Hundo
New Born Pup
Hi all, I'm going to leave a trigger warning for bad, some may call it horrible handling out before posting but this is going to be a post more about my own mistake or mistakes with handling guinea pigs as a new owner. I say "my" because my girlfriend wasn't involved in any of it.
We ended up trying to get a trio without any prior knowledge of how Guinea's behave, thus causing a separation between the new and the old piggies. Our new Guinea Milo, now has a little baby youngster that he's bonded incredibly well now so he's not alone anymore and hopefully it stays that way. In a previous post I've made, I talked about the trio in trouble which has now ended and both pairs are doing great with a side-by-side cages so they have contact with each other.
After I made the post, there was numerous attempts at separation between the the trio to see what combination worked and who needed to be separated before things got worse. Brownie and Milo, Milo and Oreo, Oreo and Brownie. The separation was even a thing when we first bonded them because while Milo was new he slipped through the cage to be with the other two and got bombarded with dominance from both Brownie and Oreo then they began to get pretty "aggressive" with each other for top piggie. First separation was pretty rough as I was too concerned about the Brownie and Oreo so I grabbed them as quick and reckless as possible to stop before it escalated just to make sure the two don't hurt each other and let Milo breath for the night. Next day we tried again and it was so much calmer and they seemed to get along for at least a few weeks before slightly more aggressive nature came out. Lunging from Brownie and intense nipping, which was explained to me to be sort of a power move but yet it just seemed like to me, Oreo had some intent to hurt which was also spreading towards Brownie as well. Maybe I was also a factor when this "aggression" or these power moves would continue because I would pick him up afterwards and hold him sometime stroking his butt as a "taste of your own medicine" for a moment before putting him back in. Which then later found out to never punish guinea pigs as such and was an incredibly stupid move on my part. I ended up coming to the realization that punishment was my mistake in handling Oreo and I feel as if I may have scarred him. Call me a bad owner or say "I shouldn't own Guinea pigs or any animal", I tend to think the same but I'm wanting to try and make up for this and only to Oreo since he is the only Guinea that received my poor and unjustifiable vindictive behavior.
He used to be a very curious and outgoing Guinea but now he likes to hide a lot and runs as fast as he can whenever someone moves an inch and runs when I try to pick him up now and when I do, he sometimes screams to as we've been slowly working on getting him comfortable again. When he's put down to be with my girlfriend he'll calm down as we comfort him and give him treats veggies and we even got places for him to hide whenever we bring him out to get him comfy and have him feel safe when he's out, but for the most part he'll just stay put nosing around and be himself when he's not being held up in someone's arms. He definitely comes out to eat when we bring Oreo and Brownie veggies in the morning, and loves to drink water as he's always been like that. He's definitely himself though not as curious and outgoing as before and of course, he enjoys being with my girlfriend more than being around me, which is completely understandable.
I wanted to know how to fix my mistakes with Oreo and attempt to regain the trust back, if that's even possible in this scenario. My girlfriend says it'll just take time to get him back to himself but I have a feeling it'll take a little more than that. Sorry for the long read, again some may even go as far to call me an abuser but I do deeply apologize for my actions and to my girlfriend for my actions and just want to make it right to the little guy.
Found out Oreo's not a Teddy, he's a Sheltie (He doesn't have red whiskers, just my girlfriend's hair on his face):
The big boss Brownie:
Lastly, Big boy milo with little boy Pepper:
We ended up trying to get a trio without any prior knowledge of how Guinea's behave, thus causing a separation between the new and the old piggies. Our new Guinea Milo, now has a little baby youngster that he's bonded incredibly well now so he's not alone anymore and hopefully it stays that way. In a previous post I've made, I talked about the trio in trouble which has now ended and both pairs are doing great with a side-by-side cages so they have contact with each other.
After I made the post, there was numerous attempts at separation between the the trio to see what combination worked and who needed to be separated before things got worse. Brownie and Milo, Milo and Oreo, Oreo and Brownie. The separation was even a thing when we first bonded them because while Milo was new he slipped through the cage to be with the other two and got bombarded with dominance from both Brownie and Oreo then they began to get pretty "aggressive" with each other for top piggie. First separation was pretty rough as I was too concerned about the Brownie and Oreo so I grabbed them as quick and reckless as possible to stop before it escalated just to make sure the two don't hurt each other and let Milo breath for the night. Next day we tried again and it was so much calmer and they seemed to get along for at least a few weeks before slightly more aggressive nature came out. Lunging from Brownie and intense nipping, which was explained to me to be sort of a power move but yet it just seemed like to me, Oreo had some intent to hurt which was also spreading towards Brownie as well. Maybe I was also a factor when this "aggression" or these power moves would continue because I would pick him up afterwards and hold him sometime stroking his butt as a "taste of your own medicine" for a moment before putting him back in. Which then later found out to never punish guinea pigs as such and was an incredibly stupid move on my part. I ended up coming to the realization that punishment was my mistake in handling Oreo and I feel as if I may have scarred him. Call me a bad owner or say "I shouldn't own Guinea pigs or any animal", I tend to think the same but I'm wanting to try and make up for this and only to Oreo since he is the only Guinea that received my poor and unjustifiable vindictive behavior.
He used to be a very curious and outgoing Guinea but now he likes to hide a lot and runs as fast as he can whenever someone moves an inch and runs when I try to pick him up now and when I do, he sometimes screams to as we've been slowly working on getting him comfortable again. When he's put down to be with my girlfriend he'll calm down as we comfort him and give him treats veggies and we even got places for him to hide whenever we bring him out to get him comfy and have him feel safe when he's out, but for the most part he'll just stay put nosing around and be himself when he's not being held up in someone's arms. He definitely comes out to eat when we bring Oreo and Brownie veggies in the morning, and loves to drink water as he's always been like that. He's definitely himself though not as curious and outgoing as before and of course, he enjoys being with my girlfriend more than being around me, which is completely understandable.
I wanted to know how to fix my mistakes with Oreo and attempt to regain the trust back, if that's even possible in this scenario. My girlfriend says it'll just take time to get him back to himself but I have a feeling it'll take a little more than that. Sorry for the long read, again some may even go as far to call me an abuser but I do deeply apologize for my actions and to my girlfriend for my actions and just want to make it right to the little guy.
Found out Oreo's not a Teddy, he's a Sheltie (He doesn't have red whiskers, just my girlfriend's hair on his face):
The big boss Brownie:
Lastly, Big boy milo with little boy Pepper: