Quick question about bringing piggies home

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carrot_tit

I think i've just about bought every book on guinea pigs availble but something is confusing me :D

A lot of them say that when you bring piggies home you should leave them well alone for a few days. Whilst some don't say anything at all? I've never heard of this before. I know you should leave new animals for a couple of hours to let them have a good look round and get settled but never a couple of days?

Do you all do this?
 
When I got Misty I had looked up everything apart from that because I couldn't find anything. But I left him in his cage for about an hour or 2 then brought him out. He was fine with it and when I got Sooty he was the same. Just depends on what the piggie is like?
 
from my experience:

bring piggie home, put them into the cage, stay away from the cage until piggie is confident enough to explore the cage.
(can be anything from a couple of hours to a couple of days, my marvin only left his house to eat when noone was looking at the beginning).

After that, you can try to feed them something like lettuce or cucumber out of your hand. For my lettuce worked quite well because they love it and while they eat out of your hand, the leaf is long enough for them to stay at a bit of a distance to your hand. once they are confident to eat out of your hand, start trying to stroke them with one finger slowly while they are eating..

I wouldnt try to pick them up or anything during the first days. unless its absolutely necessary to clean out the cage.
 
Abnoba said:
I wouldnt try to pick them up or anything during the first days. unless its absolutely necessary to clean out the cage.
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Agree 100%, unless it is a rescue pig that needs immediate attention, I leave them to settle in and find their bearings for a couple of days . Moving home is a traumatic thing for all guinea pigs and they need time to adjust. This is another reason not to put them in straight away with a new companion. It's fine if they get along great, but if there is any aggro, it just adds to their already stressed little lives :(
There's no rush, so we just have to make the transition as easy as possible for them :)

Barbara
 
:) I advise leaving them alone for the first day, though it does depend on the pig a lot and some are more than happy to be handled after the first couple of hours. After a day I would hold (no matter what) for around 5-10 minutes or until piggy has had enough and try to increase the time every so often. Two weeks is too long, something might be happening health wise eg skin, lumps or bumps and piggy will need checking. :)
 
karenrgpr said:
Two weeks is too long, something might be happening health wise eg skin, lumps or bumps and piggy will need checking. :)
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I don't think anyone suggested 2 weeks? We suggested a couple of days...Now 2 weeks would be a little over cautious even for me ;D

Barbara
 
So they did Barbara :) For some reason I thought one of the books had said a couple of wheeks when it was days. ::)
 
karenrgpr said:
So they did Barbara :) For some reason I thought one of the books had said a couple of wheeks when it was days. ::)
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Considering some of the rubbish you read in some guinea care books none of us would have been surprised at that!

Barbara
 
Left my 2 for a few hours but then they were lookin at me from the cage and I couldn't resist giving them a stroke waited until the next morning to get them out tho....
 
Thanks for clearing that up. I always tend to forgot that moving home can be traumatic for small animals.
 
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