tpilli
Foraging Degu
Posts: 56
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Post by tpilli on Nov 25, 2008 17:49:52 GMT
I was reading a couple of posts that suggested getting to goos used to your voice, and just talking to them a little bit every day so I thought I'd give it a go.
Today I pulled up a chair in front of the cage and opened the door. I took out a book and started reading to them. Nutty Jr was quite interested in the story. He climbed up onto the shelf with a piece of food and sat right in front of me chewing away, listening intently. When he was done his food he came out and sat right on my book! Like, "Keep it comin mom, this is so much fun!" I touched his back lightly with my finger a couple times and then he went back in his cage and sat his hammock to listen to the rest of the chapter.
It was so cute! I couldn't believe he came out! So from now on I'm going to read to them every day. My bunny is very jealous lol.
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Post by deguconvert on Nov 25, 2008 18:11:53 GMT
LOL!! Thats super! Well done. Keep it up and you will have a couple of little fellas head over heels in love you, and climbing you all over. WOO HOO!
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tpilli
Foraging Degu
Posts: 56
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Post by tpilli on Nov 25, 2008 19:48:07 GMT
I just went back in, to give them each half a walnut, Mr Nuts is holding a grudge because we put him in the holding tank yesterday ( Yesterday was cage cleaning day) So he wouldn't take any. But Nutty Jr came right up and snatched it from my fingers. After that, I put my sleeved arm up next to the door and after a couple mins he got curious and came out and sat on it! He did this twice. I am flabbergasted. Hopefully Mr Nuts comes around soon. The only thing is that now Nutty Jr is used to getting treats, and he now nips my fingers whenever I put my hand in the cage. Treat or no treat. He nips quite hard too, not just little, manicure nips like my rats and his mom. How do get him to stop doing this? (After reading a couple "biting" posts) If I blew on his face, or squealed loudly wouldn't he become more afraid of me, and stop coming to me? I havn't had him very long and I don't want to hinder the little progress we've made so far.
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Post by Rachel on Nov 26, 2008 11:49:22 GMT
When I first had my girls Bu used to bite me quite hard, but mostly to say hello. She still does it now but not as hard. I was a bit too self conscious to squeal at her (plus my two year old would join in) so on one occasion when she did bite too hard, I blew. I've done it on another occasion to stop her and Mali fighting. I just took them out after and made a big fuss of them. I do the same thing with my toddler.. tell him off, then once I've made my point, he gets a hug.
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Post by jackdaniels on Nov 26, 2008 13:26:59 GMT
Yeah I can see how them nipping you is now a problem but it seems like you are on a no win situation here.
You have the option of hand feeding them treats face to face resulting in every time you but you hand goes in the cage they think they are getting a treat and may nip you. This is the best method of getting degus to trust you but yeah it does have its negatives. You could try feeding them treats through the bars so they will still getting your affection and you are still teaching them at the same time that treats and playtime are completely different. If that makes any sense I'm finding hard to explain what I mean.
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tpilli
Foraging Degu
Posts: 56
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Post by tpilli on Nov 26, 2008 15:37:40 GMT
Well, I guess I phrased that wrong. He only bites when there's NOT a treat in my hand. Because I guess he thinks that my hand IS a treat, maybe ? I dunno, I'm not too sure. Anyways today after I fed them, like I said in this deguworld.proboards31.com/index.cgi?board=behaviour&action=display&thread=3602 thread, Nutty Jr came right out on to my arm and I was actually able to verify his gender without any problems. He then went back into his cage and I rewarded him with a cheerio (he was quite happy with this. But THIS is the amazing part: Mr Nuts is back on speaking terms with me again!!! ;D I'm sooo thrilled! He even came out and put his two front paws on my arm! Which is MAJOR progress. So he was also rewarded with a cheerio, which he happily snatched and inhaled in .5 secs lol.
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