[mandypandy]

Hello everyone, I am new to the forums and somewhat new to owning degu's.I adopted my lil guy from an add on craigslist about 7months ago.Even from never owning a degu before I could tell he didn't have what I would call a great life where he was living, his owners had him in an hamster cage, they were feeding him rat food, he's missing over half his tail, and his right eye seems to be clouded over.I had known I wanted a degu for the past few years, but couldn't find one around where I live so when this add appeared I jumped at the chance to see this lil guy and then once I did I knew I couldn't leave without taking him with me. He was so very anti human he would run and hide when anyone would come near his cage, and even when I would put food in there he would come to me only to bite the snot out of me and run back and hide again.Fast forward to now, he's finally gotten used to me, he will now eat oats from my hand, and will sometimes jump into my hand and let me slowly lift him up but never out of his cage, and that makes for an interesting time cleaning it, but we are ok with that, and we are letting him come to us, and not forceing the issue.
I have been wanting to get him a cagemate for a few weeks now, I'm hoping that if I do it will help him socially, and make him a happier degu.But as I said there are no places within a 100miles that sells them here and with the heat index up in the 100's I just don't want to push driving more than that to get one.I noticed an add today on craigslist for a pair of 8month old degu's, a boy and a girl that is only 20min drive from me.But....I don't want a girl, because frankly I'm scared to even attempt to have babies, but if I only take the boy, then the girl will be alone, so I'm stuck..I know from my research that degu's can breed through the bars in their cages, so does anyone have any suggestions as to how to go about having all three of them live in harmony without the boys fighting over the girl, and without having babies, because I just don't have enough confidence to raise degu babies yet as I said I'm new to degu's.

 

[Sasami]

Thank you for taking in that poor degu.

The only option would be to neuter the two males (you'd want to find a vet experienced with degus who has neutered rodents before).

Maybe someone else with a single female degu will end up taking the girl? I see how it's a tough decision, though . Honestly, the female might even be pregnant so that would add to the challenge if you kept her.

By the way, have you tried Petfinder? I've seen the occasional degu on there and some rescues have transportation available.

 

[mandypandy]

Thank you for taking in that poor degu.

The only option would be to neuter the two males (you'd want to find a vet experienced with degus who has neutered rodents before).

Maybe someone else with a single female degu will end up taking the girl? I see how it's a tough decision, though . Honestly, the female might even be pregnant so that would add to the challenge if you kept her.

By the way, have you tried Petfinder? I've seen the occasional degu on there and some rescues have transportation available.

thank you for replying..i have called around all day and as of yet I haven't found a vet that's willing to neuter them.but the person that has the little ones claims she's never seen them even attempt to breed which if they are in fact boy and girl then i don't believe that, and i'm sure she's not watching them 24/7.So i'm wondering if they are in fact a boy and girl or if they very well may be the same sex. As for mine I can't say he's for sure a male neither due to him not letting anyone get close enough to look and find out I am just going by what I was told by his owner..Sigh..so I might end up having a very touchy girl instead of an angry little boy..lol.as for petfinders I have been looking on there weekly for awhile now and so far I haven't had any luck.The only reason I'm in sort of a rush about adopting the pair is due to the owner telling me via an email earlier that if she doesn't rehome them this week then she will have no choice but to take them to a shelter, and well we all know what goes on in those places

 

[Sasami]

To sex your degu, see if you can scoop him up into/herd him into a clear container like a glass jar. Then you can view his underside without holding him. You could do this to sex the craigslist degus, too, if needed.