Handling new young boars

G+A+3

G+A+3

Junior Guinea Pig
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I posted at the start of October about a boar trio I adopted and got some great advice. The trio are now a pair (one of the boys went to Ayr Guinea Pig Rescue and is now living with a new friend) and the remaining two get on well. They originally came from SSPCA in Sept and hadn’t been handled much. They are now around 6 months old. We let them go at their own pace settling in and they are now at the point of taking food from us, approaching the cage bars to say hello and during floor time will climb on our lap to eat. One will just about tolerate some stroking while on our knee. However, we are struggling to get past this point! They hate being handled/caught and are sooooo fast! So I’m wondering if this is normal for their age and what we can do from here to make better friends with them? I stopped trying to catch them as it seemed stressful for all involved and instead we have a little box we can herd them into which makes it slightly easier but the two of them panic so much I don’t know if I’m doing more harm than good. I don’t know whether to persevere with the catching and handling or continue as we are and let them get used to us in time. Any advice much appreciated!
 
It sound as if they are doing great! Approaching you to take food and climbing onto your lap is brilliant - it shows they trust you. But, that may be as far as they ever go.

Being caught is equivalent to being eaten for then so you are doing the right thing in herding them into a box first. They need their essential weekly weight and health checks so as long as you can do that and they are taking food from you, then thats really good!

I have two boar pairs.

My 4 year old pair are very much hands off. They tolerate handling for health and weight checks, and for my long haired boy his hair cutting, but that is it. Cuddling is a big no no. I manage to sneak a few seconds of a cuddle during health and weight checks, but they soon let me know they don’t like it. But, they both take food from me, come to the bars etc. My interaction with them is sitting in their shed and them coming to me as they wish, to take food, a very quick head stroke if I’m lucky.

My 13 week old pair are very different. They’re very confident, very cuddly, take food from me, climb on me. They aren’t keen on being herded and caught (but that is true of pretty much every single piggy), but are fine once I’ve got them.
 
Thanks for this! Glad to know this could be their normal. I don’t think one of them can see very well so he is still more standoffish and jumpy understandably. They are in our living room, part of family life and very interactive with us. They love getting out for floor time and because they are in a C&C cage on the floor they don’t even need handled to get out. I am just worried about them not getting a regular weight check and check over. I maybe just need to persevere with that bit. If they ever did need a vet visit I’m not sure how that would go at this point!
My son would love to cuddle or stroke them but has been so patient at building a bond with them! They are still so small, wriggly and surprisingly fast and strong 🙈😂
 
It’s quite normal for them to be jumpy and stand off.

Popcorn, the dominant one of my oldest pair, is still the most nervous…and it’s been 4 and a half years! He still is the one to hold back slightly even though he knows he is safe, Dexter will come to me and then Popcorn comes.
If I accidentally drop something in their shed, Pops is the one who will run off and hide, the other three are just annoyed I broke their peace!
 
Piggies&buns said:
It’s quite normal for them to be jumpy and stand off.

Popcorn, the dominant one of my oldest pair, is still the most nervous…and it’s been 4 and a half years! He still is the one to hold back slightly even though he knows he is safe, Dexter will come to me and then Popcorn comes.
If I accidentally drop something in their shed, Pops is the one who will run off and hide, the other three are just annoyed I broke their peace!
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Haha yes the bolder one of the two regularly looks a bit annoyed when something disturbs him! He’s the one that will climb on our knees and just about be ok if we stroke him gently. The other one seems to bump into things, can’t navigate obstacles during floor time so well and can’t always see the food you hold out to him so he startles and panics a bit more and definitely isn’t comfortable being stroked. He seems happy though and is the loudest wheeker 😂
How did you manage to get your nervous boys to the point you could at least round them up for a weight check etc?
 
G+A+3 said:
Haha yes the bolder one of the two regularly looks a bit annoyed when something disturbs him! He’s the one that will climb on our knees and just about be ok if we stroke him gently. The other one seems to bump into things, can’t navigate obstacles during floor time so well and can’t always see the food you hold out to him so he startles and panics a bit more and definitely isn’t comfortable being stroked. He seems happy though and is the loudest wheeker 😂
How did you manage to get your nervous boys to the point you could at least round them up for a weight check etc?
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Sight isn’t their strongest sense so even if he does have sight issues, then it should be a problem.

Distracting them with something tasty helped but I did just have to be quite quick but thorough. The reality is it had to happen and they had to put up with it!
I also never tried to do everything at once - weight checks one day, nail clips the next etc. And when it came to nail clips, i initially couldn’t get all feet done on the same day.
Now, I just do it as long as I don’t take too long about it, they tolerate weight check and nails being done at the same time.
 
My boys are about 5 months and 9 months. They were also under-handled and wild. We spent some time teaching them to take food from us and that went well. They are still hard to catch but we have taken the attitude that they just have to learn to tolerate that, because they need to be handled for vet checks, nail clipping etc. So we catch them every day and most days take them out for a petting and treats session. One of them took to petting right away, the other didn't like it but they are now both coming round to it. And it's paying dividends - their second vet visit was a lot less raucous than the first, and Popchop is now actively coming to me for comfort after something unpleasant has happened (vet exam, medication dose).

I know we want to be sensitive and not over-stress them, but I think to some extent that has to be balanced with the need for them to be accustomed to being caught and handled, for their own good. Ours have got to the stage now where they still put on a show of trying to escape but will give up pretty quickly, rather than keeping up a parkour-style chase scene for minutes on end.

The other thing I would say is that these young boars have a massive amount of energy, so I think regular floor time is important so that they can burn it off, otherwise you are trying to catch little furry rockets with much more endurance than you! Also, they will eventually grow out of that frenetic energy.
 
I have 8 pigs between the ages of 1 and 2. Some can be a little tricky to catch so I use a fleece cozy. They go into it,I can lift them out and they feel safe and protected. They then go back into it when it's time to go back into the cage.

Patience is key and you can't rush it. It all depends on the pig as they're individual after all. Food helps a lot. So does constantly talking to them. A predator that currently poses no threat will let their presence be known.
 
Piggies&buns said:
I have two boar pairs.

My 13 week old pair are very different. They’re very confident, very cuddly, take food from me, climb on me. They aren’t keen on being herded and caught (but that is true of pretty much every single piggy), but are fine once I’ve got them.
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I haven't logged in for a while, when did this happen? Do they have their own thread?
 
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