New Degu Boys

[Andrea]

I picked up the three rescue boys today. They are a friendly little bunch, but when I saw them my heart just broke. They are very small, and two have only half tails and all three have NO FUR on their tails! :shock:

Poor, poor babies. I got them in a 2 story hamster cage, I am just hoping when they came to us they were not housed in this 24/7. I have moved them into my 50G aquarium until I can bond them with my two boys and then move them all into the huge cage my fiance is building me.

Now these are the very first photos, as I JUST got them, the tank will probably be re-arranged and I am picking them up a big wheel tomorrow.





Look at this sad 'tail'... looks more like a rats


Stumpy & bald


even with icky tails, they are still so cute and sweet




Just to show the difference, here is my Degu Georges tail...

Full and bushy.

The new three are having a good time in the new digs. I let them have a sand bath before I put them in the new house, they really enjoyed it. They have been gobbling up hay and munching on food. They let me pet them and are pretty good about me picking them up also.
I'll probably post elsewhere later on advice on getting the hair on the tails to grown back.

[Die Fledermaus]

I could have done a degu rescue (thread posted) a little over a month ago if I had room. Maybe some day I will get some as my rat family decreases naturally.

I once rescued a gerbil with a bare tail. She was a cute cream and regained all her fur and lived a normal life. The story is probably posted in the Gerbil forum from two or three years ago.

One looks a little like Agar my natal rat (photo posted). White face on a degu?? New to me.

I have seen worse tails on gerbils.

They do look friendly! Keep us posted. They are lucky to have met you.

[Andrea]

Yes, a white face Degu, I have never seen this before! He has lots of lightened and white areas on him including his testicles. I also love with pink nose! and his little ears are pink too! so cute.

[Hamsters82]

That's great that you rescued them Andrea; way-a-go! I like the one with the white face, he's the cutest in my opinion.

[Die Fledermaus]

May 6, 2008 12:20:07 GMT -4 Andrea said:

Yes, a white face Degu, I have never seen this before! He has lots of lightened and white areas on him including his testicles. I also love with pink nose! and his little ears are pink too! so cute.

I will skip the obvious jokes.

I wonder if I can find the time to ask around about white-faced degus.
(See Animal Rescues as to why I am so busy, and tired.) Someone go to degus.org and ask!

That is a great photo with the three of them. Use a flash??

[pinky]

Andrea does it again!

[Andrea]

I think the white face is a gene, my friend Sandy who's a 20+ year gerbil breeder and couple year (a while back) Degu breeder said it could also be from neglect. That maybe bad diet was a factor to the whitening, though his skin colour is pink and not brown like the others.

Yes I used a flash.

I am trying to get the boys used to me, so tonight I spent some time hand feeding shelled sunflower seeds, it was a real hit. They are skittish, but only at first and settle down quickly. Supposedly their names here "Alvin, Simone & Theodor" ... I'm not keeping those, unless they do not bond to my boys. But if the two groups bond I want 'manly' named like my boys "Bruce & george", I was actually considering my Dad and his two brothers names... lol Axel, Uwe & Glenn. German makes manly names LOL

(Uwe pronounced "Ooo-Va")

[Die Fledermaus]

Good job with the flash that close. Sometimes mine burns out the image from too much light.

"Bruce" stopped being a "manly" name thirty years ago! Along with Lance and Cecil!

Sacha Baron Cohen's next character (after Borat) is a German Gay guy! ;D

>> (Uwe pronounced "Ooo-Va") <<

Not Ewy??

Tuesday night I added four kittens to my rescue menagerie. See Animal Rescues forum. More on that soon.