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daven · 02-03-2019, 04:16 PM

we've had lucky (female Syrian) for just over a month and I've been bitten a few times drawing blood. Lots of separate minor nips.

I use unscented soap, rub my hand in substrate, have tried taming in the bath and in a plastic box etc.

If I put my hand in the cage with a treat on, she eats the treat very confidently with no hesitation. She's not scared of my hand. I've tried leaving the hand in for her to climb on but she sniffs around a bit then bites. She's done it twice, once when I had been avoiding hand feeding for a few days too in case she'd associated my hand with food.

After the biting I tried a different tack and am now able to stroke her and pick her up from above using a careful grab. She tolerates being stroked, just basically ignores my hand or comes round to sniff it. If she's stretched out a bit (e.g. she spends a lot of time in the box or bath trying to climb the sides) I'll pick her up in a grab on her back half and she tolerates this fine but does scrabble to get out of my grip. If my hand is near enough her face I do think she would nip but she's not frantically turning to bite me if that makes sense. She seems like she doesn't want to be held but not frantically scared as my hand closes round her, like I had expected her to be.

I've also tried gloves (she wouldn't even eat off them) and am currently using a cut up drinks bottle as a scoop to encourage her to climb onto something that looks like my hand but that she can't bite.

I try and reward her with treat after she climbs into the scoop, or if I pick her up (scrabbling!) I try and put her down next to a treat.

my aim is to train her not to bite so that she can play out of the cage and be picked up safely.

My question is whether eventually she'll become comfortable with the grab? Does stroking and grabbing help with taming eventually?

I'm also continuing with getting her used to my hand with the bottle scoop idea. She eats something from the scoop then sniffs around my knuckles and wrist. At some point I guess I'll have to try without the scoop...

Thoughts from anyone who's experience has been similar to this would be very happily received! 🙂

Thanks in advance!

02-03-2019, 04:16 PM
daven Newborn Pup Join Date: Jan 2019 Location: Southampton Posts: 8	Confident but bites? we've had lucky (female Syrian) for just over a month and I've been bitten a few times drawing blood. Lots of separate minor nips. I use unscented soap, rub my hand in substrate, have tried taming in the bath and in a plastic box etc. If I put my hand in the cage with a treat on, she eats the treat very confidently with no hesitation. She's not scared of my hand. I've tried leaving the hand in for her to climb on but she sniffs around a bit then bites. She's done it twice, once when I had been avoiding hand feeding for a few days too in case she'd associated my hand with food. After the biting I tried a different tack and am now able to stroke her and pick her up from above using a careful grab. She tolerates being stroked, just basically ignores my hand or comes round to sniff it. If she's stretched out a bit (e.g. she spends a lot of time in the box or bath trying to climb the sides) I'll pick her up in a grab on her back half and she tolerates this fine but does scrabble to get out of my grip. If my hand is near enough her face I do think she would nip but she's not frantically turning to bite me if that makes sense. She seems like she doesn't want to be held but not frantically scared as my hand closes round her, like I had expected her to be. I've also tried gloves (she wouldn't even eat off them) and am currently using a cut up drinks bottle as a scoop to encourage her to climb onto something that looks like my hand but that she can't bite. I try and reward her with treat after she climbs into the scoop, or if I pick her up (scrabbling!) I try and put her down next to a treat. my aim is to train her not to bite so that she can play out of the cage and be picked up safely. My question is whether eventually she'll become comfortable with the grab? Does stroking and grabbing help with taming eventually? I'm also continuing with getting her used to my hand with the bottle scoop idea. She eats something from the scoop then sniffs around my knuckles and wrist. At some point I guess I'll have to try without the scoop... Thoughts from anyone who's experience has been similar to this would be very happily received! 🙂 Thanks in advance!