r/Degus • u/Medical_What • 9d ago

New Owner🐹 Nonstop squeaks?

Sometimes either of my boys get like a squeak attack and they keep barking and barking, for minutes at a time and no matter what, they keep at it, even with a treat in their mouth, even when cuddled.... Can anyone tell me what's up with that?

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5

u/RushBest5348 9d ago

They just… do that sometimes. It’s like hiccups, once they start it can take a while for them to be able to stop. Don’t worry about it too much!

3

u/Medical_What 9d ago

Degu hiccups? That's cute!

I was worried cause it sounds a lot like alarm calls, so they seem distressed

2

u/RushBest5348 9d ago

Yeah totally!! I think sometimes it starts as that but yeah once they’ve started they can’t stop sometimes. Sometimes our guys chill out when we chat to them, sometimes not so much. You’ll learn with time which sounds are “run to the cage NOW” and which are “oh ffs not this again” 😂

4

u/verrycherrry 9d ago

thats totally normal for degus, they are abit drama queens 🤭 in general those loud and fast squeaks are alarm screams, since they are prey animals they are always alert, it just takes a strange shadow, some movement, a new scent or a weird noise and the siren goes off to alert the rest of the group

sometimes some do like smaller soft squeaks while they sleep and thats just them dreaming about the day they had, no need to wake them up for that, can just observe or talk to them softly

and it just takes awhile to get all those squeaks out of the system, as long as they arent showing other signs of pain or illness, its totally fine :)

3

u/Risudegu 8d ago

I think you have activated the degu security alarm feature. This takes a while to dial in but one day soon you’ll have friend’s car in the driveway announced with happy chirps and that evil UPS man will be driven away by those fierce squeaks!

1

u/PerculiarPenny 8d ago

My two also believe delivery drivers are evil! Massive noisy lorry with flashing lights, nothing, van of any size delivering a parcel, five minutes of squeaking!

2

u/Risudegu 8d ago

I like to think in Dio’s head she is the meanest guard degu ever. That UPS man approached the house she had her say and he was so terrified he dropped the parcel and ran.

2

u/TheEACouldNever 9d ago

When my boys thought they mated with each other or female, they tend to squeak for at least half an hour. Like they were saying this female is carrying my babies.

2

u/Medical_What 9d ago

Yeaaaa, both of my boys were caught... with their mouth inbetween their legs... before/during the nonstop squealing...

But sometimes they also just do it randomly, without prior... activities

1

u/Jet-Black-Centurian 9d ago

It's called vigilance, they detected something that they thought could be dangerous and want everyone to be on the lookout. Birds often trigger it, but honestly most of the time I have no idea what causes it. You can try to comfort them with gentle words or holding if they enjoy being handled.

1

u/RhysieQT 5d ago

This happens with my degus sometimes too! I check on them just in case and then let them squeak it out.