Two baby boars

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okciv

Hello,
After months of thinking about getting my first Guinea pigs, I finally got 2 beautiful black boars this morning. x) They are 18 weeks old but have not been handled. (No names yet - that will be my daughters job when she gets home from a holiday with her grandparents)

I got them home, and I took one out of the box and held him. He was really scared :( seemed to be shaking quite a lot :( & when my partner came to get the other one out of the box, the first one jumped off my knee & made a run for it across the garden. He ran into a corner & I was able to pick him up & put both of them in their new outdoor home. They both seem soooo scared :( I know it must be stressfull for them getting put in a box & put into a car to a new home etc but I wasn't prepared for how scared they would be & how bad it would make me feel :(

My question is - what do I do now? I've checked on them but even going within a few feet of then makes them jumpy & I feel sooo sorry for them. I think I will leave them until tommorow - hopefully that's the right thing to do?

As they have never been handled - what's the best way for me to go about getting them used to me? I'm actually quite scared of being bitten which I never thought I would be :red but I obviously want Guinea pigs that will like me playing with them. :(|)

Hopefully someone can give me advice :)
 
You will need to be patient with them, and for the first few days let them settle in there new home. You can talk to them gently to start with and then after a few days hold them, when you put them back you can give them a treat. I try to hold my piggies two to three times a day, not for too long at a time. Mine are now 5/6 months and are coming on lovely and I have just fostered 2 boars for Sophie who are absolutely petrified of people ..... bless them.

You will find that they run for cover but thats natural. After a few months they will come and greet you with their wheeks and its lovely :)) I hang my washing out and they come and have a look at what I am doing, probably cos they want some grass or dandilions!

I have only been bitten once by each piggie, and its more of a nip really, they don't even mark the skin inbreeding and this was because I was cutting nails!
 
its perfectly normal that there scared and it will take a while to gain there trust. I'm not saying guinea pigs dont bite but its normally rare. I have never been bitten and have 9 piggies at the moment. If there annoyed the most ive known them to do it nip gently. To gain there trust i sit by the cage talking to them while rustling a veg bag quietly. After a few days you can put some veg in while your there. when there ok to come out while your around start to feed them parsley etc through the bars in the cage. They will soon come round and eventually you wont be able to stop them coming out and wheekings at you.
I would just leave them for a while now and let them settle in. Dont worry they will be fine. xx
 
Even piggies that have been handled regularly can take a while to settle so dont worry. Give them a bit of time to settle into their new home then start handling them regularly for short periods of time. Nearly all of mine still run when I go to pick them up but are fine once on my lap for cuddles. Just be patient with them and enjoy them :)
 
ive had my Basil for a month and he is still very skittish where as my other three were great from day one,i guess you just have to be a littl emore patient with some piggies;)x
 
My two piggies are completely different!

I left them alone yesterday apart from talking to them a couple of times when I was checking on them.

I went out this morning & managed to pick up 1 without too much trouble. He seems the boistrous one but he is really jumpy and fast! (he makes the other one jumpier I think)

I gave him a cuddle for a min but he was really restless & didn't seem happy so I put him in his run
Trying to get the other one was more difficult. He seems soo shy and quiet but he didn't mind a cuddle as much.

When they were in the run they sat under a covered part, in a corner the whole day - is this normal? They didn't have a wee look around or anything :(

When I put them back in the first one wasn't much bother and he was sooooooo excited to get back to his home. :))
I couldn't get the other one as he was in a corner part of the run that I couldn't reach and he was very scared. My partner came & managed to get him eating cucumber from his hand! He then picked him up for a cuddle & took him home. He wasn't so excited, I think he likes cuddles even though he doesn't like being picked up to start with.

Just realised how long this is but I am just so excited about having Piggies! x)
 
okciv said:
When they were in the run they sat under a covered part, in a corner the whole day - is this normal? They didn't have a wee look around or anything :(
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Pretty sure it's normal. My two shy girls took 3 or 4 times in the run before they would come out. To encourage them I put some veggies in the middle and the first few times they would grab a veggie and run back to a hiding area. It just takes time for them to become comfortable with their surroundings.

Now my more outgoing girls ran around the run like they owned the place the first time in :)) so it just depends on the piggies!
 
Awww today wasn't so good :(
My quiet one came over slowly when tempted by a bit cucumber but I thought I better not try to lift him as he is so scared and he was being quite brave.

The other one, who seems more boistrous started chattering his teeth :0 Not sure if this was at me or his brother. If this happens again should I leave them & try again later?

Anyway they ran away so I cleaned the bit of their hutch that I can block off and I heard teeth chattering again. When I looked they were both on their back legs :( I assume they were about to have a fight until they seen me & ran away. Is this normal? Are they just scared & taking it out on each other or are they not going to get along? :{ They have been together since they were young & I forgot to ask (that sounds ridiculous now but I was sooo excited) but I thought they might be brothers.

The quiet one wasn't happy about being picked up & moaned a wee bit but once he was up he was fine. I gave him a wee cuddle & some cucumber & popped him in his run. The other one (I don't think he likes being alone) wasn't so keen to run away without his brother to hide behind so he wasn't much of a problem to lift up but he still didn't seem sure of cuddles & he didn't want his cucumber so I popped him in the run aswell.

