Making progress,nibbling??

[Maria]

Hi everyone,

I adopted 3 goos about a month ago, they were very timid and wary, I've been slowly gaining their trust and only yesterday managed to pick 2 of them up, only for a short while, just held them close to me then put them back in the cage but today 2 of them have nibbled my hand a lot, is this a good sign? I hope it is because it did feel like it was. ;D

[kovu07]

If it's gentle nibbling then yes a very good sign, it's grooming behaviour like they would do to each other so they are seeing you as part of their group Also congrats on the taming it seems to be going really well

[sam99]

Sounds like great progress to me. All six of mine will come up and eat from my hand and nibble round my fingers but I am still waiting for them to rush up my arm for a cuddle!!
All of mine have been rescues and came in three separate pairs at different times so are all still settling in and bonding amongst themselves. They are all happy goos who crave attention, just still working out that 'Mum' is their new forever friend.

[kovu07]

Jun 1, 2011 21:44:57 GMT sam99 said:

They are all happy goos who crave attention, just still working out that 'Mum' is their new forever friend.

And the one who provides the yummy treats, lol

[Maria]

OMG, is it sad that I'm so excited and pleased about that, yeah, gentle grooming....yeahhhhh

[kovu07]

Not sad at all you've done really well and deserve to be very proud of yourself

[sam99]

Definitely not sad..... happy days ahead :-)

[Maria]

Thanks kovu07, I can't believe how ace and lovable they are, perfect pets.

[kovu07]

Indeed, they are wonderful and certainly make life much more interesting

[cazara]

I'v had my two girls a couple of months now and they still not sure about me. It's great to hear how friendly your Goo's are with you. I'm so chuffed for you.
My girls were left in P@H for 3 months before I got them and from what I defo see weren't handled at all they always run away as soon as you went near them.
Riff will come to me jump on my hand and I can sometimes lift her out the cage Raff won't let me at all.
At least now when I open the lid of their cage they come to see if I have anything for them.
Small steps pay off in time.
Keep up the great work and sounds like they are comfortable with you very quickly some thing to be chuffed about xxxx

[kovu07]

I'm sure your goos will become friendlier with time Cazara, although it could be down to personality, Raff may be more shy than Riff. However, i'm sure all your hard work and training will pay off one day though.

[deguconvert]

Cazara, have you tried laying on the floor with them when you have them out for a run? This kind of interaction dramatically improves their ability to trust you. The more you do it, the better they get, too. There is something about coming down closer to the ground, more on their level as Smux puts it, that takes you out of the predator category and into the "toy" category.

[malteser60]

Plus following on from what deguconvert says, if you lie still and not fidget much they will eventually run over you, more or less treating you as part of the furniture, but it's still progress :-)

[kovu07]

Oww lapland, i've heard it's cold there (hehe) Sounds like fun though, and it shows they obviously trust you enough if you are able to lift them

[tomm]

I must have been very lucky. The very first day i got mine from P@H they were willing to be picked up and my little blue goo even fell asleep in my hands. I think they must have been very young . Always baffled me that people have had issues getting them to be comfortable with them, i guess i just got a friendly pair ^^.

[kovu07]

You seem to have been very fortunate Tomm, most people with two goos will usually only have one very friendly one, not sure why this is but it seems unusual to have 2 that are very hand tame. I wonder if there is anyone else on here who has goos that are all very tame, without even trying to train them.

[philbailey1806]

Wow you are lucky tomm! P@H gave me a boy and a girl and told me I had 2 girls so now I have 8 pups lol, I wonder if your degus were born under the same circumstances? It would certainly give them a better start in life, and so probably make them tamer. I'm sure P@H would have no problem ethically about selling on degus that came from an accidental litter from a mistake of theirs. Thats why I desperately don't want to take any of my surplus pups (if there's going to be any, I want to keep them and build a cage big enough) to go to pets at home! Mum only had 2 girls though so I can keep those 3 at the very least.

[cazara]

Yes Tried everything they still only come to me when I have food. Even at that they grab the food and run. I have been cleaning their cage by had lifting poo out as can get them at all. I don't want to scoop them up as I think this is making them more timid.
They didn't have much human contact before I got them and I think all of it is a factor. When they first came I could get them to come to me and lift them out on my hand but since they settled in they just wont. I don't mind being patient and doing what I can to try change this and not make things worse.
Think I will need to lift the cage into the hall each day and let them out. As my living room has too many cables and I wont risk their life if they chew them. Going to try step 2 "the hall"
will open the cage see if they come out and I will just sit relax and read a book.
To get them back in the cage I will use broccoli and see if they go back home to get it.
I couldn't let them out before as was getting a new kitchen fitted and when I did I lost them in the living room under the couch for 2 hrs. Lucky thy climbed up to top of cage and went back in one by one while we stopped them moving to the wires near TV ect.