Evening everyone,
Thought I'd ask for help here on this one, because honestly it's becoming a bit frustrating.
Me and my wife are having a few problems with Chicco and Lenticchia, our 2 piggies. Basically, we can't find a way to interact with them in a rewarding way. They seem to care very little about our company, our attentions, our presence and cuddling with us. Now, I understand this might just be their attitude, but I wonder if we skipped some important steps to help them getting used to us. With the first piggie we had we had to do nothing and the bond was extraordinary, so I feel like we might be a bit unprepared. We tried having lap time every day for the past few weeks, and it seemed to go very well at first. Chicco even seemed very close to fall asleep during those first times. Then it got worse and worse, now they won't stay even for a few minutes, they just want to get away from us as quickly as possible. We've been petting them and talking to them during lap time. Should we not have pet them, until they were comfortable enough to just stay on our laps without trying to escape? We also sit on the floor next to the cage most of the time, talking to them and between us, and they have extensive floor time (3hrs a day minimum) in a living room full of toys, beds and hides, but they spend most of it sleeping under the couch, where we can't see them. Can we get some advice from you on what to try next? Please note that Chicco has been with us for just 5 weeks (he's a 3 years old adoption), but Lenticchia is 3.5 years old and she's been with us since she was a baby.
I can describe our routine and room setup a bit better, if you think it might help!
Thanks, any advice will be welcome!
Thought I'd ask for help here on this one, because honestly it's becoming a bit frustrating.
Me and my wife are having a few problems with Chicco and Lenticchia, our 2 piggies. Basically, we can't find a way to interact with them in a rewarding way. They seem to care very little about our company, our attentions, our presence and cuddling with us. Now, I understand this might just be their attitude, but I wonder if we skipped some important steps to help them getting used to us. With the first piggie we had we had to do nothing and the bond was extraordinary, so I feel like we might be a bit unprepared. We tried having lap time every day for the past few weeks, and it seemed to go very well at first. Chicco even seemed very close to fall asleep during those first times. Then it got worse and worse, now they won't stay even for a few minutes, they just want to get away from us as quickly as possible. We've been petting them and talking to them during lap time. Should we not have pet them, until they were comfortable enough to just stay on our laps without trying to escape? We also sit on the floor next to the cage most of the time, talking to them and between us, and they have extensive floor time (3hrs a day minimum) in a living room full of toys, beds and hides, but they spend most of it sleeping under the couch, where we can't see them. Can we get some advice from you on what to try next? Please note that Chicco has been with us for just 5 weeks (he's a 3 years old adoption), but Lenticchia is 3.5 years old and she's been with us since she was a baby.
I can describe our routine and room setup a bit better, if you think it might help!
Thanks, any advice will be welcome!