Our Two New Boys - Floor Time Advice

[fiona357]

So we rescued a pair of boys yesterday - Thor and Loki! (Thor is the lilac coloured one, and Loki is the tri-colour, and they're adorable!). So far so good, although Loki keeps turning his orange houses upside-down it seems! They won't come out of their houses or the darkest corner of the cage at the moment (but it's only been 24 hours), but they've eaten all their greens today.

At the moment they seem to be making a "motorboat" sound quite a bit, but we've tried to leave them in peace and quiet throughout the day. (We had two days off work, so I wanted to try and get them used to being quite most of the day so it won't be strange when we go back to work tomorrow.)

I want to let them out of their cage for some floor-time, but as they're still settling in, when is the best time to introduce this? I was thinking maybe an hour or two tomorrow evening.

 

[sport_billy]

First of all, Thor and Loki are very very cute. Who is whom?

We had a 'turn the house upside downer' in Treacle one of our previous piggies

Here is a link to a thread regarding settling piggies https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/faq-how-do-i-settle-shy-new-guinea-pigs.36239/

I wouldn't put them in a run till the weekend, make sure they get used to all the change first. I know its tempting to do it straight away, but its best to let them get used to the new cage, their surroundings and you to begin with. Once they are in the run make sure they have hidey's to go into when the want. Piggies are prey animals naturally but soon you will soon gain there trust.

Exciting times!

 

[fiona357]

Thanks, I read that thread twice but just wanted to double check. Will wait until the weekend!

Thor is the lilac one and Loki is the tri-coloured one, they are 2 years old. Hehe, Treacle sounds like a character!

I don't want to stress them out more, but as I'll need to remove the wet bits from their cage every day, I assume it's best just to do this with them in the cage? Or is that a bad idea, as they may then not feel as safe in the cage? Sorry for the questions, I love them already (they've already had some carrot yesterday!) and I want them to be the happiest piggies they can be!

 

[Rodentopia]

They will soon settle in, don't worry. I find something tasty like parsley or coriander works wonders when gaining a piggies trust. Every time you get them out use this as a treat so they learn to trust you. They will associate you getting them out with the tasty treats and soon be wheeking for more. My first piggy looked like Thor

 

[Wiebke]

Hi and welcome!

Your boys are gorgeous! I like the name theme, too!

The motorboat sound is called rumblestrutting (as it usually comes with bum swinging) and it is a mild dominance behaviour. Guinea pigs always need to establish or re-establish a hierarchy in any new territory, so that is what your two boys are currently doing.
You may find these information threads from our behaviour section helpful:
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/boars-a-guide-to-successful-companionship.76162/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/dominance-behaviours-in-guinea-pigs.28949/

 

[fiona357]

Thanks for the links, I'd already read the first one but the second one I must have missed! Really helpful, watching then for an hour today and they're definitely doing this.

Great advice! I got them out to clear out the wet bits of the cage (which is pretty much all of it at the moment!) They had some grass in their floor time pen, when i first put them in, then a bit of carrot when they went back in their cage. They were getting quite aggressive towards each other in the pen though - will have to keep an eye on them!

Is it best to let them sort out dominance in their cage first before giving then floor time in their pen?

Another thing, poor Thor was breathing really shallow as if he was really scared when I picked him up and put him down in the floor pen. I hope I haven't made him more stressed!

One of them has also taken to chewing the correx, but I always top up their hay in the morning and before I go to bed. I assume this is boredom? I've introduced a toilet roll with hay in, but they haven't touched it yet.

 

[fiona357]

I'm probably being overley worried, but I've been keeping my eye on them and Loki is still rumblestrutting - Thor doesn't seem too fussed. It's been nearly four days, how long will it take for them to establish their hierarchy in their new home? And should I offer them floor time in a new space while they're still doing this? I'm so worried that they'll fall out, even though they're only showing normal dominance signs at the moment.