Duprasi taming issues - Any tips/suggestions appreciated

[stepho]

Hi everyone, 

First post here, and I'm posting because I'm not really sure how to proceed, in terms of taming my duprasi. 

I'm a first-time duprasi (fat-tailed gerbil) owner, and I've had my duprasi Teddy for about a month now. I'm not completely new to small pets-I've had hamsters, hedgehogs, and a rabbit in the past, and I didn't have as much trouble taming them as I do now with my duprasi. 

At the moment, I feed him dried mealworms from my hand every one or two days.


He usually takes them from my palm then runs off with the mealworm (rather than staying on my hand) , but lately he's started biting my hand as well, usually on the fingers where there are no mealworms, so its not a case of mistaking my skin for mealworms. It's not just one bite either, but usually he bites me a few times repeatedly, sometimes it draws a tiny bit of blood, and I try to ignore the bites but usually I move my hand away when he's biting too hard such that it hurts. 

I also make sure to wash my hands with unscented soap every time before I try to interact with him. 

I don't really know how to get to the point where he can feel comfortable sitting in my hands and not bite me. 

If I have to be honest, I feel a bit disappointed as well. 

One main reason why I got a duprasi was because while doing my research, I was under the impression that duprasi were tame and friendly, and apparently never bite, compared to hamsters, and sometimes even fall asleep in your hand! 

But this clearly isn't true (or maybe I just got a duprasi who's the exception??) , as he's been the most bitey pet I've ever had, and the most difficult to tame so far. 

[Markpd]

Hi stepho, welcome to the forum!
If not under the best circumstances! Unfortunately I can't help you as I've not had a Duprasi before, but hopefully betty or others will be able to soon.
But running off after getting the treat is exactly what my 2 gerbils (especially Blake) used to do, right up to their last days! Although from what I gather, usually they grow out of it, just mine didn't! lol. Also, the hand biting has been noted by a small number of gerbil owners too, so even if a duprasi expert isn't at hand, I'm sure someone will be able to help.

I'm just trying to think of questions to ask you, that maybe betty et all will ask you (to get a head start).
How old is Teddy? Was he a rescue or from a petshop? (I suppose the latter is unlikely!). How big is his cage? How deep is his bedding? Is their anything external to his cage that might be stressing him out?

(Hopefully I've asked some useful questions! lol).

Just found another thread here where someone else had the same problem as you! See here.

[stepho]

Hi Mark, thanks for your reply

Thanks for the thread link as well, I actually did see that thread before and decided to make a new post after seeing it.
I think the no sweaty hands and rubbing hands in the bedding too seems like good advice and I'll keep that in mind.

Some questions I have in my head though:
I'm not sure about the neck touching, I feel like he might run away as soon as I try and touch him.

I don't know why Teddy has started biting me lately, but it doesn't seem like he's biting me out of fear like the OP's duprasi in that thread.
Especially since he didn't start biting me until recently, i.e. before, he would grab a mealworm and run away, and now, he'd grab a mealworm, run away, repeat this a few times (I usually have around 8-10 mealworms in my hand), then randomly just start biting me a few times, usually until it hurts, then I take my hand out of the cage.

Thanks for reassuring me that this behaviour isn't unheard of though.

To answer the rest of the questions:

-Teddy was around 6 weeks old when we got him, according to the breeder. This should make him around 2 months old now at this point?

-I got him from a breeder, which I found by emailing the Gerbil Society U.K. and asking if they had any contacts for duprasi breeders

-The cage is around 70cm x 60cm x 30cm

-The bedding is about 6 inches deep

-I don't think there's anything external stressing him out, his cage is in my room next to my bed, which is pretty quiet. Sometimes when I make sudden movements when sitting on the bed though, e.g. grab a glass of water from the bedside table, he runs away and hides

[LilyandDaisy]

It's possible he associates your hand with mealworms and expects it to always contain them. I think duprasi might have worse eyesight than Mongolian gerbils and certainly rely more on scent (like all rodents) so he possibly doesn't distinguish much between your palm and your fingers - it all smells like you.

My experience with duprasi is limited to looking after somebody else's for about a month but they to be much more excited by animal protein than Mongolian gerbils (especially live, moving insects maybe?) and in combination with the poor eyesight, I quickly realised that feeding insects from my hands or indeed having my hands anywhere near an insect and a duprasi was a bad idea because he would just lunge and snap! So I just used to put them in a dish or jar lid.

You could not feeding from your hands for a few weeks and see if that helps?

