Betsy's Guinea Pigs

Betsy said:
I've come to the conclusion that Saxon, at some point in his young life before being surrendered to the Rescue, was rough handled by previous owners. He's such a friendly little chap and is fine out in the open in the run and has taught Misty and Bramble it's safe too and they don't run for cover any more. He is always on the hunt for food and will willingly take food from anybody and will say hello to anyone too.

Saxon does not like being picked up or handled in any way. In the evenings when I put him back in the hutch, he will willingly go in the Snuggle Sack Express because he knows he's going straight back in the hutch for veggie dindins and is always the first to go in. However, in the mornings, it's a totally different matter. He sees Misty and Bramble being picked up without a bother and so I was hoping this would help him be less scared. I have tempt him in the Snuggle Sack Express. This usually takes about 3-5 minutes of me trying to coax him in. He needs to get used to being handled in case he needs medication and/or eyedrops. When I get him in the Snuggle Sack Express, I take him to the cuddle chair, take him out, leave the Snuggle Sack Express open on my lap for him to go into when he's had enough of being handled which can be anything from 30 seconds to 2 minutes he always gets Coriander after cuddle time which he inhales then he goes in the run for the day with Misty and Bramble which he loves. My OH discovered him having the zoomies the other day.

I treat him with kindness and respect, as I do with all my piggies, but he's still a scared little piggy when it comes to being handled. I adopted Saxon just over 9 months ago at the end of October last year.
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Moses hates be handled - I think a lot of rescues are terrified and can take months to come around.
It’s really only been since she needed eye drops that Miriam has decided lap time and cuddles are fine.
It took months before I heard chatting from them.
Saxon will eventually come round with your love and patience
 
It seems 3 steps forward and 2 steps back with little Saxon. He now goes into the hidey in the morning without being chased around the hutch (most of the time) but he still isn't keen on being handled at all. I hope he'll come round eventually. He desperately needs his nails cut. I have no chance! When Son No 3 was home to hold him in a piggy burrito I still had no chance! Luckily he's going to stay with Aunty Lily in a couple of weeks and she has more luck with cutting his nails than I do so I'll ask her to do it. He's such a friendly little chap otherwise. I do feel sorry for him as his previous experience of being handled clearly hasn't been a positive one.
 
Almost had a breakthrough with Saxon this morning. He nearly came out of his snugglesack on his own at cuddletime, thought better of it, turned back around and went back in. I gently lifted him out for a quick cuddle until he'd had enough. I feel I am very slowly turning his negative experience of being handled into a positive one. The coriander after cuddles helps too.

OH says I have the patience of a Saint. If and when Saxon decides that I'm not going to hurt him or eat him for dinner it will be fantastic.

I managed to change Lexi from a completely terrified piggy into a confident happy piggy because she understood that I was only going to treat her with respect and love. Saxon is happy and confident except for when being handled. He has to understand that I'll only treat him with respect and love and it'll slowly click in his brain.
 
Today was health check day. All piggies have gained weight or remained the same. All are healthy. For the first time Saxon let me check him over properly for any lumps and bumps we don't know about but should. He was in his snuggle sack complaining bitterly about it and biting the snugglesack which he does when he gets stressed. I cut all of Misty's nails, the nails on Bramble's front feet - she didn't want me to do her back feet so that joyous job is for tomorrow. I had no hope of cutting Saxon's nails. Lily is good at that and as they are having a little holiday there in 10 days so she can do that. Saxon's weight is now very nearly 1200g.
 
Saxon actually let me cut his back nails today without complaining. I know I can't do his front feet if I want to keep my fingers. He's good for Lily as in he leaves her with her fingers intact! Last time she cut his nails, she said that he just looked to see what she was doing. Well with me, he looks and then he is very free with his teeth!

Merab said:
Nice to know that Saxon has a feisty streak 😅
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Oh yes! gotta love a feisty piggy!
 
Saxon wanted to play catch me if you can this morning and refused to go into his snuggle sack for around 5 minutes then wandered in quite happily! He was very content having a cuddle this morning making lots of "I'm really enjoying this" purrs for the first time ever!:yahoo:We had morning cuddles for about 3 minutes and before he decided he'd had enough, I wondered whether he'd let me clip his front nails. I managed to do 3 of them on his right foot before he wriggled too much and wanted to go back in his snuggle sack.

After 10 months of him being really unhappy about being handled I feel he is starting to not mind it quite so much.
 
Betsy said:
Saxon wanted to play catch me if you can this morning and refused to go into his snuggle sack for around 5 minutes then wandered in quite happily! He was very content having a cuddle this morning making lots of "I'm really enjoying this" purrs for the first time ever!:yahoo:We had morning cuddles for about 3 minutes and before he decided he'd had enough, I wondered whether he'd let me clip his front nails. I managed to do 3 of them on his right foot before he wriggled too much and wanted to go back in his snuggle sack.

After 10 months of him being really unhappy about being handled I feel he is starting to not mind it quite so much.
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Aw, lovely 🥰
 
Ramia said:
Can you come tame Chesney?

Go Saxon! Sweet little boy.
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You can't tame a prey animal, they have to learn to trust you. Some never truly trust, some take a while to learn to trust and some trust straight away. If they are adopted, it all depends on how they were handled before they came to you. You need to take it at their pace and be patient, sometimes very, very patient.
 
Misty always has a bum bath a couple of days before she goes on holiday at Aunty Lily's. She was due one next week but I had to bring it forward to this morning. She wasn't very clean "down below". It was more than a quick swipe with a baby water wipe could cope with (thank you Saxon!) so into the bum bath she went. Misty never minds a bum bath and it must make her feel nice and clean again. She needs a bum bath every 6-8 weeks as she is clearly Saxon's favourite wife and because she has spinal arthritis finds it difficult to clean herself up properly after Saxon's attention.
 
Every morning when I go into the garage to see the guinea pigs, Saxon is popcorning away in sheer delight. I'm so happy he feels happy in his home in Betsy Towers with his wifelets Bramble and Misty (favourite wifelet). Yesterday Saxon was licking Misty in the eye. :love: I haven't seen him do this with Bramble.
 
I remember that little Billie used to lick Muffin's eyes. There was a huge age difference between them which is a bit unusual for a "love match" but these two were real sweethearts.
Muffin used to have on and off eye infections before Billie moved in. They stopped with Billie's licking.
 
This morning while I was giving Bramble her morning cuddle, Saxon had a fit of the zoomies. He was in the hutch so he couldn't zoomie as much as he wanted so he had a fit of the popcorns instead! It's lovely to know he's happy to be home after his stay with Aunty Lilli last week.
 
This morning when I went in the garage to get out the piggies and pop them in the run for the day, Saxon started having a fit of the popcorns. When it was his turn to come out, he went in his snuggle sack straight away (first time ever - wonder if it'll happen again tomorrow probably not!) then he didn't have his complaining voice out when I was giving him a cuddle either. It wasn't his "I'm really enjoying this" voice, more of an "I suppose I'll have to just endure this then" voice and he stayed for a cuddle for a few minutes which is good for him as he usually returns to his snuggle sack after about a minute. I'm hoping that this means we have turned a corner and he is beginning to trust me. It took Lovely Lexi 🌈 a year so I was hoping it would be the same for Saxon. Saxon is such a confident and happy chappy in all other ways.
 
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