Ive had 2 male degus (brothers) for almost 4 years. They wouldve both turned 5 this year but one of them died. After losing his brother our degu became depressed and lost apetite, unable to watch him be depressed any longer we decided to buy a pair of degu pups. When we bought them they were both no more than 8 weeks old and both male. At first we put the pups in a seperate cage that was near the older degus cage so they can smell each other’s scent. The pups have adjusted pretty quickly to the environment and even to their new owners. We brought them home on 12th of june and the first 2 weeks the older degus was rather aggressive which seemed fine since degus are territorial. We tried to introduce the pups to the older degus in a neutral territory but it didnt go well and the older degus started aggressively attacking the pups so we seperated them. Im starting to doubt if it was a good decision to seperate them during the fight because Ive read that its necessary for degus to show their dominance through physical strength. So we tried the introduction again a few times but they all had the same ending. We obviously stopped trying since it seemed too dangerous. Another problem is that when we let the older degu run freely in the bedroom his cage is in, he always approaches the cage of the pups and attempts to bite them through it, we thought its harmless display of dominance until the older degu bit the pups finger and its now swollen. So whenever the older degu is running freely we try to enable him from biting the pups. I also noticed that one pf the pups is becoming more aggressive towards the older degu which I think is a bad sign because hes supposed to be submissive.
Its been a few weeks since the puppies arrived and I haven’t seen any improvement in their bonding. I would appreciate if someone would let me know what Im doing wrong and how to improve the situation.
Thanks for reading, i need advice asap

Mimi and Strawberry 🥰🥰🥰

They will sleep anywhere as long as they are cuddling

Our Snowqueen snuggling with her daughters. Although no one seemed to happy with the stacking arrangements 😅

(Note: I was asked to flair it, but I only had NSFW or brand, neither applied. So either I don't see them on mobile or the option is missing when posting)