Struggling

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Nanna Kiwi

Junior Guinea Pig
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I have had my 2, 9 month old Boys almost a week now. They will eat out my hand and let me stroke them in the cage. They climb up the cage to see if I have food for them. But I am really struggling to get them out of their cage. It sort of is stressing me out a bit. I don't know if its because its been a long time since I have had Guineas and I'm more nervous. I'm frightened of hurting them or dropping them. I hate to see them running away from me even though I know that's what all of them do. I feel such a stupid wus. I've got to get my head around this! :mal:
 
I had a 7 year break from pigs and I was very much like you when I got my three! I was nervous of handling them. They felt so small at only 4months old and were so quick and wiggly and seemed intent on hurling themselves into the air ! I even felt hurt that it was taking so long for them to get more comfortable with me and Inhad a major wobble when I got biten by two of them on one weekend.
I’ve always used a tunnel to pick them up. Then I (very gently) tip them out backwards onto my arm. It didn’t help my confidence that they didn’t like being held at all. It took several months for me to re-adjust to pigs and get to know them personally.

They still don’t like being cuddled but Chewie will let me stroke her while she’s loose, as long as she’s eating, BB-8 will occasionally let me pick her up just with my hands and Rey is almost not-wiggly to clip nails. They’ll all let me pick them up to go from carrier to cage and they assume the begging position to allow me to scoop them up easier, and all will now sit nicely on my lap - as long as there’s lettuce! I was brave enough to attempt, and managed to, brush them all last weekend!
 
Give them time, they too are still very nervous. They will soon find their feet and confide in you :)
 
Guineapigfeet said:
I had a 7 year break from pigs and I was very much like you when I got my three! I was nervous of handling them. They felt so small at only 4months old and were so quick and wiggly and seemed intent on hurling themselves into the air ! I even felt hurt that it was taking so long for them to get more comfortable with me and Inhad a major wobble when I got biten by two of them on one weekend.
I’ve always used a tunnel to pick them up. Then I (very gently) tip them out backwards onto my arm. It didn’t help my confidence that they didn’t like being held at all. It took several months for me to re-adjust to pigs and get to know them personally.

They still don’t like being cuddled but Chewie will let me stroke her while she’s loose, as long as she’s eating, BB-8 will occasionally let me pick her up just with my hands and Rey is almost not-wiggly to clip nails. They’ll all let me pick them up to go from carrier to cage and they assume the begging position to allow me to scoop them up easier, and all will now sit nicely on my lap - as long as there’s lettuce! I was brave enough to attempt, and managed to, brush them all last weekend!
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Thank you. I was starting to feel really silly about being nervous about handling them. Baby steps I suppose.
 
Nanna Kiwi said:
I have had my 2, 9 month old Boys almost a week now. They will eat out my hand and let me stroke them in the cage. They climb up the cage to see if I have food for them. But I am really struggling to get them out of their cage. It sort of is stressing me out a bit. I don't know if its because its been a long time since I have had Guineas and I'm more nervous. I'm frightened of hurting them or dropping them. I hate to see them running away from me even though I know that's what all of them do. I feel such a stupid wus. I've got to get my head around this! :mal:
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Hi! Please give your boys time! Guinea pigs are prey animals. Keep in mind that shop and for sale breeder piggies have hardly had any friendly human interaction before they are ripped away from their group and thrust into a home that expects animated cuddly toys. :(

Piggies are much more than that, but you need to give them time to settle down and get their bearings in their new home. Concentrate first on avoiding any predator behaviours, make friends by using guinea pig body language and try to start building up trust through feeding and enticing them slowly to take it grom your hands, so they associate hands with good things. Food is the best way.
Take the time to read our guides (links in the previous post); they are a great collection of tried and tested tips.
 
Nanna Kiwi said:
Thank you. I was starting to feel really silly about being nervous about handling them. Baby steps I suppose.
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Yes, for you and for them! Try not to put too much pressure on yourself for things to progress quickly. What I love most about pigs is watching them be pigs. Whilst I’d love a cuddly pig again (all of my others were docile and snuggly, which I don’t think helped my re-adjustment) mine are so funny and active and I just love watching them interact with each other, and me on their terms, zoomies, popcorns, rumbling during seasons, hay tunnels etc are all great and if I mange to steal a cuddle every now and again, that’s just a bonus!
 
We always start off after a few days 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.
This shows a great way to pick them up stress free for you and them
 
sport_billy said:
We always start off after a few days 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.
This shows a great way to pick them up stress free for you and them
Click to expand...


I did use a tube to put them in their pen so I could clean out their cage. I have not had any lap time yet though.
 
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