Confused :(

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guinealover22

guinealover22

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This may seem like a daft thread but I'm realy confused whenever i see pics on here or posts on here everyones piggies seem to be relaxed and friendly etc but none of mine are :( i have 6 and there all skittish and run away and hide in there hay whenever i try and get them, with most of them it takes me ages to catch them what am i doing wrong :'(
 
So many variables! Sorry, but I think it might be a bit difficult to advise without a wee bit more info...

How long have you had them?

How old are they?

Where are they kept, i.e. on the floor, raised up, hutch, C&C etc?

How often have they/are they handled?

What's their background, i.e. have they been previously mistreated and rescued?

Let us know and we'll have a butchers!

8)
 
hehe sorry didnt no what to write :red

ive had them fir differnt amounts of times three i got together which was about 5 weeks ago.

they range in ages i have 3 at 10 weeks, 1 at 7 weeks, 1 at 8 weeks and the others are unknown

Some are in a double hutch, another is in his own hutch which is off the floor, and the other is pregnant so shes in a cage on her own off the floor.

i try to handle them all everyday

they havent been mistreated as far as I'm aware, the three i got were kept in a small cage with two boys! i am lucky only one is pregnant and the other piggies were gt from a pet shop
 
They're very, very young - and even handling them every day, five weeks isn't very long for them to have gotten accustomed to you.

It sometimes takes a period of adjustment, time, patience etc, for pigwigs to bond with you - I'm sure if you keep handling them, and ensure they feel comfortable and safe, in no time at all they'll trust you.

And then you'll have the joy of not being able to walk past them or make any kind of rustling sound whatsoever without a chorus of wheeks!

Good luck!
 
Thankyou i sound so silly! just want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong! yea everytime they hear me coming they all run and wheek and hide in there beds! just noticed your in leeds too :) *waves* can i ask are c & c cages better?
 
:waves back!:

I personally now find keeping pigs indoors in C&C cages to be preferable for many reasons, but others prefer hutches, or find C&C impractical.

There are a great many threads on here that are basically C&C vs Hutches or indoor vs outdoors, and they are well worth a read.

In fact, the whole forum is worth a read - it's a fantastic place!

I'd highly recommend spending a few hours of an evening having a wander around. Some of the longer multi-page threads can be really informative and eye-opening, and there's lots of very knowledgeable people on here. Oh, and they're all friendly, so feel free to ask anything!

Post some "pig-tures" when you get a chance, or make an introduction thread - people love to meet new piggies and owners.

NFOC
 
guinealover22 said:
This may seem like a daft thread but I'm realy confused whenever i see pics on here or posts on here everyones piggies seem to be relaxed and friendly etc but none of mine are :( i have 6 and there all skittish and run away and hide in there hay whenever i try and get them, with most of them it takes me ages to catch them what am i doing wrong :'(
Click to expand...

I can relate. In fact I tend to pick mine up only once a week to weigh them, check them up and clean their homes. I don't wish to stress them with my presence. In fact, they squeak for me to feed them but only two out of eight will grab anything from my hand and then run away. The one I had neutered last week is fine if my husband or children walk near his cage, but as soon as he has a view of me, he will go into hiding. You wouldn't think that I'm the one that feeds them and looks after them. mallethead

Yet when I take them to the vet, they are calm and snuggle up to me and the vet says he hardly ever sees such tame guinea pigs. ?/
 
Thankyou very much I'm going to have a good look around tommorow my piggies are inside in hutches :) i have a heated cellar with lighting etc and also tommorow i shall get my piggies out and try get photos of them all and introduce myself :) thankyou! where abouts in leeds are you x
 
yes still very early days

mine are only 15 weeks old and when i first got them they were so scared they wouldnt even move! frozen solid with big buldging eyes!

i just get them out for cuddles and after a week patrick my white n ginger one wuld eat from my hand and move about abit and after 5 weeks lennard the ginger n black one will now too but is very scared still, just takes time!

