How to calm a chronically anxious guinea pig?

[sillycreature]

i have two 2-year-old girls, both adopted from a shelter together at ~6 months old. i’ve had guineas for 10+ years but these are my first girls & I'm working on learning more about them now that I'm an adult and can provide better care : ) they’re not biological sisters (pepper is abyssinian, poppy is american) but generally get along well. they were both super skittish for the first few months, but the shelter was loud + crowded and they had been there a long time (and were briefly adopted then returned soon after, which must have been stressful) so i figured maybe they needed time to recover? but poppy is still very nervous a year and a half later : ( idk if she has a traumatic past from before she was bonded to pepper, but the vet says theyre both healthy so it isnt hormones/etc. pepper is the dominant pig just because shes braver, poppy will wait for pepper to investigate anything new before she feels safe coming out to join.

pepper has warmed up to me by now & will let me pet her nose, feed her in my lap, and sit outside their cage close to her, but poppy is still very anxious and runs whenever she sees me move. i’ve gotten her comfy with accepting treats from my hand, and sometimes she’ll eat while i hold her, but she seems extremely anxious most of the time. their cage is 12 square feet (c&c), regularly cleaned fleece, they always have 4+ hides and two water bottles, hay bags, bowls, etc. so i think i’ve optimized their environment to be welcoming and comfy. i feel evil picking poppy up to try to hold her bc shes so scared and struggles while being lifted, but i think doing that sometimes and giving her lettuce has possibly helped her be more comfy with me moving around the room? but she still sometimes panics and bolts if she notices me : (

is there any strategy to help her calm down? it’s ok if she’s never a cuddler, but i want her to be comfortable and happy like pepper is.

(also, here is a pic of them half-shaved after their preventative ovariectomy : ) its almost grown back since but they still look so silly)

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum

The thing to remember is that taking food from you is a huge positive sign - it means she does trust you.
The fact she struggles when you hold her is also a positive sign - again, it’s a sign she trusts you enough to tell you she doesn’t want to be held.

She does sound exactly like one of my boys.
He came to me at 4 months old and it took 18 months before he took food from me for the first time. The truth is, over the 7 years of his life, nothing improved much further than that - he wouldn’t come to me, didn’t want to be touched and would run away if I made any sudden movements. He was just more nervous of the two (he was the dominant of the pair), and nothing was ever going to change that - it was just his character.
My handling of him was kept purely to the essential and instead I would sit with them and watch their interactions. The other of the pair was more confident and while he didn’t want to be handled, he would come and see me.

 

[Betsy]

My Rainbow Piggy Lovely Lexi was the most scared piggy I have ever owned (her friend The One and Only Thea was a bit better but Lexi was terrified). She didn't even have the "if I sit still, they'll get bored of me and leave me alone" reflex, it was bucking, whites of the eyes scared. I handled her only when necessary and had to move her from one place to the other in a carry case. I hand fed Lexi and Thea veggies for the first 6 month while talking a load of rubbish to them (while sitting on a blanket on a cold garage floor). It sounds like you are now at this stage but it has taken a bit longer. It took a good year until I could pick Lexi up in a hidey. She did like cuddles in the end.

You need to do everything at their pace before you can move on. Sometimes, if they have had something traumatic happen to them, they just don't get over it. It's good that you are giving Poppy a safe and loving home where she feels safe and loved. It shows that she does as she now takes food from your hands. Enjoy the interactions between Poppy and Pepper and you never know, maybe Poppy will begin to heal.

 

[Ramia]

I've found sitting in a playpen with my boys has helped our bond.