some behavior questions

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kash191

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Well I'm still taming my boys, Chewie is a strange pig to read...

he will often be very calm about being around me, but it seems he has endless amounts of energy i make a habit of letting my boys run around on my bed fro at least 30 mins to 1 hour every night, plus other handling during the day...but all the time, he will not stop, always running around, burrowing under covers i can hardly get a pat or a stroke in without him dashing off to burrow, is this just him being energetic or is this a fear of me？

at this point it doesn't feel like hes getting tame at all, while he tolerates me, sometimes when I'm holding him he is a squirmy little monster
he is about 2-3 months old i believe ( this is Chewie)
(also does he look about 2-3 months old to you?)


I moved their cage to the bedroom since it has the only heat source in the house, and so they can get more time listening to me and seeing me, but it seems every time they see me stand up and peer over the walls of the box they retreat to their homes, still they seem fine with me to a certain extent when out of the box but inside the box they will always retreat to their stuffed cave or their wire frame cage which has now become the designated hayloft / litter bin...

i know guinea pigs are always skittish of things coming from about being prey animals, but is there any way everytime they see me first thing they feel is fear, any chance of that destroying the progress ive made to try and tame them?（by the way ive had chewie for about 2 months)
 
oh also one more thing,

ive read that i should feed my young guys alfalfa hay....

is it bad that ive had them on timothy hay all this time? would they grow up faster with alfalfa?
 
I can't really help you with the behaviour. I assume you haven't had them long, they may just need to adjust to you more. I don't know about the alfalfa either. I never fed mine alfalfa when they were young. I know its good for growth as it's got a lot of protein in it, but I don't think it's necessary :).
 
It might help to raise them, they get scared if you come from above as predators would get them from there, also one of my pig's don't like people at all she don't bite and is ok once you got her if you can catch her, it's just their personallity and it may take month's or year's for them to trust us.
 
When piggies are ickle they are full of energy and always on the go so it sounds perfectly normal to me. I have a titchy pig and he is full of energy!
 
thanks for the help, I'm remaking the box by raising it on top of 3 chairs in my bedroom and cutting a large hole in the side panel that faces out the room and placing a large panel of see through plastic in there so they can observe the room and be prepared for anything that is coming their way,

I'm currently cleaning out the cage and they are in their cage home on my bedside table for one night, they are much more comfortable in there and much more accepting of me and my movements.

there is a but of rumbling and rear swaying / propping now and then but Chewie loves to do that usually every hour, it never escalates past that

thanks for the info everyone
 
Personally I wouldn't feed guinea pigs alfalfa at all. I've read, and also my vet told me, that feeding it can lead to kidney and bladder stones. As I've had a pig in the past who had bladder stones, I wouldn't want to do anything to increase that risk!

My youngest piggy is just 11 weeks old and completely full of energy! He runs, popcorns, jumps etc in his run for hours! He is timid when you approach the cage at first but responds to my voice now and wheeks back at me all the time which is very cute! x) It depends on the pig whether they like being handled and/or how nervous they are. Some take longer to get used to it, some never really do!

Fiona
 
No, you should feed alfalfa hay only during late pregnancy and the nursing period; from then on in timothy or other good quality hay.

Youngsters eating adult food will get all their necessary calcium from a topped up pellet bowl, which you can start to reduce slwoly when they are mostly grown between 6-9 months old. Fully grown adult piggies over 12-15 months old should get about 1 handful of pellets every day, or even less.

PS: Some youngsters are definitely hyper! Thankfully even they will eventually quieten down somewhat!
 
your piggies must have strong bladder, thats why i couldnt afford to put anywhere near by bed they would pee in no time haha
 
Chewie looks young but then piggies come in all shapes and sizes :)

When our boys were younger you couldn't stop them still for a minute. They are both still energetic and Biscuit still doesn;t like to sit still for very long. I let them do what they want in that respect. If they calm down a bit, great, if they don't it's their personality and I wouldn't want to change it.

I'm sure Chewie will let you pet him and cuddle him sooner or later but each piggy has their own timeframe that he/she works to and you can't really mess with that. Sorry that's not very helpful really is it?
 
I think it depends on the piggie I have two 13 week old piggies and they both popcorn and go crazy when in their indoor run but in their cage Freddie is still crazy and full of energy alot of the time while Charlie is more chilled and just likes to lay in the house.

As for handling them neither of them still like being picked up but are fine once in my lap which is better than when I got them at 6 weeks old when they hated being held. So you just have to give it time and see if Chewie settles and gets use to you or he can just be a nervous piggie in which you just have to work with how he is.
 
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