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Guinea pig acting scared and wierd

Allie0078

Allie0078

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone; bit of a wierd one.

Tallulah my usually confident, bossy piggy is acting wierd. Earlier this week she dashed off into her hidey and wouldn’t come out. At dinner time - where she’d usually be up at the side of the cage wheeking and then dashing to the “kitchen” for her veggies; she stayed quiet and didn’t eat. I was going to take her to the vet that evening after work; but I found that if I put veggies and hay in the hidey with her - she’d eat (a little bit). By the next morning she was back to her usual cocky self, so I just left it.

She’s been okay all week. Eating / drinking / pooing / popcorning / wheeking. But this morning she’s shot into her hidey again and is just sitting there with wide eyes. She wouldn’t come out for breakfast again; but will eat a small amount if I put it in the hidey with her. Until this week I have never known her not to be the first at the food bowel!

If I handle her, instead of being her usual inquisitive self she feels like a recoiled spring - and has nearly taken off straight over my shoulder twice.

No signs of injury. They live in my living room so are used to noises / me walking past all the time / TV etc. There have been no changes in environment or anything out of the ordinary.

I feel like she’s got more of a mental issue than a physical one. Has anyone else had guinea pigs having episode of freaking out for no obvious reason (to a human at least)?!
Thanks
 
Allie0078 said:
Hi everyone; bit of a wierd one.

Tallulah my usually confident, bossy piggy is acting wierd. Earlier this week she dashed off into her hidey and wouldn’t come out. At dinner time - where she’d usually be up at the side of the cage wheeking and then dashing to the “kitchen” for her veggies; she stayed quiet and didn’t eat. I was going to take her to the vet that evening after work; but I found that if I put veggies and hay in the hidey with her - she’d eat (a little bit). By the next morning she was back to her usual cocky self, so I just left it.

She’s been okay all week. Eating / drinking / pooing / popcorning / wheeking. But this morning she’s shot into her hidey again and is just sitting there with wide eyes. She wouldn’t come out for breakfast again; but will eat a small amount if I put it in the hidey with her. Until this week I have never known her not to be the first at the food bowel!

If I handle her, instead of being her usual inquisitive self she feels like a recoiled spring - and has nearly taken off straight over my shoulder twice.

No signs of injury. They live in my living room so are used to noises / me walking past all the time / TV etc. There have been no changes in environment or anything out of the ordinary.

I feel like she’s got more of a mental issue than a physical one. Has anyone else had guinea pigs having episode of freaking out for no obvious reason (to a human at least)?!
Thanks
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It sounds like something is spooking her. Have you checked for spiders, smells, sounds too high for our human hearing etc?
 
No spiders - I sweep the cage out twice a day so there can’t possibly be. I guess the tv probably makes a high pitched noise on standby, but it’s the same tv she’s always lived with. I have a reed air freshener at the other side of the room - but it’s been there months. I’m using Persil non-bio for the fleece but have been doing so for the past month. I think you’re right she’s definitely spooked but I can’t for the life of me work out what it can be. Her cage-mate is very timid (a recue who I think had a difficult life) - so I don’t worry when she spooks because she’s actually much better than she was when I got her. But Tallulah has always been cocky up until this week 🤔
 
A bag of hay fell over next to one of my guinea pigs cage once, even this spooked her for about 4 days, i had to keep reassuring her that it wasnt a predator, just a bag lol.
 
Skypipdot said:
A bag of hay fell over next to one of my guinea pigs cage once, even this spooked her for about 4 days, i had to keep reassuring her that it wasnt a predator, just a bag lol.
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Ah ha bless her! Strange little creatures that they are. Let’s hope she just gets over it. If she keeps abandoning meals like this then her cage mate will be like the side of a house 🤣
 
Hopefully normal service will resume soon! I’m scared to move or make a sound at the minute. Silly piggies 🙄
 
We have freaky spooky time when mad Lady Piggle is in season, she spooks like a nervous horse and looks like she's freaking out at things nobody else can see, then she spooks everyone else and its usually 48 hours of mayhem then 15 days of peace...until next time! Not always quite so bad but about once every 6 weeks she has a hormone burst that affects the whole herd like a psychological horror film! Its better now we have a husboar in the herd because he's a bloke with no imagination and he diffuses the worst of it :)
 
PigglePuggle said:
We have freaky spooky time when mad Lady Piggle is in season, she spooks like a nervous horse and looks like she's freaking out at things nobody else can see, then she spooks everyone else and its usually 48 hours of mayhem then 15 days of peace...until next time! Not always quite so bad but about once every 6 weeks she has a hormone burst that affects the whole herd like a psychological horror film! Its better now we have a husboar in the herd because he's a bloke with no imagination and he diffuses the worst of it :)
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Oh god I never even thought of that! I wonder if that’s what it is? And she did freak out her cage mate too! (not that it takes much). I can’t believe my guinea pig gets PMT. I’ve heard it all now 😂😂
 
It only ever happens with this one out of our four ladies, but she's a complete hormonal psycho sometimes :) I note down any obvious seasons so maybe keep a diary and see if it happens on a 14-17 day cycle! I can hear this happening right now at our house which just made me think of it... Lady Piggle is wheeking and attacking thin air and leaping about doing ninja fight moves at nothing then shoving her nose up everyone's bum and generally disturbing the peace!
 
