Very Shy, Won't Get Used To Me!

[Lottie_Guinea]

I just got a two new guinea's recently and one of them, Alice, is amazing, likes to explore, like bathing,likes to eat anything and likes to meet new people/animals (My dog loves guinea pigs just as much as me and has always snugged with them and is very gentle and cute with them).
But the other, Dinah, is not any less amazing but she wont get used to me, just wants to hide, wont go near people or animals (aside from Alice her sister), she wont eat anything but I'm not even sure if she is eating. She's extremely shy and I've tried a lot to try and get her used to me but nothing will work at all, I just want to be able to bond with her like I have with her sister Alice.
Please help! I'm open to try any ideas!
- Lottie

 

[Tinkoz]

there are many people on here that will be able to help you more but in terms of the eating part all i can surguest if you weigh her every day around the same time that will help you keep an eye on if she is eating, I'm sure if she is very shy she will be eating just not when your around but its always best to be safe than sorry. when we was worried that our new piggy was not drinking we set up a web cam to record her over night and this showed how active she was when we was not around and help put our n=mind at rest we have now had her 4 months and she has gone from a very submissive and shy piggy to an outgoing piggy she just needed time to settle in to her new home and get used to us.
I weigh in grams and if your piggy loses more than 50g in a day then there's a problem and a vets visit is needed.

i hope she gets more comfident as she gets used to you and her surroundings x tinkoz x

 

[GPTV]

hi there & welcome to the forum

try this thread by wiebke its got some helpful hints in it


How Do I Settle Shy New Guinea Pigs?

the younger they are the more skittish they'll be at first, just be calm & patient with them & they'll more than likely turn into right cuddley, couch potatoes like mine

just read your other thread (definitely don't feed them potato in any shape or form)

I think it says somewhere in the forum rules ... there must be an overload of pigtures especially from new member

xx

 

[Lottie_Guinea]

hi there & welcome to the forum

try this thread by wiebke its got some helpful hints in it


How Do I Settle Shy New Guinea Pigs?

the younger they are the more skittish they'll be at first, just be calm & patient with them & they'll more than likely turn into right cuddley, couch potatoes like mine

just read your other thread (definitely don't feed them potato in any shape or form)

I think it says somewhere in the forum rules ... there must be an overload of pigtures especially from new member

xx

Okay thankyou for the reply

 

[Lottie_Guinea]

[QUOT="Tinkoz, post: 1815956, member: 119048"]there are many people on here that will be able to help you more but in terms of the eating part all i can surguest if you weigh her every day around the same time that will help you keep an eye on if she is eating, I'm sure if she is very shy she will be eating just not when your around but its always best to be safe than sorry. when we was worried that our new piggy was not drinking we set up a web cam to record her over night and this showed how active she was when we was not around and help put our n=mind at rest we have now had her 4 months and she has gone from a very submissive and shy piggy to an outgoing piggy she just needed time to settle in to her new home and get used to us.
I weigh in grams and if your piggy loses more than 50g in a day then there's a problem and a vets visit is needed.

i hope she gets more comfident as she gets used to you and her surroundings x tinkoz x[/QUOTE]

there are many people on here that will be able to help you more but in terms of the eating part all i can surguest if you weigh her every day around the same time that will help you keep an eye on if she is eating, I'm sure if she is very shy she will be eating just not when your around but its always best to be safe than sorry. when we was worried that our new piggy was not drinking we set up a web cam to record her over night and this showed how active she was when we was not around and help put our n=mind at rest we have now had her 4 months and she has gone from a very submissive and shy piggy to an outgoing piggy she just needed time to settle in to her new home and get used to us.
I weigh in grams and if your piggy loses more than 50g in a day then there's a problem and a vets visit is needed.

i hope she gets more comfident as she gets used to you and her surroundings x tinkoz x

Yeah I'll keep an eye on her eating and weight she just now ate a piece of carrot so I'm hoping she's either so hungry she has to eat or shes been eating the whole time I just haven't seen it haha, thankyou

 

[cavy clicker]

My guinea pigs are exactly like that. Sparkles is soooo friendly, and Ida is painfully shy. I would recommend clicker training because it seems to be working with Ida. Work on offering Dinah food, Ida wouldn't even take food from my hand a few weeks ago, so it can be a really slow process. I have been spending time just sitting with her in the bathroom and offering her food, spend lots of time talking to her, even read to her if you run out of things to say! If you are consistent with your attention, she will come around, but it may take awhile. Just sitting with them for a while each day, talking to them and keep your movements slow, not gerky.

What I did with Ida when I was sitting with her in the bathroom was to gradually hold out my hand, as soon as she turned her head away I'd stop moving and wait for her to relax. When she turned back towards me, I'd move my hand back, this showed her that I wasn't a threat. I'm just speaking from experience here :-) Good luck with Dinah

 

[Lottie_Guinea]

My guinea pigs are exactly like that. Sparkles is soooo friendly, and Ida is painfully shy. I would recommend clicker training because it seems to be working with Ida. Work on offering Dinah food, Ida wouldn't even take food from my hand a few weeks ago, so it can be a really slow process. I have been spending time just sitting with her in the bathroom and offering her food, spend lots of time talking to her, even read to her if you run out of things to say! If you are consistent with your attention, she will come around, but it may take awhile. Just sitting with them for a while each day, talking to them and keep your movements slow, not gerky.

What I did with Ida when I was sitting with her in the bathroom was to gradually hold out my hand, as soon as she turned her head away I'd stop moving and wait for her to relax. When she turned back towards me, I'd move my hand back, this showed her that I wasn't a threat. I'm just speaking from experience here :-) Good luck with Dinah

Thankyou very much, I'll look into clicker training as I've heard a few times that it works really well. She wont take food out of my hand at all but I'll keep on trying and I'll try to talk to her a lot more than what I do.
Thankyou very much for all of the ideas, I'll try them all!

 

[cavy clicker]

Thankyou very much, I'll look into clicker training as I've heard a few times that it works really well. She wont take food out of my hand at all but I'll keep on trying and I'll try to talk to her a lot more than what I do.
Thankyou very much for all of the ideas, I'll try them all!

Glad I could help :-)
You are welcome to visit my website www.clickertraining.siterubix.com for more information about clicker training.

 

[Wiebke]

You may find the tips in this link here helpful: How To Understand Guinea Pig Instincts And Speak Piggy Body Language

 

[cavy clicker]

You may find the tips in this link here helpful: How To Understand Guinea Pig Instincts And Speak Piggy Body Language

That's a very interesting article :-)