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Post by margehomer on Feb 22, 2010 11:38:22 GMT
Hiya every1 we adopted to degus yesterday. they are 1 yr old ane there names are homer and marge. Homer has already been neutered so no worries of them having babies . Apprantley the reason there owners didntn want them anymore was because after they had a litter they want ed the babies instead some people amaze me Any way they havent been handled at all i dont think as i was trying to put them in there cage for the first time one went in ine and was really still the other wriggled alot an bit me quite hard. understandable poor thing was probably terrifed. I left them alone last night to settle in. this morning all ive done is put fresh hay and food in and left them to it. what would you say is the net best step to getting them more used to people? i'm new to this so you'll be getting alo of qusetions will put some pics up as soon as they have calmed down a bit every time i go into the room they just freeze bless them
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Post by mja241281 on Feb 22, 2010 11:52:41 GMT
The best thing you can do for the first week or so is just sit by the cage and talk to them gently for about an hour, they are very intelligent and can recognise voices. Sit there for a while with the door open sometimes holding a treat, like a sunflower seed, and sit there with it in your palm and let them come to you and take it off you, they love food and it's prob the best way to train them BUT sunflower seeds must be given sparingly, perhaps about 2 each per day. Welcome to the forum and the joys of being owned by your goos
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Post by deguconvert on Feb 22, 2010 15:04:50 GMT
Welcome to the forum and to the life of loving goos! Have a read through the thread at this link . . . deguworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=behaviour&action=display&thread=5337 There is a lot of great information there that will give you a good start. Also, have a read through at this site . . . www.degutopia.co.uk/ which is full of excellent information. We use it as our reference all the time on the forum. Be sure to ask any and all of your questions, because there are NO stupid questions. LOL! Degus do some of the strangest things.
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Post by clarebt on Feb 22, 2010 15:09:27 GMT
welcome you will find lots of helpful information on here and there is always someone that can help you
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Post by margehomer on Feb 23, 2010 9:19:43 GMT
thanks for the advice ive been sitting in the room with them as you suggested and talking to me the bolder out of the two came and had i sniff of my hand then ran off. i can already see two completelt different personalitys, one is really shy and just freezes like a statue but the other will freeze but soon after start moving around more and is more vocal. i was wondering if this is a gender things? im presuming that it is the male who is more bolder but not sure as the only way to no for sure is to have a look and i value my fingers to much to do that yet:) ive just bought a new cage for them from john hopewell site?it seemed to be the best for cages hope it will be ok. its a lot bigger than the one ive got now cant wait for it to come!!! the other thing i was goin to ask ive got them in a really quiet room now but was wondering if moving them to the living room ould be better as were there more they'd get to see us more???
sorry its long winded i'm just fascinatd by them and want to give them the best ;D
UPDATE: this afternoon the more confident degu (i think its homer) took a sunflower seed from my hand through the bars. i didnt want to put my hand in as i think marge would be to alarmed. but stil im made up
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Post by deguconvert on Feb 23, 2010 15:15:43 GMT
John Hopewell is an excellent maker of cages and is highly recommended on here. You have purchased a great cage!
Yes, do move them into your living room. It will be great for them to have the increased interaction with you, and will give you more opportunities to hand train. It will also help them adjust to the sounds and smells of your home so that they take fright less often.
So glad that Homer took a sunflower seed from you! It feels great when they start to do that! That will increase now, and Marge will start to be curious about what kind of treasure he is getting from you.
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Post by margehomer on Mar 2, 2010 18:04:55 GMT
homer is gettin quite confident now will take treats from my hand an doesnt seen to be as scared when my hand is in the cage. marge however still wont take anything from me even through the bars and hides when i put my hand in. the only difference ive seen with her is when im in the room after a few mins of freezing she will go back to as if i want in the room.
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 2, 2010 20:09:54 GMT
I have one fella (out of our three) that was very frightened and sometimes aggressively so. It was terrible when it was time to clean the cage and I had to get them all out as I would have to chase him all over to get him. Now I know this is not good, it can convince that the human chasing them is a predator and to be resisted and avoided at all cost. However, he wouldn't come to me for any reason at all, not even to climb into a tube or anything. If I was successful in waiting for him to climb out onto the ledge we have and then closing the cage door while he was still out, I could get him easier . . . but that didn't last long. He took to climbing the 6 foot cage up to the top. Most times when I did catch him, he bit me hard. We had other issues happening that really needed to get under control, so one they were mastered, I took to really working with him to train him. It took me nearly 4 months of daily (several times daily) enticing him with sunflower seeds and being very patient. I learned that once he was trusting me enough to come to my hand for a treat, he would let me stroke his sides while he ate. The minute he was done I had to stop or risk a bite. Then we progressed to him sitting on my hand while eating and I could stroke . . . so long as I was giving him a treat. It was long and slow, but well worth it! Don't give up on Marge . . . she will come around. Just grab on to your determination and patience and look long road. She will give you small encouragements as she grows more trusting, and you will be thrilled with each one.
Thanks for letting us know that Homer is showing improvements. Please keep us informed . . . we all love to hear how each other is doing! Did you move their cage into your livingroom?
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Post by margehomer on Mar 3, 2010 21:07:44 GMT
not yet as were waiting for the john hopewell cage to come as they can fling poo upto 6ft!!!lol we've got the guards for the new cage so hopefully wont be a problem.
had a bit of a break through with marge today i was giving homer his treat he'll take from my hand inside the cage now and marge was standing still in the corner but not hiding. i just place a sunflower treat on the ledge near her an moved my hand out the cage. every other time she has ignored it an then homer comes along an gets it but tonight she ate it as soon as my hand was out the cage. then i was givin homer his 2nd treat through the bars so not to disturb her and she came over. i gave her a treat and she ran off to eat it but i'm made up. hopefully she'll do the same tomorrow.
Homer is a real character. now if i tap the bars he'll come over to see whats in it for him!lol im going to try to stroke him tomorrow while he is eating a treat hopefully he'll let me.
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 4, 2010 0:05:10 GMT
Don't these break throughs feel great! I'm so happy for you! Yay Marge! Our boys know that about bedtime they get treats, so around 7:30 in the evening they start looking at me with GREAT expectations. I feel so bad making them wait some days . . . I don't usually give them something until more like 9:30. They could eat sunflower seeds until they gained at least their body weight again.
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