3 And A Half Weeks In...

[LozzyBee]

...and I can't believe the change in them and me. I stupidly never really believed it would happen.

Barnaby will now quite often get on his hind legs when he sees me or my daughter approaching (he's ruled by his tummy!), and sniffs the air as if to say 'what have you come bearing?!' When we don't have anything he just goes back to his hay. Last night I had him on my lap for a good 15 minutes, I only put him back because Barlo was wheeking away and I thought it might be because he missed him lol

Barlo is still a little skittish but will happily be hand fed now. He seems to prefer snuggling against my neck rather than sitting on my lap, although when he does sit on my lap he will quite often lick my hand!

They both know when veggies and nuggets are due and wheek to remind us when it's time. When they hear the sound of the bag of nuggets they go crazy!

I love watching them in their cage. Barnaby likes to prowl around checking things out and Barlo is always trotting along right behind him like a mini-me. I also love how they like to cuddle up together to sleep. They have that whole big cage yet they always sleep together!

I have also changed. I wasn't confident with them at first and even asked on here if I absolutely had to pick them up as I thought they would be happier being left alone - what an idiot I was

They still have a long way to go until they're as tame as the guinea pigs you see on YouTube, but I can see it now whereas in that first week I thought they'd be in their hide forever.

They are 'officially' my daughters' pets and I was all ready for dealing with their care as I didn't expect my daughters to do it, but I didn't expect to fall for them too

 

[Tigermoth]

What a wonderful post! I'm still working really hard on getting ours more tame. It's lovely to see how well others have done.

I can empathise on the handling! I had to have a bit of alone time with them as I was a bit scared of them in the beginning but much more confident with them now. They like to sit on my chest, although Timmy put in a request to go home today by biting my left boob! I'd have had a heart attack about that a couple of weeks ago.

 

[7squeakers.]

Hahaha! You have fallen under "the spell" and are now their devoted slave! Abandon hope, all ye who enter here!

 

[Freela]

That's great! It's amazing how quickly their personalities come out once they realize that the people aren't there to hurt them (and may even feed them!) And it only gets more fun from here!

 

[VickiA]

Oh that's so great to hear. Keep on doing whatever you're doing as it's clearly working x

 

[Elbie]

You guys are so lucky. I've had my girls 3 months now and they really don't like lap time!

Astrid will sit for a couple of seconds before she's like "right I've got better things to do!". Amelia really doesn't like it. As soon as I have her she's running away and if I try and hold her she bites!

They are fine being held for nail clipping. I don't try to keep hold of them when we're having lap time (I am sitting on floor btw!) as I'd rather them stay because they want to instead of fulfilling my own gratification but sometimes I wished they were more keen!

 

[Tigermoth]

You guys are so lucky. I've had my girls 3 months now and they really don't like lap time!

Astrid will sit for a couple of seconds before she's like "right I've got better things to do!". Amelia really doesn't like it. As soon as I have her she's running away and if I try and hold her she bites!

They are fine being held for nail clipping. I don't try to keep hold of them when we're having lap time (I am sitting on floor btw!) as I'd rather them stay because they want to instead of fulfilling my own gratification but sometimes I wished they were more keen!

How do you hold them? Mine run if they are sat flat on a lap, but if they are tucked along an arm, or sitting on a chest then they are much more settled and happy to be petted.

 

[Elbie]

How do you hold them? Mine run if they are sat flat on a lap, but if they are tucked along an arm, or sitting on a chest then they are much more settled and happy to be petted.

Oh I've tried every way! Even with food! To be fair they have sat to be petted whilst having some parsley to nibble but once that's gone it's see you!

Astrid is so much better being picked up. We had a moment when she would copy her sister and buck and kick if you went to slip a hand under but now she is happy to be hand lifted from the carry box. Amelia is just an awkward little thing! She really doesn't like being picked up or held. I have tried leaving my hands there for her to climb into but she will only sniff then find something else to do! She is a complex piggy. Always seems to be one step forward and two steps back with her.

