Chin Nibbles

Paws4Chins · Jan 24, 2011

How can I tell if my Chins are nibbing to groom me, showing affection, or trying to bite so I will not take them from cage or to put them down. They do a slight nibble on my finger when I am holding them and sometimes when I am trying to stretch them in their cage. When I hold them I don't force them to remain as I know they don't like being held. I have read that you should ignore the bite and go on as nothing happened. I do move my finger a way but continue with what I am doing. I don't want this nibbling to become full fledged biting and I am unsure what they are trying to communicate. I also don't want this behavior to become worse. It would be nice if I can stop it all together but I don't think so based on what I have read. It is true the Chins are new to us so maybe it is just that they are not bonded yet. They are 7 and 8 mo old so maybe it is the teenage ill-behavior I am seeing.

caiti · Jan 24, 2011

I'm not really sure. I just register biting as anything that hurts decently and/or breaks skin and produces bleeding. So far as I've seen, the only way to avoid this is to not put your finger near their mouth. I tried the whole ignoring it thing until one time I realized my chin was literally eating my flesh from my knuckle...that couldn't have been good.

I think sometimes they nibble with no intention of biting with substantial force. I have no idea whether they are showing affection or not though. I guess I can't really tell until they've biten/nibbled me whether it was aggressive or not. I wonder if anyone has figured out a way to sway the behavior, but I doubt it as well.

Chin_Up_Sunshine · Jan 24, 2011

Okay, I don't have a lot of experience, but I can safely say I've experienced each of these different "bites". The aggressive bite was when we first got him and he had nothing to chew on- you can tell because those teeth are sharp and it will break the skin if they mean to be aggressive. Plus, my boys at least, when they don't want to be scritched will hop away and actively push my fingers away (which is still adorable!).
When they groom me, it's a different sort of thing- similar to a light tugging and I sort of equate it as flossing if that makes any sense.
Other nibbles are from what I understand, mostly just sort of their way of identifying things. Snakes "taste the air" and chins "nibble" and I don't think the nibbling ever really goes away from what I understand. Sort of a "how do you taste today" nibbling that seems to be just reassurance to the chin.

Paws4Chins · Jan 24, 2011

Thanks for explaining that nibbles are like tasting and that is how Chins explore things. Makes a lot of sense. I do think this is what they are doing. They have never aggressively bit me yet and hope they never will. I just kinda of wanted to be assured that it is not a behavior that will escalate with time or if I don't pull away.

Kaygin · Feb 26, 2011

an odd thing happened recently where if my hand is in the cage my chin would half sit on my hand and gently nibble at my knuckle never braking skin but ever so gently nibble on it as if its trying to groom my hand I dont know if i should take it as a bonding moment so i leave it there for a while and see what happens im just curious as if its a bad thing or not.