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Post by hazel on Sept 5, 2021 10:43:30 GMT
they turn tail once they realise i'm not holding a treat how long until they let me handle them? it's been a week, and they won't even let me take them out of the cage to clean it. i had to coax two into the carrier cage with treats and the third stayed in the hammock while we cleaned around her.
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Post by savvy on Sept 5, 2021 11:07:46 GMT
A week is nothing to a degu, it can take months to establish trust, you must be patient with them. They are in a new environment, with new smells, new noises and new people. Degus are prey animals, which means that in the wild everything views them as food. Wouldn't you be nervous in a place you didn't know if you were prewired to expect that everything that moves wants to eat you?
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Post by Xellie on Sept 5, 2021 15:46:52 GMT
It takes time! putting the treat further up your arm so they have to climb on you to get it, a little at a time!
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Post by moletteuk on Sept 5, 2021 16:49:08 GMT
I know it's really hard but to really build trust you need to wait and allow them to come to you. When it happens it will be all the more special knowing that they accept you. Using the carrier to move them is a good idea, grabbing at them will really set you back, you could also get a length of cardboard tube and do tube training and use that to move them. It can be quite handy at the vets if they are used to going in a tube.
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Post by hazel on Sept 5, 2021 20:10:23 GMT
uggghhh thanks... it's just they're so soft!!
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Post by Bexi87 on Sept 5, 2021 21:42:42 GMT
It’s taken 6 years for Daisy to allow me to pick her up. My girls are not human friendly, they are much happier by themselves so that will have had a part to play in it, but it can take a long time to build the trust required.
Sitting by the cage and speaking to them gently/quietly may help speed things up
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Post by savvy on Sept 6, 2021 0:39:01 GMT
uggghhh thanks... it's just they're so soft!! If you keep trying to force them to accept being handled before they are ready, you'll soon find out that their teeth are far from soft. You have to let them set the pace.
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Post by bouncy on Sept 6, 2021 11:40:43 GMT
We've always warned on here that degus are not cuddly animals, which I think is perhaps linked to their levels of intelligence and independence. It may be that you'll never be able to handle them. If you push them too much, they'll resent you, and you can permanently damage your relationship with them.
Squidgy let me handle him because he was a lone goo, attacked by Spidey on the first day he came home. Sausage was his best friend, and learned everything from him. Although Sausage will let me pick him up, he doesn't tolerate cuddles, just accepts it as a means to an end.
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Post by savvy on Sept 6, 2021 12:10:32 GMT
Dixie bit almost every vet he encountered because he didn't like being handled and had to be picked up for examination, although he never bit me.
Bumblebee would just run and hide at everything and hid in a tube to take treats from me.
Reggie is very tame and loves cuddles, but she's currently a lone degu. I've had the Yorkshire Lasses since 10th May and they are only just tolerating my hand in their cage when feeding.
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Post by Xellie on Sept 6, 2021 12:54:54 GMT
All of mine are different when it comes to handling.
I have Freya, who drums her feet in irritation if I walk past without picking her up. She likes to be scooped up and held, she likes to jump on me and sit on my shoulder. She does bite me if I reach into the nest to pick her up though.
Then I have Mist, who doesn't like to be picked up and runs away if I try, BUT, she loves to hand a hand to jump on and snuggle into.
Choca will jump at me from any distance if the cage is open and climb up and down and proceed to jump on and off. I'm not allowed to pick her up on my terms.
Bryn likes to be scooped up. If I don't, she jumps from the cage onto my body then settles on a shoulder to sleep.
Kara couldn't care less. She's okay with being picked up sometimes, but doesn't stay still.
Mocha says no. Unfortunately I have to pick her up most because she escapes a lot. My hands are scratched but I don't get bitten.
Banshee cannot be held. Banshee bites and made the vet very cross with him. I've been working with him, he's very highly strung, but he now climbs onto my arm to find treats.
Buddy is a big softy, but not pick up able. He is also learning to climb on me.
The youngsters I have I'm lucky if I get to touch them. It's a process and I know they will come around eventually.
So you see, it takes time and patience, and every degu is different. Maybe they won't want cuddles, but will climb on you anyway. Maybe they'll learn you're a nice snuggly place. However they decide it, it's their choice. If you move into a new house and a giant keeps reaching in to grab you, you'd feel a bit uncomfortable.
