Moving house with Piggies - Stress!

[debbyweekweek]

We moved house on the weekend from London to Bristol.
My husband and I couldn't agree on how to move the piggies. I said I wanted them in a box, up front in the van with us and he said they'd be fine in the back of the van, squashed in and secured with all the boxes etc.
Anyway to cut a long story short, I was right lol!
Husband said afterwards he regretted putting them in the back.
They were a bit shook up and took about 24 hours to get back to their normal selves. For the first few hours they didn't leave their house, eat or drink. We were quite worried.
We fully made it up to them yesterday however with their first run around on a real lawn! Grissom was spinning around eating everything in his path and Clarence managed to eat his way through an entire Dandelion plant (without flowers obv) in about 3 seconds flat!
So the lesson is, keep the piggies on your lap when you're moving house. I usually find that they relax when they hear your voice. Husband doesn't think it makes any difference to them.
Any thoughts on this?

 

[Claire W]

I am pleased that you arrived safely to Bristol and I hope that you enjoy your new home

We travel from Manchester to Nottingham a lot with the pigs. What we tend to do is put them in a pet carrier and put the carrier on the back seat with them facing me in the front. They are used to it now and tend to just lay down and snooze.

The first time we travelled with them, we put the seats down and took them in an indoor cage so they were more or less in the boot. They didn't take that too well.

I personally feel that my pigs prefer to be in a smaller space and strapped in on the back seat where they can see me and know I am there.

Different piggies may be different though x

 

[debbyweekweek]

small spaces

Hi,
I too think that they prefer a smaller space for travelling. My pigs tend to squish themselves into a corner when they're in an unfamiliar situation so it seems to make sense that when you have to travel with them you put them in something smaller than their usual cage and let them cwtch together! :laluot_28:

 

[Claire W]

Yep, when we first took them in a cage, all they did was squash in to a dome and then squabble because they were squashed up with each other

 

[JackyB]

Mine seem quite happy to cuddle up together in their pet carrier munching on some veg and hay Also i noticed you said thay ate dandelion plants without the flowers- i was under the impression that they can eat the whole thing including flowers?

 

[debbyweekweek]

dandelion

I had it in my head that the flowers were bad. I've just looked around online and I guess I heard wrong! Thanks for the heads up

 

[JackyB]

Lol i didn't want your piggies to miss out, plus mine have been eating dandelions and for a split second i thought i'd been poisioning them- though i was almost certain they were OK- phew :...

 

[debbyweekweek]

oh no!

Sorry if I worried you
I think I read somewhere that daisys were bad though. Any ideas?
Anyhoo, back on subject! - Do we think our guinea pigs recognise our voices and if so, does it help to hear our voices when they're stressed (or am I just an over soppy owner?!) inbreeding

 

[JackyB]

I'm pretty sure daisys are a no no- but anyways yes i think hearing our voices certainly helps, just a small example:

My other half got poppy out the other day for cuddle time, but he hadn't had her out for over a week and though he had her favourite broccoli she just sat there really still- so i went in the room and started talking to her and stroking cause i could tell she wasn't happy and she started talking too and eating her broccoli and then lay down!

I really think hearing a familiar voice during an uncertain-stressful event does help them to feel calmer.