kenko
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2012
- Messages
- 72
So Mips has started to nibble gently along my hand if I reach in to scritch him, and I'm pretty sure it's grooming. However, occasionally he'll find a spot and put down extra pressure--it's not a mean chomp or panicked biting, he starts it like any other gentle nibble but he'll end it with what is essentially a prolonged bite. It hurts! When he does this I've been slowly taking my hand away without giving him any positive or negative feedback (yelping or making sudden movements)
Is this a normal part of grooming behavior? Is there anything that I can do to dissuade him from doing this while preserving his nice nibbly grooming?
A bonus question--we moved Mips into the basement for the summer about two months ago, and unfortunately the basement, while perpetually cool and dry, is not finished so I have to transport him upstairs to his old room to play in. Before the move he'd stand in front of the cage and try and sprint out when playtime comes around. However, these days he'll actively hide when I say "out," which is his cue to jump on my hands so I can lift him out of the cage onto the floor. He'll have nothing to do with his carrier, so I've started holding him gently and just walking upstairs with him--once I've got him comfortably in my hand, with one other hand supporting his upper torso, he seems to be pretty relaxed and content to go; no squirming at all.
Once he's upstairs he runs around, popcorns and wallsurfs like normal and perches on laps, shoulders and heads, so I think he still enjoys playtime. I'm not sure if it's the trip upstairs that he's adverse to, or if it's the room without his cage in it (I put out a cardboard box that he can hide in) On days when he's skittish and doesn't want to come out, I sit in front of the cage and interact with him for the duration of what would've been his out-of-cage time, but I'd prefer watching him jump all over and scampering over me! Anyone else have a chin that seems iffy about playtime?
Is this a normal part of grooming behavior? Is there anything that I can do to dissuade him from doing this while preserving his nice nibbly grooming?
A bonus question--we moved Mips into the basement for the summer about two months ago, and unfortunately the basement, while perpetually cool and dry, is not finished so I have to transport him upstairs to his old room to play in. Before the move he'd stand in front of the cage and try and sprint out when playtime comes around. However, these days he'll actively hide when I say "out," which is his cue to jump on my hands so I can lift him out of the cage onto the floor. He'll have nothing to do with his carrier, so I've started holding him gently and just walking upstairs with him--once I've got him comfortably in my hand, with one other hand supporting his upper torso, he seems to be pretty relaxed and content to go; no squirming at all.
Once he's upstairs he runs around, popcorns and wallsurfs like normal and perches on laps, shoulders and heads, so I think he still enjoys playtime. I'm not sure if it's the trip upstairs that he's adverse to, or if it's the room without his cage in it (I put out a cardboard box that he can hide in) On days when he's skittish and doesn't want to come out, I sit in front of the cage and interact with him for the duration of what would've been his out-of-cage time, but I'd prefer watching him jump all over and scampering over me! Anyone else have a chin that seems iffy about playtime?
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