randomusername0
Junior Guinea Pig
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2018
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 4
- Points
- 55
Hello everyone! I already have a thread going about a different problem I have, but I figured since I was already here I could bring up something that's been troubling me for a while.
If you haven't read my last thread, I have 5 guinea pigs. The oldest is about 3 years old, and the youngest we got in October.
This is about my youngest. Her name is Molly, and I believe she is an Abyssinian. Her sisters* are all normal short-hair American guinea pigs, except the second youngest (Moriarty) who is a teddy bear guinea pig.
I'm making this thread because I am very worried about her. We got her at the Petco (maybe it's PetSmart? I dont remember..) for free. Sometimes the store has unwanted guinea pigs or other rodents that people drop off there, and they're kept on a small table near the other rodents in the normal cages. We went there intending to get another water bottle, but I saw her and the employee working at the time told us that a woman walked in, dropped her on the counter, and left without a word. My heart broke, because how could someone be so cruel? They let me hold her, and when I picked her up I noticed she reeked of cigarette smoke. When the employee tried to get her out at first, it took a minute or two because she kept scrambling away from him. We decided to adopt her, and we brought her home. We, obviously, did the the proper treatment for a new guinea pig (separating them, making sure theyre not sick, slowly letting her meet the others) and it all went well.
Ever since we got her, she is extremely antsy when I (or anyone) hold her. I am as gentle as possible with her, softly petting her and sometimes even giving her blankets and talking as quiet as possible so she doesn't get spooked. But she is NOT having it. She will wiggle out of my grip, or push my arms out of the way, and immediately head towards her cage. Sometimes even going as far as to jump off furniture just to get there. Since the cage is in the corner of the room, most of the furniture is far away from it. But that doesn't stop her. She has jumped out of my lap and off the couch before just to run to her cage. She then continues to bite on the door until I open it and let her in. It makes me upset because I don't know if I'm doing something wrong and it makes me feel like I am hurting her
Molly is a very gentle soul, and has never been aggressive towards me or any of her sisters. She has never bit me and has never fought with them, either. No teeth chattering, growling, nothing. She just always try to escape all the time. And when I reach into the cage to try and pick her up, she runs and runs as much as possible away from my hand.
If anyone has any advice on what I could do to make her feel safe, please tell me! Is this something she will grow out of? Or will she act like this her whole life? I do think she may have been abused or mishandled by her previous owner(s), and that might be why she acts like this.
*sisters = not her actual blood sisters, but just the other guineas she lives with
If you haven't read my last thread, I have 5 guinea pigs. The oldest is about 3 years old, and the youngest we got in October.
This is about my youngest. Her name is Molly, and I believe she is an Abyssinian. Her sisters* are all normal short-hair American guinea pigs, except the second youngest (Moriarty) who is a teddy bear guinea pig.
I'm making this thread because I am very worried about her. We got her at the Petco (maybe it's PetSmart? I dont remember..) for free. Sometimes the store has unwanted guinea pigs or other rodents that people drop off there, and they're kept on a small table near the other rodents in the normal cages. We went there intending to get another water bottle, but I saw her and the employee working at the time told us that a woman walked in, dropped her on the counter, and left without a word. My heart broke, because how could someone be so cruel? They let me hold her, and when I picked her up I noticed she reeked of cigarette smoke. When the employee tried to get her out at first, it took a minute or two because she kept scrambling away from him. We decided to adopt her, and we brought her home. We, obviously, did the the proper treatment for a new guinea pig (separating them, making sure theyre not sick, slowly letting her meet the others) and it all went well.
Ever since we got her, she is extremely antsy when I (or anyone) hold her. I am as gentle as possible with her, softly petting her and sometimes even giving her blankets and talking as quiet as possible so she doesn't get spooked. But she is NOT having it. She will wiggle out of my grip, or push my arms out of the way, and immediately head towards her cage. Sometimes even going as far as to jump off furniture just to get there. Since the cage is in the corner of the room, most of the furniture is far away from it. But that doesn't stop her. She has jumped out of my lap and off the couch before just to run to her cage. She then continues to bite on the door until I open it and let her in. It makes me upset because I don't know if I'm doing something wrong and it makes me feel like I am hurting her
Molly is a very gentle soul, and has never been aggressive towards me or any of her sisters. She has never bit me and has never fought with them, either. No teeth chattering, growling, nothing. She just always try to escape all the time. And when I reach into the cage to try and pick her up, she runs and runs as much as possible away from my hand.
If anyone has any advice on what I could do to make her feel safe, please tell me! Is this something she will grow out of? Or will she act like this her whole life? I do think she may have been abused or mishandled by her previous owner(s), and that might be why she acts like this.
*sisters = not her actual blood sisters, but just the other guineas she lives with
