Taming Gloves

[Robodwarfs18]

Today is the day I'm going to try picking up Cookie again. Last time I held him about a few weeks ago, he bit me hard and since then I've re-started the taming process using the scented tissue thing and hand feeding him so I'm going to hold him today. As I'm a very cautious person (haha), I'm going to use gloves to prevent biting. Unfortunately my garden gloves are dirty and I don't want to spread germs to my boy so my other option was either rubber gloves or leather gloves. I wouldn't want to do anything I'm unsure of without asking on the forum, so what would be the best option? Thanks guys! Wish me luck

[LoveMyHams]

The leather will be thicker to protect from the teeth. But you probably don't need them if you are successfully hand feeding him. Just gentally slide your hands under him and slowly lift.

[WinnieTheHam]

Have you tried encouraging him into a box and picking him up with him in the box? He'd get a feel of being picked up without having any contact of your hands. Feed him treats during this process to reassure him.

After doing that you can try encourage him onto your hand with a treat (from box to hand, not cage to hand) and see if he'll willingly come to your hand. speak to him constantly because if he's used to your voice he wont find the hand as a threat so much.

If you want to hold him with gloves to prevent biting then gloves made from a thick material would work best. I hope things improve this time! Good luck

[ZippyRIP]

Hi Robodwarfs
I had 2 robos, now just 1, but I know how you feel with being bit scared of being bitten. That's how I was at the start. Did get nipped a couple of times, but never bitten hard. The way we managed to tame ours was by putting a small tallish Tupperware box into their cage and waiting till they volunteered to go in the box, then we would slowly lift the box out the cage, and lay it on our laps sideways. It was then up to them when they came out of the box onto our laps, and it gave them a chance to do it in their own time. Also it made me more relaxed as there was no risk of getting bitten.
Sometimes they would opt not to go in the box in the first place, so we would just leave them.
We also had a few wee treats on our laps and in our hands, and sometimes they would walk onto our hands to get the treats. Once they walked onto our hands, it was then easy to let them climb about which they seemed to like doing when they were relaxed.
Also found that having a few of their familiar toys out the cage around them definitely relaxed them more as they could interact with the toys as well as climbing over you.
I would suggest trying to tame without gloves so they get a chance to become familiar with your scent, but it's up to you?
Not sure about what type of gloves - maybe the others would have better view of that, but would have thought the smell of rubber gloves might put them off and leather gloves might mask your scent? you can get cheap cotton gloves from garden centres i.e. around £3 or £4 you could maybe try those and if you wear them for a wee while before you take him out, then they should smell of you.
if you are familiar with all of the above, then sorry i'm new to the forum so not sure who's who at the mo. anyway hope you get on ok and no more biting

[Robodwarfs18]

Thank you for all the help! I used the leather ones as they were thicker. Just a little update, Cookie was really good today and I managed to hold him a few times and I wasn't bitten at all. I'm going to keep doing this, trying out your suggestions and hopefully all goes well. Thanks again for the support and advice

[Fluffagrams]

I used a cheap pair of fleece gloves with May and found that because they were only used for her, they had her scent on so she was more relaxed at being picked up with them.