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Post by wendymjake on Sept 7, 2009 12:57:45 GMT
I have just bought 2 female degu approx 10 weeks old. Could anyone give advice on how to start getting them hand tame with all the family
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n64play
Burrowing Degu
3 goos - Ford, Arthur and Zaphod. I can tell them apart now!
Posts: 128
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Post by n64play on Sept 7, 2009 16:57:52 GMT
Hi, welcome to the forum The best thing to do is leave them for a couple of days to get used to their new surroundings, but talk to them so they get used to your voice. By getting hand tame, do you mean sitting on your hand, or taking treats from your hand, or stroking them? Mine are about 5 months old, I've had them since May, and they were taking treats after a couple of days, but only just now are sitting on my hands, which took a lot of patience and bribing with treats! They don't like being stroked at all, I'm jealous of people who's goos let them stroke them They are still youngsters though, so that might come with time. Have a read at all the advice on this site, but if you're expecting them to be cuddled and stroked straight away, I'm afraid it's going to take a a while for that to happen. Though saying that, Arthur is happy to sit on my hand for ages, and Ford won't sit for more than a couple of seconds
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 7, 2009 17:45:54 GMT
It truly is a matter of your patience and determination, and their different personalities. You do need to understand that degus are highly active (as well as intelligent) and will never give you the quiet cuddles you might get from a more sedate animal, like a hamster, or a guinea pig. Having said that though, they can receive and give love, and they are a delight to interact with. The use of treats is probably your most successful tool to help train them. They LOVE to feed their bellies, so finding that particular treat that sends them over the moon is very helpful. Are you aware of their difficulties with sugar, and sugar products? Degus cannot assimlate sugar well, and as a result can very easily develop diabetes which will become fatal. So, no pellets or foods that contain sugar, cane sugars or syrups, molasses, fructose, dehydrated fruits, etc. (Which means you do need to read the ingredients on everything that you give them.) There are some great treats that you can give them. Such as sunflower seeds, almond bits, peanuts in the shell, walnut bits, pumpkin seeds, rose petals (not from hot house flowers), rose hips, plain shredded wheat cereal, organic corn flakes, puffed wheat or rice, bits of raw carrot, dandelion leaves (so long as they are not treated with pesticides), organic tomato paste, raw pasta, dill weed, basil, oregano . . . to name a few. So when training; 1. Never try and grab your degus to catch them. Swooping down from above, and then chasing them about with your hand will impress upon them that you are a predator to be avoided at all costs. Degus can deliver a very nasty bite when aggitated. 2. Sit by the cage door, open it, place your hand in the open door, palm up, and place bits of treat on your palm. Now talk quietly to the degus and simply wait. As they are highly curious, they will eventually decide they MUST find out what is there, and what smells so intriguing. They will likely grab and run, eating the "stolen" treat elsewhere in the cage. But they will come back and get more. As they realise that you are not moving and posing no threat, they will start to linger near, and eventually on, your hand to eat. You will see some squabbling over who has the right to eat it all, LOL! Their cursing at each other is rather funny. 3. Once they are brave enough to sit on your hand and eat, very lightly start to stroke them while they are eating. They may growl a bit at you, but don't worry, they will begin to accept it, and even enjoy it. We have three boys, and with the two that were easy trainers, I didn't stroke them while they ate. But the third boy was very shy and doubtful of me (OUCH did he bite!) and it took months to train him, working 2-3 times daily with him. As I trained him and he began to sit on my hand, I started to gently rub his sides with one finger while he was eating. At first he didn't like it, but eventually he accepted it, and now he loves it! He more than the other two will let me scratch him and love him up. I think that he now associates the scratch and rub of his sides with the pleasure of a treat. So . . . I think it is a good trick to use with ALL degu training now. 4. Once they are sitting on your hand, move a bit of treat pieces up your arm, and they will follow it. Before long you will have them on your shoulders! Once you get there, you are doing great!! They can be trained to know their names and respond to them. The better they trust you, the better they respond. If you can think of tricks you would like them to learn, give it a go! They are very intelligent and can learn to do things. Youtube has a video of one that jumps through hoops! 5. Keep the treats on hand. If you stop treating, they will soon stop doing the desired behaviour. You don't need to treat as much as when they are learning, but you do need to treat. Good luck!!
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Post by wendymjake on Sept 9, 2009 21:22:08 GMT
Thanks for all the tips....trying loads of different things, with great success, well my 8 year old has . They are both getting used to sitting on our hands and love to run round in the balls we have bought them Monica is more reserved/laid back but will happily follow for a sunflower seed or a bit of shredded wheat but her sister Pheobie is a lot more manic and does everything Monica does but an awful lot faster. Great pets to watch really pleased we got them
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