He didn't bite me!

As some of you may know, I've been having an issue with my oldest furkid, Boji, for the past 8 months or so. He would do some combination of charging, chattering and chomping if I even thought about approaching his cage in the morning. Since he was a perfect love any other time of day, I concluded that he just wasn't a morning chinchilla, stopped trying to force change, and opted to leave him alone. After reading a thread last week about not allowing them to get away with biting, I decided to change my tactics.

For three days last week, I wore a leather glove that he couldn't bite through and just let him go to town on it so that he would realize I was impervious to his tactics. This, of course, upset him to no end, but I managed to scoop him up with the glove and hold him until he was calm each morning. Then I left him alone (in the morning) for about a week. During that time, all of the previous displays of morning anger and vengeance stopped, and he just slept in his box like a normal, happy chin.

This morning, I pulled my hand into my sleeve, offering him the edge of my coat to see if he would chomp down and shake it as he had previously. Instead, he stuck his little head right up my sleeve and groomed my fingers! I was so excited that I praised him for a good 5 minutes, which of course he responded to with the happy chin sound.

While I can't remember which thread I read, or what I was even researching when I found it, I just wanted to share my experience and extend a huge thank you to those of you who commented on the thread in question. I'm guessing you know who you are! )

Ohhhh this is great I'm so happy everything worked out!

Ah.. so my girls arnt the only ones.

My two daughters, about 9 months old now, are like that. They are extremly moody after waking up. They will soemtimes charge at you or nip you. Tho they seem to be more a warning nip. Enough to get the message of 'leave me alone' though, but not enough to seriosuly hurt you. Once their awake and what not, theyre fine. They will let you pet them and what not. They jsut rly dont seem to be morning chins.

Some times ill react back if they get a little to outa controll with it, which is not often. I though about doing the same thing you did, but i desided to just respect their wishes instead. Because im the same way when i wake up lol. Dont talk to me, dont look at me, dont ask me questions... leave me alone! And when i was younger me mom would bombard me with 20 questions as soon as i opened the door. So i remember how much i hated it. So ill leave my chins be in peace'

Congrats tho on acomplishing that with your chin! :thumbsup:

Thanks! )