Handling… your experience and thoughts…

[Ruth1]

If anyone has time….

My wee ladies are easy enough to herd into a carrier and easy to lift out of that - I find that this reduces the stress to a minimum for them. Once out they don’t struggle and sit quite calmly, looking around a bit, I know tho that they would really rather not be lifted and held, so I tend to just do it twice a week - once for brush and health checks and once for cleaning.

My question is this - would handling them more, help them to get more used and relaxed/happy to be handled? To put it mathematically… is there a positive correlation between increased handling and happiness to be handled?

Or …. Would handling them more, just serve to annoy them more?! They’re only about 9 months. I’m just wondering if I’m doing what’s right by them my keeping handling to a minimum - maybe I’m being TOO cautious….

Any thoughts?

 

[Lorcan]

For most of my pigs I've kept handling to a minimum. Jack and Comet were oddballs in that respect, both very confident and friendly and happy to be handled (Comet hated the picking up part though). Most pigs aren't ever really comfortable with them, and even with the goblins I'll sit in their cage and let them potter around me but that's as close as it gets, most of the time. They don't need more than that unless there's illness or injury.

 

[Piggies&buns]

It’s going to be very piggy dependent.
For some, they will begin to like it, but for others the more you handle the more stressed they will get.

My two boys, four years down the line, tolerate handling for the health checks and that’s it. More handling would not equate to them becoming more happy to be handled

 

[Ruth1]

Aye - thanks folks. I’ll just stick to our wee regime and see how they develop. Maybe, as the months go by - they will let me know . I actually am happy just to watch them being happy - I’ve a wee needy, blind cuddle monster of a Lhasa, for more cuddles than there are hours in the day! Just making sure I’m doing what’s right for the piggies and not perpetuating nervousness around being handled.

 

[Eriathwen]

I find with mine it's very dependant on the piggy. I have a handful who will come running over to be picked up, some who run away like their lives depend on it and many others at various places in between.
I tend to herd the ones who run into carriers or snuggle sacks to take them out. I dont handle the ones who run to be held any more than the ones who run away, it seems to just be their personality.

 

[Princess Dustmop]

I've had a variety of piggies with varying preferences ...
One of the piggies I had when I was young, who was a bigger piggy, basically just came out by me putting a cloth in and she'd climb on to taken out like a sea creature, but she loved being combed ... the cloth had the added bonus of catching any fur that came out during combing. (She was a short-haired smooth, so she didn't actually need combing; it was purely for her enjoyment.) I think it was uncomfortable for her if I scooped her by hand at least partially because my hands were too small.
Another piggy would jump up on her house and then run up my arms to get out (where I would cuddle her in as she reached the door); she'd also run up my arms from a flat surface or the bottom of her cage. She loved being held, when she was older, she would look at you like "why?" when you put her back (in a way that was clear she'd happily stay out longer (but we didn't think her bladder could go much longer, and she really hated wetting outside of her cage).
I had a very closely bonded pair that their biggest concern with out of cage time/handling was where the other piggy was. They got more used to it over time, as one was half Peruvian and required combing, especially during high shedding seasons (attached fur rarely tangled, but shed fur sometimes tangled into the fur towards the back, where she was longest. She didn't mind being held for grooming and was pretty cooperative; her pair got occasional combings just for fairness, lol
Lexa couldn't careless most of the time about being scooped, but she's very ticklish, so combing her can be an adventure. She's not in pain and nothing's pulling (well ... if she hops away when I'm holding some fur for combing or trimming, there might be a light tug where I'm holding, but she creates the tug not me); she just squiggles if you touch her fur in certain ways (I don't necessarily even have to be combing). Some pats and combs are fine, though. She has no issue with wetting outside her cage, lol.
Latte will fly around her cage when I go to catch her, but once I've got her she settles pretty much immediately and is a doll. She is the most amazingly agreeable guinea pig for nail trims ... I can have any toe I need and she doesn't care about the clippers. It was such a pleasant surprise the first time I trimmed her nails.


That's just a selection of my piggies, but I think it illustrates the point.

 

[Ruth1]

I've had a variety of piggies with varying preferences ...
One of the piggies I had when I was young, who was a bigger piggy, basically just came out by me putting a cloth in and she'd climb on to taken out like a sea creature, but she loved being combed ... the cloth had the added bonus of catching any fur that came out during combing. (She was a short-haired smooth, so she didn't actually need combing; it was purely for her enjoyment.) I think it was uncomfortable for her if I scooped her by hand at least partially because my hands were too small.
Another piggy would jump up on her house and then run up my arms to get out (where I would cuddle her in as she reached the door); she'd also run up my arms from a flat surface or the bottom of her cage. She loved being held, when she was older, she would look at you like "why?" when you put her back (in a way that was clear she'd happily stay out longer (but we didn't think her bladder could go much longer, and she really hated wetting outside of her cage).
I had a very closely bonded pair that their biggest concern with out of cage time/handling was where the other piggy was. They got more used to it over time, as one was half Peruvian and required combing, especially during high shedding seasons (attached fur rarely tangled, but shed fur sometimes tangled into the fur towards the back, where she was longest. She didn't mind being held for grooming and was pretty cooperative; her pair got occasional combings just for fairness, lol
Lexa couldn't careless most of the time about being scooped, but she's very ticklish, so combing her can be an adventure. She's not in pain and nothing's pulling (well ... if she hops away when I'm holding some fur for combing or trimming, there might be a light tug where I'm holding, but she creates the tug not me); she just squiggles if you touch her fur in certain ways (I don't necessarily even have to be combing). Some pats and combs are fine, though. She has no issue with wetting outside her cage, lol.
Latte will fly around her cage when I go to catch her, but once I've got her she settles pretty much immediately and is a doll. She is the most amazingly agreeable guinea pig for nail trims ... I can have any toe I need and she doesn't care about the clippers. It was such a pleasant surprise the first time I trimmed her nails.


That's just a selection of my piggies, but I think it illustrates the point.

Thanks for all that! I think Pansy sounds a little like your Latte and Zola is a little more nervous than that - I’m dreading the nail clipping - which I really need to start addressing soon!

 

[Princess Dustmop]

Latte flies around her cage regardless, as well ... she's excitable. Her bridge spends a large portion of it's time needing to be uprighted because she overturns it in her excitement (upside down, up on end, leaning vertically against the cage ... you name it).