Pregnant Degu?

[pitbaby]

I really need some help. I have six degus, two I bought and four I got from a rescue. I was told the four from the rescue were all male. One happened to be a female and she is living with a male. I am not sure of the ages of the four from the rescue and the rescue people had no idea. At what age do degus get to old to breed? I couldn't find any information on the age degus stop breeding. I am not sure if she is pregnant. The female is building her own nest, whereas before it was usually just the male. She is not really getting fatter or bigger. And do degus get bigger as they get older, because three of the ones from the rescue are alot bigger then the two that I bought at the pet store.

[mulder]

separate that female now!! even if she's not prego yet, she sure will be very very very soon. their gestation is what...(someone verify this) 3 months? plus you really really should NOT handle prego degus, they miscarry easily. separate her now so that if she is prego, you don't do it later and hurt her. plus, you do not want more goos, right? I think they usually have at least 6-7 pups? whoa boy that'd be a busy busy time! lol. there is no "too old to breed", that's just us humans deciding when it's unhealthy to mate. it still won't stop them from doing it. as for the weight issue, what are they eating now? and what were they eating before you got them? goos are cogenitally diabetic so they need a low sugar/no sugar diet. NO seeds, dried fruits, honey, molasses, or alfalfa. hope i helped

[Amethystbelle]

Firstly welcome to PT

Degus all vary in size some are small whilst others are larger just like humans really. Although a lot of it is down to the quality of breeding in my personal experience over the years

Degus can breed to any age although females can control when they come into season and only ever come into heat in the prescence of a male. I know of people whose male/female pairs have lived together for many years with no offspring being produced and then oneday wake up to find 5 new faces looking at them. How long have you had them? Has the female slowed down any? If she has been living with a male then the likelyhood she is pregnant is 50/50 and i would personally treat her for now if she is, so don't handle her only if you have to and monitor her closely. If babies are born you need to remove the male straight away to prevent breedback. You may also want to look at ways of preparing the cage for birth if babies come along such as making sure they can't get up onto any platforms and fall, blocking up any gaps etc...

[pitbaby]

I have had the resued degus since February. About a month ago I heard the male chirping for very long periods of time. From what I have read that means that they have probably mated. That is when I checked their sexes. I am hestitant about separating them because they have apparently always been together and I don't have another female to put with her. Degus are very hard to find in my area, so finding another female might be next to impossible. The female is not really acting any different except that she is building her own nest separate from the male.

[Amethystbelle]

If babies are born you will need to seperate them to prevent her getting pregnant away straight away as it could kill her. If babies are born the simplest thing would be to keep her with the girls when they are weaned and seperate the boys.

[pitbaby]

The male and female will be separated. I have been slowing putting all the males in one cage, so I have an extra cage. If I had another female I would separate them now. I did a lot of research before buying my first two degus. I didn't ever plan on having any females in my little colony of degus.

[pitbaby]

Thank you for your help

[Amethystbelle]

Its a common mistake so don't beat yourself up, if i had a penny for every time i had a message about male/female combos gone wrong i'd be rich If babies are born you should hopefully have a girl to keep mum with