Nervous Guinea Pigs

[Sadiet]

Hi there, I’m a 25 year old first time guinea pig owner! I got my two boys, Conker and Chestnut, from a rescue in early June 2025. They were about two months old at the time (approx date as rescued from a hoarding situation), and presume they are around 9 months now!

The have a 6x2 c&c cage with many hides, plenty of hay and enrichment and they seem to love their home. They also have a very large set up in my living room (approx 4x8) that I can set up and they use about 4 times a week for a few hours to exercise/play and be in a new environment. They love this and get zoomies every single time.

Here’s the problem - From the start, the boys have been super nervous. Some days they will run up to me squeaking for food, and other days will refuse to come out of their hides.

Since the start, I have followed advice to bond with my pigs and I seem to be getting nowhere. They HATE being picked up and will vibrate out of fear during lap time unless they are constantly being supplied with a snack and have a blanket to hide in. When it comes to them being in their cage, any sudden movements and they freak and they do not let me close to them unless I have food. I am aware they weren’t handled initially before rescue, so I understand that may be an issue. I’m just wondering if it’s time I stop expecting them to befriend me? I will continue to handle them enough so I can do health checks etc, but maybe I just don’t have confident, people friendly guinea pigs?

I love my boys endlessly, it’s just a little disheartening sometimes seeing them so scared of me, and never seeming to be able to build any trust. I feel mean every time I have to get them out their home for floor time and checks, and I don’t want to do lap time too often

If anyone has any advice, or could reassure me that I’m not doing anything too wrong, that would be great.

---

 

[Piggies&buns]

You certainly aren’t doing anything wrong.
Most piggies don’t and won’t ever like to be held and handled, and most will still scatter away at sudden movements regardless of how long they’ve lived with their person. It’s just how they are, they aren’t cuddly pets.
The fact they will take food from you is a brilliant sign and means they do trust you and do like you! They just don’t enjoy being held.
Sudden movements are always going to be scary to prey animals.

Of my four recent piggies (two now passed away), I only have one who actually enjoys being held and actively seeks out being stroked. All the others have tolerated health checks but absolutely detest being held for anything else and try to get away asap!. one of the boys I have now barely even tolerates the health checks without trying to bite me (although even that is a positive sign - he feels confident enough with me to tell me he doesn’t like it. If a piggy is held and sat stock still then that is the most terrified of them all).
I don’t do lap time or cuddle time because it isn’t what they want or in their best interests.
What I can do is sit in their enclosure, they come to me if they want to (as long as I don’t try to stroke them) and take a snack (although it took one of them 18 months to take food from me for the first time). The eldest two came to me at 4 months old and lived until they were 6 and 7 years old and their feelings about being held didn’t change in that time. The two I still have are three years old. My enjoyment of them comes from watching them go about their piggy business rather than holding them.

 

[Mrs Tiggy Winkle]

It's normal, some remain nervous and skittish for life. They're prey animals. Lap time is more for you than them. There are some forum piggies who seem to like lap time and e.g. pancake but for others quite possibly the majority it's something to put up with while the weekly check is done.

I don't have guineas any more myself. When I did, I often sat by their cage-affair on a level with them and talked to them and sometimes fed them bit by bit. If you can get them to connect you and/or your fingers to food, then that's a really good start!

I had the space then to let them run around a whole room sometimes and I would lie on the floor and allow them to come up to me - so it was up to them rather than forced on them and they could leave the situation whenever they wanted. They would come up, sniff me, put their front paws on me etc, lean higher up. And then scamper away. Or you can sit on the floor with them with little treats, including their veggies , placed on your knees or some such reachable spot, and let them come up to you to get their food. Again they will learn to connect you with food.

Some people on the forum herd their piggies lnto some form of carry case or idk tunnel to transport them to a separate pen.

 

[Mrs Tiggy Winkle]

I did have a few guineas who when very senior, so 7-9 y.o., would doze in the open and allow me to pick them up pretty easily from there. Maybe a form of "I can’t be bothered anymore"?.

There are occasional exceptions: I had a young boar who would allow me to pick him up from the roof of one of the little huts, so long as I spoke to him first. I also had an absolute senior who learned to communicate to me when she needed to be picked up and moved downstairs or upstairs within their massive cage-affair. I communicated to her my wish to pick her up e.g. to put in the garden taxi, or give her meds, and she understood that too and could show me if she didn't want to at that moment, which could have been just because she was about to pee, rather than some huge thing. That was a huge exception to the rule I think, she had a lot of medical problems toward the end but still had zest for life and was reliant on me for transportation.

