Bonding With Our Guinea Pigs!

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Munksmum

Munksmum

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi all

We've had our piggies Dolores and Applejack for just shy of a week. They're 11 weeks old and housed outdoors.

Each day (from day three) we bring them indoors for a little bit of lap time/handling. This is with me and my nearly-seven-year-old daughter. Just for 15/20 minutes.

Any advice on making this easier on the little guys? They're quite shy. We've had some wheeking but I'm unsure if it's happy or scared noises.

To prevent escape we're putting a blanket in a small paddling pool and my daughter sits in there. We use a towel as a shelter at one side which they do sit under and we put hay from their bedding there for a familiar smell.

My daughter is responsible for providing food at all meal times as well as treats so we're hoping that will help them to learn to trust her.

Are we doing the right things?

Thanks x
 
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We managed to get a couple of videos of the piggies on my daughters lap. From web research I'm taking it these are little alarm calls and Applejack is telling us how afraid she is? Dolores stays quite still - she's the quieter one we've realised.

I think you can tell they're scared by their body language too. (The second video has a hand over due to us trying not to scare them any more).

Any feedback would be great xx

 
Aww they are really cute. I am not an expert with Guinea pig noises. But it just sounds like exploration/ curious noises. I don't think they are angry, they may be scared as everything is new to them but you are doing great with them. When a guinea pig is angry they usually chatter their teeth, sometimes they rumble and wiggle their bottoms (usually males do this to each other and they call it rumble strutting)
 
Don't worry, it can take a long time for them to come out of their shells, one of mine has take nearly a year.
Some pigs will always be skittish, that can just be their personality but perserve and they will at least be used to you :)
 
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