Conflicting Advice, please help

[VictoriaGriff]

Hi, we have recently bought 2 male Guinea pigs. They have been with us now for 3 days but have hardly seen them, which is 'normal' i suppose for the first couple of days. They do occasionally come out for food & water and if I'm very still they will venture out of there bed. I've been talking to them continuously and have been putting treats like parsley & dandelion leaves in so they associate me with food but they are still so shy any advice?
The other thing is I have had conflicting Advice on what they should have for bedding - at the moment they have a layer of sawdust and then lots of straw to hide in, is this wrong? I'm just a little concerned that it is not right for them! I would use a fleecey type material but I'm worried they will get too hot in it as it's 27 degrees + here at the moment. Any advice would be fab. Thank you

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, we have recently bought 2 male Guinea pigs. They have been with us now for 3 days but have hardly seen them, which is 'normal' i suppose for the first couple of days. They do occasionally come out for food & water and if I'm very still they will venture out of there bed. I've been talking to them continuously and have been putting treats like parsley & dandelion leaves in so they associate me with food but they are still so shy any advice?
The other thing is I have had conflicting Advice on what they should have for bedding - at the moment they have a layer of sawdust and then lots of straw to hide in, is this wrong? I'm just a little concerned that it is not right for them! I would use a fleecey type material but I'm worried they will get too hot in it as it's 27 degrees + here at the moment. Any advice would be fab. Thank you

Hi and welcome!

Can you please specify whether your guinea pigs are living indoors or in a hutch?

Please bring your piggies indoors and keep them as cool as possible; if necessary use your bathtub for day time camping in this heat. Do NOT leave them in a hutch in full sun under any circumstances (the same goes for a run on the lawn) - it can become a death trap with temperatures climbing well over 40 C/ 100 F quite quickly!
Lots of tips for keeping your piggies cool in this guide here:
Hot Weather Management And Heat Strokes

Do not use straw; guinea pigs require hay. You use soft meadow or orchard hay for bedding and serve stalky timothy in a hay rack to minimise the risk of eye injuries (the same goes for straw). Hay makes over 80% of the daily food intake.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Do you mean wood chippings or sawdust? The latter is a major no no as it causes respiratory problems in guinea pigs.
Fleece is better for indoors cages while better and environmentally friendlier alternatives to wood chippings can be used in a hutch or indoors cage.
Bedding For Guinea Pigs - Overview

Please respect that guinea pigs are prey animals and that your shop or breeder bought piggies haven't had much in the way of friendly human interaction before they were ripped away from their family, transported to shop branches and then sold as pets into an environment that is totally foreign and potentially dangerous to them without the guidance of an older/experienced guinea pigs of the group for reassurance and teaching. To a guinea pig not used to humans, we are a large smelly predator, first and foremost.
The best and by far safest places to get healthy, properly sexed, guaranteed not pregnant and carefully bonded piggies from that are used to handling and human interaction is a good standard rescue with mandatory quarantine, vet care and pregnancy watch that only rehomes healthy and carefully matched piggies when they are ready for a new home.

Here are our tips of what you can do to avoid coming across as a predator and make friends with your piggies in ways that they instinctively understand. Please accept that it is not a quick process; trust is a plant that needs to make deep roots before it can grow.
How Do I Settle Shy New Guinea Pigs?
Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering And Cuddling Tips
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pig

All these guides and other helpful ones are part of our new owners guide collection, which addresses all the most often asked questions and encountered problems: Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

Hi there! I think you are doing okay so far if they will come out while you are there - it's still very early days yet for them and you. They will still be very nervous after being moved from what they were used to, and it takes time for them to be sure enough that you are not a predator. Carry on talking to them, especially when you enter their room/approach the cage, as sneaky predators don't announce their presence, and you could also try draping a towel or similar over one end of the cage so they feel protected from things coming at them from above. It takes a while for new piggies to get used to you, especially if they have come from a shop or breeder as babies, and most never really like being picked up - my current boar has been with us for 2.5 years since he was 6 weeks old, but still runs if I try to pick him up, so I use the fleecy tunnel method of capture.
Bedding wise, do you mean sawdust, or are you actually using woodshavings? I started out using woodshavings but eventually got fed up of finding bits of it all over the house. Some experts say shavings aren't a good bedding for piggies, but I can't remember why - I didn't have any problems with my pigs related to using them. I'm currently using newspaper with hay on top, but about to switch to fleece. I don't think fleece would make pigs hotter, as they are just sitting on it, just make sure they have plenty of shady hidies so they can get out of the light if they want to. They will also love a pile or tray of hay to hide in.
This bedding overview might help: Bedding Overview
Best of luck!

 

[PigglePuggle]

Wiebke's advice covers everything (it always does!) but we use woodshavings with hay on top. I like the way you can see and scoop out pee patches in woodshavings. But we will probably switch to fleecy bedding for the winter.
When we first got the girls we also had a pet nestbox that mysteriously made food disappear when we werent looking! Singing to the piggies about what you are going to do with them is good, and we found when we started putting ours in a playpen for a few hours during the evening so they could get used to seeing and hearing us do normal house stuff without only seeing us when we went near their cage that helped a lot. Ours still arent too keen on the picking up part but they are happy to be herded into a hidey tube or house that then gets moved somewhere else. And they dont mind cuddles- just the picking up bit is scary. In the heatwave we are moving ours around the house to avoid the sun: morning in the hutch, afternoon in the playpen in the living room with the blinds down and the fan blowing, evening and nighttime in their cage in the pet room.
Good luck and please post pigtures!

 

[VickiA]

You’ve had great advice above. Have a good read of the threads linked above as they explain loads.

New piggies are often shy and hide. As long as they are eating drinking weeing and pooping they are ok.
Please don’t use sawdust or straw. Both are bad for piggies. Wood shavings are fine and hay is great for eating (80% of their diet is hay) and hiding in.

Look forward to seeing pics when they’ve settled in.