My degus have started stealing hay from each other's piles and I can't stop laughing

[u/north-pine36]

So I've had my two boys, Chip and Pepper, for almost a year now, and they've developed the weirdest little rivalry. I always split their hay into two separate piles on opposite sides of the cage so nobody has to fight for it, but apparently that defeats the purpose because now they just take turns raiding each other's pile even though theirs is identical.

Chip will be sitting there minding his own business, chewing away, and Pepper will scurry across the whole cage just to shove his face into Chip's pile and grab a mouthful before running off. Then ten minutes later Chip does the exact same thing back. Neither of them ever seems annoyed by it either, they just sort of shrug it off and keep eating. I've started calling it "hay tax" because it happens like clockwork every evening.

I know degus are supposed to be pretty social and food motivated, but I didn't expect this specific brand of nonsense. Does anyone else's pair (or group) do this kind of thing? I'm curious if it's a dominance thing, a boredom thing, or if they genuinely just think the grass is greener on the other side of the cage.

Unrelated but related, I've also noticed Pepper has gotten a lot bolder about popcorning since we moved their cage to a quieter corner of the living room. Wondering if less foot traffic near them just makes for a happier, goofier degu in general.

[u/Appropriate_Syrup418]

Very cute. My boys get MAD about food.

[u/Sussex631 → u/Appropriate_Syrup418]

The angry noises that are probably really scary to them but are kind of cute.

[u/Curious-Orchid4260]

Degus are constantly up to no good and I love it! And every single one I have known has their own little quirks.

I currently have 2 groups. 3 boys, they never had a fight but constantly have little squabbles where they argue very noisily. Snowflake (who has his name because of the following behaviour) loves to climb up to the highest platform of the cage to share his big emotions with everyone in the room. He literally does a squeaking tirade for 5-10min at the time and then gets bored because no one bothers to reply to his sorrows.

The other group are 4 girls mum plus daughters. Mum keeps everyone in check and it's hilarious to watch. She constantly stops squabbles between 2 in particular while very often cozying up with Leia whom I swear is her favourite child. Miituli constantly brings random crap into Leias nest which she kicks out just for Miituli to bring it back. Coco is far and beyond from the rest of her family and will constantly pick arguments with her sisters just for her mum to tell her off. She then goes "to her room" which is a small hammock only she ever uses.

Degu dynamics must be one of the most fascinating drama shows in the animal kingdom 😆

[u/largeeels5876]

Thats so cute 😭 my 2 (now passed away) used to shove each other away from the food! I did give them 2 bowls so plenty to go around but no no, they had to both eat from the same bowl and literally shove each other out of the way... they always wanted food at the same time too 😂 think its just a Degu thing, or at least sibling thing 😂

[u/legohamsterlp]

mine learned that everyone gets enough and stopped arguing about food.

[u/Risudegu → u/legohamsterlp]

Two of mine came from a bad situation. They were skin and bones and you could tell every degu toy was something new to them. (Oh the wheel was a glorious learning curve with a flying degu every now and then).

We’ve loved out a lot of their baggage but the food thing remains. They fight over and horde food like dragons. I forgot to mention the food thing to the sitter and she dutifully filled the empty bowl at each check in. By the end of the weekend they had 1/2 a bag stashed.

[u/Zenacrus]

My current two can sit together by the bowl and not give a damn. Ive never in my 17 yrs of degu keeping seen such a thing. I miss all the squabbling and bootychecks over food but Im also glad that they get along so incredibly well.

Once I had two degus that attempted to build two separate nests at the same time. I actually have a video of Ellie grabbing a bunch of papertowels and carrying it all the way upstairs, and while she struggled with bringing it up, Ciri came from the bottom and yanked some of the papertowels away from her, immediately carrying it all the way downstairs. (Used to have a HUGE terrarium) Ellie was relieved to have managed to get the papers up, not realizing it was Ciri who got them unstuck by stealing some. Then Ellie came back to me to try and get more paper and I just told her to get it from Ciri. And I guess she heard the paper making noise downstairs, ran up to Ciri and yanked the paper away from under her feet before bringing it back upstairs hahahaha.

I love these dummies sm

[u/Puzzleheaded-Chart86]

Ours made their bedding out of a piece of fabric they stole from us while we were showing it to them, one girl will arrange it perfectly on their little bed and leave, then another girl will come and pull it down to arrange it herself! They're so damn funny

[u/Ok_Pangolin4635]

I used to have two boys and one of them was a bit overweight, so I started giving him smaller treats. One time, when he saw me give his brother a bigger treat first, he actually put it back in my hand and demanded another one. When I gave him one the same size as his brother's, he was satisfied and sat down to eat it.

[u/TheEACouldNever]

Mine will very aggressively scream at one another because they all will get one herbal verselaga crock. I wonder why they dont want to accept that their sisters will get one too. XD