[Emma53]

so heres the thing... i have been doing alot of research on pregnant degus lately and have come to the conclusion that mine were definately NOT all boys as i was told and that the female is pregnant... so heres my questions... firstly i have separated her from the boys and have set up a cage for her to keep her comfy HOWEVER i have now learned that they need their peers to keep them company and help them through the process should i leave her how she is or put her back in with the boys?? and will the boys help her look after the babys and build a nest and such or will they stress her out more...i dont want her to be miserable on her own but i dont want them to harm her or any babies that may turn out of this... i know that it was completely wrong having the boys in with the girl in the first place but in all honesty i had no idea she was female and now i just want to do the best i can for her to keep her happy...

 

[Emma53]

also is it still ok to handle her for now... what stage do you have to stop handling her??

 

[Sasami]

You just made a thread about this yesterday. There's no need to make a brand new thread with updates, just post in the old one . That's the one people are more likely to be following.

Like I posted yesterday, are you absolutely sure you have one girl and three boys? Make sure you're properly sexing them, not making conclusions based on if they look pregnant. I say this because there's always a chance that another degu or two is female as well (since the original owners kept them mixed).

They do best with companions but unfortunately, putting her back with the boys isn't an option. They can mate right after giving birth (and if she "looks" pregnant, she's close).

Provided none of the boys are actually girls, she's going to have to stay alone. If she has any female babies, they can stay with her, though .

If she's as far along as it sounds, be very gentle handling her and don't handle her much more than necessary.

 

[FlickeringHope]

Gut instinct tells me to keep her separated; because the prospect of males wanting to mate with her again may stress her out too much, and hopefully so long as she knows you're there for comfort, hopefully that's the next best option. But I don't know much about Degus, nor do I know if males help take care of the youngin's, so, don't hold too much value in my opinion. ^^

 

[christine]

I know with gerbils the father will help take care of them, but since you aren't sure which one the father is....I also know that with gerbils (going from my experience with them only) that the male will mate as soon as the female is done giving birth, or close to it. Female gerbils are in heat almost immediately after they give birth so I would not add a male unless you can find homes for the second litter too, but I wouldn't risk it. It would be very difficult and unless you know the backgrounds of parents it wouldn't be a good idea...especially if they are supposedly all brothers. Sounds like the babies could be inbred and that would be bad to have a second litter for sure!

 

[TheDreamer12]

Firstly, since you're unsure of who the father might be, I'd separate the boys. Since degus thrive on attention from their peers, I would put the cages next to each other so they can still interact.

I'm in the same boat as you are, except I have one male and one female. I'm keeping them together until she's close to giving birth (watching them very closely), then I will separate them and put the male back in after about four days so he can help her raise the babies.

 

[lindsay84]

I have the same kind of question...the people we got our four degus from about 2 months ago said that they were all females. They weren't handled properly, so they were very skittish around us for awhile when we first got them. I was able to check 3 of them, and they were all females, but then they started running around and I couldn't tell them apart to tell who I'd checked and who I hadn't! Anyways, I've been watching one of them for the last week because she seemed to be getting pretty big, and about 2 days ago, I'm pretty sure I saw movement in her stomach a few different times. One of the degus was always cuddling up to her, and laying on top of her when she was sleeping, and I was finally able to check and that one is definitely a male :S
So my question is, I've heard that you have to keep the male away from the female after giving birth, but then I've also heard that after a certain amount of time (4 days, like the last poster said) she will no longer be in heat and he can go back with her. Is that true?

 

[christine]

Whether it's true or not I can't completely say but she will one day be in heat again. Are you sure you want to risk not being able to separate them in time and this happens again? I have never had experience with Degu's but I wouldn't risk it, but that's just me.

 

[lindsay84]

We wouldn't be keeping them together permanently, but I know the degu fathers like to help raise the babies, so if it's okay after a certain amount of time then I would like him to be able to be with them. We are going to be looking around for any vets in the area who deal with small exotic animals to find out how much it would cost to neuter him, but for now I'm just trying to figure out the best way to go, there seem to be a lot of conflicting things about it lol

 

[christine]

I figured you wouldn't want another litter. I do think neutering would be the best bet that way you wouldn't have to worry. I wish I could help you out more. Again, I'm drawing on my experience from gerbils which aren't degus, obviously, but still in the rodent family. If you can find a vet they would be the best bet for information and hopefully, even if you can't neuter immediately they can tell you how long to keep them apart, how long they can stay together before concerns. Good luck!