Need help with socialization

[Chunky_Pig]

My 3 or 4 month old pig is semi-tamed or something, I'm not entirely sure. She bites alot and it hurts, I think this is the first rambunctious and bitey young piggie I've had out of my first two haired piggies in 2020 and my two hairless piggies that I had gotten in 2022/23. I've tried socializing her and bonding with her, but she's being rather difficult when it comes to that. She's very squirmy and is the equivilent of a mouse. I know she's not a huge fan of being picked up/petted (when most of the biting happens), but I need to be able to pick her up to do health checks, weighing, and just ingeneral when I need to move her. Especially since the tornado season is coming soon and is supposed to be higher this year than last, so I would need to be able to pick her up very quickly without getting bitten if a sudden storm popped up and we got a tornado warning. I'm not entirely sure what I need to do, or if I can even solve it as again, this is the first young pig I've gotten to have this issue.

 

[CTWC]

Morning I will add a link that may help, hopefully an expert will be along soon. Just quickly as regards tornado warnings maybe always have a large cuddle sack or fabric hide that you could quickly herd you little one into in the event of a warning

 

[CTWC]

Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering and Cuddling Tips

 

[Piggies&buns]

I assume she isn’t breaking the skin when she is bites?
If it doesn’t then the type of biting she is doing is telling you she doesn’t like being handled.

Do you herd her into a box or carrier to pick her up? If not then do start to do so. Piggies don’t like being picked up by hands directly from their cage so herding into a box and then picking up from there can help.

One of my two remaining boys is a biter during handling. I get everything done with him by not trying to do everything in one go so that the amount of time being handled is kept to a minimum. Weight check one day, nails on one foot another day etc. He just doesn’t want to be held (but he is actually a every friendly lad) so everything I need in very close proximity so the amount of time he needs to be in my hands is very small.

This guide below explains the different types of biting and what you can do to help.

" Biting" And What You Can Do (Biting, Tweaking, Nibbling and Nipping)

 

[Truffolo]

Yes, using a container should work well. I have a plastic concertina tube that I open to just the right width. I only use this tube for trips to the play pen, never to take them out directly for personal care. They hop into it very readily anticipating a little outing. I put their hay and a house in the playpen while I clean and they quite enjoy spending a bit of time there, but are equally happy to hop into the tube to go home again. I take out hides when using the tube to catch them so that they go into the tube as it's the only refuge they can see. Using a divider or pen made of cardboard panels connected with cable ties can also help to corrall them to encourage them to go into the tube. If I need to do personal care, I pick them up from the playpen to avoid spoiling their good association with the tube.
I have found that once they start to enjoy being stroked and brushed during laptime in the playpen, they start to accept stroking in the cage and generaluse this to being more friendly to hands and much less nippy. It does take a while but piggies learn very quickly and are flexible thinkers, so especially with a young pig should start being more accepting. Some people use a bonding sling, but I haven't tried one myself. I hope it becomes easier very soon, I think you will make a lot of progress. My piggies were quite nippy and now tolerate being medicated and hair care quite well ❤

 

[Wiebke]

My 3 or 4 month old pig is semi-tamed or something, I'm not entirely sure. She bites alot and it hurts, I think this is the first rambunctious and bitey young piggie I've had out of my first two haired piggies in 2020 and my two hairless piggies that I had gotten in 2022/23. I've tried socializing her and bonding with her, but she's being rather difficult when it comes to that. She's very squirmy and is the equivilent of a mouse. I know she's not a huge fan of being picked up/petted (when most of the biting happens), but I need to be able to pick her up to do health checks, weighing, and just ingeneral when I need to move her. Especially since the tornado season is coming soon and is supposed to be higher this year than last, so I would need to be able to pick her up very quickly without getting bitten if a sudden storm popped up and we got a tornado warning. I'm not entirely sure what I need to do, or if I can even solve it as again, this is the first young pig I've gotten to have this issue.

