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AlabasterCrow

New Born Pup
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Feb 1, 2020
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I've talked about Cho and Sha before on this forum and would just like to say that they are doing mostly fine. Their cage was just upgraded and they are happy as can be (even after Sha broke his toe, which is healing wonderfully.)

But I'm having a problem with Cho.

On one hand we have Sha who is willing to let us hold him and let's us pet and kiss on him.

But Cho doesn't like to be touched. He doesn't like to be held, pet, or anything. Keep in mind we have had both of these pigs since January, but for whatever reason he still hasn't warmed up to us. He eats out of our hands, and will crawl on us if we have a bag of snacks, but beyond that he doesn't want any physical contact.

We have even tried picking him up and holding him in a fleece cuddle, and he still freaks out. So much as petting him with one finger makes him cry and run.

Could this be trauma from when he was at the pet store?

How can we work on getting him to relax around us?
 
He sounds like a normal guinea pig. Most don’t like being touched or picked up. It’s just the nature of guinea pigs. The fact he is taking food from your hand is good though, it means he trusts you. You may just need to accept that this is as good as it will get with him.
Of my two piggies only one will tolerate a quick stroke under the chin or on the head but that’s it. Neither like being picked up so I keep my physical interaction with them purely to health checks. They’d rather me sit with them and chat with them without touching but offering food from my hand.
 
He sounds like a normal guinea pig. Most don’t like being touched or picked up. It’s just the nature of guinea pigs. The fact he is taking food from your hand is good though, it means he trusts you. You may just need to accept that this is as good as it will get with him.
Of my two piggies only one will tolerate a quick stroke under the chin or on the head but that’s it. Neither like being picked up so I keep my physical interaction with them purely to health checks. They’d rather me sit with them and chat with them without touching but offering food from my hand.
Thank you so much. This really makes me feel better. I was worried it was something I was doing since Sha is so willing to snuggle.

I'm glad to hear Cho is just being a normal piggy.
 
Guinea pugs can all have different personalities. I've had skittish ones and ones that run to you for cuddles. Offer the snacks and the snuggles and follow his cues. It will help him trust you even if he never becomes a snuggly pig.
 
Guinea pugs can all have different personalities. I've had skittish ones and ones that run to you for cuddles. Offer the snacks and the snuggles and follow his cues. It will help him trust you even if he never becomes a snuggly pig.
Thank you. We've been giving him snacks a few times a day (by snacks I mean offering him a seedhead from his hay or a few vit c pellets), and making sure he continues to relate us to food. I think I'm happy knowing this may just be his normal behavior. Even if we can never snuggle up with him I'm glad it's not because of some sort of trauma.
 
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