Degus -- fighting
Both Punsku and Jyrkkä are males so they fight sometimes. Especially when they were young they fought a lot. Now in the older age (5 years in 2010) they don't fight practically at all. Only sometimes a bit when the other is eating some treats and the other comes too close.
Problem is that fighting is tense and possibility of injuries is high. Also it is impossible to predict when fighting begins.
In summer 2006 they fought for three months. Everything began suddenly in July and ended in September.
During the fight boys cannot consentrate to anything else. So trying to end the fight by offering them treats will not propably work. You have to catch them.
Word of caution! When fighting boys can be so agitated they do not know what they are doing. During one fight I was trying to catch Jyrkkä but then he bit me so that I bled. Degus have strong and sharp teeth.
Typically fighting begins with "ass pushing", which is still quite harmless. If you let the real fighting begin be warned that they will get cuts.
Watch the video of beginning of the fight. If the video does not work you can download it: asspushing.wmv (2 MB).