Skittish Piggies! No Cuddles, Only Bites. </3

MissTargaryen

MissTargaryen

Junior Guinea Pig
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Malta, Europe
Hi guys!

So I recently got two young male guineas, aged approx 2-3 months. One is older than the other for sure as the size difference has always been quite noticeable.

The thing is, I haven't raised young guinea pigs in almost 5 years now, so I forgot exactly what I did to give my first guinea pig her loving attitude. She spent her first year or two being quite oblivious, just seeing me as a food provider and not much as a friend. After that, she became insanely loving and started to chill with me to the point where she would also watch whole episodes with me, just chilling on my chest and looking at the screen for hours! She was a very relaxed and loved guinea pig, and I would like some tips on how I can give the same upbringing to my two new ones.

The difference is that the guinea pig I had before was never skittish. She was never a biter, only a nibbler in the very beginning, but she was never so nervous as these guys. They literally panic when I take one out of the cage to cuddle for a couple of minutes. One would start making low mumbly noises and the other would reciprocate these noises and panic, crawl frantically all over my arms pointing towards the cage entrance. If I try to redirect his attention from the cage, this quickly turns to frantic biting, but a strange one, not the typical hard bite that draws blood, but rather a stern upright pull on the skin, if that makes any sense.

I don't really know what I should do as I never owned two at a time. It's much easier to get one to fully trust you, but they are always together and even when they're together outside of the cage, they are quite hyper and are nervous to make any contact with me whatsoever. I have tried bribing with nice fresh veggies but they just remain statuesque and nibble when I close the cage and return to my bed. :/

Side note: I don't know if this is relevant or not, but they are also hyper in their cage. They run lap after lap around the cage for ages, and are all jumpy. The larger one does try to hump the little one quite a lot of the time as well. So most of the running is in fact done by the larger one, either in an attempt to hump the smaller one, or when this is unsuccessful and he has a bit more energy left to spare I presume.

I really wish to create a loving bond with them. Any tips or explanations to what's happening with them?
 
hi,your piggies are exhibiting normal behaviours for young piggies.guinea pigs are prey animals so not naturally confident.it takes time,some of mine take upto 1 year to get comfortable with handling.it is a little and often approach,the pulling on skin,clothes .i find most of my guinea pigs do this to alert me,that they wish to go back in there cage for the toilet.Food is a good tool to use to gain trust,place a favorite treat eg parsley,hold your hand still,see if it creates confidence to take it from your hand.if they are pulling on your skin,it could show they trust you enough to communicate to you.guinea pigs are very good communicators.
I would suggest you go to the top of the page and click on,new owners guides ,as there is a lot of relevant information on the topics you have raised.i would link these for you,but i have not mastered this yet !
 
Hello

Totally normal behavior for their age., Baby piggies are hyper and very skittish, they will settle in time. The running laps is a sign of happiness and excitement, older piggies run less laps than younger ones, although I was so pleased to see my 4 year old do a few laps last week :)
The humping is normal dominance behavior and you will see it often while your boys are sorting out their hierarchy Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs

Your boys don't like being separated either by sounds of it, if you live at home with someone i would advise having a piggy on the lap each so they can see each other, may even in a cosy each

We always start off by trying to hand feed a few veggy treats in the cage by offering some nice veggies to the new piggy when they are in their hidey, hopefully they will take it off you as you hold it in for them... after a while try offering it a little further from the hidey so they edge out and take it from you.
Food is the best way to bribe, use food when you get round to lap times also. Start lap time for a short amount of time at first and build up. We started off we laptimes for 1 minute with new piggies then pop them back, slowly increasing the time. They will soon associate you with food and good things but at first it takes a while to gain their trust.

Have a look at this method to pick them up also
 
MissTargaryen said:
Hi guys!

So I recently got two young male guineas, aged approx 2-3 months. One is older than the other for sure as the size difference has always been quite noticeable.

