Fear?

H

hayethusiasts

Junior Guinea Pig
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Good morning everyone. Sorry to ask for help/reassurance again 🥲

My very very confident piggy has all of a sudden developed a fear last night. Of what, we are not entirely sure 🥲

Our cage's layout is: their main hideaway is on the right side of their enclosure, 2 tunnels in the middle, then their 2x1 hay tray on the left.

Since last night he has been very reluctant to go on the other half of the cage where the hay tray is - even very reluctant to go inside the tunnels. So what I did was put some hay near their main hideaway overnight (he was eating as usual). This morning my husband was the first one to wake up and he saw him eating in the tray. But as soon as we are all awake he went back to being very fearful again.

I am not sure if it's us because I handfed him some coriander to see but he was happily taking it from my hand but it's when I try to lure him with coriander to the other half of the cage that's when you can see he is fearful. He looks at the hay tray and I know he wants to go. Twice he forced himself to go by the edge of the tray and took one or 2 strands of hay then he got spooked again.

I have now put a haybag right next to their main hideaways and he is eating.

I am just worried that it's us and just wondering what i can I do to make him more comfortable? There's nowhere else we can locate their enclosure so I am so worried it will be a permanent thing and he will just refuse eating there forever :(

The only thing different is we have started using dehumidifier but we have been using it for 3 days now. Equally I cannot also turn it off as the humidity in our lounge is very high.

Sorry for all the rambling. I am just unsure of what to do :(
 
I would go back to basics and cover the cage with a sheet and see if that helps him feel more confident to come out. If it does, after a few days, then you can slowly start to pull the cover back
 
Piggies&buns said:
I would go back to basics and cover the cage with a sheet and see if that helps him feel more confident to come out. If it does, after a few days, then you can slowly start to pull the cover back
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Thank you for your reply. There is a sheet over their hay tray and I have just put a sheet to cover the end of their enclosure where their hay is. If still does not work i will cover half of their cage. Thank you so much.
 
Let us know how it goes. Remember they have much stronger hearing than us so it’s possible whatever has scared him you aren’t aware of but are now catching the symptoms of
 
Piggies&buns said:
Let us know how it goes. Remember they have much stronger hearing than us so it’s possible whatever has scared him you aren’t aware of but are now catching the symptoms of
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Thank you so much. I have a gut feeling it may be the dehumidifier which is ironically essential for their well being. Is there a chance (i am hoping) he will get used to it?
 
He does sound like he has been spooked. Hopefully he will get over it quickly. One of mine wouldn't get into his hay tray. I could see he wanted to but just couldn't bring himself to do it. I wondered if he had got pricked by a sharp piece of hay or even a thorn. I stopped using the tray and put the hay in a pile on the floor of the cage.
 
Merab said:
Hope your piggy overcomes whatever is spooking him.
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Thank you so much. I am on my way home now and to be honest feeling a bit disheartened not knowing what scares him my sister was at home all day and she said he was still very reluctant and looks like he could smell something on the left side of the cage. They are due their deep clean today as well so hopefully it will help, if not, i am not sure what to do :(
 
piggieminder said:
He does sound like he has been spooked. Hopefully he will get over it quickly. One of mine wouldn't get into his hay tray. I could see he wanted to but just couldn't bring himself to do it. I wondered if he had got pricked by a sharp piece of hay or even a thorn. I stopped using the tray and put the hay in a pile on the floor of the cage.
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Omg sounds like same as mine! Thank you for the insight, they are due their deep clean so hopefully that may help because apparently when my sister was observing him (from afar) it looks like he could smell something on that side of the cage like he is excessively trying to smell something more than the usual
 
I have done this now fingers crossed. In the meantime I have left a haybag near their hideaway. I am just hoping it is not a permanent thing :(
 

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My girls (babies/teens now) were spooked by their first experiences of rain!

They live in the conservatory. It’s not an old style greenhouse boiling hot/freezing cold one, it has central heating and insulation so I can keep the temp fairly steady in winter then open two sides fully in summer when it gets warmer or put them out on the grass in the shade.

Anyway, being so young they’d never heard rain before and it’s far louder on the roof in the conservatory than it would be in the house! Once autumn arrived and the rain started up they were really freaked out by the pitter-patter at first, and that’s despite being unbothered by other, louder noise like the hoover.

They got used to it after a few days of heavy rainfall in September and must’ve realised now that it might make a noise but it doesn’t hurt them. If it’s particularly stormy unexpectedly then they might whizz off to a hidey for a minute or two but they now seem to settle quickly and come back out.
 
Boarworld said:
My girls (babies/teens now) were spooked by their first experiences of rain!

They live in the conservatory. It’s not an old style greenhouse boiling hot/freezing cold one, it has central heating and insulation so I can keep the temp fairly steady in winter then open two sides fully in summer when it gets warmer or put them out on the grass in the shade.

Anyway, being so young they’d never heard rain before and it’s far louder on the roof in the conservatory than it would be in the house! Once autumn arrived and the rain started up they were really freaked out by the pitter-patter at first, and that’s despite being unbothered by other, louder noise like the hoover.

They got used to it after a few days of heavy rainfall in September and must’ve realised now that it might make a noise but it doesn’t hurt them. If it’s particularly stormy unexpectedly then they might whizz off to a hidey for a minute or two but they now seem to settle quickly and come back out.
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Thank you! I couldn't quite remember if it was raining but I think we have come to a conclusion - i think it was when hubby (bless him) opened a bottle of coke and the fizz spooked my piggie. Normally we would open it very slowly but he is only human so he had a moment where he forgot and did not realise the effect!

I have now decided to permanently cover their haybox area as they are eating so much better with it too :)
 
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