 

[Truffolo]

My piggies hissed and popped at me on their first morning in their new home. Very rude and they certainly didn't like me then. But now we are a little family and I think I understand then better. There would be a stampede in terror to safety if I moved my arm while I was sitting reading nearby, piggy drama at health check and grooming time. But Truffle has lovely long fur and has to be groomed every day in case he has woodshavings matting his fur and Polo has a grubby grease gland so we can't get away without handling. All I did was handle them and they got used to it. If they realise they can't get away they develop learned helplessness and stop trying to escape. It sounds like a horrible term, but it is a form of learning that most people and animals acquire at some stage and can be helpful as long as it has benefits and does no harm. Now they absolutely love being stroked, especially when they are sleepy in the evening. Truffle purrs and half closes his eyes and Polo pancakes happily. They are very soppy. I am still working on getting them OK with being picked up, but Truffle has made a lot of progress and Polo is improving. I like the videos on taming Saskia from Los Angeles Guinea Pig Rescue has on You Tube. I started with stroking and brushing during lap time and small head scratches in the cage and pen, just one finger, and then progressing to their backs. They can tell when I am going to stroke them and when I am trying to pick them up, being social animals they are good at reading body language so staying very relaxed and quiet is an advantage when interacting with them.

 

[Truffolo]

I like Scotty's Animals videos too. He recommends handling your piggies and getting them used to being handled. It makes health checks and medication much easier. They can get a bit dramatic but if you keep cool and handle them firmly but calmly, they soon get used to being stroked.

 

[Boarworld]

I have three girls. Two are 7 months (litter sisters) and one is 5 months who joined us a few weeks later. I’ve had them all since they were 6/7 weeks old. The two older ones accepted the younger one with zero issues they get on beautifully.

They’re slowly improving on the picking up! I herd them into the carrier to bring them out of their cage generally, and into the run for lap/play time with us. I don’t have them on laps anywhere like a sofa because I don’t trust that they won’t try to bolt which means they could fall and hurt themselves. They are fast! So I get in the run with them (it’s large) and let them come to me.

Very occasionally, I can pick two of them up from the cage, but it’s not often. One of them I have no chance and she doesn’t even like being herded into the carrier. She runs away, kicks her back leg at me, chatters her teeth and has even given me the odd warning ‘go away’ nip. Although the fact she didn’t bite hard I think shows she wasn’t being aggressive because piggies can bite badly if they’re minded to and she didn’t, it was just a flash of the teeth on me. But she and her litter sister are really long haired, they are shebas and they need to be kept groomed so needs must. The younger one is a Rex (I think) and is short, wiry haired but typically as she needs almost no grooming, she’s the friendliest one.

Once I’m in the run, or my two children are (very well practised with piggies) they’re all more chill and will approach all of us. They just don’t much like being lifted or held in hands! The two less nervous ones will take food from our hands and actively climb then sit/relax on laps and be stroked. The one who is more skittish will take food from our hands, but then scurry off to eat.

We joke that the youngest pig loves my youngest child as she always goes to her, one of the older ones loves my oldest child and the other older one hates us all equally! She doesn’t, we’re teasing, but she is noticeably more scared and skittish then the others. Weirdly, she is 100% the dominant pig over the others, the very clear boss! I have never seen a single sign of dominance from the youngest one, and if the other one ever attempts the odd rumble and bum wiggle, our skittish one shuts her down immediately!

I have no idea why, it must just be her personality! Pigs are funny. They have a lovely big home with loads of hides and enrichment, they’re well fed and well cared for. Everything is the same for all three of them. She’s the Queen Pig of the cage but the biggest scaredy pig when it comes to humans who do nothing but spoil her rotten!

 

[Boarworld]

I should add to the above that previously I had a pair of boars, who were litter brothers and I had from 12 weeks. Sadly I lost them both at around 18m old, but before that they were totally tame, friendly, happy to be held, picked up and cuddled! They were the ultimate chill pigs.

I did nothing different with them than I have done with the girls, if anything I knew less about how to approach them to gain trust as the boys were my very first piggies. The boys were just more confident, more trusting and took to us and being handled much more quickly.

 

[Truffolo]

I should add to the above that previously I had a pair of boars, who were litter brothers and I had from 12 weeks. Sadly I lost them both at around 18m old, but before that they were totally tame, friendly, happy to be held, picked up and cuddled! They were the ultimate chill pigs.

I did nothing different with them than I have done with the girls, if anything I knew less about how to approach them to gain trust as the boys were my very first piggies. The boys were just more confident, more trusting and took to us and being handled much more quickly.

This is very interesting, thank you

 

[Boarworld]

This is very interesting, thank you

People generally seem to be put off of boars and I’m not sure why really, they’ve got an unfairly bad reputation! I know they can be tricky to bond, but so can sows and in my (albeit limited!) experience I found boars to be the most amazing, loving little chaps. We miss them terribly, as much as our girls are very much loved.

They also don’t smell, as long as they’re kept clean… the same as sows! Neither are stinky, no animals should be left living in their wee and poo. It’s the mess that smells, not the animals. Humans would soon stink if left to sit in their own mess, yuck.

 

[Truffolo]

They are very affectionate and delightful little characters ❤