I have found similar with dwarf hamsters (which are quite similar to duprasi in many ways) - feeding from hands can sometimes lead to biting.

[stepho]

Thanks for your advice, I think you're right that maybe he's associating my hands with food.

I'm not sure how to get him on my hands without the mealworms though?

I haven't tried just scooping him up yet, but 1. I'm not sure if I'll catch him since he's really fast/might burrow under the bedding , 2. he might bite me really hard , 3. he might become scared of my hands?

Am I supposed to just put up with the biting? I tried gently blowing his fur whenever he bites, which worked on the hamsters I had, but doesn't work on him :/

[LilyandDaisy]

Have you tried letting him walk into a jar or tube, taking him out of the enclosure that way and letting him walk around on your lap? That would usually be my preferred way of picking up a hamster for the first time as they tend to react better to being scooped up outside their cage rather than in. What I usually do with a hamster is once they are comfortable walking around on my lap, start stroking their back to see how they react. Sometimes they will flinch away, which means they aren't ready to be scooped up yet. If they're ok with being stroked, I try picking them up but put them back down if they struggle. Duprasi being fairly hamster-like, this method might work well for them too.

Personally I only blow on an animal if they're biting hard and hanging on and I need them to let go. It often works well to surprise them into letting go but I don't think it's very useful as a deterrent.

[stepho]

That sounds like a good idea, I'll try that, thank you.

The taming process does seem a bit confusing with different advice from different people, but maybe it's just a case of some methods work for some pets and others do better with other methods, and I'll just have to find one that works well for Teddy.

[Markpd]

Yea that makes sense, suck it and see method

[betty]

Yes - certainly the jar/container method seems to be the best one found in the years since that original post.

Doops can be very fast and hidey as youngsters - especially the first few weeks in to a new home. From continuing feedback it seems as though with pups - the best method is active handling outside of their enclosure from day one - rather than leaving them to settle in for a few days. And as suggested above - feeding live food to doops is best not done with fingers - they really are super short sighted and seem to almost switch to panic or frenzy mode when they smell live food (very much so with morio worms).

The advice given in the original post was meant to assume that your doop was not in their enclosure - doops are most sociable and cuddly when outside of their enclosure - so handling when young should be done mostly from a place already outside of their enclosure.

Ideally, each time before play-time, you want to allow them a short while to know you are in their enclosure, then allow them to walk into a jar or other suitable container and then safely carry them in this to the chosen handling or play zone. Once there (with at least one simple, wide and open ended tunnel as they feel safer when they are underneath things) this is where the taming can begin. Get them out of their enclosure several times a day this way (for around 15-20 minute sessions), and gradually build up your vocal and physical presence each time. Avoid leaving your hands and fingers around on the ground waiting for them to walk on to them (as this may elicit a test nip) and instead: go for a confident full body lift up of only a few inches and immediately put all 4 feet back down onto your other (open) hand and interact with them there - low and open - and let them walk off in their own time. Repeat this catch and plonk several times each session to familiarise them with it.

After a few days of this you should feel a lot more confident in your interactions and so move on into the types of handling you would usually expect from a normal doop. Only when they are grown ups will they actively come to you for interaction - but in their enclosure - at least 50% of pups will naturally hide under or behind something once you move near them or enter their enclosure, and yet more will hunker down once they know you are after them...

Do join the FB duprasi group as there is loads of advice there and I think someone was promising to write a taming guide as it is quite a busy topic - shy babies.

[stepho]

Thanks for all the advice Could you please share the link to the FB duprasi group?

[betty]

Absolutely: Duprasi FB Group

[stepho]

I've joined the FB group, and also as an update, I took him out of his enclosure and sat in a playpen with him, and was finally able to pet him for the first time (his fur is super super soft, like the softest I've ever felt, which is interesting as I did put out a sand bath for him in his enclosure but never seen him use it?). I will try scooping him up once I feel more confident myself (honestly all the biting before has made me a bit nervous)

He does seem much less aggressive outside of the enclosure.

Thanks again for the advice everyone, that was really helpful

[betty]

Fantastic news for sure - and yes - they generally are super soft once poofed up on sand!

I know the feeling about confidence after having a biter - but it will gradually wear off as you handle them more and more. Generally avoiding any extended 'holding' for a while and just go for the confident cup and place - and you'll see that sometimes they even just stay sitting on your hand as they know what's it's like on there.

How exciting - so happy for you.

[betty]

Hey stepho - hows the doop wrangling been doing?

Hopefully there are plenty of cuddles about the place since you last updated us.