>From: LEENKNEGT-LIOEN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: LEENKNEGT-LIOEN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: C: Asocial gerbil
>Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2000 18:03:04 +0200
>I have two gerbils, Scully is very tame, she likes to crawl on to my
>shoulder. But Mulder is very, very afraid of me. He barely comes out of his
>hole when I want to play with them. So it is hard to tame him. I always try
>to make him get on my hand by putting some oats on it, but then he runs to
>my hand, pick as fast as he can some oats and runs back to his hole.
>Should I just be patient and try to tame him or is there an other way?
I had a VERY asocial gerbil, Zoe, gotten for lonely cage mate. Zoe was
terrified of me, every time I put my hand in the tank, she'd jump several
inches straight up in the air, then run and hide!
I spent several weeks working with her (personally never did the food in
hand thing, I didn't want to create conflict induced stress, like "Food
GOOD, hand BAD, food or hand, food or hand....oh dear!" ) I would wait till
I saw Zoe out of her nest, then lay my hand, palm up, in the tank and just
leave it there. She'd freak,(of course)jump several inches straight up,
then run and hide. But I did this as often as I could and after some time
she became used to it enough that she'd stay far away, but not hide anymore.
After more time, she began sniffing and nibbling my fintertips. Now she
climbs into my hand willingly.
She's still VERY timid (much more so than her cage mate) but SO much better
than she was. I almost lost patience several times, but it was worth it.
She's very sweet.
Hope this helps.
Ronni
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