Nervous/Shy Guinea

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busuyaro

New Born Pup
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Jul 9, 2019
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Recently bought paired piggies(7/3/2019) and i think i’ve been doing a good job trying to desensitize them to abrupt noises, handling, and me (humans on general). I will sit by their cage and they will not run away no more and be curious when i put my hand in the cage (not moving it or anything) to let them know that a hand is safe and not gonna hurt them. I know i still have a long way to go before they are used to me but one guinea is way more comfortable than the other one. I’ve started doing laptime today for about 5 mins or less, it’s still new for them but i still want them to be able to sit outside the cage with me closer to them to help them acclimate to me, with a 3-4 hours between the laptime. zahavi allows me to hold him and feed him veggies from my hands however styx is still nervous and apprehensive about eating from my hand. he’ll eat veggies if i put it in their food bowl but even then he’ll snatch a veggie or fruit and run straight to their hideaway to eat where as zahavi will eat out in the open. is there anything i can do to let styx know that it’s ok to eat from my hand? maybe it’ll never happen and i don’t wanna do something that makes him nervous forever. i tend to move slowly, to avoid sudden movements, when they are out exploring. but styx is just a little skittish and i want to move at his pace but i don’t know exactly how to accomplish that so any suggestions on what i can do to better my approach will be appreciated. i want to increase laptime with him but i don’t know if that’s a good idea with how he is at the moment
 
Bless you. It is obvious from your post above that you are very caring understanding owner and that is wonderful to see.

Some guinea pigs are more timid than others, you are doing everything the right way I would advise carrying on as you are. Keep up with the hand feeding in cage that is key to trust and positive interactive that will show you are not a threat to her.

We have two girls at the moment and one of them is extremely tame and the other one chickpea is still not tame after two years she will take food from my hand but will run off but with it. She will also not let me touch her in the cage. She will however sit in a sleeping bag or cosy on lap time as she feels secure in there and eat veg during it. I accept that I have to interact with chick on her level and what she feels comfortable with.
She will potter around in cage when my hand is in and take food off me finally but that is all. She is tame enough to get to a vet and give medicine too so that is all I need
 
I’d also like to say welcome to the forum and it would be lovely to see some photos of your pigs
 
busuyaro said:
Recently bought paired piggies(7/3/2019) and i think i’ve been doing a good job trying to desensitize them to abrupt noises, handling, and me (humans on general). I will sit by their cage and they will not run away no more and be curious when i put my hand in the cage (not moving it or anything) to let them know that a hand is safe and not gonna hurt them. I know i still have a long way to go before they are used to me but one guinea is way more comfortable than the other one. I’ve started doing laptime today for about 5 mins or less, it’s still new for them but i still want them to be able to sit outside the cage with me closer to them to help them acclimate to me, with a 3-4 hours between the laptime. zahavi allows me to hold him and feed him veggies from my hands however styx is still nervous and apprehensive about eating from my hand. he’ll eat veggies if i put it in their food bowl but even then he’ll snatch a veggie or fruit and run straight to their hideaway to eat where as zahavi will eat out in the open. is there anything i can do to let styx know that it’s ok to eat from my hand? maybe it’ll never happen and i don’t wanna do something that makes him nervous forever. i tend to move slowly, to avoid sudden movements, when they are out exploring. but styx is just a little skittish and i want to move at his pace but i don’t know exactly how to accomplish that so any suggestions on what i can do to better my approach will be appreciated. i want to increase laptime with him but i don’t know if that’s a good idea with how he is at the moment
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Hi and welcome!

You are a very caring owner. Please accept that it takes quite some time to lure piggies with stronger prey animal instincts out; be patient and persist. It is a process that can take weeks or even months and in extreme cases even years when you are dealing with severely traumatised piggies (which you thankfully aren't). You will always have a bolder and a more timid piggy.

Please take the time to read the information via the link below. The guides can help you to understand prey animal instinces and how you can use social interactive guinea pig behaviours to help Styx more by taking in his language instead of expecting him to learn understand humans first. Make him a welcome member of the group you are leading. that gives him a social framework he can stand on. But don't expect immediate magic wand results. Trust is a tender plant that needs to make deep roots first before it can shoot up and flourish. You need to allow the roots grow invisibly first!
Settling In And Making Friends With Guinea Pigs - A Guide

The link is part of our much more extensive guide collection for new owners that addresses specifically the most often encountered questions and concerns to help you to as good and smooth a start as possible.
Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides
 
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