pregnant Degu

[Catahoulahappy]

My degu is pregnant and she is really fat, and I wondered how long til the babies usually born after the mom starts getting fat?

[Phoebe]

about two weeks, sheŽll have at least 6 babies I would guess
YouŽll be able to see the babies move as well.
DonŽt handle her anymore and give her enough hay and paper towels to buiild a nest. Please take the male out, she will most likely get pregnant again the day she gives birth. When the male babies are about 6 weeks old they can be introduced to their dad, you need to have them in two cages.
Check www.degus.org for further info.

[Catahoulahappy]

actually there is no male with her, she was already pregnant when I bought her. I got her about a week and a half ago and she was already pretty fat. she is even fatter now and I can feel them move when I pet her, and all she ever does is lay around. should I take the wheel out so she cant run on it anymore? I know I have to take it out when the babies are born so they dont get hurt, but can she keep it in there until they are born?

[Phoebe]

You can leave the wheel in there until the babies are born. However, it is quite uncommon that degus are lying around and let you pet them. I hope nothing is wrong with her You might want to consider taking her to the vetŽs when she gets worse and refuses to eat.
Degus must not be kept alone, you could leave the female babies with her and only find new homes for the boys when they are 6 weeks old.

[Catahoulahappy]

She had her babies yesterday, 8 of them, but one was stillborn(dead) so there is 7. I think she was just laying around because she was so pregnant. she is ok now, and she runs around more.

[Runt]

It is not uncommon for a female to lay around shortly before giving birth.Both my girls did that before they had their litter.I am sorry you lost one of the babies.
Not all degus hate being alone.I have given my niece a male and he does fine being alone.You just need to make sure you give them the attention they love.Most degus are very affectionate critters.If you seperate the males you will need to watch them.I had 6 males 3 and 3 from 2 different litters born at the same time, at 6 weeks they were all placed in a big cage and when they matured I had to split them up 3 and 2 and 1 which was the most dominant.The males in my study are more dominant against each other than the females.I have been lucky enough to put my females together and they did great.You also need to remember that if you have 2 dominant degus especially males they can do great damage to each other.
Good luck with the litter

[CorinasCritters]

I love degus. Congrats on the babies. I would love to get a pair one day...

[Amethystbelle]

Congratulations on the birth of the babies, i love baby degu's as they are so cute!

[CuffnStuff]

Congratulations on the babies :

[Sassy]

Congrats on the babies