biter

[Brigo0]

soooooo Hamlet and I are doing good. He only balls up when I pick him up because he doesn't really like that but he's been sleeping on me and he loves my lap and he likes to explore, but we have a problem: he is biting! I don't have to do anything he'll be having his play time and he'll come right up to my hand and bite me and I've tried to make myself not smell, but he still bites and then if I hold him its like heaven for him because he has full access so I've been holding him with a shirt since I got him. urgh it is just stressing me out it doesn't really hurt (well sometimes it does) but he just shouldn't be doing it and I've washed with unscented soap and stuff and then tonight I came home from the pool and he was even biting my legs. I've blown on his face. I've said no. I've pushed for him to release. is he just always going to be a biter? ok now this isn't making sense, but I'm sure you all understand what I'm saying.

HELP ME!

[tacotac]

My former hedgie Stitch used to do that too, and I don't know why. It's like they want to be mean or something. Once she started, she didn't want to stop. :(

[hemi_mygirl]

Hmmm. Maybe you frightened him somehow, or the chlorine from the pool really attracted him. Hedgies are known to be attracted to the weirdest things...tobacco, soap...I bet chlorine taste would attract them as well.

You could always hop in the shower and try to wash off the smell. Or just be patient and keep reprimanding him. He probably doesn't understand what he is doing wrong when you probably taste very good to him.

[razzle]

Sometimes it's a phase they go through and they eventually stop on their own. Sounds like Hamlet is just nipping at you and not biting to hurt. And they CAN bite hard if they want to...or they can just nip to scare you. It could be that you smell interesting...or he's just being a brat! ;) At least that's how I took it when Razzle nipped at me a couple times. It was a warning saying, "leave me alone", since his quills, hissing and popping didn't deter me. But I just kept picking him up and playing with him, and eventually the nipping stopped.

[illinidairychic]

I've gotten warning nips from Bandit when I mess with his toes...but he gets them soo poopy!!, I've also noticed if I'm feeding mealies sometimes they will lunge at a finger or two even if I stopped feeding them mealies a good 5 minutes ago. Otherwise I've had a few annoint off of my clothing, where they nip and tug at it and then annoint all over. They seem to do that once or twice and then they are happy. Sorry I don't have any more suggests and I can't really tell you why he enjoys your fingers so much.

[Brigo0]

lol well thanks everyone for all that! Today he wasn't too nippy until we were laying on my bed and he discovered my hair. Could it be the shampoo that I'm using that tastes good? He started licking then biting then trying to climb it. It was amusing until it came time to make sure all of the hair was off of him. He's such a pain sometimes I love it.

I suppose that I'm just going to have to hope that I don't taste good although I would prefer a different solution.

[hijo]

I have a question Kinda about this too. Poke when she annoints, she bites and tugs alot (she barely licks the object). I'm trying to get her to stop nipping at my finger when she wants to annoint off of it so I blow on her when she nips. Should I also Blow when she nips on other objects too? Thanks!

HIJO :)

[razzle]

I have a question Kinda about this too. Poke when she annoints, she bites and tugs alot (she barely licks the object). I'm trying to get her to stop nipping at my finger when she wants to annoint off of it so I blow on her when she nips. Should I also Blow when she nips on other objects too? Thanks!

HIJO :)

No, it's fine & natural for Poke to bite other objects....just not fine to bite you. So if she only gets blown on when she bites YOU, hopefully she'll make the association that it's ok to bite her toys or blankies, but not daddy!

[hijo]

okay thanks....I was worried that I might confuse her cute little mind... :dunno: Typical paranoidness of hedgie ownershipe :)

HIJO