaped?

[deguconvert]

I have been keeping careful watch of our little ones and the two older boys, and I can with great confidence tell you that there were no mating barks pre Nov. 8th. Even though there have been three separate instances since that date, I've only seen evidence of "cleaning," not actual hanky panky. However, I have made a point of remembering Nov. 8th so that I can be watching to see if the deed did get accomplished after all.

Well . . . one of our new little girls has begun to have a rather thickened area just infront of her hips. This is a new appearance, and up until very recently she was very long and slender. I know that she wouldn't be showing if one of our boys had mated with her, so I'm now thinking there is a strong possibility that she came to our home already pregnant.

WHAT A SHOCK!!!! GASP!!! FAINTING!!! HOW CAN IT BE??? NOT the first time it's happened to a forum member, and I think it's a pretty certain thing that it WON'T be the last. Have to say, the MALE ONLY store that wouldn't believe me that they had females in the display is soon going to have very conclusive proof!

Looks like my daughter is going to get her wish for pups too.

[malteser60]

Eeek! Babies!!

So, hang on, I'm getting confused now. I thought you had all boys DC? Or did you get girls and neuter the one boy?

[deguconvert]

We did have all boys . . . and after Reep died we decided we would get a couple more after a little while. So on our Thanksgiving weekend, off we went to the "ONLY MALE" petstore to buy a couple of pups because we had heard from our "ONLY FEMALE" store that they had a number of male degu pups in. Sure enough, pups!! So we looked through them and I kept picking up . . . females . . . I asked a clerk, she said she was sure they were males as they had worked very hard to sex them correctly. I began to doubt myself!! Looked some more . . . took the two that most resembled male . . . but I still thought they were females. We thought it could be that they were so small that we were reading them wrong. I don't think we have, though. Their little bits remain tightly snuggled up together. I should have known better than to doubt the training I've had here . . . but the clerk seemed so utterly certain and the look she gave me that said, you're a complete idiot, when I told her what I knew . . . well . . . I doubted.

SO . . . I think we have a pregnant little miss, but she would have been pregnant before we got her, which means that the store is right about the sex of at least SOME of the pups. LOL!

[Kins]

Oh dear, you should never doubt yourself!

But...baby gooeys...awwwwwwwwww!

[blossombrooks]

Oooops! Oh well DC you'll love the babies and we can coo over the cute photos  lol. Hope everything goes ok for her. Did you settle on names for your new girls in the end? Sorry I can't remember!

[malteser60]

Hehe, so does this mean another new cage to build for the eventual two colonies that you'll have?

[deguconvert]

We have called them Pumpkin and Apricot. Pumpkin is the one sporting a bulge, which is more noticeable when she is standing on her hind legs and reaching up high for something. Apricot is, as I said before, still very slender and petite.

As for another cage? Well, we are thinking that we will be looking into having the boys neutered, I should do that soon I guess, and so be able to keep them all together. Our cage is large enough to hold seven degus with our CARA, so we will likely keep three females from the litter, and the rest . . . well that is to be determined. Right now my thoughts are that once I had their genders identified, I will take them to the "male/female" pet stores to be sold. However, I'm sure that the fellow students from my kids school will hear all about them, and that could raise the potential for homes that way as well. I'm not going to plan on that though. Should it happen, I'll be able to give out excellent information on all things degu, thanks to this forum! Pointing them toward the forum is a given! ;D

Another cage?? Only if I can handle taking care of an managing a high rise. LOL! I'd have to stack it on top of the other, as there is no other location in the house that is in a draft free zone . . . except for the guest/exercise/art room . . . which already has too many functions to afford adding another to it. HAA HAA!

[Bexi87]

Aww, more babies! Surprise congratulations DC ;D

[deguconvert]

Just wanted to say, her roundness increases, and my daughter is growing in excitement! I'm sure if I let her, she would be using my kitchen scales daily to weigh her at this point!

I'm thinking I had better do a really thorough clean out very soon, because it will be harder once there are babies to consider . . . provided she really is pregnant.

[deguconvert]

I was in to the pet store today to pick up some degu food, and thought that while I was there I should talk to the store manager about bringing in any future pups that we are not able to keep or rehome otherwise. What should I hear but . . . they have put out a chain wide decree that they will no longer be selling degus . . . period. OH!!! Well, isn't that great!! I'm thinking I'll have to put together some packets about degus, care, housing, maybe print offs of NightwishRaven's information on his octodon site, and put up adds at my kids school and so on. With this kind of policy happening in this large nation wide chain, I can't say that I see degus gaining in popularity here.

[NightwishRaven999]

Faith...you must be anxious for the pregnancy.
About informing people about degus...
I too will be doing this as soon as I get the cage building guide complete in french.
From what I know, degus are more popular here than in the USA or english Canada.
But even with the good degu book by Manon Tremblay, the standards for housing the octodons are still relatively poor.
I am anxious to be able to share the cage building guide with owners and animal activists here.

I am a little late, but what store chain will no longer be selling degus ?

[deguconvert]

Petland.

[NightwishRaven999]

Dec 18, 2011 0:35:06 GMT deguconvert said:

Petland.

I have never been to one of these stores.
Do you think their decision to not sell degus would cause problems for you ? If they decided not to sell them, I would not be surprised to learn they would also stop selling products for these animals.

[deguconvert]

I'm wondering!!! Sure would force a much greater change in my feeding practices!!

[blossombrooks]

Hmmm. I would personally think that as they supplied degus to people they would have a duty of care to keep supplying the food etc. When you next go in maybe ask about the food? I wonder what prompted them to stop selling degus? Part of me wishes a certain chain here would. I'm sure it'll all work out DC, if people you know took on your babies and they had you to ask questions they'd be fine.

[deguconvert]

I know they would. I was telling the pet store about the changes/differences that have been observed between the mating schedule of the wild and domesticated degu. Their eyes glazed over. Probably thought I was a nut case. TOO BAD!! They need more information!!

[thedreamer12]

I'd just like to point something out.

NightwishRaven999:
I am from the USA, and I can honestly say, I had not one clue what a degus was until I looked on the internet for ideas on new pets about three months ago. They are not well known here at all. The store I got them from only gets a pair of degus every for or five months. Not many stores sell them here, and so I definitely agree when it comes to informing people about degus. Even if it's not where I live. People really need to know what interesting family members they can be.

I can say that I love my new little ones dearly. And, one of them is expecting.