handling

[KylieT]

Hey guys, so after a very unsuccessful attempt at handling Geordi I need to know where to go from here. I had him taking bugs from forceps the other day and I thought that was a good sign so I tried to handle him and he turned black and tried to get away. I tried the put your finger under his chin and touch his back lightly thing.. so where to go from here or how to correct him hating me now (again.... )

 

[carol5208]

dont touch his back. They do not like that. Make sure he can see your hand. Instead of forceps try using your hand to feed instead. How long have you had your cham by the way?

 

[LeoM]

I'm almost in the same place as you, I'm just getting him to eat from my hand... it was like 2 days ago when he started to do it, and in these days there are some times he wants to eat more from my hand and sometimes he doesntt.... i tried to handle him yesterday, but he keeps running away, i think the key here is patience and ill try to continue hand feeding him more and then try again to handle him....

 

[Solid Snake]

Move to hand feeding from the forceps, then try handling.
I dont remember Geordi's age, but when they are young they seem quite skiddish.

Small, baby, steps.

 

[ryanra22]

Ya same thing happened with mine. He was actually hand feeding for a few days so I let him crawl on my hand and took him out for a second and now he seems super scared of me and wont hand feed!

So I just took the baby step approach and try to offer him some food daily in hopes that he'll become less afraid. He's only 4 months and I'm guessing yours is relatively young so I'm thinking that could play a large role like solid said!

Patience seems to be the key (keep telling myself this

 

[lslcronk]

Patience is the only way...don't try to force it, as you found out it just scares them. It took I think three months for Claude to let me handle him...now the little punk won't stay in his cage! lol Just remember not to do anything to fast or aggressive, trust is huge with these guys.

 

[LucasD]

Does he try and run away when you already have him?

 

[KylieT]

He's bout four months, we've had him for over 2 weeks. I plan on using the forceps cause I cant grab onto the bugs, them fighting me to get away gives me the creeps. I tried winning his affection with medium size meal worms, he took one once, I don't think he likes them. I've just taken the approach that when he starts to come around again I'll let him be a little longer, see how it goes and then try again. I wasn't really touching his back I guess it was more like a light brush on the base of his tail. is that still bad? he didn't hiss or show signs of aggression like when he first got here and another time when I woke him up when he was sleeping with the lights on. He was just very scared. I thought that we were doing really well cause he was taking the bugs and he doesn't run when we go to spray his cage. IDK I'll give it more time and see how he's doing. On the other hand the stress of my trying to touch him didn't scare him out of eating like a pig today.