Trying to bond more

[MishImpossible]

It's just me and the guinea-babies in the house just now as my bf is out of town on business. So I thought I'd use the opportunity to bond with them a little more and managed to pick them up out of their cage, one at a time and hold them for a little while. All was going well until the ****ing phone rang!

Capy squeaked a little until I reassured him and stroked him a little. He seemed to be the most calm and stayed still whilst I held him. He IS the least skittish out of the two but started to get a bit fidgety when I lowered him into his cage. Moose was really skittish - that little dude is FAST - and constantly tried to climb up my jumper and neck when I held him. Unfortunately he was the one that I was holding when the phone went.

I gave them some yellow pepper afterwards as a reward. Hopefully they'll associate being traumatised with food and maybe not mind as much when I do pick them up now lol.|)

 

[mikulinek]

That's it really. Everytime you want to pet them or pick them up, just reward them with a nice treat and they will begin to associaite you positively with treats.

They also have fantastic memories to counter-balance their natural shyness. It may take a while but they remember what noises were scary at first but turned out to be nothing, what noises mean you're home with food, what noises mean you're about to pick them up etc. Their memory is mostly attached to sounds and scents because their eyesight is not great. When you pick them up, especially early on, it's best not to have any strong perfume or use perfumed soap. That way they will pick up your natural scent and associate this with something positive.

 

[MishImpossible]

Thank you for the advice.