samedi 22 septembre 2018

9 YO male has started divebombing and nipping partner's feet

Hi there! I'm usually quite good at understanding chinnie language and cues, but I'm completely stumped on this one, plus, I've never had a biter!

The issue: For some reason, every month or so, my puff Stitch will have a day where he'll dart after my partner's feet and bite them, usually when they're walking. Not hard enough to break skin, but hard enough to hurt. It's definitely not a grooming nibble, and he's never done this to me or anyone else that I know of. He's extremely persistent with it, we have to put him back in his house to stop it because he will not be distracted! We can't figure out anything different on the days he does this. Most frustrating of all, we also can't figure out what feeling is behind it, even if it's playful or aggressive! He likes to play chase with me, but never chases me back. He's started doing this since I moved back in with my partner 8 months ago after Stitch and I were out of state for a few months.

Background info: My partner and I have had Stitch for around 3 years, we're his third home. He's very human social, and as far as we know, he's never been abused (though the family we adopted him from didn't know much about his original home). My partner and I have lived together since before we got him, with one aforementioned time. He's much closer to me, and I interact with him the most. He has a Flying Saucer wheel, tons of toys, a 2 story FN, and gets around 8 hours of out of cage time hanging out in our room with us. My partner and Stitch have never had any real negative interactions; he's ran into both of our feet while we've been walking a few times before and got a bump to his side, but we both have bumped him only once or twice. They're less confident with animals than I am.

Has anyone ever dealt with this? I'm so lost, I don't want to make him feel punished by putting him back in his house if it's a fear/insecurity rooted stuff, but my partner literally has to wrap themselves in a blanket to protect themselves if we don't put him in his cage when he's like this!

Any advice on what this could be and tips on discouraging it?


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