introducing a new degu - Paw Talk

CommanderPotato · #1 03-05-2009, 06:56 PM

i need some advice. in june, i bought a female degu from a local pet store. i did research on them but never saw anything about having to keep them in groups of 2 or more and the guy at the store said one was ok by itself. i recently found out they do waaaay batter with other degus. my current degu, fennec, has bonded to me quite well and she doesnt seem lonley or sad at all. But i've been worried she might get lonly when im at school and even though i spend alot of time with her i dont want her to be alone if degus are social. I got another female degu a few days ago named joey-lee. they are from the same parents just from differnt births. fennec is twice joey-lee's size and i'm worried they won't get along since fennec has been alone for 8 months. I've done research on introuding new degus but i still want other people advice, comments or opinions. any help?

RodentzRule · #2 03-06-2009, 12:14 AM

I do not own degus but this is what I have gathered from reading other threads, if they are young enough they get along with other degus if introduced properly, if they are older it takes alot more work and time to get them to live together.

CommanderPotato · #3 03-06-2009, 07:42 AM

fennec is about 10 months old and joey-lee is about 3 months old

zoo20000uk · #4 03-09-2009, 04:04 AM

You may find that your older degu wont feel as threatened by the little one as it wont be trying to dominate her. When I got two other girls to go with the older girl I already had, I sat with them all and stroked them all together so they got each other's smells on them. My girl was just happy to have a friend to snuggle up with. It didn't take long at all and, within a couple of hours, they were all in together. I wouldn't advise just putting the little one straight in as 10 months is quite a lot older than my girl who was only about 5 months and pregnant! Let us know how it goes.

Amethystbelle · #5 03-09-2009, 05:47 PM

If you follow the link in my signature there is an introduction section on how to introduce degus correctly. Its not as simple sadly as putting them all together straight away it can take time and patience

CommanderPotato · #6 03-10-2009, 08:01 PM

my dad and i made a divider for the cage out of wood and strong mesh. my two degus did really good for the first 3 days!! there was no agressive behavior, squeaks or anything and they were really curioius about each other. i switch the section they're in every other day to get used to the other one's scent being in their territory. Sometimes they even squeaks for the other if she wasn't at the mesh! but today i got home from school and saw that joey-lee began detroying the mesh. There were alot of places where the mesh was mushed together from her biting it and even some places had holes in it. I had to put them in 2 seperate cages for now until i either have a new divider or introduce them face to face. what should i do?!?!

RodentzRule · #7 03-10-2009, 09:36 PM

Introduce them face to face, they sound ready for it

Amethystbelle · #8 03-11-2009, 07:02 AM

Get some vanilla sand and let them both roll in it then introduce them in a neutral area such as your bath tub and make sure you have an extra pair of hands so they both go in at once and go from there. See how they get on

CommanderPotato · #9 03-11-2009, 06:35 PM

today i had them both take a dust bath then put them in the bathtub as suggested. They loved eachother

!! They ran around together, groomed eachother and there was no agressivness at all! They were sad when i put them back in the cages so later i'm going to let them run around together again. They bonded really well so far. hopefully they will be in the same cage soon. thank you so much for all your help!! i put up an album of fennec and joey-lee in my profile. check them out!

Amethystbelle · #10 03-12-2009, 10:30 AM

If they get on well again put them in a clean cage together and go from there, its important if you use an exisiting cage it has been thoroughly cleaned but sounds like its going well

CommanderPotato · #11 03-15-2009, 06:14 PM

i've been putting them in a nuetral place for a while and they seem to be doing really good together. I had to use an old cage since fennec kept jumping out of the bathtub! but today it looked like joey-lee was trying to mate with fennec(jumping on top of her and uh...moving her back end around in that kind of way). I double checked their gender and they both look like girls(at least they both look the same underneath). did i somehow miss something important or is this commen behavior for dominance?

Darkandiel · #12 05-22-2009, 03:10 PM

hey everyone!
great site by the way

i recently bought my first Degus and i am enjoying his company

reading thru this site and others i found it is better to keep 2 at a time,
in the pet store i got him, he was surounded by other degus in thier cage, at least 8 together.
i only have him a few days and would like to get another, but i want another male cos i dont want little pups!!

he is only living with me a week so does anyone think its safe enough to get another male, as he was living with other males in the store???

emmzie87 · #13 05-24-2009, 07:15 AM

im from dublin and have degus too, where you from. i breed them too, u could have one of my babies hehehehehe

emmzie87 · #14 05-24-2009, 07:17 AM

sorry got abit excited there, havent seen another irish person on here. try get him one of his brothers from the same shop,he would love the company.which shop did you get him from?

Darkandiel · #15 05-29-2009, 06:23 PM

I got him in PetMania in Navan, in Meath.
I gave in and got a girl!
called them Jameson and Ginger! hehehe perfect for us Irish!

they get on so well together, but gotta get him booked in for the snip!! lol