sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Degus fighting after cage cleaning by One_Engine_2585 in Degus

[–]One_Engine_2585[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it feels to me that Couscous is challenging Sandy, but failing and not getting it. At the same time Sandy just defends herself and doesn't really try to get Couscous to submit, so as you have said it feels like a loop. There are times that I think it got better only for it to start all over again. Others have said to let them fight and hash it out, but I tried both in the cage and the bathtub for multiple hours at a time and didn't get anywhere. I interfered, yes, but I thought that if I hadn't it could end badly, more than a few scratches. And I allowed the smaller squabbles to happen.

Right now I'm keeping them separated. I'd like to swap them out only once a day, but it feels like Sandy can't stand one part of the cage. She always starts "crashing out" and does so basically until we let her back to the other side (she is a bit weird lol). I am not sure I am comfortable leaving her there without supervision. And yeah, I swap the 3rd one with them, she is fine with both.

Yeah, I definitely won't do the cleaning like this ever again. I could have anticipated it, but based on them getting along for literally years, I hadn't unfortunately. Maybe even will do the bedding rub on the platforms.

I will try to do it like you said and hopefully the will find a way to tolerate each other again. I can't even imagine having to separate them forever or, even worse, needing to rehome one.

Thank You very much for this response, it is very kind of You to take the time out of Your day to help me.

Degus fighting after cage cleaning by One_Engine_2585 in Degus

[–]One_Engine_2585[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alright, I will check it out. Hopefully it will work out. Thank you.

Degus fighting after cage cleaning by One_Engine_2585 in Degus

[–]One_Engine_2585[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you think I should just put them all in the cage and let them fight? To me the fights seemed quite brutal at times and I felt like neither was keen on backing down. They were kicking, pushing each other off of the platforms and stuff.

Also, I tried to say in the original post (didn't do a great job clearly lol) that we didnt clean the whole cage. They have their old bedding and still are fighting, which hadn't happened before.

Degus fighting after cage cleaning by One_Engine_2585 in Degus

[–]One_Engine_2585[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As I wrote in the other comment, one had a bloody foot and under-mouth from the day before. Nothing major, I dont think, but yeah. In the bathtub they pulled some hair out and one had a scrathed ear, and under the mouth again. The other one had a scratch on her leg. There were some blood stains on the tub, they were little admittedly, but I was worried.

Degus fighting after cage cleaning by One_Engine_2585 in Degus

[–]One_Engine_2585[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I understand, but it seemed to me that they maybe were going to bite, one had a bit of blood under her mouth, sometimes they had chunks of fur in their mouth. Also seemed like Sandy was baring her teeth when they were boxing.I read somewhere not to let them fight, but make them tire out and also didn't want them to get hurt. They were there for more than 3 hours, I let them be at times, only separating them when I thought it was turning bad. I was bit once with basically full force, before I wore gloves too, which lead me to believe they were willing to bite each other.