Need some advice - New Piggies!

[lady_chilli]

Hi there,

I'm new to the forums and new to guinea pigs. We acquired our two piggies yesterday from a private seller, unfortunately when we arrived they were kept in a shed outside in very poor conditions, there were stacks of hutches one on top of the other and the shed was covered in cobwebs, the hutches had barely anything in them, not even really any bedding. It was filthy, I mean really bad. She kept saying Oh I must clean these out. I felt so bad.
On the advertisement it stated there were 3 females and 2 males but another 5 that hadnt been sexed yet, there were about 5 pigs in this hutch and the woman said it was normally here son that dealt with it as he did it as a 'hobby'.
To be honest I felt like I was rescuing them more than buying them. However the pigs appeared to be well, bright eyes, checked them over BUT..
I'm not sure whether they are definately both Sows.
This brings me to where I'm at..

So I've brought them home, they have been in there new cage for a day now and I really am not sure how to approach the settling in period. I need to check to see if they are females but they are quite jumpy. This afternoon was the first time they ventured out of there hidy hole & they started to make little noises & chasing one another.

Do I leave them to settle in first for a few days before handling them to check? Do I handle them for a short while daily?
Also I noticed when I picked one of the pigs up that it shook its head everytime I went to stroke near or on its ears? Do I check its ears? I think because they are jumpy and nervy it makes me jumpy too but I dont want to be like that.. wow this is rambling.

So in short, do I leave them to settle or do I handle them daily and check their genders? Plus with them being only 8 weeks old, do I still stroke near her ears so she gets used to it? Plus how long do you have them out for as babies?

Thanks for reading

 

[xxxkeashxxx]

I was the same when i bought mine. The older one (piggy) was handled while i was there and the guy showed me his willy but when we bought the younger one (pancake) we werent shown. I tried to sex as soon as i got home because i was afraid of piggy getting pancake pregnant but he wouldnt let me near him and scratched so much. if i were you i would give it a couple days. I know its awkward but you dont want his first impressions of you to be ( the b***h that keeps trying to grab me. lol.

 

[xxxkeashxxx]

didnt read that properly! duh! lol
Yeah handle them a little bit everyday but dont be rough and checking for genders just yet.

On the other hand if you turn the piggies over on their back so its like cradling a baby, they go into a little trance and dont move a muscle until they feel pain so you could try that.

 

[Ant and Dec]

I think it's very important to check the genders now to be honest, if you are not sure, you either need to check them or you need to split them up until they are checked.

Otherwise you could end up with a pregnant guinea pig - and if she is only 8 weeks old, that's not good.

A bit of gentle handling each day, giving them little treats of vegetables when you handle them and they will soon get used to you

 

[AndreaJane]

If you're not impressed with the care they've received and there's a lot of head shaking ( are their ears full of gunk?) it would be worth taking them to a cavy savvy vet for a general health check to put your mind at rest, get them sexed and tackle any health problems early ( if there are any, hopefully not).

 

[AndreaJane]

I should stress that checking the ears is important. Ear infections in pigs can get very nasty, very quickly ( I know) and it's not something you want to delay over. If in ANY doubt get to a vet a.s.a.p.