The thing is, I haven't raised young guinea pigs in almost 5 years now, so I forgot exactly what I did to give my first guinea pig her loving attitude. She spent her first year or two being quite oblivious, just seeing me as a food provider and not much as a friend. After that, she became insanely loving and started to chill with me to the point where she would also watch whole episodes with me, just chilling on my chest and looking at the screen for hours! She was a very relaxed and loved guinea pig, and I would like some tips on how I can give the same upbringing to my two new ones.

The difference is that the guinea pig I had before was [you]never[/you] skittish. She was never a biter, only a nibbler in the very beginning, but she was never so nervous as these guys. They literally panic when I take one out of the cage to cuddle for a couple of minutes. One would start making low mumbly noises and the other would reciprocate these noises and panic, crawl frantically all over my arms pointing towards the cage entrance. If I try to redirect his attention from the cage, this quickly turns to frantic biting, but a strange one, not the typical hard bite that draws blood, but rather a stern upright pull on the skin, if that makes any sense.

I don't really know what I should do as I never owned two at a time. It's much easier to get one to fully trust you, but they are always together and even when they're together outside of the cage, they are quite hyper and are nervous to make any contact with me whatsoever. I have tried bribing with nice fresh veggies but they just remain statuesque and nibble when I close the cage and return to my bed. :/

[you]Side note[/you]: I don't know if this is relevant or not, but they are also hyper in their cage. They run lap after lap around the cage for ages, and are all jumpy. The larger one does try to hump the little one quite a lot of the time as well. So most of the running is in fact done by the larger one, either in an attempt to hump the smaller one, or when this is unsuccessful and he has a bit more energy left to spare I presume.

I really wish to create a loving bond with them. Any tips or explanations to what's happening with them?
Click to expand...

Your piggies are showing normal prey animal behaviours. These guides tell you can work around that in ways that your guinea pigs understand immediately. Shop and breeder piggies have no friendly human interaction before they are ripped out of their family and thrust into a situation where they are expected to be instant cuddly pets.

Please also be aware that guinea pigs are group animals; you are ignoring their most important need for constant companionship by making them utterly dependent on your attention for the whole duration of your life - which as you have other commitments can only be for a few hours at the best of times. It is also a false conclusion that a single piggy will come out of it shell more quickly; we also see threads about single piggies not wanting to interact after weeks on here. :)

Please take the time to read through these detailed guides here. They contain all the necessary tips and information on how you can avoid predator behaviours and use guinea pig body language to make friends with them. The tips have been learned through long term observation and I promise you, they work if you are patient enough to give your piggies a chance!
How Do I Settle Shy New Guinea Pigs?
Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering And Cuddling Tips
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pig
Companionship
 
How long have you had them? Usually the first few weeks are difficult as you try to gently expose them to positive human interaction. Slow and steady wins the race!

Usually that kind of bite/pull action means that they're frustrated and they're trying to communicate with you. With a lot of my pigs that means they want to go back to their cage, normally because they need to wee. It can also mean they don't like something, like when I have to give meds to one of my pigs she does it.

It seems like it takes forever at the time and bonding with them can be a long process but it goes a lot smoother if you do it at their pace. If they're not happy being picked up yet then you can interact with them in their cage, or sit in their run with them and let them explore you on their terms :)

What size cage do they have?
 
sport_billy said:
Hello

Totally normal behavior for their age., Baby piggies are hyper and very skittish, they will settle in time. The running laps is a sign of happiness and excitement, older piggies run less laps than younger ones, although I was so pleased to see my 4 year old do a few laps last week :)
The humping is normal dominance behavior and you will see it often while your boys are sorting out their hierarchy Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs

Your boys don't like being separated either by sounds of it, if you live at home with someone i would advise having a piggy on the lap each so they can see each other, may even in a cosy each

We always start off by trying to hand feed a few veggy treats in the cage by offering some nice veggies to the new piggy when they are in their hidey, hopefully they will take it off you as you hold it in for them... after a while try offering it a little further from the hidey so they edge out and take it from you.
Food is the best way to bribe, use food when you get round to lap times also. Start lap time for a short amount of time at first and build up. We started off we laptimes for 1 minute with new piggies then pop them back, slowly increasing the time. They will soon associate you with food and good things but at first it takes a while to gain their trust.

