• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Very tiny degus

ZakuraRabbit

Mama Doe
Warning: Extreme cuteness follows.
I attend to an agriculture school (for just one more week) and we've got plenty of small animals in addition to the farm animals (cows, sheep, horses, pigs and chickens), including rabbits, chinchillas, guinea pigs, various types of birds, hamsters, degus and currently some small chicken hatchlings...
Occasionally we breed...you can hate it all you want but don't take it out on me please:roll: but the only rodent we haven't been able to breed before (mostly due to lack of males) and that's the degus...till a couple of weeks ago:D
Two females have given birth and one is under way (she's HUGE!) sadly one of the first mothers fell ill, and most of her babies died:cry:
We took two of them and put them in with the other female, Gråtass, who immediately pitied them and fed them alongside her own.
She's got six now, four of them are her own but we have no way of telling which. There's four males and two females.
Baby_Degus_by_Usagi_Zakura.jpg

Just a day/two days old:love:
Degu_mom_by_Usagi_Zakura.jpg

One of the mothers...poor thing had bad teeth, the vet has cut them so she can eat, and she seems a bit healthier now, without six hungry babies to take all her food. Just a note about the bowl: that's not the food they're normally eating. She got hamster mix in her food to increase her appetite so she'd gain some weight. Normally they get pure chinchilla-pellets.
Baby_degu_by_Usagi_Zakura.jpg

A newer picture of one baby
The_Degu_monkey_by_Usagi_Zakura.jpg

They're certainly more mobile than newborn bunnies.
Degy_drinking_by_Usagi_Zakura.jpg

Which is good when you want a drink and the bottle is too far up.
 
They do look cute and I've admired them in the pet shops but managed to stop myself getting them.
One of the mothers...poor thing had bad teeth, the vet has cut them so she can eat, and she seems a bit healthier now, without six hungry babies to take all her food. Just a note about the bowl: that's not the food they're normally eating. She got hamster mix in her food to increase her appetite so she'd gain some weight. Normally they get pure chinchilla-pellets.
My only question is why has the Mother been used for breeding when it's known she's got bad teeth? Isn't there a risk of that being passed on to the offspring?
 
They do look cute and I've admired them in the pet shops but managed to stop myself getting them.
One of the mothers...poor thing had bad teeth, the vet has cut them so she can eat, and she seems a bit healthier now, without six hungry babies to take all her food. Just a note about the bowl: that's not the food they're normally eating. She got hamster mix in her food to increase her appetite so she'd gain some weight. Normally they get pure chinchilla-pellets.
My only question is why has the Mother been used for breeding when it's known she's got bad teeth? Isn't there a risk of that being passed on to the offspring?

We didn't find out until after she had given birth. I know its weird, but its true:shock:
I'm only familiar with bad teeth in rabbits and there it is genetic, so I've already advised the teacher not to use the babies in breeding. Hopefully they'll go into pet homes with people who won't consider breeding them (Although...her remaining kits are with Gråtass' so we don't know which one is which)
 
Back
Top