# Serious degu fight!



## lucygoode (Aug 23, 2012)

after sand bath we noticed that two of my degu's started chattering their teeth, turning their backs on each other, whipping their tails. After the bath we put them all back in the cage, as soon as the two got back into the cage they both went for each other and rolled in a ball until we could separate them. One has injured his eye lid, cut his neck the other has cut all his armpit. First time to experience this NOT NICE AT ALL, any advice would be grateful. We have separated them 2 in one section and 1 in his own they can see each other. But the one that was not involved is hiding and whimpering FEEL SO SORRY FOR HIM please help 

thanks :scared:


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2012)

You need to ring a vet, they will need pain relief at least. Degu's hide their pain extremely well 

Are you 100% certain that all 3 are the same sex? Are they boy's or girls? How long have they been bonded, or are they siblings? How old are they?


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## lucygoode (Aug 23, 2012)

oh not good one has become really depressed and tired and the other just wants to fight again its not good, and all 3 are males we are sure, we adopted them from a pet charity they said that they were brothers and they are around 22 months old if i can remember.


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2012)

I would check their sexes tbh, it is unusual for brothers to fall out (not unheard of but not an everyday occurrence).

They have reached sexual maturity so if you have 2 boys and a girl they could be fighting over mating rights :confused1:


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## lucygoode (Aug 23, 2012)

i am 100% sure all are males he checked them when we went to collect them well 2 look very similar but the other one is grey so i doubt he is a brother and it is him fighting with the other maybe this could be problem, any suggestions about introducing them at all or anything about separating or leaving them to fight?


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2012)

lucygoode said:


> i am 100% sure all are males he checked them when we went to collect them well 2 look very similar but the other one is grey so i doubt he is a brother and it is him fighting with the other maybe this could be problem, any suggestions about introducing them at all or anything about separating or leaving them to fight?


Just because he is a blue doesn't mean he isn't a brother 
I know you said they checked them but you need to check them, Degu's are notoriously difficult to sex due to both sexes having a cone.

Don't leave them to fight, they can cause some serious damage to each other. You need to keep them completely separate for the time being.

Once you have checked their sexes and they have calmed down you will need to take bonding very, very slowly and keep in mind that you may never get the group back together. If that is the case you will need to get the single Degu a friend that he will bond with.

I would also phone the charity that you adopted them from (can I ask what charity please?) so they can help you with the bonding process.


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## lucygoode (Aug 23, 2012)

Things have settled down and both sets of injuries appear to be quite superficial, they have both licked their wounds and are running about fine. I must admit I think it was because it was the first time we had seen them fight, and I was quite shocked by how fast and furious it was and not used to having blood drawn in pet fights.

I have just sexed all three again and they are definitely males, having the longer spacing between cone and anus.

We have put a temporary mesh separation in the cage so that they can still see each other while things calm down.

The submissive one (Alfie) is happy to be in either section with either of the two fighters (José & Jerry), he appears a bit more intimidated by José but is happy in with either one. 

Jerry seems a bit more shook up by the fight, and I think was the loser, he keeps going to the dividing mesh to see José, but running away when José squeals at him.

José seems to want to finish the job and seems quite focused on trying to get at Jerry again, as soon as the cage door opens he is trying to get out and climb around to Jerry's half which does make me wonder if José is going to be willing to patch things up. The aggression always seems to revolve around bath time, and even when the bath comes out Alfie starts cowering and crying as if he knows there is going to be trouble.

There appears to be conflicting guidance on whether a bath should be a permanent fixture in a cage, or whether it is not healthy to have a bath in the cage at all times, perhaps having a bath in there constantly would help?

José is the one with the cataract, and I wonder if this combined with loss of scent at bath times is causing the problems due to him being more reliant on scent, or whether it is just a leadership challenge, but it seems weird that the aggression has only been occurring at bath times.

The thing is at least now I know the warning signs of when things are going to deteriorate, so I would be able separate them before it erupted into a ball fight!! I have to admit I will be much more prepared when we try bonding again, and will have the necessary equipment to hand to intervene. Because the fight occurred in the cage it was difficult to gain quick access to separate them, whereas all bonding through this re-introduction will now be done in open space.

Support Adoption for Pets is the charity we had them from. 

P.S. This is Lucy's Dad posting


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## lucygoode (Aug 23, 2012)

Okay so we gave them a couple of days to cool down and tried to do a neutral meet with them again, Jerry was willing to give it a try, but Jose was having none of it he launched straight for him again. At least we were prepared this time and split it up quickly but I fear they will never be able to patch things up again. Jerry is getting stressed by the fact that Jose wants to constantly attack him. 

I fear I am now going to have to try and find somewhere for Jose to go so that he does not end up being a loner, but I am worried that he may do similar to another degu if we tried to get him some company. What advice would you give, do I just return him to the charity we had him from? 

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Colin


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## Guest (Sep 13, 2012)

lucygoode said:


> Okay so we gave them a couple of days to cool down and tried to do a neutral meet with them again, Jerry was willing to give it a try, but Jose was having none of it he launched straight for him again. At least we were prepared this time and split it up quickly but I fear they will never be able to patch things up again. Jerry is getting stressed by the fact that Jose wants to constantly attack him.
> 
> I fear I am now going to have to try and find somewhere for Jose to go so that he does not end up being a loner, but I am worried that he may do similar to another degu if we tried to get him some company. What advice would you give, do I just return him to the charity we had him from?
> 
> ...


I'm sorry to say but you went about bonding the wrong way, and way too fast so don't rule out them ever being able to bond.

You need to leave them side by side in their own cages until all aggressive signs have stopped (barking, tail wagging/banging and teeth chattering), once they have calmed down you need to switch toys and dust baths between the cages (leaving the degu's in the same cages). You need to continue that for roughly 4 weeks and then after this time you need to switch Degu's into each others cages for another week or too.

After all that you are then ready for the neutral meet, after giving all the degu's a dust bath in the same sand so they all smell of each other, meets need to be kept to 5-10 minute sessions gradually getting longer over time.

Bonding a group of Degu's can take months after a fight, but please don't give up just yet


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## lucygoode (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks for the advice it is really appreciated:thumbsup: In fairness the last thing I want to do is get rid of him, he already seems part of the family and it is so out of character compared to how he was before.

I will take the advice given and will separate them side by side. I had been swapping them over every day, so that they were getting each others scents. But the lone degu has been getting quite stressed by the fact he is on his own. Perhaps we will rethink visibilty and cage arrangements so that he can see more of the other two.

This is all fairly new to me so I do appreciate the advice.

Thanks


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## lucygoode (Aug 23, 2012)

Update - The degus are now in their new cage which has been modified to allow face to face contact with a physical barrier between. The chattering is becoming less frequent, so fingers crossed. What I have been doing is swapping the two fighters around every couple of days so that they both get time with the third degu. I was also hoping it may help with the scenting because of them using each others bedding and baths etc.

Does this seem like a good idea?


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## DeguFan (Apr 20, 2012)

Hi there, my degus have little fights but they are never serious enough to cause harm to each other. They sometimes fight over food so I've given them separate food bowls which helps. So maybe you need separate dust baths?


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