[sara_warren5]

I have 3 male degus, one of which is a baby that is 3 and a half weeks old. I had the two older males together for 3 months or so from the time i got them and introduced til about last week, the one male randomly decided to bite the other and made him bleed pretty bad from his mouth and now they cannot go any where near eachother they have been seperated ever since. So im like great I have 3 seperate cages now. Ive put the one male (non biter) in a horizontal seperated cage with the older male on top and the baby on the bottom. The older male FREAKS out like not only to the baby male but to everyone! I now have two males who cannot be with anyone not even females. I cannot keep the females in one and 3 seperate cages as well for 3 males thats too much. I read a few tips on how to introduce them but ive been trying this for a bit and their acting so crazy! I read that older males take pretty well to babies so why is he gunna bite his head off even though hes been on top of him in the cage for a couple days now and isnt getting any better. :| I know it takes time and what not but the attitude is reallly bad. like worse than Ive ever seen. Also I have been giving both the older males more attention and care to see if that would help but nope.

 

[Sasami]

The baby can't live with either male? How did you introduce them?

 

[sara_warren5]

No, I have a cage that is seperated into two. With a mesh bottom on one little corner so they can interact through the floor. I have one male on top and the baby on the bottom. they screech through the cage realllly badly and loudly and this wont stop it wont even calm down. Both older males do this. I have also tried putting the two older males in there one on top and one on bottom (without the baby) and they screech like crazy too. This is way worse than when i first tried to introduce. the two older ones dont get along what so ever and neither get along with the baby. All i have tried to do to introduce the baby is have them in the cages seperated so they can sniff eachother through the mesh but man its crazy the squealing and barking and tail wagging never seen anything like it. Both the adult males have all of the sudden become jerks and decided to hate everyone out of no where :| lol best way to put it.

 

[Nibbler]

if you plan for them to live togethier eventually maybe try introducing them on natural grounds like a bath tub or bed for example, they cant just be thrown into a cage togethier. are you sure ur youngest is a boy and not a girl ?

 

[sara_warren5]

Their not thrown into a cage together they will kill eachother if i do that. I seperated the cages with a mesh so that one goes on the top one goes on the bottom and they cannot get to eachother. Both older males really dont like the baby. Yes I am 110% sure it is a boy baby as I have many times compared and it is very easy to tell the difference. I need the baby to get a long with at least one of the males because he cannot be housed with the girls after a few more weeks.

 

[Sasami]

if you plan for them to live togethier eventually maybe try introducing them on natural grounds like a bath tub or bed for example

This exactly. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of split cage methods for bonding degus but even if that's the technique used you still want to introduce outside of the cage. Preferably in a roomy location they've never been to before.

 

[sara_warren5]

okay well if i put them outside the cage together im scared that the older one will bite the baby before i have a chance to grab him. like thats what im afraid of because ive already had one of them bleed because of this.

 

[Sasami]

The problem is now they've already been fighting so it makes things trickier. Usually degus are introduced in neutral territory way before being together in a cage.

I would give them some time to cool off before trying again. When you do try again, keep the meetings extremely short at first. You want the meetings to go well and not result in any fighting (some boxing is ok), even if that means they have to be under a minute.

 

[sara_warren5]

what if they bite immediately? or if they bite before i get the chance to get them seperated. im really worried about the baby..

 

[Sasami]

Could you at least try with the two adults, then, until the baby's a bit bigger?

Edit: And again, give them time to cool off and re-start the mixing bedding technique/sharing a dust bath/etc.