My new baby is not eating or drinking, is she scared?

[Dentos]

Hello, it may be too early to even ask but I am just afraid there might be something wrong with my new baby.
I just got my second Guinea pig today and I am loving her. She just got home but whenever I pick her up to check, she is not resisting or doing anything, sometimes tries to hide in dark places like my other. She has not been eating anything or drinking so I am really afraid that she might be sick. She is just 1 month old and the owner I got her from is a real lover and really takes good care of all his piggies. Should I do something or give it a day or two? I need advice since I am a rookie about guinea pigs too. I left them alone in another room with no sound around to make her comfortable. The cage is pretty big, 100/100 cage for two of them and I need some help from you guys. Thanks!

 

[Swissgreys]

Hi and Welcome to the Forum.


A good place to start would be with these threads here:
Settling In And Making Friends With Guinea Pigs - A Guide

But try not to panic.
She is new and still very young to be away from her family, so it will take her a few days to settle in.
Try and give her time to explore her new surrounds and don't handle her for a couple of days.
She will come around soon enough once she realizes where the food comes from!

 

[Lady Kelly]

If she is not eating or drinking at all then she needs a vet as a matter of urgency. If piggies don't eat for several hours then their bodies start to shut down making it a life and death emergency.

Is she on her own, many babies cannot cope on their own at such a young age. I had the same when I got a 6 week old last year and I had to quickly bond an older sow with her to get her to eat and drink

 

[Dentos]

If she is not eating or drinking at all then she needs a vet as a matter of urgency. If piggies don't eat for several hours then their bodies start to shut down making it a life and death emergency.

Is she on her own, many babies cannot cope on their own at such a young age. I had the same when I got a 6 week old last year and I had to quickly bond an older sow with her to get her to eat and drink

She has a mate with her, not alone. I don't have a vet that cares Guinea pigs in my city and I am worried a lot that she will have health problems or has any, maybe she does not eat when I am around? Is there a chance that she is also scared of her fellow pup? They are both female.

 

[Dentos]

Hi and Welcome to the Forum.


A good place to start would be with these threads here:
Settling In And Making Friends With Guinea Pigs - A Guide

But try not to panic.
She is new and still very young to be away from her family, so it will take her a few days to settle in.
Try and give her time to explore her new surrounds and don't handle her for a couple of days.
She will come around soon enough once she realizes where the food comes from!

Thanks a lot, I am searching everything and trying to be a good food-human for my piggies. But I am just too worried that the pup will have problems since she is not eating or drinking anything. Should I let her be for a few days or try something?

 

[Lady Kelly]

Make sure she has access to unlimited hay, a small portion of pellets and some fresh veg daily. Switch to weighing daily at the same point in the food cycle (I usually weigh straight after the veggies have been eaten). What you want to check for is weight gain on a regular basis at her young age. It could be that she is eating when you are not looking.

Ideally I would start searching for how you can access a vet when needed. I have never had a piggy who didn't need a vet at some point in their life. They are prone to several illnesses which, whilst not all serious, would need prescription antibiotics to treat.

 

[Dentos]

Make sure she has access to unlimited hay, a small portion of pellets and some fresh veg daily. Switch to weighing daily at the same point in the food cycle (I usually weigh straight after the veggies have been eaten). What you want to check for is weight gain on a regular basis at her young age. It could be that she is eating when you are not looking.

Ideally I would start searching for how you can access a vet when needed. I have never had a piggy who didn't need a vet at some point in their life. They are prone to several illnesses which, whilst not all serious, would need prescription antibiotics to treat.

I will make sure she has everything she needs whenever she wants them. I will move to a bigger city in about 3-4 months. All will be good when I do, until then, I hope I will have no problem with them. If I do, I will still drive them to anywhere they need. I will update the post with hopefully good news.

 

[Dentos]

Update: She's started to eat and share the veggies with her mate, eating hay all the time and even hand-fed her veggies too! She's starting to calm down but never seen her drink water from the bottle so I've set down a little cup of water so maybe she can drink from that? Thanks a lot!

 

[Bill & Ted]

Aw, that’s good news. It’s just taken her a while to get to know her new friend and her surroundings. When I got my two piggies Bill and Ted they just snuggled up together for 12 hours and didn’t seem to eat anything, then suddenly they where out and about doing little piggie things and eating hay! If you are worried about her drinking wet the veggies you given them first, cucumber is a drink in itself too for little piggies x

 

[Freela]

She's likely scared and will sneak out to eat and drink when it's dark and quiet (you can try to spy on her unseen to reassure yourself.) I would put food as close as possible to a safe hiding place to make it less stressful for her to access it. One of my more cautious pigs we did not see eat or drink at all for the first week we had her because she was sure to hide when we were there, but because she was in quarantine that week we could confirm that she was eating/drinking because there was no one else in there to eat it. We did catch her out a couple of times at night, but she bolted right back to her pigloo as soon as she got the sense we were looking!