Alhays Posted - Nov 20 2021 : 09:20:51 PM
New here. We are about three weeks into having our little guy Taz, he came to us young without much handling. This evening I brought him out into his bonding bag for brunch. He fell asleep in his bag while my hand was in his bonding bag resting beside him and while I was petting him after he finished his snack. I feel this is the most comfortable he has felt so far and it's so rewarding. I'm hoping he will get used to my hands being near and come to know them as a safe place. I have made this a slow process trying to be as mindful as possible about the location and shape of my hands whenever near him. He loves to greet us at the cage and will even show us all he can do on his wheel. The other day while my son was by his cage talking to him he ran to look at my son and then went to his wheel and ran for a minute and jumped off and ran back to my son. From there we praised him in low but excited voices and I said Taz go again show us again. He went back to his wheel again! Afterward he ran back to the cage to look at my son as if prideful about his recent run. Again, we praised, and I repeated the same thing, go again show us again Taz and he did this about 8 times. We are new to sugar gliders and really have implemented verbal/reward training with him same as we do our dogs but being only as close as he feels comfortable. All the while, questioning am I doing everything needed to bond with him correctly. I don't force and try to meet him where he's at as far as comfort but at the same time carefully establish dominance as his caretaker with a Stern "no bite" when he would bite. Those bites have turned into little nibbles occasionally when a finger is offered up. We started from day one making a smacking noice with our lips before approaching his cage or his pouch so that he would start to recognize that as symbol we were close and we are about to interact with him. Now he wakes to that noise and if he is not ready to wake up he will crab at us to let him sleep. We tell him don't be a crabby patty and let him finish his sleep most times. Again, first rodeo at this but tonight makes me feel like I'm doing something right and I really hope he continues to be that comfortable. As I'm typing this, he continues to sleep in his bonding bag on my chest, I made the smacking noise and he woke up crabbing the longest and loudest he's done since the very first day. I'm thinking it just startled him not waking up in his normal pouch, I gave him a couple of pebbles of food as a treat and covered him with his blanket and he calmed right down, munching away. This experience has been interesting and fun to watch his personality blossom. He recognizes my daughters voice (as the one who always brings his plate full of yummy foods) and will many times poke his head out of his pouch or run to the cage door when he hears her talking in my room. I would love any pointers or tips anyone would like to share for us to try moving forward. I'm really hoping we are on the right path to getting our little guy acclimated as one of the family. #128147; |
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