Ok i got my two sugar baby girls on sunday. I let them warm up to their cage the first nite but i sat there and talked to them and stuff. Than the next day i took out their pouch that they slept in and put it into the sissy pouch to carry them around with me. They did crab a lot from time to time when i peaked my head in to see how they were doing. I've been doing that every day so far except they switched pouches to one i already had instead of the one they came in and that one is bigger than the sissy so i couldnt put it in the sissy. Therefore i just carry that around under my sweat shirt all day in their cage pouc. They don't crab that much at me anymore when i go to offer them a treat or to see how they are doing. Everynite i stick my hands in the cage so they can explore them. They seem to bite almost everything in the cage so of course they bit me a bunch of times but never crabbed at my hands. Gemina is about 3 months old and Adeline is 9 weeks old. I havent been able to do tent time with them just yet cuz i think they are too scared but i feel that if i can get them to come out during tent time and be able to explore my whole body and get used to the smell even more than that would help the bonding process. Well anyways I dont know it thats the right thing to do or i should just wait. I leave a peice of fleece in with them that i had tucked in my shirt for a few days so they can get better with my smell. I also talk to them a lot. Last night Adeline ripped apart my hands lol. Not really made me bleed but it sure did hurt. lol I didn't pull away tho just moved my hand around so she could bite a less hurting place. Since she likes to get the thin skin on my knucles and the skin in btw my fingers and that hurts!. I dn if im pushing to hard for them to accept me or not. Or am i on the right track? I figured they were biting me out of just "testing me out" but i'm afraid they aren't going to stop biting me. When i put my hands in the cage to fix something like their dishes, (Even tho they are clipped to the cage some how they seem to get one side off) Adeline will climb on my hand and arm and than jump off so they don't seem to be scared of me. Gemina will explore them but not as much as the little one. Im just concerned if im pushing them too hard or should i back off some more. Any advice and encouragement is appreciated. I would love to experience out of cage time with them b/c i don't want them to get bored just being in their cage even though they have ALOT of toys. Could I just sit in the tent with them untill they wake up and decide to explore? Well thats all for now. Thx for any replies in advance.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/heartpump.gif" alt="" />Danielle

Well, it seems to me you are doing well so far. Don't get discouraged! It sometimes takes a while. Mine took turns biting me for a while. The only time I really get a 'bad' reaction is when I am cutting Gus' nails. Relly now sits there and watches me do it! It took a while to get to that point though! I would say keep doing what you are with talking to them in the cage and giving them fleece that smells like you. I wish you the best! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I don't think it would hurt to have tent time. They will probably crawl all over you after a little while. You can take their pouch in there with you so they can go back in it when they are ready. It sounds like you are a dedicated "parent". Keep up the good work and be patient. It is WELL WORTH IT !

Ela was biting and lunging etc. Once I started tent time, it was much better and she only crabbed at me once, a few days ago, when I wouldn't let her out of the pouch when we were downstairs around the cats. (It was time for play, so she thought.) As for the knuckles, I suggest making a fist when they try to bite them. Tighter skin is harder to get hold of. Take a few blankies (small pieces fof fleece) to bed with you and sleep with the bllankies beneath you so your scent is on them. Put one or two in the pouch with the babies. During tent time, take a book or something and lay down. Let them crawl all over you. Oh and wear something relatively thick and something you don't mind getting a little damaged by nails snagging cloth etc. They WILL pee and poop on you. It is inevitable.

I think that's it...

I am new to GC and a new glider owner. So I am no expert. There were two things told to me that really has helped. One don't offer them your fingers. Offer them the back of your hand. Two if when you do offer them your finger to feed them licky treats, if they tend to bite on your finger, wear a thimble. Mine won't eat licky treats but I loved that one anyway.lol

One word of caution about tent time from a fellow newbie. I have done alot of tent time over the last 6 weeks, which has been great fun. I only had one problem with that... getting her out of the tent and back into her cage. She was never done playing...lol On the rare occasion that she did get tired she would not go back into her pouch, she would go to sleep under a toy or under the sheet. I tried using a teaser to get her to go into her pouch. Didn't work. I couldn't even brib her with food. Since she wouldn't let me hold her yet without eating me alive and causing trama to her, this created a little problem. I finally had to drag the cage into the tent. She would get into the cage to play on her own...when she was good and ready....lol Luckily my tent was big and my cage at the time would fit in it.

I'm sure more experienced owners would not have this problem but as a fellow newbie I suggest you have a plan "B" in mind just in case. Maybe something you know they will want to get into that will contain them.

I also found that if I put too many toys in there for her to play with, she would ignore me. Since I was trying to get her to bond with me not her toys, I cut back on some of the toys that we couldn't play with together.

btw..I think that if you come back 6 weeks from now and read your post again you will be surprised how much they will have changed since you wrote it. I was. = )

Jackie

thanks everyone for your advice, yea Simple i was thinking about that cuz they arent used to my hand i was wondering how i would be able to get them back to their cage. Their cage is way too big to put into the tent. At 10 i put their pouch that they were in in the tent. They were still sleepin.. I carried them around all day and was able to pet them and look at them and they didnt crab at me once. Anyways in the tent they didnt come out and i stayed in there for 2 hours. They woke up a few times and i tryed to coax them out with some honey dew and yogurt but they just ate it and went back to sleep. Than i finally put them in the cage so they could come out and eat. I just had my hands in the cage and Addie who i've just renamed lil devil lol was crawling on my hand and scraping her teeth which didnt really hurt or anything and like Zayrah said i put my hand in a fist so she couldnt get a good grip to bite but THE LIL DEVIL found a spot on my pinky.. and took a nice piece of skin off.. lol i shuddered on that bite. Its the first time she ever bit that hard to break the skin. I'm suprised i didnt scare her when i shook as she bit me. Than i calmy put her on the shelf in the cage so i could clean the cut. The thing is i dn why shes doing it. She doesnt crab or hiss at me. She voluntarily comes to my hand. I guess she loves to bite me. She doesnt lunge or anything and i get so excited when she climbs on me but than she goes and bites me and im just like whyy. I wash my hands before i handle them b.c i have dogs and i was thinking maybe she doesnt like the smell of them or anything else i touched previously to her. Gemina doesnt bite that much but she also isnt very interested in me. I just cant wait to get past the biting stage. i offer licky treats all the time. Sometimes she'll even go to a finger that doesnt have a treat on it to look to bite. I know they'll come around and as much as she likes to bite me i am not gonna stop trying. Hopefully she'll grow out of it. Maybe shes maturing?
thx guys you all help a lot!

Does your soap have a scent to it? It could be the soap you are using. Try an unscented soap if possible.

yea i will try to find sum unscented soap to c if that works. Anyways as an update, since my hands took a lot tonite i decided to cover my hands with my sweatshirt and both of them crawled on my arm and addie deff waits for my fingers to pop out lol.. she keeps looking around like "where'd you hide them?" She loves to crawl around on my arm and she even bites the shirt from time to time. As soon as my hand pops into the cage shes after it tho. Is that a good sign? lol should i just let her bite me more as long as she likes to come to my hand? hmm i deff wouldnt mind taking the pain as long as it doesnt last forever and she likes me. So what do u think? Does she actually want to come to me or just eat me? lol. thanks everyone.. your so supportive!!!!!