Patrick is the least scared he'll come out n see what I'm doing when I'm feeding them or cleanin! lennard just stays hoggin the bed

id say just keep offerin them food from your hands and stroke while they eat it, cucumber works best i save cucumber for cuddle time and they look forward to it every day
 
hey,

I just saw on the rescue thread that you are taking in two more guinea pigs? Wow what a lot of guinea pigs all in one go! How comes you've decided to get so many in such a short space of time? And you have a litter of guinea pigs on the way, is that right?

Just checking, if you're newish to guinea pigs - are you familiar with quarantine periods when it comes to new guinea pigs being introduced? You might want to research thoroughly.

If one of your guinea pigs, for example, contracts a skin disease such as mites or ringworm - which are fairly common guinea pig skin conditions, the vet costs would be really high! My boars came to me with Ringworm £250 later, after weeks upon weeks of using different medications, going to different vets (good vets with specialised guinea pig knowledge are exceptionally difficult to find) and finally I was able to cure it - I couldn't imagine if that happened and I had 8 guinea pigs - I mean financially it could end up costing something like £500, if you wind up going to vets like I did, who misdiagnosed the treatment. For one bottle of medication they were going to charge me £80, that wasn't even including the £55 consultation charge - luckily I got advice on how to beat it just in the knick of time.

How are you going to plan your daily routine?
Do you have support?
Do you know a cavy specialist vet if there are any complications during the birth? One you can call early hours of the morning?


I've had my two boars for almost three months I think now. I got them October 11th so whatever that works out to be! They take alot of time and dedication. Cleaning out every other day, feeding morning and night, plus hay top ups, I can't believe how much work it turned out to be and I've only got two! And they still aren't 'tame' yet, i.e. hate to be picked up, run away and hide etc . We're making progress slow slow progress and I'm dedicating an unbelievable amount of time to it. From the advice I received the taming process can take between a year to 18 months. I've also heard - although others may disagree, and as I've only got experience of two then this isn't first hand experience, but the more guinea pigs you have the harder it becomes to form closer bonds with them because they establish more of the 'herd' mentality. But others on here may say what I've heard is wrong?

Wow what a lot of work, every day, 8 or more guinea pigs for the next seven years!


I'm just really curious about it! What's motivated you to do this?
 
Hi :)

Some very good advice already given but just wanted to add that, since you have several piggies and they are quite young, you might want to try a couple of things to get them used to you/humans in general.

Please keep in mind that a guinea pig's natural instinct is always to run away. They are a prey animal so this is their only defence against being eaten. It's nothing personal about you or what you're doing, this is their natural behaviour. Guinea pigs are all different but, in general, are not quick to trust.

With that said, there are a number of things to do. Firstly, try to act normally around them, when you're near them I mean. If you try to be too quiet, they'll never get used to the normal daily noises/sounds etc.

Secondly, what you may get is a herd mentality. In the wild, their ancestors lived in huge herds (wild cavies still do). If one runs away, I imagine they will all react the same way.

You can try to spend time near their hutches/cages just talking to them etc. without trying to handle them. This will help them get used to your presence but without the trauma of being chased and picked up. After a while, when you think they're ready, try petting them and feeding them by hand. Then move on to picking them up and handling them. Remember, each guinea pig will have it's own timetable and they will not all progress at the same speed. This is fine. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong or that you are doing anything wrong.

Finally, some guinea pigs never really become that dosile/relaxed. We have two boars. One, Biscuit, will openly welcome guests and wnats to be picked up all the time and is very curious. The other, Caramel, will still hide from strangers and isn't even that keen on me picking him up - only my wife can do this very easily.

I hope they get used to you soon. Please don't take it personally if they take some time.

:)
 
Thankyou very much some realy good advice there :). And to the other lady I'm not a newbie guinea pig owner we had a lot of piggies about a year ago but had to regime due to personal circumstances so now I am able to get the piggies back into my life :). I understand the quarantine etc I have plenty of cage space and we do have a vet incase things go wrong i didn't intend to get her pregnant she came to me pregnant I took her and two other in from a lady who couldn't look after them anymore x any more questions please feel free :) x x
 
Oh sorry didn't mean to imply you'd purposely got your piggie pregnant, I understood she came to you like that - was just mainly thinking - wow what a lot of work! So glad you have a good vet though.

