Do my Guinea pig's like me?

Tilly&Milly:)

Tilly&Milly:)

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Mar 26, 2019
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Points
50
Hi all, I've had my guinea pigs for over a year now, their names are Tilly and Milly, both rex guinea pigs and they are 1 1/2 years old. I have taken on board lots of advice from friends, videos and websites, but i still don't think they are comfortable. I play with them as much as i can, normally every 2 or 3 days but i see them and give them a brief cuddle every day. I feed them about a cup of lettuce shared between the two and about 1/2 cup of dry grain food. They always have access to hay or grass and water. I have a dog as well who doesn't get along with them but neither ever see each other. I also feed them half a carrot or cucumber in the morning. I am very concerned because every time they see me they seem to run and hide unless I have food. What am I doing wrong?
 
You are doing nothing wrong at all. Guinea pigs are prey animals so will naturally run away when you try and pick them up, gain trust by feeding veggies through the bars to them and take a read of the thread posted in link above

Great advice above from @piggieminder
 
You're not doing anything wrong, they are cautious animals by nature. One thing I might suggest, if possible, is to keep them in a high-traffic area where they will often see you come and go. They get desensitized to events that repeat... our pigs are in the family room, there are always people there, background noise, and foot traffic of me or the kids going back and forth, and they are so accustomed to us that they certainly don't run and hide anymore. They either come over to us when we go by (because sometimes we have food!) or just keep on doing whatever they're doing when we go by.
 
They may never stop running to hide. As said, they are prey animals and used to that. One thing I recommend is to talk as you approach their cage - predators don’t make their presence known. You can also just talk to them if you’re nearby and doing something. And put your hand slowly in the cage and let them smell you. I do that with the girls and one of them generally lets me stroke her. The other will run away 90% of the time when I try to stroke her. They’ve been with us 5 months, so you can see it takes time.

Another gentle nudge in the right direction - please read this thread on diet. Do you give them other veggies (every day) aside from lettuce? Also, carrot is meant as a treat (high in sugar) so should only be kept to once a week.

Good luck and keep persevering. We’ve had our boys for just over 1.5 years. They now ‘demand’ attention (i.e. stroking) every time my husband or I walk past their cage! 🙄🥰 Gotta love them 😁
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top