Question about my new Babies...

[petlover]

My knowledge of babies behavior patterns are limited so i wanted to run a couple of things by you guys just for peace of mind.
The boys who are 5 weeks are constantly fighting... Playing or not is anyones guess. its been suggested to me that they are playing but their seems to be alot of eeping going off.
The boys are two totally different personalities.. one is laid back and the other is energetic.
Usually their squabbles are food related but they also fight at other times too.
Im not too worried about it at the moment because no blood is shed and its probablys nothing more than rough playing but i wanted to put out some feelers about it.
Also.. My fingers seem to be a tasty treat for them when i put them in the cage. i make sure i wash my hands before handling them because of the scent of the other pets and of course food but they enjoy a nibble and a lick each time.
I take my hand away when they nibble and say no but i might aswell be speaking double dutch for the notice they take of me. :lol:
Again, im not too worried about it because they dont hurt at the moment but in time they will so i wondered if there was something i need to be teaching them now or is this perfectly normal too.?
Any advice is much appreciated.

Yvonne & Barry x

 

[jorats]

Yep perfectly normal. Those babies aren't fighting at all. They are playing and sometimes they play hard. When they nip you, they are just checking. You can correct them if you want, by simply removing your hand.

 

[user 78]

As Jo said, perfectly normal behavior. They're training for the days when they're going to try and establish dominance over each other, and learning proper ratiquette while playing as hard as they can. Babies are hilarious to watch, so get some popcorn and enjoy it.

If their nibbles seem to be more than a grooming thing, as in they take an actual nip without licking, you can try eeping at them. I push the hand they're nipping towards them and eep. Doesn't have to be an earth shattering sound, just loud enough to get their attention. If they're licking and doing little tiny nibbles, it's just grooming. They like you enough to want to keep you clean, is how I think of it.

 

[Dahlas]

My babies play rough at times and there is squeaking but it is all in fun....they roll, wrestle, chase and squeak...it is so fun to watch and sometimes it gets rough............as for the finger nibbling a little while ago they where awful........nipping and chewing my fingers......eeping didn't seem to bother them so I would leave my hand in the cage but take my fingers out of their mouths and say "gentle" If they licked they got to keep the finger.......I would do this a lot...off and on as much as I could. They are 5 1/2 weeks now and it is much better........they do lots more sniffing and licking then they do nibbling......

 

[Willow Bean]

Emma and Maverick were nibblers when we got each of them. What worked really well for me was to squeak by sucking in air like making a kiss kiss sound. Not the whole kiss but just the sound at the beginning of the kiss. Hope that makes sense. But everytime that they nibble or I even feel teeth I squeak and that seems to be helping immensely. I can put my fingers in with all four girls now going crazy on my hand with noses and tongues but at first touch of teeth I squeak and they stop. I play it as 4 squeaks and hands out, play time with the hand is over! ^_^ Hope that helps!