More Biting!!!

[jbaggs92]

Ok, so I understand that degus, when frightened, will bite. I just don't see why I am still getting bit so much. Some one asked me before whether or not it was a hard nibble, not meaning to be a bite, or a proper bite with blood.

Well, today was the first time I was able to actually hold one of the goos since I've had them and I was very excited. The little cutie climbed partially onto my hand to sniff around, and for no reason took a bite out of my palm. It did bleed. Could that be because it smelled like food?

Then, I got bit again. I was finally able to coax one out onto my hand and I was really excited. He was running on my arms, jumping onto the top of the cage, I was petting him, it was great! All of the sudden, though, I got a really hefty bite on my right pointer finger close to the base of it. That sucker bled for awhile.

What I'm confused about is how he was so happy to play with me for about 5 minutes, and then all of the sudden be scared of me. I'm not giving up on taming them, but everything I read about them says they really don't bite very much. Is their behavior rare? Have y'all ever been bit this much? It's starting to tick me off a bit! Honestly, it hurts. I want to play with them, hold them, cuddle them, and let them run around my room, but I can't do any of those things because whenever they get near my hands, they like to bite. Not a hard nibble, a blood-drawing bite.

Sorry for such a long rant guys... but I just want to know what I can do to take the best care of my degus. I love them so!

[NightwishRaven999]

Hello James
Hope you are well

First of all, what you are currently experiencing is 100% normal.
You have had your degus for such a short time and from the photos you posted, they are still quite young.

Degus are reknown for not biting. This is one of the traits that make them such excellent pets. However, one thing most english sites fail to mention, is that ADULT degus do not bite.
The babies and young degus are fervent nibblers of fingers.
They bite and do most of their exploring with their teeth, often causing small cuts and wounds on our hands.

The situation usually takes 3-4 weeks to correct and never surfaces again in the adult life.
Your new degus have no doubt had little human interaction.
This is all new for them and they do not know they are causing you pain when biting your fingers.

As you have noticed (or will soon notice) degus are very vocal creatures. They communicate with each other using various high or low pitch sounds. It is not uncommon for a degu to sqeal loudly if a companion is grooming him/her too hard.
The other degu, upon hearing the complaint, will slow down and continue the grooming more gently.

The best way to make your degus understand they are hurting you is to use sounds. You may find it silly to produce high pitch squeaks, but who cares ? It works and that is the important !

Everytime one of the degus touches your hand/fingers with their teeth, produce a high pitch squeal and retract your hand. The sound you make should be loud enough to be considered a warning.

Degus are indeed smart.
They will pick up on your vocal warnings quickly and will begin to understand your fingers are not chewing sticks.
In some cases it can take longer, but generally after a few weeks of consistent training, the bitting stops completely.


I am not sure whether or not you already read this, but here is an article/guide on taming degus. Many have found this helpful and I am confident you will pick up some valuable tips and pointers.

octodondegus.weebly.com/how-to-tame-degus.html


Dont be discouraged. Degus do live a long time, they will have plenty enough time to learn to behave and you will have many years left to enjoy them as they mature.

Hope this helps...

[jbaggs92]

This helps me so much! You rock! Everything I was wondering about you answered. Thank you! This gives me so much more reason to not give up hope. The only problem is, I can't produce a squeak sound... I've tried and can't seem to do it. I have tried giving them the 'ol Caesar Millan corrective sound and it kind of worked. I'll try to develop a squeak in the coming weeks, though. Once again, thank you!

[NightwishRaven999]

Sounds like you have your homework cut out for you then ;D

There are many techniques for taming degus.
Several members on here have developed different ways to proceed and I am sure you will pick up lots of other useful nuggets from other posts.

[xtratime]

I got bit for the first time yesterday. Not sure why they were happy playing then one just turned and yum had a bite. Wonder if they were a bit giddy after playing.

[malteser60]

This is the technique I found that worked for me. When my young degus start trying to 'groom' me I pay very careful attention and 'squeek' whenever they start to get a bit too rough, even if they are nowhere near hurting me. Normally they look at me funny and try again. And I repeat the squeek, and will carry on that way until they get the message. If they don't the squeek is followed by very very gently blowing on them. Mine when I do that they will look up and wrinkle their nose wondering what's going on. Then they try again to groom/bite my fingers and again I blow gently on them. After a couple of times they get the hint.

Please do note, when you blow it is very gently and not a blast of air. It's almost like you're 'exhaling' on them.

[harpic01]

Hi I always like to put a spanner in the works - i have a degu Squeek who is 16 months old and bites all the time - so adult goo's can bite.
Mine is i think a domenance thing but they do bite as adults sorry to break the myth and bloooming hard as well

[aya0aya]

Since this subject concern bitting I'd like to add one question. I have a bitter too, but the aggressive one. Mali stand up for herself very well. She grunts at me if I came close when she's having a treat, she jumps and trying to bite Bambi and Sefi if she see them and she's bitting me constantly if I do something that she don't like. If I try to put her back in the cage when she dont want to - I'm bitten, if I try to say hello to her and rub her while she's sleepy, I'm bitten, if I don't let her somewhere, blocking her with my hand, I'm bitten. She's very friendly otherwise, if things are going her way. And those are bad bites, I have marks all over my hand now and it hurts.

I tried to blow her - nothing. She don't care ant it doesn't bother her a bit. I tried to squeak and rough talk - nothing. I tried to put her back in the cage and ignored her for a while - nothing or even another bite. She don't mind anything and she seems fine with every of my method. Crazy little thing don't know that goos are known for non bitting. She ignore that fact too

I really have to do something. If I don't, I might loose a finger when she grows up and gets even sharper and bigger teeth What to do?