Weird behavior

Caitlyn11

Caitlyn11

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
May 8, 2019
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13
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Location
USA, Illinois
Hi everyone,
I got my little girl pickles about 2 months ago. She is very loud and popcorns often. She does, however, have some weird behaviors I’d like to ask about as I’m worried about my baby. They thought she was about 4 months old when I got her.
She looooves cuddles to the point where she snuggles up and lays her head down on my chest. Normal?
She also sometimes will freak out and jump in the air, but sideways..she always lands on her side and then just gets up and kind of shakes a little like she’s tickly almost...? I don’t know what she’s doing. :( she also won’t stop eating my hair!

Is she just bored? I tried introducing another piggy (an adult) and the adult bit my baby so hard my baby started bleeding. This happened on neutral territory with veggies in the middle of the floor.
I bought Pickles a big playpen and I put her in that quite frequently to just run around and have some fun. I put some shoeboxes, plastic balls, and toilet paper rolls inside and she’ll play with them.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
I should also mention that my friend adopted the adult piggy for the time being and she is doing fine. :)
 
She just likes cuddles it all. And the jumping sounds like popcorning. Is there a rescue nearby where you could take her so she can choose her own friend? Sorry it didn't work out with the adult piggy, but don't let it put you off getting her a friend.
 
Yes, we have a rescue but they don’t have piggies because one of the staff members is highly allergic to them. The only other one near me is about 6 hours away and I don’t want Pickles to stress in the car for that long..
Do you think she would be better with a younger piggy or an adult piggy?
 
Caitlyn11 said:
Yes, we have a rescue but they don’t have piggies because one of the staff members is highly allergic to them. The only other one near me is about 6 hours away and I don’t want Pickles to stress in the car for that long..
Do you think she would be better with a younger piggy or an adult piggy?
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I've got boars but my 6 month old was just looking for a new friend. I thought he would want an older pig but he picked a 7 week old noisy nutter and they are having the time of their lives together! Ron is acting like he's also 7 weeks old and the baby zooms around after him. X
 
How long should the getting to know each other process take? I’m just scared that they won’t get along again
 
Caitlyn11 said:
How long should the getting to know each other process take? I’m just scared that they won’t get along again
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Ron spent the morning at the rescue. They hit it off right away, so we came home with both, put them in a clean cage and they're besties so far. Both young pigs for me though. X
 
Honestly, I know 6 hours in a car sounds like a long time, but piggies can and do deal with it just fine - I had a boar pair that went from Rochdale to Heywards Heath in the back of a car, with a short stopover in Birmingham (4 grown adults, two guinea pigs, two cages, 3 suitcases, and a lot of very loud Queen karaoke, all in a car that, iirc, was a Ford Focus...), plus the return journey by train instead of car. You need to keep an eye to making sure they're eating and getting enough fluid (plenty of hay in the carrier and the occasional stopover to check they're eating veg).
The jumping does sound like popcorning, and not all pigs popcorn the same way. One of my last pigs always looked like he was headbanging when he did it. The eating your hair thing sounds like barbering, which is something pigs also do with each other. As for sleeping on your chest, I've had pigs that preferred to sleep on my lap, pigs that preferred to sleep on my chest, and pigs that preferred to sleep in the crook of my neck. As long as they're comfortable and feel safe, that's what's important.
 
This piggy sounds pretty normal to me! honestly, I think guineas are fine in cars. They just nap and eat food.
 
Sounds normal behaviour but keep an eye on her landing on her side.
That might be perfectly normal for her as all piggies are different but it’s always worth keeping an eye on anything you are even slightly concerned about
 
Merab's Slave said:
Sounds normal behaviour but keep an eye on her landing on her side.
That might be perfectly normal for her as all piggies are different but it’s always worth keeping an eye on anything you are even slightly concerned about
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Thank you, I will!
 
Lorcan said:
Honestly, I know 6 hours in a car sounds like a long time, but piggies can and do deal with it just fine - I had a boar pair that went from Rochdale to Heywards Heath in the back of a car, with a short stopover in Birmingham (4 grown adults, two guinea pigs, two cages, 3 suitcases, and a lot of very loud Queen karaoke, all in a car that, iirc, was a Ford Focus...), plus the return journey by train instead of car. You need to keep an eye to making sure they're eating and getting enough fluid (plenty of hay in the carrier and the occasional stopover to check they're eating veg).
The jumping does sound like popcorning, and not all pigs popcorn the same way. One of my last pigs always looked like he was headbanging when he did it. The eating your hair thing sounds like barbering, which is something pigs also do with each other. As for sleeping on your chest, I've had pigs that preferred to sleep on my lap, pigs that preferred to sleep on my chest, and pigs that preferred to sleep in the crook of my neck. As long as they're comfortable and feel safe, that's what's important.
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Thank you for this! I live in the US, but I’m assuming this was a long trip! Haha :) I will look into the shelters/rescues in the area that I can commute to with my piggy.
 
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