They are both under the sheltered bit again but I put some food in the middle & after 5 mins I noticed them both eating :(|)

How do you all pick your piggies up? I am thinking I am scaring them too much by trying? But I was told I should handle them everyday & I thought it was best that they were not there when I clean their house? :{ so confused now. I am lifting them with a towel so aswell as I heard this makes them feel secure?
 
when we went to pick them up tonight the two boys were separate. One was hiding in a big box and the other sitting in the corner :( my partner was able to feed both of them from his hand & they crawled over him & sniffed him but as soon as the 2 of them were together they were teeth chattering & fighting :( :0
 
Sustained teeth chattering is a sign of aggression, but it depends whether they are really fighting or hiding their anxiousness behind the aggression. Better have a good eye on them!

Usually, you will have one bold and one shy piggie. You are doing right by not trying to handle them too much, as that stresses them out quite a bit. But have a daily check on whether there are bite or scratch wounds, in case they have been fighting. Have an extra cage ready if you need to separate them and know where your closest vet is to be on the safe side.

Try to get them used to you by talking to them gently as much as possible. Avoid towering over them like a predator, or staring at them directly. Always talk to them first before you grab them, so they know it you that's coming.

And you a doing perfectly right by seducing them with treats. Hopefully, in time they will come round - piggies, as a rule, are greedy guts, so you can use that to your advantage!

Hopefully you will enjoy turning the boys into proper pets, even if it takes patience! But it's always worth it. The more you put into a pet, the more you'll get back. Guinea pigs are no exception!
 
it will take time, one of our piggies was a rescue never handled for the first two yrs of her life and was very thin, she will just about sit still when i am feeding them, but if i go to stroke her she is off, on the other hand my other sow was from a show breeder she is a teddy who was handled a lot and she is lovely be patient did * get them from a breeder or pet shop.:)
 
Vickyt said:
hiding their anxiousness behind the aggression.
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This is what my gut instinct would say. I've been watching them from my kitchen window (with the blinds down so they don't see me ;) lol ) and they don't seem to fight. When they can't see each other they don't seem to like it either xx>>>
My partner thought that what started the fight last night was that the calm pig (who I think is going to be called Pepsi) will come and take cucumber out of our hands but the more skitish one who seems to be the boss (Think he will be called Rupert) he is a bit more scared and my partner thought they were fighting over the cucumber? :{
 
Entirely possible. My cucumber - no mine - but I WANTS it - I had it first...You can almost hear the conversation!
 
My boys are getting better everyday :(|)
They finally have names - Pepsi (the shyer one) and Marmaduke (The boistrous one)

Today my partner handfed Pepsi (he is a real sucker for cucumber & comes right over for a bit now) and he asked me to come & listen to the noise he was making. He thought it was a purr but I never really heard as he was stopping when I got round. I played a purr back to him from you tube & he said it was the same noise but I played a rumble & thought it sounded the same as a purr? Pepsi was just sitting there while my partner stroked him so a purr makes sense? If he didn't like it, I don't think he would have just stood there?

I picked up marmaduke after a min of chasing him around lol. I put him on top of his hutch but still wrapped in a towel & he didn't mind me stroking him but he still won't take food from me - oh well but at least I offered
They were teeth chattering at each other as soon as we were out with cucumber though. I'm sure it's only when we have food as I have watched them nearly all day today and they don't seem to fight at all :{ Could it be jelousy as Pepsi is up for his cucumber first & Marmaduke is jelous?

Pepsi wasn't much problem to pick up today but was quite scared when he noticed Marmaduke wasn't there so I tried to pick him up & do the same as I done with Marmaduke but he was too fast & jamp back into the hutch! I picked him up again for a wee cuddle & he was fine. He took cucumber & baby sweetcorn from me and then when I went to put him in his run he tried to run the other way lol.

They both had a good play around their run all day & I added lots of tunnells, boxes & tubes for them to play with. Marmaduke was in is tiki hut alot & I seen him popcorning when he went to speak to Pepsi later :<> I had lots of people in & everyone was watching him from the window! :(|)
I also seen pepsi stretching out and yawn which I think means he was happy? He looked like he was stretching like a dog would with his front legs down.

They have a ramp that takes them back to their hutch and I covered a few bits of it with willow/cardboard to make it look like tunnels. As soon as I showed them it tonight (none of them had made it to that corner yet) they both went up the ramp to bed :)) Marmaduke then decided he liked it outside & tried to get back out!

x) I love my boys so much already! I have spent nearly all of today just watching them lol
 
Thanks so much for answering my questions and helping me everyone :) It really is appreciated so much that I can just talk about my guinea pigs & get other peoples opinions & help :(|)
Hope you all don't get sick of my wee Guinea pig diary I seem to have started here! lol ")
 
luluhound said:
did * get them from a breeder or pet shop.:)
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I got them from a pet shop but they breed Guinea pigs & Rabbits.
The guy didn't really want to sell the boys to me as I'd never kept guinea pigs before & I had to kind of talk him round by telling all the research I'd been doing. He gave me his no 'incase' I need to call him lol

He seemed to really care about his animals. I went to acorn pets 2 days later to look for toys & the staff knew almost nothing about Guinea pigs & they were in big cages with no hay & nowhere to hide :0

I did look for rescue pigs but nowhere near me had any :(
 
For two boys that don't like sharing food, it might be a good idea to have two of everything - bowls, beds, huts...

The dominant one will still choose, but the other one has a better chance at getting his stuff in peace! I found it helped a lot if piggies had the possiblity to ge away from each other to have a cosy nap than having just one sleeping corner.

I'm glad that Pepsi and Marmaduke are coming along well; they will be your pampered pets soon!
 
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