Post by xxxshadsxxx on Feb 23, 2013 2:26:40 GMT
I was wondering if anyone else had ever noticed a change in their degu after an escape?
I was just wondering because the other night one of my boys (Lister) got loose, and i had to spend about a half hour trying to get him to come out from under the couch so i could put him back in the cage.
Before the escape he was the more timid of the two when it came to human contact. He is quite clearly the dominant of the pair, but was not keen on human interaction, and would always bully/ re-assert his dominance over Kryten after Kryten had been out of the cage. He was quite happy to come and eat from my hand, but usually the most contact i would receive would be a front paw resting on my hand as he tried to get the food that was further up my arm, and very occasionally he would sit on my hand but only for a second and then he would hop off again.
I had been trying to increase my contact and interaction with him in hopes that he would eventually become more friendly and trusting of me, and the escape happened be cause i had coaxed him into a box and removed it from the hutch to interact with him. At first it was fine, but then he managed to squeeze through a gap in my arm and climbed off my leg onto the floor, and then that was it, i couldn't convince him to get back in the box and he was off to explore the living room.
after a half hour of coaxing and then finally cornering him when he decided to make a run to explore the other side of the room, i managed to get him back in the box and back to the cage.
Then yesterday, when i went to see them and play before feeding them, i put my arm up to the open door on the upper half of the cage, as i often do, because Kryten will quite often come and climb on my arm and i find it is comfier to sit and wait like that rather than kneel holding my hands at the ledge waiting to see if he wants to come out. So i was very surprised when i sat down to see them, that not only was Kryten there investigating my housecoat as usual, but Lister was also there, and without hesitation climbed straight onto my arm and ran up to my shoulder.
Once again today he has been climbing up onto my shoulder when i offered my arm, and now tries to push Kryten out of the way so he can get onto my hands first if i put them up instead of an arm.
I am very please with this change in him, but was just wondering if anyone else had ever had something like this happen after an escape?
I was just wondering because the other night one of my boys (Lister) got loose, and i had to spend about a half hour trying to get him to come out from under the couch so i could put him back in the cage.
Before the escape he was the more timid of the two when it came to human contact. He is quite clearly the dominant of the pair, but was not keen on human interaction, and would always bully/ re-assert his dominance over Kryten after Kryten had been out of the cage. He was quite happy to come and eat from my hand, but usually the most contact i would receive would be a front paw resting on my hand as he tried to get the food that was further up my arm, and very occasionally he would sit on my hand but only for a second and then he would hop off again.
I had been trying to increase my contact and interaction with him in hopes that he would eventually become more friendly and trusting of me, and the escape happened be cause i had coaxed him into a box and removed it from the hutch to interact with him. At first it was fine, but then he managed to squeeze through a gap in my arm and climbed off my leg onto the floor, and then that was it, i couldn't convince him to get back in the box and he was off to explore the living room.
after a half hour of coaxing and then finally cornering him when he decided to make a run to explore the other side of the room, i managed to get him back in the box and back to the cage.
Then yesterday, when i went to see them and play before feeding them, i put my arm up to the open door on the upper half of the cage, as i often do, because Kryten will quite often come and climb on my arm and i find it is comfier to sit and wait like that rather than kneel holding my hands at the ledge waiting to see if he wants to come out. So i was very surprised when i sat down to see them, that not only was Kryten there investigating my housecoat as usual, but Lister was also there, and without hesitation climbed straight onto my arm and ran up to my shoulder.
Once again today he has been climbing up onto my shoulder when i offered my arm, and now tries to push Kryten out of the way so he can get onto my hands first if i put them up instead of an arm.
I am very please with this change in him, but was just wondering if anyone else had ever had something like this happen after an escape?
we miss you 
) when we move house I will try and look for a place that we can make degu proof to allow them to wander freely at times, but until then, they will just have to make do with the hutch and the make-shift run i have made and maybe the occasional escape if they are sneaky 