And also, sorry for assuming you were a newbie piggy Mum, piggies running away is really normal piggy behaviour. I just read it and it sounded like you weren't used to guinea pigs and the taming process and were seeking advice, which alot of people do when they've never had guinea pigs before. When I first got mine, I asked exactly the same question but I'd never had guinea pigs before and used to think, how comes everyone elses look so cute and cuddly and mine run away!


And also, sorry for possibly sounding silly, what does 'you had to regime your guinea pigs' mean? I've not heard that phrase before. I'm still learning every day on this forum :)
 
hehe 'regieme' was a spelling error lol i was using my iphone and it auto corrects haha i was meant to say rehome! :)

thats fine no its just my other piggies i had werent so young and were already tame before so this is new to me with baby piggies x thankyou though x
 
Hey,

I think perseverence is the key and just go about your business like there not scared....they soon adjuts to you being bout.
I rescued a piggy recently and he used to bolt as soon as I entered the room. Now I can get dressed, turn on lights and he quite happily sits there eating not bothered. Now i evem pop in the veg and he comes running.....but only when veg is there.....piggies and there veggiesrolleyes he he. Hes by no means tame like Theo but hes getting there and ive had him a lot longer than 5weeks.

Keep us posted with the pregnancy
 
I'm sorry to say, but I'm slightly concerned about your pigs...

You say they live in a cellar? Are you aware of the health impacts that this may cause your pigs?

Are you able to provide a photo of where they are housed so that we can offer suggestions to prevent these health concerns :)
 
Amanda1801 said:
I'm sorry to say, but I'm slightly concerned about your pigs...

You say they live in a cellar? Are you aware of the health impacts that this may cause your pigs?

Are you able to provide a photo of where they are housed so that we can offer suggestions to prevent these health concerns :)
Click to expand...

I have to agree, I would hope the cellar is damp proof, ventilated sufficiantly and has a good source of natural light for them at least.

You do sound like there is a right handlful going on, hats off to you for taking them all on.
 
Sorry i dont like the way i seem to be getting picked on here? i came here for advice on guineas and to meet some other guinea lovers! my cellar isnt a standard cellar its just because its under the house its still classed as a cellar if that makes any sense? there is light, heating, carpets, its all decorated etc its just like another room? there is no damp either! the kids have there toys aswell down there so its just like an extra room on the house hope thats helped
 
guinealover22 said:
Sorry i dont like the way i seem to be getting picked on here? i came here for advice on guineas and to meet some other guinea lovers! my cellar isnt a standard cellar its just because its under the house its still classed as a cellar if that makes any sense? there is light, heating, carpets, its all decorated etc its just like another room? there is no damp either! the kids have there toys aswell down there so its just like an extra room on the house hope thats helped
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to do anything other than advise!

My main concern was lack of natural light - is there any, or is it just artificial light? If so, you may have to make dietry changes for this if you aren't already
 
guinealover22 said:
Sorry i dont like the way i seem to be getting picked on here? i came here for advice on guineas and to meet some other guinea lovers! my cellar isnt a standard cellar its just because its under the house its still classed as a cellar if that makes any sense? there is light, heating, carpets, its all decorated etc its just like another room? there is no damp either! the kids have there toys aswell down there so its just like an extra room on the house hope thats helped
Click to expand...

Not picking on you at all, just the word cellar doesnt sound as inviting as you have said it is. Wanted to check that it was just the same as anyother room in the home
 
Yeah i no cellar seems so horrible damp and dark etc but its nothing like that, its been converted into another room as our house was too small for us and the kids :).
there isnt natural daylight it is all artificial? x
 
When I got my two girls they were 5 weeks old. I keep them in my TV room so most evenings I would sit beside their cage just observing their behaviour. At the beginning I would just rustle my hand in their pile of hay. They would get so excited, come out of their houses, popcorn and start eating the hay. The sound of rustling hay still makes them popcorn.
 
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