I just got an e-mail from one of the degu groups I belong to, that talks about breeding.  It turns out that female degus hump male degus sometimes, and even same sex pairs hump each other?!?!  Just a form of activity I guess.  So perhaps Chip and Dale are both male after all?  We've now had them three months, and no signs of any pregnancies, which is good.  But they sure like to do their boxing matches, and the occasional humping?! 

Now that Dale's injuries have COMPLETELY healed, they look exactly alike so we've found another way to tell them apart (other than their personalities)...they have different looking tails.  One has a uniformly furry one (CHIP), while the other looks like it's balding in a couple places (DALE).  Now it will be funny if the bald spots get covered with fur!

Cassie is not as interested in her mice anymore, so I am now the one cleaning and feeding the mice...I'm not really surprised.  Now she wants a gerbil since they are less smelly and easier to care for.  She won't be getting one anytime soon!  Garnet, Jupiter, and Venus has started biting a little bit too; wonder why?  They certainly don't bite like Scaredy Mouse, otherwise they would have been gone a long time ago, but they like to nip every once in a while.  And their teeth are sharp !

Billy continues to just be Billy...though lately I have been hearing and seeing him dig more in his cage...other than that, he's just a sleeping and eating Billy...love those peanuts and Cheerios!

We are now allowing Chip and Dale to run around almost the entire apartment almost daily (except bathrooms and laundry area), and they exceptionally loves going into both kids' rooms since they have a lot of nooks and crannies (also known as MESS!) to explore.   They are always easy to find because eventually they come back out, especially when they get tired.  Dale now has just a hint of a scar from his injuries in, very hard to see.  I'm sure we are calling Chip by Dale's name and vice versa often.  No hint of any possible pregnacies yet either so maybe they were just "playing" HAHAHA.

Meanwhile, the mice and Billy continue to do very well.

Also, Amanda is thinking about getting a RAT soon, since her birthday is this week.  WE'LL SEE.................

I am beginning to think that Dale is the male now, instead of Chip, since I saw him(?) humping Chip.  Of course, the other time, I thought Chip was doing the Wild Thing too, so who knows?

Dale's injuries from January have left scars that are getting hard to see, which will make it harder to tell them apart  Dale has learned now to jump off the leather sofa onto the ground instead of jumping off the computer chair, but Dale jumps off of one end, while Chip jumps off the other...pretty funny, and at least we can tell them apart there!  Of course, if you block Dale's spot on the end of the sofa with the computer chair, he will still use the chair.  Anyway, they sure love to run around.  We try to let them out every evening for about 15 mins. or so, and they go all over the place, including the bedrooms and kitchen.  Fortuately, they always come back out, but we still have to chase them!

Billy continues to be Billy...very pickly lately with his food.  Loves to be fed by hand and only certain things such as sunflower seeds and nuts.  I try not to give him too much of those and just keep his dish filled with the good stuff too.

We have finally named the babies, but as predicted we lost the remaining runt, named Pluto.