Should i neuter my degus

[strep486]

Hi,

I was wondering if i could get some advice, i have four male degus who until recently got on very well together, derek is nearly three and my other three boys are about 5 months old. Sadly derek got sick a few weeks ago and this caused oscar and roland to start fighting. They now wont accept derek as the dominant male, instead they all fight, this can get quite viscious with them getting into a ball. Roland has cuts on his side and derek has a cut on his back, he also recently got his foot bitten. I am now considering getting oscar and roland neutered to stop the infighting. I read on degutopia that degus should not be neutered till they are a year old as it affects brain development. I wondered if anyone has any advice. I would really like to get my troop back together as douggie is missing his brothers
Thanks

[Amethystbelle]

I'm not sure neutering would work as i know people with male degus who have been neutered and it hasn't stopped the aggression plus by taking the other two boys out the situation you would have to reintroduce them all again after they had recovered and the other two might not accept them back. Its a risky business to put such a small animal through such a trauma such as neutering and should really be considered as a last resort. Plus at 5 months the younger boys are just finding their feet and will squabble to find out who is in charge. Can i ask how big your cage is? And do you know what causes the fighting for example food, wheel, water bottle etc.... ?

[Amethystbelle]

Also did the fighting start after Derek was ill and was he seperated? And if so did you just put him back in? Sorry for all the questions but hopefully we might find a simple solution

[strep486]

Hi,

I have a very large three storey cage which is nearly as tall as me, so i think they have plenty of room. I dont think its over water bottles but they have scrapped over food before, Roland use to sit on the pile of food and defend it from the others. Although i do put food on every level. The serious fighting really started after derek became ill. Unfortunately we were away when it happened and the degus were in an alternative cage which i use when i take them with me. I only had the one cage so after Derek began to feel better i put him back in with the others, sadly i think this was my mistake, they sensed that Derek was weaker and tried to challenge him. Since then they cannot be together. I keep them in two cages side by side and i get them to use the same dust bath.

Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated and please feel free to ask questions, im really am grateful for your help.

[Amethystbelle]

It sounds like the youngsters have come of age and when Derek was removed they took over and now he is back they see him as a threat to the status quo and maybe an outsider in someways as before they invaded his territory whereas now he has lost that scent and he has come back into the group as a new degu in someways. You mentioned fighting between two of the youngsters more then with the others it sound like they are both trying to be the top degu hence the squabbling. I think you might need to get back to basics with them to try and get them all back together as i think the downfall may have been just putting Derek back in. Are the younger trio all together or is one of them with Derek?

[strep486]

one of the younger degus is currently with derek, they get on really well together, he misses his two brothers though. Douggie is quite easy to dominate though as i think he was the runt of the litter he is smaller than his two brothers, he does try and have a go at being top degu every so often but he always gets defeated. I dont think the others take him seriously.

[Amethystbelle]

I would personally start the introduction process and let them bathe in vanilla sand then put them into a neutral area such as the bath tub and see how they get on and work it for longer periods each day and go from there. If they can sucessfully manage an hour together maybe have a clean cage and try them in that, reason i say clean is because it needs to be neutral and belong to neither party of degus

[strep486]

I will try the vanilla dust bath tom and see how it goes, thank you for the advice, i will let you know how it goes

[Amethystbelle]

No worries Don't give up if it doesn't work first time just give it time and a little patience