Is there anything to do with a biter?

[CortneyannG]

My two male chins are about 9 months old. The one has also nibbled a little on my fingers or hands. But in the past week, it has been non stop biting. I bought some new toys, but the biting still occurs. It's not hard, so I dont know if he is playing/ tasting me, but I don't want it to get out of control. Is there anything to do to get him to stop? He has also chewed some hair off of the base of his tail a couple weeks ago... I check it everyday, but no signs of further chewing or infection/dry skin. Do I just have a biter on my hands??

 

[ticklechin]

I could be a teenage chinchilla male thing, they can get rowdy at that age! Chin may grow out if it in a few months.

 

[ChinnyMom]

chins do groom as a way of showing affection. are you sure he is not just grooming you via light nibbling? if this is the case, i would not do anything to stop it, as this means he is happy enough with you to groom you.

like Dawn said, it could be 'chin teens' and he could just be getting sassy, lol.

if the bites are hard, don't react. don't draw away, and don't let them see that the bites affect you at all. wear leather gloves if necessary, so that you are not reacting to the bites. if your chin(s) learn that biting gets them what they want (for you to go away, or sticks, treats, etc) then they will continue to bite to get their way.

are both your chins living in the same cage? i'd watch them to see which one could be chewing fur (the tail fur issue). might be the other chin chewing on his cagemate's tail? fur chewing isn't harmful health-wise, but it can make a chin look really awful if they really get into it and start chewing the fur off their whole tail, hips, and sides.

 

[Riven]

If he was biting... you'd know. If it's attitude then trim back his whiskers a bit, if it's not leaving a mark on you, then I wouldn't worry about it. If you give treats out of your hand, that could be a big reason of why he's doing it.

I personally never got the leather glove thing. I'm pretty sure a chin is smart enough to know if you have gloves on or not...

 

[Rockka]

My chin lost her mate two weeks ago and has started biting me. Not hard enough to hurt but hard enough for me to know it's not affection. Little Brat!

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[Lynn & The Chins]

On the rare nibbles/bites that one of my boys give that I think is too hard, I make the "kack" sound to them --they get the point!!!

 

[Riven]

The chin I talked about in another thread that was depressed, she will flat out open her jaws and put gentle pressure on you, not a nibble, but not hard like a bite... Anytime I'd had a chin bite me... I've known because I'm bleeding. Usually real biting comes with kacking and running away, jumping aggressive type motions.

 

[dragsil]

Mine all nibble and groom but one of them kind of grabs my finger in his mouth and tuggs at it like a child pulling at their mother's hand. This is also the boy who digs and tuggs at his fleece, so I think he is trying to include me in his rearangment of the cage. Brat!

 

[Rockka]

The chin I talked about in another thread that was depressed, she will flat out open her jaws and put gentle pressure on you, not a nibble, but not hard like a bite... Anytime I'd had a chin bite me... I've known because I'm bleeding. Usually real biting comes with kacking and running away, jumping aggressive type motions.

My Cindy is depressed. We are working on being happier. :/

When Cindy trims my nails to show affection she sometimes get rough. Like she is tying to pull the whole nail out. Lol I just say ouch! Your being to rough.



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[CortneyannG]

Thanks everyone! It all makes sense. He is a very curious chin and after what I have read from everyone, I think he is doing it affectionately, not to hurt me.