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Handling
Jan 22, 2018 21:33:42 GMT
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Post by cheska on Jan 22, 2018 21:33:42 GMT
I am new to owning degus I got two male degu in sep and they were ment to be 8 weeks old I was wondering the best way to hand tame them They are not scared at all and will happily come out of there cage and when sat with them they will come to me anf climb in me However they constantly bite! I carnt alow them to run free as i wont catch them again so they are restriced to my bed but as soon as i try to pick them up or stroke them i am bitten or they will sit on my knee and deside to bite me ! This has led to them not getting out as much as i would like but they dont seem to be any better!
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Post by bouncy on Jan 23, 2018 10:29:13 GMT
Hi!
I'm afraid degu personalities are very different from other furries. As a general rule, degus are happy to interact, but want to do so on their own terms. There are some that will snuggle with humans, but on their own terms. My own come out for a run, climb and jump all over me, but my hands are strictly my own. One has NEVER let me touch him since I brought him home.
If you want to let them out, start with a tube. Tap on a large tube. If they come over and go in, reward them. Keep practicing until they happily trot over and go in whenever you open the cage door and tap the offered tube. You now have a method for moving them!
Mine live in the same (goo proof) room as they run around in. I simply open the door, put the ramp up, and out they come. They take themselves back in after an hour or so, and I shut the door and let the next group out!
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Post by deguconvert on Jan 23, 2018 16:47:23 GMT
Hello Cheska, and welcome to the forum!
I'm going to think on this for a bit. There can be so many reasons a degu will bite, but most often there is fear involved. Why they are afraid can be as simple as the ones you have being more timid, or they could have had some event that scared them so greatly it is indelibly printed on their memories. Those are two rather common ones. Sometimes they are picking up on fear signals of our own which set them off. It's hard to know without more information from you, or having the opportunity to see you interacting with them in person.
May I ask where you got them from? Have they been biters from the get go, or did it start slowly and then settle in as a determined habit? Did you handle them much when you first got them? When they bite, do they break the skin or draw blood?
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Post by zenaida on Jan 23, 2018 21:21:33 GMT
About the keeping them on your bed... is there any way you can let them out that would involve less handling? Something like a contained space they can be in with you? You can do the tube to get them there if it isn't close. They might be telling you "hey, I'm trying to go that way! Don't stop me! I gotta explore!" Sometimes my Linda will get "nippy" if she is getting annoyed with us. She's trying to "be in charge" of us at those times. We tell her off, but it doesn't need to happen often because we let them out in a playpen, so they don't need as much handling.
Perhaps the biting is grooming nibbles, or "move this thing!" nibbles, or "what's this? is is edible?" nibbles. Our degus like grooming our hands and sometimes our ears and nose. When we're sitting on the floor with them, they tend to try to nibble our toes, usually to communicate "this is in my way!".
Degus often bite for different reasons and they can communicate many things. If they are relatively gentle bites that don't break the skin, they probably are just communicating with you. They will give each other bites in a similar way. Degus can REALLY bite if they are scared or cornered or feel threatened in some way. Those usually draw blood because the degu is trying to defend themselves. That is different than the nibbles. Although degu jaws are strong, so I often have to pull back or squeak if one of my degus does a nibble a bit too strong to tell them to take it easy.
Can you give us more information about their other body language when it is happening? Are they making any particular noises?
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