 

[wispie]

ahhhh so sweet to read thru this thread

 

[ChewyTheGuinea]

...and I can't believe the change in them and me. I stupidly never really believed it would happen.

Barnaby will now quite often get on his hind legs when he sees me or my daughter approaching (he's ruled by his tummy!), and sniffs the air as if to say 'what have you come bearing?!' When we don't have anything he just goes back to his hay. Last night I had him on my lap for a good 15 minutes, I only put him back because Barlo was wheeking away and I thought it might be because he missed him lol

Barlo is still a little skittish but will happily be hand fed now. He seems to prefer snuggling against my neck rather than sitting on my lap, although when he does sit on my lap he will quite often lick my hand!

They both know when veggies and nuggets are due and wheek to remind us when it's time. When they hear the sound of the bag of nuggets they go crazy!

I love watching them in their cage. Barnaby likes to prowl around checking things out and Barlo is always trotting along right behind him like a mini-me. I also love how they like to cuddle up together to sleep. They have that whole big cage yet they always sleep together!

I have also changed. I wasn't confident with them at first and even asked on here if I absolutely had to pick them up as I thought they would be happier being left alone - what an idiot I was

They still have a long way to go until they're as tame as the guinea pigs you see on YouTube, but I can see it now whereas in that first week I thought they'd be in their hide forever.

They are 'officially' my daughters' pets and I was all ready for dealing with their care as I didn't expect my daughters to do it, but I didn't expect to fall for them too

Awwww...

my guinea also goes on my shoulder

 

[Namaah]

I think i must have gotten very lucky with my boar, he was happy to be petted in his cage after 3 days and after about a week he stopped running away when i tried to lift him out. He now puts his front paws up on the edge of the cage when i open it which makes it so much easier to lift him out. He loves lap time and will happily pancake out there while he is being petted. I only have 1 piggy atm though as i haven't found him a friend yet so probably loves getting attention from me. I worry about him getting lonely so go give him some attention lots of times a day which probably helped speed things up a bit.
I hope my next piggy will be as friendly

 

[LozzyBee]

What a wonderful post! I'm still working really hard on getting ours more tame. It's lovely to see how well others have done.

I can empathise on the handling! I had to have a bit of alone time with them as I was a bit scared of them in the beginning but much more confident with them now. They like to sit on my chest, although Timmy put in a request to go home today by biting my left boob! I'd have had a heart attack about that a couple of weeks ago.

Ouch! You might need to wear a little extra padding there to protect yourself

 

[LozzyBee]

Oh I've tried every way! Even with food! To be fair they have sat to be petted whilst having some parsley to nibble but once that's gone it's see you!

Astrid is so much better being picked up. We had a moment when she would copy her sister and buck and kick if you went to slip a hand under but now she is happy to be hand lifted from the carry box. Amelia is just an awkward little thing! She really doesn't like being picked up or held. I have tried leaving my hands there for her to climb into but she will only sniff then find something else to do! She is a complex piggy. Always seems to be one step forward and two steps back with her.

I hope Amelia gets used to it soon. Barlo used to try and run for it but will now settle down. Ive noticed Barnaby likes to settle down before I do any petting. If I go straight in for petting he usually tries to headbutt my hand away, so I leave my hand on his bottom while he settles down and then he's quite happy to be petted. He turns to look at me periodically and I'm still trying to work out if it's 'is that still you? Yep, ok', or 'Have I sat here for long enough yet?'

They are complex little things aren't they?! Barlo has just finished a course of antibiotics and I would always feed him a piece of pepper straight afterwards...one morning my husband was sitting at the table and Barlo just would not touch this pepper! As soon as I picked him up and put him on my shoulder he was munching away on the pepper like he hadn't eaten in weeks

 

[Jude]

They are 'officially' my daughters' pets and I was all ready for dealing with their care as I didn't expect my daughters to do it, but I didn't expect to fall for them too

Me too! They are officially my girls pets too but I love them soooo much! Who'd have thought...