Murkve
Member
- Messages
- 186
Hey Guys,
It's been quite a while, and Sigourney has been up from hibernation for a few months now, and growing quite quickly. She's now more than 30" long. However, she's picked up a new habit: biting.
Here's what I've noticed: The biting is not out of malice or defense. She thinks my hands are food when they're not doing "hand" things (like petting, handling, etc.).
Instead of tong feeding, I have switched to bin feeding in an attempt to disassociate my hands with food. It hasn't worked too well. Every time I take her out and she is a hungry (which is almost ALL the freaking time), she will taste my hands if they are just part of her environment. At 30" long, I don't care if it's just a flesh wound - that stuff hurts. She doesn't just bite and release either. She actively tries to tear flesh from my hand. I grin and bear it as best I can. The odd part is that she only does this outside of the enclosure. She's not territorial, not defensive, tolerates handling excellently, scratches to be let out. She knows hands can be good. However when she's on the floor in the room she's in, it's like a switch gets flipped, and she begins her foraging.
Here's what I am doing:
1) I bought bitter apple spray as a negative reinforcement. It seemed to help today. She seemed hesitant to latch on with her bites when the tongue touched my skin.
2) I am trying to feed her, then handle her. This too has helped. She's truly a sweet, inquisitive animal when her hunger for flesh is sated.
3) I am trying to get her to disassociate being taken out with food by, well, taking her out and not feeding her every now and then.
Here's what I might try:
1) Target Training: If I can get her to associate food with a target, maybe it will move the association from my hands? I'd like to hear your guys thoughts on this.
Any thoughts or tips for dealing with this? Is it just a stage she'll get out of once growth slows down? I want to minimize this behavior now so that when she gets to 4.5 feet I don't have to deal with it.
(I realize there's another thread down at the bottom, but I felt this situation was different enough from that one.)
Thank you!
It's been quite a while, and Sigourney has been up from hibernation for a few months now, and growing quite quickly. She's now more than 30" long. However, she's picked up a new habit: biting.
Here's what I've noticed: The biting is not out of malice or defense. She thinks my hands are food when they're not doing "hand" things (like petting, handling, etc.).
Instead of tong feeding, I have switched to bin feeding in an attempt to disassociate my hands with food. It hasn't worked too well. Every time I take her out and she is a hungry (which is almost ALL the freaking time), she will taste my hands if they are just part of her environment. At 30" long, I don't care if it's just a flesh wound - that stuff hurts. She doesn't just bite and release either. She actively tries to tear flesh from my hand. I grin and bear it as best I can. The odd part is that she only does this outside of the enclosure. She's not territorial, not defensive, tolerates handling excellently, scratches to be let out. She knows hands can be good. However when she's on the floor in the room she's in, it's like a switch gets flipped, and she begins her foraging.
Here's what I am doing:
1) I bought bitter apple spray as a negative reinforcement. It seemed to help today. She seemed hesitant to latch on with her bites when the tongue touched my skin.
2) I am trying to feed her, then handle her. This too has helped. She's truly a sweet, inquisitive animal when her hunger for flesh is sated.
3) I am trying to get her to disassociate being taken out with food by, well, taking her out and not feeding her every now and then.
Here's what I might try:
1) Target Training: If I can get her to associate food with a target, maybe it will move the association from my hands? I'd like to hear your guys thoughts on this.
Any thoughts or tips for dealing with this? Is it just a stage she'll get out of once growth slows down? I want to minimize this behavior now so that when she gets to 4.5 feet I don't have to deal with it.
(I realize there's another thread down at the bottom, but I felt this situation was different enough from that one.)
Thank you!