Biting?

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Love my pigs

Love my pigs

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Hi we just adopted 2 New Guinea pigs around 3 weeks ago and one of them, Sue, continues to bite people. We got her out a pet shop and we believe they have never been sold and they are around 1 year old. Is this due to lack of social interation when they grew up or is it something else. Her teeth seem fine and she has a habit of also biting the cage bars. Her sister, Lola, never bites but is quite timid. We try to hold them every night but it's hard as Sue usually ends up biting us and we end up putting them back. Thank you x image.webp
 
I don't think the cage biting and biting humans is necessarily related. My Peanut Butter used to bite the cage bars, but never people, until we discovered he has toofie problems and now with monthly dentals he never bites the cage bars. Hazelnut, on the other hand, who never bit the cage bars, started biting fingers when we were trying to do chin rubs, but only once he was an adult. As a baby he let us give him plenty of chin rubs without biting us. I tried gently blowing in his face or very gently pulling on the back of his neck as I had read that is how mummmy piggies discipline their pups. It didn't work, perhaps because he was no longer a pup! In the end we discovered if we asked him "chin rub Hazelnut?" and waited until he lifted his chin it was safe to give him a chin rub. Perhaps if you could narrow down to why the biting is occurring, you could avoid it. Does Sue allow some time for you to hold her at night before she bites you? It could be her way of saying she needs to go toilet Also, putting her back in the cage immediately after she bites you could be reinforcing the behaviour. When Hazelnut used to bite we never put him back in the cage. We would just leave him on the sofa with us.
 
Is the biting really savage? And is it like that every time? My piggy has always been bitey, but he does lots of different sorts (for different wants).
 
I would just give her plenty of tlc while keeping your hands & fingers away from her mouth. They usually come round eventually to a little love!
 
She starts biting as soon as she is taken out and she usually draws blood from us. She generally always does this.
 
Maybe use gardening gloves for the time being while handling her. She should come round eventually but tlc is for me the best method x
 
It does sound then like she doesn't like being handled. But you've only had her for a very short time. I think the suggestion by @Stewybus is good. This will give her time to get used to being handled and you won't get hurt.
 
Forgot to say your girls are gorgeous. Also just rememberd @sport_billy has a vampire piggy that I believe has finally given up her vampire ways. He may be able to give you advice.
 
Ok thank you I will continue to work with her. She is so lovely and just want her to be happy x
 
Sorry you have a vampire piggy. We had one too, I thought she would never stop but she almost has. It took around 9 months to calm down, Vimto would turn round to snap at you and has drew blood often. It seems she was just a scared piggy when on laps and obviously felt very insecure where as in her cage she would be fine with interaction.

We started taking her out in a chube and popping her on our laps for only 30 seconds at a time, not stroking her and popping her back home, we would do this for 4 weeks then increase the time on lap and hand feed something they love then pop her home. After a while I would chance a very quick nose rub which she started to enjoy, then feed then home but still keep the lap time short. We are now to a stage where she will happily sit on lap without a treat. She occasionally has a nip but I think we have cured her from the urge of 'ze flesh'

You will get there I would imagine, even though it doesn't feel like it at the moment, it is very early days.

How do you collect her from out the cage?
 
Recently she seems to have stopped biting me yet seems to still like to have a nibble at everyone else! She is very jumpy so we believe it may be due to the fact she spent her first year in a pet shop. She now likes to lick me and now loves to run around! Thx for all the help. X :D
 
Love my pigs said:
Recently she seems to have stopped biting me yet seems to still like to have a nibble at everyone else! She is very jumpy so we believe it may be due to the fact she spent her first year in a pet shop. She now likes to lick me and now loves to run around! Thx for all the help. X :D
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That's great!
They're gorgeous by the way, pet shop piggies don't get picked up for cuddles, at 1 year old they would be really frightened as they won't have been cuddled often. It takes time. Best to keep hand feeding food, then to progress to picking up if she starts to bite again.
 
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