# Pregnant degu !



## NicoleAP (Apr 4, 2013)

Hi, this is my first on this forum..
My female degu is HUGE.. I feel like she will be giving birth tonight but i don't know how to make her feel more comfortable because her cage isn't very big and my parents wont move their cages from the living room, which is the loudest place in the house. My dad is the most responsible of them because he went out to buy them even though I didn't want them !!!! :sneaky2:
She is 6 months old and already had 4 babys and killed them all at birth, why did she do this? Did the male have to stay with her the whole time? did she need a nest? HELP


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## niki87 (Nov 18, 2009)

I don't know about degu so I won't be of any help. But I am shocked you have bred a female that has culled a litter already and you clearly don't know enough about breeding anyways. I hope you can learn a valuable lesson here and choose to love your pets as pets.


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## NicoleAP (Apr 4, 2013)

I knew this would happen see im only 15, my dad bought both degus when i was the one who actually studied their care before getting them, I saw it was a challenge to have them so i told him i just didn't want to buy them, the next day he BOUGHT THEM..
i love them now but still we don't have the money to have huge chinchilla cages or toys but i try the best i can... My dad thinks their perfectly fine but i know they get bored and need a bit more space. I'll just move their tank to my room i guess. don't care if they get mad, there mine too. :dita:


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## fatrat (May 14, 2012)

Separate them ASAP. 

She probably killed the last litter because she felt they were threatened, and she will more than likely do the same to this lot if you don't fix things. Move her into your room if it's quiet. Give her toilet rolls/kitchen paper to make a nest, lots of protein (dog or cat biscuits, boiled egg, chicken, whatever you can find), and leave her to it. Don't put her back with the male (preferably ever) because he will mate with her straight away. When she lets you, inspect the nest and if any are dead (it does unfortunately happen) remove them ASAP before she panics and kills the rest.

I know you're only 15 and your parents are the irresponsibile ones for buying male/female degus without telling you, but you can still make things safe and ok for the babies.

The tank is good while the babies are young so they don't try and climb, but adult degus really should be in a big cage with lots of toys, they are very smart and funny animals and I've heard of some living to 8 years. You can find a lot of decent-sized ones for pretty cheap second hand on sites like eBay, preloved, gumtree, etc.

Do you plan on keeping them? If not, you might want to look into a rescue, I'm sure people on here can recommend some good ones?


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## Pentoon (Mar 23, 2013)

Honestly, if I was you and you cannot even house the degus you have properly and your parents can't or won't provide appropriate cages, which is resulting in unwanted and potentially tragic breeding I would contact your local animal rescue and tell them your parents bought them without proper research, you can't look after them properly and ask them to come pick them up to try to rehome them with someone who can afford to look after them in the way they deserve.


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## Guest (Apr 5, 2013)

They need separating now because when she gives birth she will be fertile for a few days after birth. Degu's aren't like most other rodents as they work like a family unit when pups arrive (even unrelated females will start lactating once pups arrive to help with the rearing duties) she probably culled them due to her age tbh.
As degu's are pregnant for 3 months (pups are born fully suited and booted and will start to eat hay at around a week old) so she was very, very young.

I know you are young but you need to try to get your parents to understand that this back to back breeding is going to end up killing her. Her growth will be stunted due to putting all her efforts into the pregnancies and it will be putting a huge drain on her mentally and physically.

What you need to do for now is to split the two degus up (making sure they can still see and hear each other). Be prepared for another cull as not all degu's make great mums.

You must be very careful not to stress the pups during the first week or so, as early adverse emotional experience can alter the development of the pups' brains. This can cause physiological and cognitive deficits in later life, similar to ADHD, depression and anxiety in humans, which are irreversible. NEVER remove new born pups from mum the pups need to hear their mother's voice as this soothes them and prevents developmental damage.

After a week it is safe to put dad back into the cage (degu's aren't fertile whilst they are lactating) both parents will look after the young by huddling and squatting in order to keep the pups warm. Parents will spend around 80 % of the day close to the pups, either beside them or covering them. The parents will also interact with the pups by using social behaviours such as body-nosing, sniffing, licking and carrying the pups. Typically, the father will spend less time on average with the pups than the mother. However, it is interesting to note that as the pups begin weaning and become less dependant on their mother, the amount of mother-young contact decreases, but the amount of father-young contact increases during this time.

You will need to wean at around 4-6 weeks splitting all the boys into a cage with dad and all the girls can stay with mum.
You might find it better to place the cages where they can't see or hear each other at this stage because the smell of the girls will set the boys off into "sex bark" mode which isn't easy on the ears lol.

Be prepared for around 3-10 pups (average litter is 6).

For the future please, please try to show your parents why indiscriminate breeding is so bad. You (general you) have no idea what genetics these goo's carry so have no idea what could be passed on to the pups, and the strain on your poor girl will take it's toll on her and you could end up with a self barbering stress mess or even shorten her life drastically.


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