[sara_warren5]

So I have two degus one female one male and I had to split them up it came down to that. I still think the girl may be pregnant but I cant say for sure. They've been together all their lives though. (siblings :/) I split them up today and I bought two new degus one male and one female so I can have two males in one cage and two females in one. (building a huge 6ft long by 4ft 1in high cage with a separator in the middle for each sex, which will be done in 2 days) But the problem is introducing them. We've already established that they fight and will fight til death both the males and females.. How can we get them to go in the big cage together females on one side and males on the other without them killing eachother. I have made what I wanted to be a simple situation into a very hard and almost impossible task!

 

[Nibbler]

females shouldnt be with males as they will contineau to reproduce none stop and back to back littres arent good, to introduce 2 females or 2 males togethier u should introduce them on natural grounds, example in a bath tub or your bed ect, they should not be put into the same cage togethier intil they are ok with eachother on the natural grounds. hope this helps

 

[sara_warren5]

im really scared that if i put them together that they are going to rip eachother apart. the ones that i had first are about 11-12 weeks old and the new ones i just got are no more than 8.5 weeks old. Im really scared that the older ones are gunna rip the younger ones apart and kill them. im terrified to put them together at all...

 

[sara_warren5]

also the size difference is very noticable the older ones are almost 3 times the size of the younger ones... the younger ones look almost like mice their so small.

 

[Sasami]

I'm a little confused...have they already been introduced?

Anyways, the female is most likely pregnant which is going to complicate things. What will you be using to divide the cage? They can breed through bars.

Degu introductions should be done slowly. You want to start by having the cages next to each other for a while. You can mix bedding between the cages and let them all use the same dust bath. Once they're used to each other's scents, introduce them in a neutral area like a bath tub. Meetings should be very short at first, like a minute or less. Slowly make them longer if there's no fighting.

 

[sara_warren5]

i got the two new ones today and yeah they have seen eachother and the two males hated eachother and kept biting my boyfriend. the females arent happy at all either. ill try that introducing thing. but because of my situation i now need 4 cages :/

 

[Sasami]

If they've already been introduced and it didn't go well be aware that it could take a while. Degus can remember fights. I would go very slowly.

 

[Elliriyanna]

there is a method with hamsters that you alternate them into each others cages ( never letting them around each other ) until they are ok with the smells then introduce them on neutral ground ... i would add to this putting the cages where they can see each other so they get ok with it. Would this work? Its a proven method with several highly aggressive species

 

[Nibbler]

she could do that but she still has to introduce them on natural territory

 

[Elliriyanna]

she could do that but she still has to introduce them on natural territory

until they are ok with the smells then introduce them on neutral ground ...

I said that lol Also its neutral not natural natural would be in the wild where as neutral is a place neither claim as territory. I wish you the best of luck

 

[sara_warren5]

thank you all very much. right now i have 4 cages lol its a mad house. but thanks big help!