So my guinea pigs don’t let me touch them or pick them up. I had them for almost a year now and we can’t cut their nails. The most we can do is pet their noses. Someone please help me on how to trim their nails and be able to pick them up.
Guinea pigs won’t let me touch them or cut their nails
jennag446
New Born Pup
Hi! I’ve found that distracting them with treats and veggies is the best way to do it. If that doesn’t work, I’d recommend calling a local vet and seeing if they will cut your piggies nails. Mine don’t like me doing it, so I always take them to the vet to get them done.
Hope4gem
Adult Guinea Pig
This guide about cutting piggy's nails has good advice.
guide-to-cutting-guinea-pig-nails
guide-to-cutting-guinea-pig-nails
Hope4gem
Adult Guinea Pig
Also, this guide can give you excellent advice to help you understand things from your piggy's perspective with them being prey animals. It should answer some of your questions about being able to handle your piggy.
understanding-prey-animal-instincts-guinea-pig-whispering-and-cuddling-tips
understanding-prey-animal-instincts-guinea-pig-whispering-and-cuddling-tips
In addition to the above guides, this one is also useful.
Try herding them into a carrier and then picking them up from there. Piggies dont like being caught from the cage as it cuts too close to their prey instinct. The fact you can pet their noses is good, they must have some trust in you to let you do that! However,, it is quite normal for that to be as much as they allow. Do they take food from your hand.
My two boys have been with me for three years. They dont like being handled but quickly learnt what the carrier is for and walk into it. I then pick them up from there and do what I need to do for them (weight check, nails, hair cut, health check or just to take them to their lawn run).
In addition to cutting nails, piggies need to be weighed once a week to be sure they are eating enough hay and be given a once over for a health check once a week, so getting them used to being herded and having that done is important but I know not always easy!
It maybe that when you do manage to pick them up, you can only manage to do a couple of nails and have to leave the rest and try again another day.
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pigs Safely
Try herding them into a carrier and then picking them up from there. Piggies dont like being caught from the cage as it cuts too close to their prey instinct. The fact you can pet their noses is good, they must have some trust in you to let you do that! However,, it is quite normal for that to be as much as they allow. Do they take food from your hand.
My two boys have been with me for three years. They dont like being handled but quickly learnt what the carrier is for and walk into it. I then pick them up from there and do what I need to do for them (weight check, nails, hair cut, health check or just to take them to their lawn run).
In addition to cutting nails, piggies need to be weighed once a week to be sure they are eating enough hay and be given a once over for a health check once a week, so getting them used to being herded and having that done is important but I know not always easy!
It maybe that when you do manage to pick them up, you can only manage to do a couple of nails and have to leave the rest and try again another day.
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pigs Safely
Thanks for the tip! We’re taking them to the vet soon so I’ll ask about that
Yes they do take food from my hand. They seem to be very used to us because in the playpen they come up to us and walk around us. They also know it’s us just by our footsteps! Ig they just don’t like being touched
LMPigs
Junior Guinea Pig
Is it that they don't like being touched at all, or just the actual picking up part? Ours will quite happily have a carry, a cuddle, wonder around over our foot or leg of we are sitting etc., but they still run away when you try to pick them up. As someone said above, I think it's just a prey thing.
Hi. May I suggest that using a towel when picking up as it gives them comfort.Still with the towel around them put them to your shoulder and talk to them all the time. If they are sows it is normal for them to be fiesty. Males are normally friendly. Using our towel you can ease each paw out and clip their nails. I think most Guineas don't like nails clipped. Keep picking them up and they will eventually enjoy the experience. Let me know how you do?
Siikibam
Forum Donator 2022/23
Doing it continually doesn’t always lead to their enjoying the experience. Most don’t like being handled or touched, which is entirely normal. And it’s also not a case of sows being more feisty and boars being more friendly. It’s down to their personality.
you they don’t like being touched at all. The most I can touch them is petting their nose and sometimes being able to pet them when they get food
h.h.lovecraft
Junior Guinea Pig
I'm not sure if it's a little too late for this trick since you've had them for a year, but when mine were very small babies I would just gently touch or hold their paw for like one second when I had them out sometimes to get them used to it a bit. I just recently had to clip their nails for the first time the other day and it wasn't that difficult at all since they were used to having their paws touched. They obviously didn't love it, but knowing how nail trimmings can go for some piggies, they were extremely good about it. I just held them in my lap and tried to make sure I didn't pull their paws in any unnatural direction since that made them want to pull back more. Maybe just some tips for the future as it sounds like you might be past that point. Contacting the vet may be the best option for minimal stress.
I would suggest attempting to hold the piggies occasionally even if they don't love it. I think it's important that they can tolerate being held for at least health checks and my vet urged this as well. It's important to treat piggies with care and respect their boundaries if they don't want to be touched of course, but at some point I feel like it can work against them and make it harder to ensure their good health. I hope you can find a solution that works for you and your piggies!
I would suggest attempting to hold the piggies occasionally even if they don't love it. I think it's important that they can tolerate being held for at least health checks and my vet urged this as well. It's important to treat piggies with care and respect their boundaries if they don't want to be touched of course, but at some point I feel like it can work against them and make it harder to ensure their good health. I hope you can find a solution that works for you and your piggies!
I can’t really hold them tho because the second something touched then they run away at the speed of sounds
h.h.lovecraft
Junior Guinea Pig
If their nails need trimming immediately, I would just take them to the vet to get it done at this point for the least amount of stress. Like I said though, I would urge you to try to get them used to sitting still for a few seconds so you can at least do health checks. Try to coerce them into a cuddle sack or carrier from their cage so you don't have to touch them. You can then try to lead them onto your lap with a favorite veggie and work up from there.
I always clip Percy and Peppers nails outside in the garden. There’s so many noises and smells I think it distracts them from the nail clipping. Also a good tip is to do one foot at a time and not try to do all of them on one go. 