Hi

Please be aware that most piggies, whether from pet shops or for sale breeders are prey animals that have had hardly any contact with humans when their lives are upturned yet again and they thrust into a frightening and complex home environment with very different expectations. Even more so as she is still a baby in desperate need of company of her own kind.
Arrival in a home from the perspective of pet shop guinea pigs

Tweaking (which is different from deep instinctive defence biting) is a way some piggies express their fear and dislike of being handled.
- " Biting" And What You Can Do (Biting, Tweaking, Nibbling and Nipping)
- Guinea Pig Behaviours in their Context (see especially chapters 7 and 10)

The best way of making friends with her is by you using guinea big language in order to convey important concepts to her - that you are inviting her into your group, that you love and cherish her but that you as the leader will not tolerate some behaviours like tweaking - in the cavy telling-off, not in the human way. You have to reinforce it but she will tune down her behaviour to the mild version when she really has had enough.

My Brathlys (who was found abandoned in the garden of people who had moved out weeks ago and had taken the hutch with with was a biting 'present' from a rescue which had had no success with bonding or handling for the last 6 months. With my 'piggy whispering' I got her to stop biting painfully within 2 weeks and within about 3 month of living side by side with a freshly neutered boar, I had her eventually accept him although the bonding process took longer as she had to gradually work past her fear-aggression. She never quite stopped tweaking completely but it was no longer painful and just a much more gentle way of telling me that she was not happy.

Please don't wait for your little girl to figure out humans.
New Guinea Pigs: How to Best Manage Arrival and Settling In (see chapter 'a welcome in guinea pig language')

Ways of making your little girl feel safer and her new life less random:
How Do I Settle Shy New Guinea Pigs?

Training piggies to come into a box (the videos don't work but the pictures and tips are still there:
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pigs Safely (videos)

I hope that the links will help you understand better where your girl is coming from and how you can use cavy communication to establish a link in ways which she instantly understands.

 

[Chunky_Pig]

Hi

Please be aware that most piggies, whether from pet shops or for sale breeders are prey animals that have had hardly any contact with humans when their lives are upturned yet again and they thrust into a frightening and complex home environment with very different expectations. Even more so as she is still a baby in desperate need of company of her own kind.
Arrival in a home from the perspective of pet shop guinea pigs

Tweaking (which is different from deep instinctive defence biting) is a way some piggies express their fear and dislike of being handled.
- " Biting" And What You Can Do (Biting, Tweaking, Nibbling and Nipping)
- Guinea Pig Behaviours in their Context (see especially chapters 7 and 10)

The best way of making friends with her is by you using guinea big language in order to convey important concepts to her - that you are inviting her into your group, that you love and cherish her but that you as the leader will not tolerate some behaviours like tweaking - in the cavy telling-off, not in the human way. You have to reinforce it but she will tune down her behaviour to the mild version when she really has had enough.

My Brathlys (who was found abandoned in the garden of people who had moved out weeks ago and had taken the hutch with with was a biting 'present' from a rescue which had had no success with bonding or handling for the last 6 months. With my 'piggy whispering' I got her to stop biting painfully within 2 weeks and within about 3 month of living side by side with a freshly neutered boar, I had her eventually accept him although the bonding process took longer as she had to gradually work past her fear-aggression. She never quite stopped tweaking completely but it was no longer painful and just a much more gentle way of telling me that she was not happy.

Please don't wait for your little girl to figure out humans.
New Guinea Pigs: How to Best Manage Arrival and Settling In (see chapter 'a welcome in guinea pig language')

Ways of making your little girl feel safer and her new life less random:
How Do I Settle Shy New Guinea Pigs?

Training piggies to come into a box (the videos don't work but the pictures and tips are still there:
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pigs Safely (videos)

I hope that the links will help you understand better where your girl is coming from and how you can use cavy communication to establish a link in ways which she instantly understands.

Thank you!