Photos of my degus

[khay]

;D I have 5 of them, they are almost 13 wks old and are brothers.

They're currently in a suitably sized cage made of those wire-mesh storage cubes (The ones with the tiny holes so they can't get through ) until their permanent cage is ready!

We spent 4 yrs thinking about possibly adding degus into the family, last week when we saw them in a *free* ad and what we think are their siblings in the local pet store, we took them up in a heart beat. Two are missing a part of their tails....Came to us that way.

Here's pictures of my nutty little guys

Aidan:



Diego:



Kodiak:



Onyx:



And Zephyr!

[pinky]

Cute! I guess you have ways of telling them apart beyond the fact that two have shorter tails. . . . I sure can't do it!

[Die Fledermaus]

Had a hamster named Onyx.

I have never seen them in pet stores or available anywhere here in NYC. I posted about them before, and showed a photo, from the Bronx Zoo. It was funny how one would just rudely push another right off a branch he wanted to sit on!

Tell us how you can distinguish each from the other. Personality and minor size differences? After awhile I could tell my hamsters from the same (accidental) litter blindfolded.

How is their personality compared to social critters such as dwarf hamsters or gerbils? Or mice or rats.

I suppose you've seen degus.org.

[khay]

Thanks...

Honestly I'm not too sure how exactly I tell them apart lol!
At first, I would just sit with them and things stuck out. There were two tiny ones, (Aidan and Zephyr) and one of them is missing part of tail (Zeph) Two big ones (Diego and Kodiak) and one missing part of tail (Diego) and then Onyx, in between the sizes. That was how I did at first, however now I can tell who is who just by seeing their faces. Not sure how, sort of like parents with twins and triplets I guess, lol, you just know

Yes they are funny.
And mine, LOVE shredded wheat as a treat. I buy the big ones, and I will take some in my hand and give them little pieces of it.
However, and I should have learned the first couple times, that one always ends up stealing a big piece, which distracts me, and then the rest do it.

Then I am stuck trying to get some of it away from them so they dont have too much.
Which is very interesting

They will hold the wheat tightly in their teeth, and either hold it with their paws also or hold my hand with their paws, and sort of whine-screech while I'm trying to pull it away. Angry squeak I guess. Eventually the wheat breaks lol and as long as I got enough away I just let them have the rest

Well I don't know hamsters well.....My hamster, Ryvre is the only hamster I've ever known, and is a syrian not a dwarf....and I have never really known many mice or rats either
I don't have a ton of rodent experience, I've sort of downsized through the years, lol
Dogs, to cats, to rabbits, to gerbs, hamsters, degus
Compared to gerbils though, well similarities are they sleep together, they are *not* posers for the camera, rather it's tough to get good pictures of them lol.
My degus are very vocal, and they communicate with me as well as each other in a variety of ways. They're curious....very intelligent....And absolutely LOVE each other's company. Mine're also very very mischievious and mr. Onyx LOVES his wheel. He'll run on that thing for HOURS lol.
They have a hammock also, Aidan and Zephyr spend the most time laying in it though.

I find their angry squeaks amusing when they are fighting over a piece of tissue when there is another one laying right beside them

I find that my degus are similar to my gerbils when being held...They don't like to sit still, they want to run into your sleeves and up your arms and into your sweater and all that I find them to be quite similar to gerbils actually, however their needs are *very* different than a gerbil...Although the biggest difference between my degus and my gerbils are my gerbils LOVE to dig tunnels and burrow, which is why they have an aquarium filled with ALOT of bedding.
The degus likw to climb more, and so they have alot of things to climb in in there, plus they can climb the sides of their cage; Which they do *alot* of.
I was starting to think of them as the rodent equivalent to a monkey They are great little climbers lol, and their claws feel like velcro


Yup, sure have seen degus.org, have had that site bookmarked for quite awhile lol

[Die Fledermaus]

Yes, they did a lot of climbing at the Bronx Zoo.

I used to know a pair of identical twins. At first I could not tell them apart at all. But soon their mannerisms and reactions made the differences obvious.

I would not want to keep degus in a tank unless it had a big topper, and finding those for a really large tank is almost impossible. Degus.org showed an interesting habitat combining tank and cage. Maybe you've seen it.

Thanks for posting that. Funny stuff.

Thanks for posting all the information.