The Wonderful Life of Degus...

I am currently laying in bed, enjoying the lazy morning I get off work before I have to get up, get ready to go and pick children up from school and possibly end up with some sort of headache. In my room I have three cages, most people think I am completely crazy and are quite possibly right. In these cages I have degus. I have five boys in a large cage and next to the large cage I have two cages, one on top of the other. The top cage currently has two females in it and the bottom has three females. I am also waiting for the postman who will hopefully bring me a flying saucer which I will explain in another blog - saucer vs wheel!

Degu Cages!

As you can see these are my cages, the red one isn't so empty anymore and many things in the cages have changed over time due to the fact that no matter how much I would like it, these animals have perfected the art of destroying things. I have many clothes and towels that I was silly enough to leave close enough to the edge of the cage, of course these now do now exist and were made in to a rather nice nest for them at the time.

I have had a few degu's over the years, the first two I owned I acquired at Raystede's they were both rather old though and one died not too long after I got them. I then had to buy two more, Saphira and Houdini who currently live in the cage with the green bottom. They are my oldest degu's and must be getting on for about 4 years old in February I believe, or January one of the two.  I then rescued Enigma and Allegra from pets at home - I can rant about them for days as well! - I got these two home to find that they were pregnant!

Allegra's Litter of six

  Allegra had her litter of six within a few weeks of me bringing them home. Waking up one morning to see the babies was something special! One had died during birth or was born dead and so she had birthed seven altogether. The youngsters were all lively and out and about very quickly.

Allegra with her six babies

Allegra had 3 girls and 3 boys they were all very inquisitive and due to the large size ended up swapping cages with Houdini and Saphira who were at the time in the large blue cage. They seemed to adjust in their new cages and Saphira and Houdini always seemed happier to have a smaller space to make a mess in.

It was only a few weeks later that Enigma had her babies, she had three of them, two boys and a girl. Salt, Pepper and Spice.

For a week or so there were eleven degu's in that blue cage as both Enigma and Allegra brought up their babies. Allegra's litter grew quickly but it was always nice to see them looking after the youngsters as well.

An eleven degu pile!

The boy's from Allegra's litter had to move out. They were getting too big and so the red cage was bought and the boys moved in. This allowed more space for their sisters and the new three to grow. As Salt and Pepper grew I had to make sure they had regular contact with the three older boys as they would all have to live together once the boys were old enough to leave their mother. It led to some rather cute meetings between the boys including a moment where I was able to get this photo:

They boys got on fine and it was a shame that sooner rather then later the boys all moved in together. Engima died rather suddenly and we still don't know why. What ever happened also left Spice with the end of her tail missing. She was checked by the vets before being put in with the boys. We needed to make sure there was no other reason for her being attacked and we believed her to be safer with the boys. Of course she couldn't stay in there and degu's can't be neutered until they are at least a year old. This led to her being tested out with Saphira and Houdini who I could easily compare to old people. They are seriously grumpy animals! They took in Spice though straight away and I don't think I have ever been so surprised!

Spice calmed the two old ones down and until last week she had lived with them. However as she is younger and fitter she wanted to be boss and it was creating problems so she has now joined the remaining females. Allegra died not long after Enigma did, we are pretty sure there are some health issues with them and that they both possibly had diabetes. Through what I was told when I picked them up and from what the vet can tell all the babies are inbred and are possibly diabetic as well. One of the sister's from Allegra's litter died though the remaining two seem more then happy and have welcomed Spice into their cage. They are all doing well together.

The boys, well boys will be boys. All the boys are as healthy as they can be, they love their food and they love a good fight or two. They never really hurt each other but they do like to fight over who is boss and who isn't!

So that is the story as to why I lay here in bed watching ten degu's running about and making a lot of noise. I wouldn't change it for the world, they are amazing animals who are incredibly intelligent and have proved to me several times over that they have a pretty good memory as well!