Posted by Lex on March 15, 2003 at 23:31:06:
In Reply to: Bonding troubles/Shaking?? posted by Michelle39 on February 24, 2003 at 08:40:00:
Hi......
First of all the shivering thing is normal, so don't worry about that.
Dormice do not tend to bond with their owners so much unless they were handled regularly as young pups. It sounds as though whoever you got it from did not handle him much. They will calm down eventually though, and become bonded with some work in a very similar way to sugargliders. Do some research on glider bonding....dormice will respond to it in much the same way. Also.....they are nocturnal, which means they only want to out and about when it is dark, which may be why he seems antisocial. Bright light hurts their eyes, so if you dim the lights when you handle him, he might become much more manageable. A lot of people mistake their response to run and hide from bright light as a fear response. Also, try getting him accustomed to a shirt pocket or bonding pouch, so he can be close to you and feel secure and have your scent with him.
:I recently purchased a baby African Dormouse. When we brought it home, we realized that it would be able to escape through the bars on the cage, but we put it in the cage to see if he would try to run away. It ran straight up one tube, and would not come out. We tried for hours to lure it out, and I think this might have tramatized all of us a bit (lol). We finally got a cage for it that it could not escape out of. Anyway, it seems really antisocial now, and I'm not sure if that's normal or if it's now scared of me. Does anybody have any tips for bonding? I hold it a lot, but no progress seems to be being made.
:Also, my dormouse will shiver, even in its warm cage. Sometimes it will shiver in my hands, and sometimes it doesn't. Is this normal or is there something wrong with it??
:Thanks,
:Michelle
