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Thread: When do they start to bite?

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Default When do they start to bite?

    Today I was working on the computer so Maggie was running around the apartment. After she has finished attacking my hands on the keyboard she usually goes to the bathroom and hangs out on the towel rack for a quick nap. Our cat Spooky (aka the best hunter on the face of the planet) somehow managed to sneak into the apartment (he lives upstairs, I live in the basement) and wander into the bathroom without me noticing. I heard Maggie SCREAMING at the top of her lungs and ran to see what was wrong and as I came towards the bathroom Spooky slunk past in that "sorry Mom" head down, eyes up sort of way. They have never been allowed to meet as I a) don't want to risk it, he can't be trusted and b) don't want her to lose her fear of predators, which she proved today with her screaming is still well in tact.

    Poor dear, she was panicked! Tail flipping, alarm calling for about 20 minutes. I wanted her to calm down so I grabbed her while she was thrashing about and put her in her cage so she could hide in her nest. In all of that, shouldn't she have bit me?! I mean I reached inbetween the towels where she was hiding, grabbed her and pulled her out, then held her long enough to try to stroke her face, realize that was not going to happen right about now cause her brain had gotten up and left the building and then carry her to her cage. In all of that I would have expected to get bit, but she never even tried?! Not that I'm complaining, I'm quite glad that there was no blood shed (by ANYONE thank goodness!) but shouldn't she be defending herself at this point?

    How old are they before they start nipping at the hand that feeds?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: When do they start to bite?

    I think it is an individual thing. Mister P is pulling in on a year old and has never bitten me (except through the gloves when we are wrestling, and that would not be hard enough to draw blood, even without the gloves). The one situation where I would get bitten is if I tried to mess with him when he has a nut - he is very nut aggressive - but I have the good common sense not to walk into THAT particular spinning propeller!

    But I am sure he is capable, and may bite another person, but I'm mama, and so are you...

  3. #3
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    Default Re: When do they start to bite?

    Freya (12wks old) was biting harder a few weeks ago when she first started wrestling with us but has since learned not to bite as hard. When she's threatened she's more likely to tail flick and grumble than bite.

    She bit once when she climbed on my stepmother and the stepmonster started to panic and it passed to Freya who bit when I grabbed her but she calmed down immediately.

    My wife has been taking her to work with her since she was a pinky and she has been playing with all the people there (she works at a vet hospital) but the past couple days she has been nipping at people she, until this week, was playing with.

    So it's definitely an individual thing. Maybe little Maggie was so scared she was dazed and with your hand coming into her hideout she smelled you so didn't bite. Or was too tired after the ordeal to bite.

    Good idea though to keep them separate for the fear of predators thing. Looks like she's still scared of them at this point.
    The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." Mahatma Gandhi

    Former Assistant Director of The Care Foundation in Apopka, Florida
    http://www.theCAREfoundation.org

    Surgical Veterinary Technician - VCA Animal Hospital, Spfld. MA

    ~Freya~

  4. #4
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    Default Re: When do they start to bite?

    Ike, who will be 2 in August, has bitten me so many times I've lost count. Sometimes he just gets into a funk for a while and terrorizes anything in his path.. when he does bite it's all the way through the skin, blood spewing everywhere. Sorry to be so graphic but it's the reality of the bite. He has his 'play nibbles' when we're wrestling or playing chase and sometimes he will get a little carried away and bite a little harder than normal. When he starts chattering his teeth I know it's time for a 'time out' back in his cage until he settles down, but when he does his alarm call or is freaked out he will scratch more than anything or just run to me for comfort.

    I should mention that Ike doesn't want to be released, we've tried - and so has a very experienced member here to get him to go free. He just doesn't want it, so I have to tolerate the biting.

    Jessica & JuJu (aka Ike)




    Momma's Doodle Bug ^


    "The winds of Heaven blow between the ears of a horse"

  5. #5
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    Default Re: When do they start to bite?

    Here is what I learned from Jackie (squirrel). When paniced DO NOT try to grab. They deem you as a threat as well an will attack. Talula is not that old and tolerates me but I can tell she wants to do the same when paniced. So I now offer a nut of treat to get them to come to me and relax before I pick her up. Not bitting this way.
    Almost everything in this post is misspelled

    JAQUELINE (RELEASED) AND TALULA (RELEASED)

  6. #6
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    Default Re: When do they start to bite?

    My daughters squirrel will be 2 in August and has never bitten her even when giving sub q fluids for a week. She fusses and can be hateful to others though including me! She has a youngster she is rehabbing and was hoping to release but he wont release. He will chase her and will jump and play. You will be holding him and he will reach down and bite! Looks like the female (Fox) would bite instead of the male (Gray maybe or whatever is in W. Va). She is working some in KY now and I go visit them. The boy has bitten the fire out of me. He was attacking my knee trying to bite it while I was setting down and then started playing bouncing off it and then running and hitting it doing flips over and over. He's a goober! Kim

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