Scared piggy

[Sazbell]

Hello
I've got 2 piggies, had them two weeks on Monday. I can pick the white one up and give a cuddle I just can't pick the black one up. It runs, jumps, hides. You can tell it very scared.
I sit talk to them. She has just started to take food from me.
I'm worried I not handled it yet.
I'm so new to this so I am nervous at hurting her
Can any one give me any advice?

 

[Smudgeflofifi]

Hello
I've got 2 piggies, had them two weeks on Monday. I can pick the white one up and give a cuddle I just can't pick the black one up. It runs, jumps, hides. You can tell it very scared.
I sit talk to them. She has just started to take food from me.
I'm worried I not handled it yet.
I'm so new to this so I am nervous at hurting her
Can any one give me any advice? View attachment 144047View attachment 144046

Hi I can’t really help much, but I can say if you spend lots of time with them then eventually they should start to be less timid. About three months ago i adopted two piggies (I now have three). They were six months old and don’t appear to have been handled much. They are only now starting to be more tame, one thing I found is to be very quiet and don’t move to much so you don’t make them jump. If you sit very quietly next to them then eventually they should come up to you. Hope this helps

 

[Piggies&buns]

Two weeks is such a short amount of time for prey animals to become happy with being handled. Most don’t like being picked up as it cuts too close to their prey instincts. This all sounds very normal.

One of mine took six weeks to become comfortable with me, now two years on he is absolutely fine about being handled, takes food from me, comes to say hello, likes chin strokes etc. But he won’t tolerate being picked up from the cage but doesn’t mind if being picked up if I herd him into a carrier and then pick him up from there.
The other one has taken all this time to take food from my hand, he is much more nervous and is never going to be a piggy to like being touched or handled. All contact I have with him is purely for health purposes - to weigh, health check, clip nails etc. Its all done quickly but carefully and with minimal stress to him.

Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering And Cuddling Tips

 

[Sazbell]

Two weeks is such a short amount of time for prey animals to become happy with being handled. Most don’t like being picked up as it cuts too close to their prey instincts. This all sounds very normal.

One of mine took six weeks to become comfortable with me, now two years on he is absolutely fine about being handled, takes food from me, comes to say hello, likes chin strokes etc. But he won’t tolerate being picked up from the cage but doesn’t mind if being picked up if I herd him into a carrier and then pick him up from there.
The other one has taken all this time to take food from my hand, he is much more nervous and is never going to be a piggy to like being touched or handled. All contact I have with him is purely for health purposes - to weigh, health check, clip nails etc. Its all done quickly but carefully and with minimal stress to him.

Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering And Cuddling Tips

Thank you. Been told if I didn't pick up straight away it be too late. So feel happy to hear this. I will carry on like I have been thank you x

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thank you. Been told if I didn't pick up straight away it be too late. So feel happy to hear this. I will carry on like I have been thank you x

Slow and steady is the way with them. Do it at their pace. There is no point in forcing them to be handled as they won’t be comfortable with it. Sit and talk to them, offer food by hand and just take it slowly and build their trust. But do also accept that some of them won’t like to be handled as much as others do.