Questions about babies

[kandy]

Squirt had her babies 16 days ago. About 3 days after she had her babies I put the dad degu back in so that he could help out with the babies. So far it's been working out well and he's been helping out a lot. The babies are starting to experiment and have been nibbling on food and hay, however they are still nursing a little.

When should I separate the babies into same sex groups, and when should I take the dad back out (When can the mom get pregnant again?)? Can the baby girls get pregnant by the boys at a young age? Or can I just take the dad out? Thank you in advance!

[kandy]

As of now, the babies are all with the mom and separated from the dad. It looks as if only 3 of the babies are still nursing and the other 2 are fine on their own. I won't separate them until they are ALL done nursing. Since the dad is on his own and looks so sad I've been taking the little boys (theres 2 boys and 3 girls) and letting them visit they're dad for an hour a day. They will be moved in with him when they're done nursing.
I have someone who is interested in taking 2 of the girls home, so when can I let her take them? Should I let them stay with their mom for a little bit longer when they're done nursing? Thanks guys.

[Hanlou]

Hi. I don't know for sure about these things, but in the 'rat world', babies get seperated at 4.5 weeks - 5 weeks, and baby girls stay with their mother until about 6-7 weeks before being rehomed.

But someone who knows more about degus may have better advice for you!

[kandy]

Thanks for the advice Hanlou! Any advice is better than none

[Hanlou]

You're more than welcome. Glad to hear all's going well with your little ones!!

[Amethystbelle]

I would say to seperate them around the 5 - 6 week mark to be safe as degus mature quite late and can take anything upto the 5 - 6 month mark but its better to be safe than sorry as they can mature early or late so the suggested age for seperation is 5 to 6 weeks. I'd seperate them into two groups, keep the girls with mum and the boys with dad. As for when to let them go to their new home i'd say once they have been seperated they can go really anytime after the 6 week mark as they should have been weaned long ago hence they now can be seperated and also the longer you keep them the more they are going to get attached to being with mum in a group. Goodluck with them and keep us post on how you get on

[kandy]

Thanks Amethystbelle, I'll take your advice .

[Purplebunny]

I missed this thread! Kirsty had great advice..