Hi,
>Don't raise your hand until he's used to you. Put a few seeds on your hand, lay
>it flat on the bedding, and stay still so as not to frighten him with sudden
>movements. When he'll sit on your hand and eat, you can try raising your hand
>slightly. If he jumps off, wait a few days and try again. If he seems okay,
>raise it a bit more each time you do it and eventually he'll jump right on,
>even without treats.
I used this method to handtame Scully and Mulder, my first gerbils. Read it
on a site somewhere. In the beginning, they were afraid to get to the hand,
but after not so long, they even stayed on my hand eating the seed while I
was moving. But they were getting really fat, so I cut them down of seeds,
also because of the hand=food problem. But now, if I put my hand in, Scully
comes over, sniffs, no seed so she's off again. Mulder doesn't even bother
to come. I'm trying to re-tame them now without using seeds, but they just
don't come if there's nothing interesting on my hand. So I try to do it with
as few seeds as I can. ;o)
Sarah