PigglePuggle said:
It only ever happens with this one out of our four ladies, but she's a complete hormonal psycho sometimes :) I note down any obvious seasons so maybe keep a diary and see if it happens on a 14-17 day cycle! I can hear this happening right now at our house which just made me think of it... Lady Piggle is wheeking and attacking thin air and leaping about doing ninja fight moves at nothing then shoving her nose up everyone's bum and generally disturbing the peace!
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I shouldn’t laugh but this is so funny. Although if mine was fighting something that I couldn’t see - I think I’d have to move out 👻
 
It is quite funny, she starts off with shoving her nose up everyone's bum, then goes mental, then the next day slinks around all grumpy with raggy looking fur and dull eyes like a zombie with a hangover... first couple of times I almost called a vet or an exorcist but she soon gets back to normal!
 
PigglePuggle said:
It is quite funny, she starts off with shoving her nose up everyone's bum, then goes mental, then the next day slinks around all grumpy with raggy looking fur and dull eyes like a zombie with a hangover... first couple of times I almost called a vet or an exorcist but she soon gets back to normal!
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Ah poor piggy! It sounds both funny and terrifying in equal proportions 🤣
If she does it again I’ll definitely consider an exorcist, good plan!
 
My Prince just got over his spooked moment today.

On Thursday last week, while I was painting the walls of the bathroom, hubby told me Prince just started running off scared all over the floor and kept on bumping everything trying to get away from their cage. He went on the other side of the living and I didn't realise until feeding time at night that he was there the whole time. I'm not sure what spooked him but hubby said when some noise that came from the bathroom was when he started it. I can only think of when I moved the ladder I was using while painting the walls.

Anyway, it took him 4 days to get over it! I had to clean the whole cage unexpectedly on Friday, wash all the fleece tunnels, hideys and bedding on Saturday, and during those times, coaxed him to walk and sniff around the whole place again. He was so wary and scared that when I weighed him on Friday morning, he lost around 50g overnight because he didn't eat. Well today was the only time since Friday that I didn't have to push him a bit to walk and go to different places. He was actually playing with Cookie and Sierra and chasing them around. He was also going up and down their hutch on his own tonight.

Thank you piggy God and angels! :lol!:

My past piggy, Bunny, had spooked moments in the past too but she managed to get over it around 2 to 3 days usually.
 
anyar.dris said:
My Prince just got over his spooked moment today.

On Thursday last week, while I was painting the walls of the bathroom, hubby told me Prince just started running off scared all over the floor and kept on bumping everything trying to get away from their cage. He went on the other side of the living and I didn't realise until feeding time at night that he was there the whole time. I'm not sure what spooked him but hubby said when some noise that came from the bathroom was when he started it. I can only think of when I moved the ladder I was using while painting the walls.

Anyway, it took him 4 days to get over it! I had to clean the whole cage unexpectedly on Friday, wash all the fleece tunnels, hideys and bedding on Saturday, and during those times, coaxed him to walk and sniff around the whole place again. He was so wary and scared that when I weighed him on Friday morning, he lost around 50g overnight because he didn't eat. Well today was the only time since Friday that I didn't have to push him a bit to walk and go to different places. He was actually playing with Cookie and Sierra and chasing them around. He was also going up and down their hutch on his own tonight.

Thank you piggy God and angels! :lol!:

My past piggy, Bunny, had spooked moments in the past too but she managed to get over it around 2 to 3 days usually.
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Thank you for sharing that. Poor piggies! It seems that they are so easily traumatised 😢. It’s been fab hearing other stories, as Tallulah nearly suffered an unnecessary and “uncheap” trip to a vet!
 
Allie0078 said:
Thank you for sharing that. Poor piggies! It seems that they are so easily traumatised 😢. It’s been fab hearing other stories, as Tallulah nearly suffered an unnecessary and “uncheap” trip to a vet!
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I even fed Prince critical care on Friday coz he won't even go out to eat and just hide all the time. But weighing him the next morning was better. He gained back 30g. And today, he was around 10g short of his weight on Thursday. :yahoo:
 
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