New piggie owner!

[xkatymayx]

The rescue ladies have been over to do a home check and were very happy with the 5x2 c&c cage I have made for 2 piggy boys! I am now the proud owner of 2 lovely guinea pigs named Jenson and Button.

The rescue ladies told me to handle and bond with them straight away, but I have read here and in a book to let them settle in to their new environments for at least a day. So, I am doing a bit of both. I am offering them food and speaking to them softly, but not handling.

Not going to try to pick them up yet because they are so skittish. They are so scared at the moment, dashing about so quickly to get away from me. Hiding in tubes or their house kicking up the finacard and hay as they go! I am not used to such energetic pets, never had guinea pigs before so I am a bit scared too! 1 pig is braver than the other, Button poked his head out of a tube so I offered him some curly kale and he ate it So I offered him some more and he ate that too! Jenson just stays hidden all the time.

I have given them a bowl full of rocket, red pepper, cucumber, celery, curly kale, watercress and carrot. I've shown them the bowl, but I guess they are too scared to investigate. I've left the bowl in there and hope they find courage to come out and eat it!

Going to attempt handling tomorrow, but if they get too stressed from me trying to catch them I will leave them be. Don't want them getting over stressed. I want them to like being here!

Any tips to get them to be more confident around me are appreciated!

 

[Poppy'sMum]

Wow well done if they are eating out of your hand already! How old are they?

I left mine for a couple of days to settle in, I just fed them & left them to it, even if they only came out at night when I was asleep rolleyes

Then I made up a safe run indoors, picked them up in a cozy or upturned cardboard box & let them in the run with some hideys for a while. Then I sat in the run with them with some food. Eventually they came up for a sniff etc (& nibbled my toes!) & I did that every day for about half an hour or so to get them used to me. Talk in a nice soothing voice at the same time.

I found that it was easier to catch them after they had eaten & were a bit sleepy

Hope that helps!

 

[Wiebke]

AWWW - looks like you have got two very special boys then; and they got a very loving home! Which rescue did rehome from? give them a couple of days to get their bearings. Just chat gently when you are around, and they will get used to you soon.

I am looking forward to pictures of your duo!

 

[xkatymayx]

Thanks guys, I'm going to give them lots of time and I hope they will warm up to me. They were both born at palace piggies rescue in Crawley on 17th July 2011 so 6 months old. They are on the palace piggies website originally named Fidget and Bumble. Fidget is now Jenson and Bumble is Button.

I will definitely need to sit in a pen when I start handling them, I am pretty sure they will just jump out of my hands as soon as they can! I'm going to copy what you did Poppy'sMum and chat to them and see if they chat back!

Been checking on them a little bit! Trying to sneak up so I can watch them because if I make a noise they run away. They have nearly eaten all of the veg I left out for them. They have also done LOADS of poops which I had never seen before, I was thinking "how did these seeds get in there? I don't have any seeds?", *sniff* oh it's poo! Their poops are like perfectly formed pellets which are not wet at all. I'm sure you know this already, but to me it was fascinating finding out what their poop is like There were loads all in one place so I got rid of them and spread their substrate out a bit. If I find pooping spot trends I am sticking a litter tray there lol.

I took a couple of pictures, will be getting more as we start bonding more

This is a pic of the cage before the guinea pigs arrived. They have 2 houses, the left one is quite big. The rescue ladies said that they do not need to have 2 as they have only ever had 1, so I've taken the big one on the left out to give them more space. I might get another smaller sized one as I know that boys especially need 2 of everything.

I didn't put any dry food in the cage because I was waiting to see if I would get some change over food. They have food in the bowls now and I will be getting a larger bowl for them. I have loads of hamster bowls here so was hoping I could use those, but they are too easy for them to knock over.

The cage floor was all level and no correx on the bottom was showing before the guinea pigs moved in! I am going to get hold of some newspaper to put underneath the finacard. How many pigs can fit in a large tube? At least 2!

Hiding from me

They are adorable and I can't wait to get to know them more! x)

 

[samisshort]

Lovely cage! And they're gorgeous little piggies Love their names xx