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New to degus

2065 Views 11 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Sasami, 
M
Hello all!

My daughters and I were shopping Sunday and went to a little Mom and Pop pet store (our favorite kind). We found a single degu in a cage. He was alone and up for adoption. We fell in love with him right away. We brought him home and looked up all the information we could find. We learned he has some problems: 1) he is alone, 2) he has cataracts. From what we have read, he probably doesn't have too long, but we wouldn't change a thing. My daughter said, "No matter how long he has, we will make sure he is happy." It seems like we missed the degu craze because in my area we cannot find any. So if anyone knows of a breeder or where we can buy some in our area, please let us know.

P.S. Charlie really likes his belly scratched!!!
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I definitely can't help you out there (I live in Canada lol), but I have two suggestions - 1, call around to different pet stores and see if they have any, or (as bad as this sounds!) if they can "order" from another store...there are a couple in the bigger cities here that will do that. And 2, just make sure you give him LOTS of attention, they are extremely social creatures which is why they do best in pairs or more, so if you make sure to spend lots of time with him, and have lots of things for him to do/chew, he'll be happier! :)
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Charlie is a very lucky fella to find a loving home like yours. :)

I'm also in Canada but you might want to try "PetFinder" – an online pet-finding site that links the pet you're looking for with rescues using your location to match you up.

I wish you were in Canada because there's a lone one and a half year old male degu at the Ottawa Humane Society named Davey that could use a home and a friend.

Wishing you and Charlie the best of luck.
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Thank you for the replies. Good News for Charlie! We found two young female degus from a degu loving family close by. We were worried about introducing them, but all went fine. The females groom Charlie constantly and he really, really and I do mean really likes it. When we turn the lights off at night, he chirps at them until they go lie down. The girls are faster and like to stay up later than he does, but he's louder! LOL He's like a dad with two teenage daughters. We are really enjoying them.
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Morphine1 said:
Thank you for the replies. Good News for Charlie! We found two young female degus from a degu loving family close by. We were worried about introducing them, but all went fine. The females groom Charlie constantly and he really, really and I do mean really likes it. When we turn the lights off at night, he chirps at them until they go lie down. The girls are faster and like to stay up later than he does, but he's louder! LOL He's like a dad with two teenage daughters. We are really enjoying them.
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It's great that you found more degus but what are your plans for all the babies (and how will you give the females breaks between litters?)? I would neuter Charlie asap, there's a good chance you're already looking at two litters...
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Really?...
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Morphine1 said:
Really?...
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Yes. Keeping rodents of mixed sexes is going to result in babies 99% of the time.
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You think?... Are you serious?
Im sorry but you got to be kidding me. You want me to get a five year old degu fixed that cost me $5.
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I agree with Stephanie. You are likely to end up with two pregnant females, each giving birth to litters of an average of 5-6 babies. I adopted four "females" from the local animal shelter last July but they were actually 3 females and one male. All three females got pregnant (3 month gestation period). The first miscarried, but the second had 6 babies (5 survived) and the third had 7 babies. That's why I now have 16 degus. Please get him fixed ASAP or return the females or separate him from the females and only give him supervised time with them.

(I have spent, in less than a year, over $400 in dental bills, $400 in additional vet bills to ID the sex of the babies and investigate a possible genetic autoimmune disorder some of the babies may have, and $75/week in upkeep not to mention hours and hours of time and the hundreds of dollars in extra cages/accessories.)
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Morphine1 said:
You think?... Are you serious?
Im sorry but you got to be kidding me. You want me to get a five year old degu fixed that cost me $5.
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If you can't afford to neuter one degu how are you planning to afford the care for dozens of babies, vet care for any pregnancy complications, and extra cages to prevent inbreeding?
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Hmmm... all i wanted to do was share a story about me and my girls and how we came to love a degu that was given up by someone else. I dont remember saying we could not afford it resident nerd. I can see im on the wrong fourm.
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The reason people are confused is because taking care of dozens of inbred degus is WAY more expensive than neutering one. But anyway, I'm closing this thread since it appears you're trolling at this point :(.

Morphine1 said:
resident nerd
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Thanks :D.
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