 | mobile - desktop |
|
| mobile - desktop |
|
 |
 Contact Sales! |
News & Events:
|
Posted by bexley on March 26, 2003 at 21:49:01:
In Reply to: tips and personal accounts on taming the untamable posted by abstractcypher on March 25, 2003 at 22:05:38:
Your ig will let you know how you're doing. Tempest was pretty nasty when I brought him home, he bit, tail whipped and was difficult to handle, at all times. He attacked when I opened his cage to feed and water him, and he can still be a bit difficult to get out even now, almost 6 months later. There is hope though!!!
Every day, I go past Tempest's cage, and say "hello Tempest, how are you?" and move on. He's learned to not hiss or whip at this. From there, I moved to opening the door, saying how good he was, and closing it again. Not reacting in a bad way results in the removal of what he hates... me. Reacting in a bad way, never ever gets rid of me. Even if all I do is stand there with the door part open, I never leave until he calms down. He very quickly learned that if I'm not touching him, and he's not acting up, I go away sooner.
Handling - I started the same way. I touched his foot. Thats all. Slowly, and carefully, I touched just the tip of his toe. If he threatened to react, I backed off a bit, let him calm down, slowly moved a bit closer and left. Remember, the reward is me leaving. He wants me to leave. He behaves, I leave, he gets what he wants.
Over time, I've gotten so I can touch him anywhere with very minimal reaction. He hasn't tried to bite in months, meaning tomorrow he'll catch me a good one for sure. The tail whipping has pretty much disappeared unless he thinks I'm going to pick him up, at which point I will no matter what, so he occasionally gives off one good whip and thats it.
If you're handling your ig to the point he freaks out, its too long. You're leaving him in a non-productive state, and one that you can't win from, once he's upset the games over. If he does freak, if you can get him to calm down, even for a fraction of a second, and then put him down so that its on your terms, do that. The next time, handle him for not quite as long, you always want to put him away calm and happy, with no negative feelings or associations to you.
I learned the technique of getting up to and handling animals by this method while working with feral horses. By leaving when they behaved, you could walk right up to them over time, because they knew that as long as they stood there, you would leave. As long as I never tried to touch, I could walk through the herd and do health checks twice a day and never worry - some of these horses were 15 years and older, and had never been handled except to trim their feet in a corralling chute. I was surprised how well it worked on Tempest, he's quite a charmer now :) He even went to the pet store where he was abandoned the other day for a visit, they were thrilled at how well he was doing.
Good luck, and be patient, little steps will take you further, faster than forcing yourself on him. Its taken me 6 months, and I've still got a long way to go, but I now have an ig that I can take places, and will let other people pat him, that originally was pretty much untouchable.
:hey everyone...my name is Raymond and I recently (6 weeks ago) adopted an uncared for Iggy from the backroom of a petco here in Chicago. He was in the back, all by himself because the person that bought him let him escape, and in the process of catching him he stepped on the tail to stop him, ripping off part of his tail. Not to bright to say the least. So he returned him because "it was ruined". How compassionate. So since he was returned petco had to "adopt" him out, so I took the poor little guy. (Then I tore petco's HR department a new azzhole)So now I have this awesome animal with a bad outlook on captive life, and humans in general. For the first week I didnt bother him. I let him get aquainted with his new home. Then I slowly started to inche my hand closer to him, touching his toes. That didnt last long until he went ballistic again. One the brighter side of it he eats in front of me now. A month later I began picking him up and just holding him, talking to him to reassure him a bit. He claws me up and whips me to no end. He's calmer when I have him out and in my hand. I try hand feeding him, but forget about it. Hes not receptive to that at all. So now I slowly reach in his habitat and the chase begins. I have to corner him and gently but firmly grab a hold of him. Hes o.k for about 5 minutes, til he can find a getaway path, then he turns into a sugar glider. But im not giving up, not ever. No matter how long it takes, and Yes, I know theres a possibility he'll never be tame, but hes my buddie and im in this for the long haul. Any stories of your experiences taming the "untamable", or tips that I may not be thinking of would be greatly appreciated. Thanks alot everybody.
:Raymond and Steve(my Ig)
