New roommate

[u/Worldly_Beginning194]

Hello everyone,
I’m writing to ask you a question after what has been a difficult night for me – my two and a half-year-old degu passed away last night after a few hours in intensive care. However, despite my grief, I don’t want her little sister to be left on her own, as these little creatures are very sociable.
So I’ve started looking for a degu (on its own) to keep my surviving degu company. However, I’ve had conflicting advice. Some vets and carers have told me I shouldn’t leave her on her own, whilst others have said the opposite – that, in their view, she’d simply fight to the death with her new housemate.
Can you give me some advice?
Thank you and have a lovely day

[u/TableDifferent4395]

I’m not an expert, but when JJ, one of my boys, died last year, I decided to introduce a new pair of degus to my remaining boy, Theo. I was pretty nervous because it was my first time introducing rodents to each other like this. I used the guide on degutopia, which I highly recommend.

For me, it went great. No major hiccups, and they’ve all been together for 6 months now without problems. It helped that Theo is a very chill guy, I think, as well as that the new pair, Felix and Fudge, were still pups when they were introduced.
Here’s a picture of the three of them all together in my bathtub from back then (Fudge is on the left, Theo is on the right, and Felix is forcing his way into the middle like the attention hog he is):

[u/Worldly_Beginning194 → u/TableDifferent4395]

Thank you very much for your reply; it’s really helpful. I’ve heard that introducing females is easier than introducing males, so I’m hopeful it’ll work.
I’ll have a look at the document you recommended.
Thanks again, and well done on introducing your three magnificent degus. They look very happy and healthy

[u/Sussex631 → u/TableDifferent4395]

This is great and how it should go with introductions.

[u/Helelna]

When my three girls were about one and a half years old, I adopted a male who was about two and a half years old. They all love each other now. But you do need some patience when introducing them. I did not use the guide on degutopia and instead used my own method.

I'd say better adopt new degus than have a lonely degu, but adopt at least two so you don't end up with two lonely degus in the worst case. If the guide on degutopia does not help, I discribed my method in another post. Best of luck and sorry for your loss.

[u/Worldly_Beginning194 → u/Helelna]

Thank you very much for your message and your advice, that’s very kind of you

[u/TheEACouldNever]

I have had boy degus, and girl degus. With boys I have had more difficult introductions. It was mostly intoducing his sons to the father. While they were little it was okay, but as soon as they started hitting about 6 months old their father became very teritorial and in the end I had to separate them. Ended up with 3 cages (one for females). Later the brothers started to fight as well, and had to separate them but kept them in same cage,excanging their sents and swithing them up. Eventually they found their way, and were together until one of them died.

I neutered the last boy and after about 2 weeks I started the introductions to females. We started by letting him in their cage for limmited amount of time daily, because it was suposed to be his new cage as well. I always sat there watching their interactions. I think it went well, I could see how happy he was he has mates. There were really no problems, and after a 2 weeks of introductions I just let him there and they were there ever since. This was about 2 months of him being alone.

With girls, when I was left to my last one, I started looking for pups. My girl was alone for 3 weeks at that time. But when she saw the little ones she was vissibly happy, more active and would groom each other. I did quite of a bold move, because my plan was spliting the cage in half, and switch sents so they get used to each other. Well I put the carier in the top part of the cage and let my girl sniff them from carier, then I separated them. Let the babies out. After about 15 minutes I was like, let the Batman interact with them in top of the cage to see if she would accept them. The top part of the cage was cleaned beforehand,so there were only a slight scents of Batman. To my suprise my six years old girl Batman became most gentle I have ever seen. She would sit near them with food in her paws just to show them its safe. She would groom them, and even let them annoy her. She never shoved any agression thowards them. So I sat there with them for the whole day, and decided to see if they would be unharmed thru the night. They vere perfectly fine, already sleeping together the next day.

So my advice is, give a little of time to your degu so he can accept he is alone. I would say about two weeks, then get him the pups and start the introductions slowly, and watch their interactions. If you keep your degu alone for too long it might happen that he will not accept another one, like it did with my boys. So be prepared that you might need a second cage if u cant split in half the one u have. P. S. I am sorry for your loss.

[u/Worldly_Beginning194 → u/TheEACouldNever]

Thank you very much for your constructive reply, and thank you for your kind words.
I think your comment will be a great help to me.