Have a look at this method to pick them up also
Click to expand...

Super helpful information! I just made a DIY cozy using a small box and a warm fleecy jumper and they were so calm in it, I just spent 20 min without them trying to run away! Brilliant idea, thank you ever so much! I still need to figure out what is their favourite veggie so I can start bribing them with it, so far they really seem to like parsley. Thanks a lot, really! :)
 
eileen said:
hi,your piggies are exhibiting normal behaviours for young piggies.guinea pigs are prey animals so not naturally confident.it takes time,some of mine take upto 1 year to get comfortable with handling.it is a little and often approach,the pulling on skin,clothes .i find most of my guinea pigs do this to alert me,that they wish to go back in there cage for the toilet.Food is a good tool to use to gain trust,place a favorite treat eg parsley,hold your hand still,see if it creates confidence to take it from your hand.if they are pulling on your skin,it could show they trust you enough to communicate to you.guinea pigs are very good communicators.
I would suggest you go to the top of the page and click on,new owners guides ,as there is a lot of relevant information on the topics you have raised.i would link these for you,but i have not mastered this yet !
Click to expand...

Hello, yes I saw the articles before I posted but I decided to write my personal experience in case there may be some tailored advice or tips, such as this :) Thank you very much for the help! I'm glad to hear that your piggies have warmed up to you ^.^ xx
 
Cavy Kung-Fu said:
How long have you had them? Usually the first few weeks are difficult as you try to gently expose them to positive human interaction. Slow and steady wins the race!

Usually that kind of bite/pull action means that they're frustrated and they're trying to communicate with you. With a lot of my pigs that means they want to go back to their cage, normally because they need to wee. It can also mean they don't like something, like when I have to give meds to one of my pigs she does it.

It seems like it takes forever at the time and bonding with them can be a long process but it goes a lot smoother if you do it at their pace. If they're not happy being picked up yet then you can interact with them in their cage, or sit in their run with them and let them explore you on their terms :)

What size cage do they have?
Click to expand...

Nah I haven't had them for too long, approx 4 weeks now. I was expecting them to be skittish and afraid, but since I never had this experience myself, I didn't expect it to be a certain way, you know? The lovely piggy I had before them showed indifference rather than anxiety at the beginning, so I wasn't used to this sort of behaviour.

I have noticed that they do this bite/pull thing whenever they get really fed up of handling and would like to return back to their cage. That's true though, nothing good will come out of something forced. Best way is to let them grow out of their fear :)

The cage is roughly over a metre long by almost a metre wide. They also have a sort of an upper level and stairs thing going on, and they usually chill out under the level where they feel hidden.
 
It took 14 months for Betsy to finally trust me enough to fall asleep on my lap. You need to go at the pace your piggy is happiest with. Don't try and force it.
Betsy relaxing.webp
 
MissTargaryen said:
Nah I haven't had them for too long, approx 4 weeks now. I was expecting them to be skittish and afraid, but since I never had this experience myself, I didn't expect it to be a certain way, you know? The lovely piggy I had before them showed indifference rather than anxiety at the beginning, so I wasn't used to this sort of behaviour.

I have noticed that they do this bite/pull thing whenever they get really fed up of handling and would like to return back to their cage. That's true though, nothing good will come out of something forced. Best way is to let them grow out of their fear :)

The cage is roughly over a metre long by almost a metre wide. They also have a sort of an upper level and stairs thing going on, and they usually chill out under the level where they feel hidden.
Click to expand...

Ah okay, still early days then :) Some piggies are fearless but the rest are scaredy cats like mine were! :))

You're quite right, I wouldn't have them out for too long. Maybe 5 mins to start with under a blanket or somewhere they feel safe with some nice veg and pop them back, at least for now :)
 
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