There is one thing that helps a lot. Treat the cage as their house. You need to be invited in. Have a specific area where you interact with them and let them come to you, and build a relationship with them, respecting their territory.
oh, and you can't go wrong with having a pinch of rolled oats in your hand for them to enjoy and explore you.
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Post by teemu on Sept 7, 2021 19:27:10 GMT
One thing that I've noticed helps a lot is if you let them come to you at their own pace. For example, take a chair (or sit on the floor, depending how high the cage door is) and just sit with them. Keep the cage door open and keep a hand resting inside the cage, but don't go after them or try to touch them. Let them come to you and inspect the hand and get used to it. Just gently and calmly prevent any escapes with your other hand and let them hang out with you. Degus really like it when they can get to know people on their terms and make their own choices about how to engage with a human without any coercing. It might take time for them to work up the courage to even come sit next to your hand or on your hand, but gentle, consistent effort is the key here. Just hang out with them daily for a bit, give them a seed or two and let them come to terms with you
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Post by hazel on Sept 11, 2021 9:24:59 GMT
I have some bad news. I'm fairly sure my brother has been harassing the degus while I'm gone. He's a bit of a pyschopath so I don't fully trust him around small animals, but not enough of a psychopath that he'd wring their little necks if they bit him or for fun or anything!! It's just now they shrink from human contact like they didn't before, running into their hidey holes at the mere sight of a beakless biped. I do hope the "new object" effect wears off soon and he forgets all about them. The only way I can be totally sure he isn't is by putting locks on the doors, but if he isn't I'll look like a proper little paranoiac!! Will report back later.
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Post by moletteuk on Sept 11, 2021 18:02:44 GMT
You are going to find progress very difficult if your brother is scaring them.
I would speak to your parents about this, and if it isn't realistic to keep him away from the degus and depending how quickly you think he might lose interest in them, it really might be worth putting a lock on your door.
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 11, 2021 19:50:55 GMT
Ditto
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Post by hazel on Sept 11, 2021 20:03:19 GMT
okay, after some detective work i'm ninety percent sure it's all in my head. they seem perfectly content to be near me now. i'm tapping away at my laptop right next to the cage (that is, at a 1m distance) and they don't seem to be scared.
but, on the ten percent chance my wits haven't deserted me... he hasn't mentioned/teased me about the degus in a few days now.
oh, and the girls have names at last! a person in that grey area between friend and acquaintance suggested them. though it violates my strict "no human names on pets" policy i think they're pretty... silly me.
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Post by hazel on Sept 11, 2021 20:17:04 GMT
to clarify: my brother is a perfectly adaptive human being. he shows a regard for life within the bounds of normality. only, one of his chief character flaws is his taunting. he has an amazing talent for getting under people's skin, a skill he refines daily. he also does not seem to fully believe that some people could really ever get upset over, say, a small pet. therefore, any show of upset over the pain of a small animal must be a machiavellian ploy of one kind or another. what is no doubt adjacent to banter to him is crushing to a sensitive flower like me. i don't believe he would ever try to hurt the degus on purpose. this is a point that needs to be reinforced since it was left unclear in the forum post before my last. still, he takes a horse-tamer's view on animals. anyway, allegra is napping in the hammock and she looks so cute (it upsets me that, were that last sentence taken out of context, it would likelier than not be assumed that allegra was a human girl.)
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Post by savvy on Sept 11, 2021 20:21:26 GMT
Your brother may get a very sharp and painful lesson if he goes to far in upsetting the degus. Its not uncommon for bites to require antibiotics and sometimes even a hospital stay and an antibiotic drip.
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Post by hazel on Sept 11, 2021 21:25:31 GMT
goodness!! i do hope it doesn't come to that.
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Post by savvy on Sept 11, 2021 21:41:46 GMT
They only bite if they feel threatened, or if you break up a fight with your hands, but if he teases them too much, they may just let him know they don't like it.
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Post by moletteuk on Sept 11, 2021 21:51:46 GMT
I like the names, Hazel, I hope they are settling in to them. I didn't think your brother was an actual psychopath, I was allowing for some poetic licence, I also didn't really think he would hurt them, it's just that damage can be so easily done when trying to build trust between humans and degus, all it would take would be him trying to grab them and then the negative ball starts rolling. Don't worry, we tend to assume that descriptions of activities like sleeping in hammocks and chewing sticks usually refer to degus!
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