Bringing Our Piggies Home, How Long Do They Need To Be Left?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Tigermoth

Tigermoth

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Jan 19, 2016
Messages
2,131
Reaction score
4,549
Points
1,175
Location
Suffolk, United Kingdom
I'm hoping to bring our piggies home at the weekend. They are a bonded neutered male/female pair, about a year old, rescued from a hoarding situation. They have been handled daily at the rescue and were happily cuddled by my kids when we went to meet them at the rescue last week. When we bring them home do we need to leave them to settle before attempting to handle them? We haven't had experience of piggies before so it will be a learning experience for us all. I've read the guidance on how to pick them up (planning to herd them into a cozy in the first instance) but just not sure when best to start and don't want to traumatize them by trying too soon if that is the wrong thing to do.

Thank you :)
 
Hello welcome to the forum. Will reply in full tomorrow as on mobile. Would let them settle in for 48hrs before handling them, it is tempting to get them out but will out them settle. Welcome again will type more tomorrow

Lee
 
Have a read of these threads here

Settling in and interacting with your guinea pigs:
How Do I Settle Shy New Guinea Pigs?
How To Pick Up Your Guinea Pigs

They will help give you an idea on how to settle piggies. I would give them around 48 hours to settle but in tat time talk lots to them in the cage as you pass. They will soon settle. You can offer them food when you are in their hidey houses. Food is a great bribery with piggies
 
T
sport_billy said:
Have a read of these threads here

Settling in and interacting with your guinea pigs:
How Do I Settle Shy New Guinea Pigs?
How To Pick Up Your Guinea Pigs

They will help give you an idea on how to settle piggies. I would give them around 48 hours to settle but in tat time talk lots to them in the cage as you pass. They will soon settle. You can offer them food when you are in their hidey houses. Food is a great bribery with piggies
Click to expand...
That's really helpful, thank you. Hopefully it will go smoothly, they have been handled plenty by the keepers and once caught (I didn't know that GPs could go so fast!) they seemed quite settled into cuddles. They kind of nuzzled into the kids elbows and one apparently flicks his leg out when he is happy and he got quite snuggled, flipped out his leg and then wee'd all over my son's leg. I'm hoping that is a good sign...? I've had a long chat with the kids about how they need to settle them in too. Actually in all fairness, I bought a little book all about GPs for my youngest son to read as it is him that has decided that he wants them for his birthday (wink wink, "his" and "birthday" in name only, I'm not that daft) and I wanted him to show he was committed by reading this book. It was him that said about leaving them to settle and was what prompted my question so hopefully they can be patient.
 
Hi and welcome!

Good that you are doing research beforehand. You may find the links in our new owner's information bundle helpful; it contains the most asked for and the most needed information to get started well. It also includes all the information on how to settle your piggies and make friends with them.
" Starter Kit" Of Information Threads For New Owners

Generally, guinea pigs are taking about 48 hours to settle. You can still go an talk to them during that time (as often as possible), but I would not try to handle them ideally until they come out for food and even take if off your hand. if they are very frightened, a towel over the cage can help to give them an added feeling of safety and encourage them to explore their new surroundings.

If you are getting rescue guinea pigs from a good rescue, the settling-in time should be shorter, as they will be used to human handling. Any rescue worth their salt will not rehome any unsuitable piggies to new owners.
 
Tigermoth said:
T

That's really helpful, thank you. Hopefully it will go smoothly, they have been handled plenty by the keepers and once caught (I didn't know that GPs could go so fast!) they seemed quite settled into cuddles. They kind of nuzzled into the kids elbows and one apparently flicks his leg out when he is happy and he got quite snuggled, flipped out his leg and then wee'd all over my son's leg. I'm hoping that is a good sign...? I've had a long chat with the kids about how they need to settle them in too. Actually in all fairness, I bought a little book all about GPs for my youngest son to read as it is him that has decided that he wants them for his birthday (wink wink, "his" and "birthday" in name only, I'm not that daft) and I wanted him to show he was committed by reading this book. It was him that said about leaving them to settle and was what prompted my question so hopefully they can be patient.
Click to expand...

You are a good owner I can tell :) Very responsible of you, if only all people went into it with your great attitude. To be honest if they are used to being handled once they have got used to sounds and smells they will be fine. All piggies are skittish so herding them into a cosy to pick up is a great stress free way for you and them.

Ha ha, the weeing is normal. When ours are on laps they will gently nibble my finger to let me know they need to go home to wee :))

Sounds like you are doing a fab job!
 
Thanks Wiebke. I've been reading loads. Too much I think. I'm scaring myself now with thoughts of mis-sexing, unexpected babies, kidney stones, sperm rods, fighting... Sometimes ignorance is bliss (And I know it's not really...) I'd managed to miss the page about shy new guinea pigs, so caught up with that, but had found lots about rounding them up into a cozy etc to pick up. I still need something suitable actually, I've made some snuggle sacks but there is no boning in them (I've ordered some and will add it later) so they probably won't work too well to start with. I need to pick up a tube. I've got hiding places, but nothing that I can pick up with the piggies in it yet. I went to the carpet shop yesterday to see if they had any big tubes I could sweet talk out of them but they don't seem to have carpet on rolls in there. I might see if TKMaxx has anything later, I'm popping into town.
 
I might post a picture of my set up actually at some point over the next day or so (once I'm done sewing!) and you can critique it for me before they come home if that's ok...
 
Tigermoth said:
Thanks Wiebke. I've been reading loads. Too much I think. I'm scaring myself now with thoughts of mis-sexing, unexpected babies, kidney stones, sperm rods, fighting... Sometimes ignorance is bliss (And I know it's not really...) I'd managed to miss the page about shy new guinea pigs, so caught up with that, but had found lots about rounding them up into a cozy etc to pick up. I still need something suitable actually, I've made some snuggle sacks but there is no boning in them (I've ordered some and will add it later) so they probably won't work too well to start with. I need to pick up a tube. I've got hiding places, but nothing that I can pick up with the piggies in it yet. I went to the carpet shop yesterday to see if they had any big tubes I could sweet talk out of them but they don't seem to have carpet on rolls in there. I might see if TKMaxx has anything later, I'm popping into town.
Click to expand...

Alternatively to tunnels or cosies, a walk-in lidded cardboard box with a bit of soft fresh hay and a favourite veg treat at the far end is also making a very good pick-up and weighing-in shuttle. Give the piggies a day to get familiar with it and ideally have a little nap in it, so they associate it with something good. Guinea pigs love enclosed spaces. You can eventually train them to do come into the shuttle when you give the shuttle call (I use a "walkie walkie walkie" singsong). ;)

Cross gender pairs don't fight once bonded. If you use a good rescue, any sows will have spent a 10 weeks pregnancy watch at the rescue (ask if you wish to; if you are using one of our recommended rescues, it is a matter-of-course procdure; all good rescues also practice a 6 weeks post neutering wait); you won't have to worry about potential babies. Sperm rods and kidney stones are both RARE and can be well minimised with a regular weekly check up and a good balanced diet like we recommend. Guinea pigs from a good rescue should also be perfectly healthy when they are being put up for adoption. if there are any issues, please contact the rescue asap. ;)

Just follow your gut instinct. The piggies will usually tell you pretty quickly how you are doing. They are pretty consumate communicators!

Once you can handle yours, have a good look at them and see how they look normally with the help of my body quirks list, so you can learn to spot any changes during later check-ups. Watch what their normal poos look like, so you autmatically spot during a regular poo patrol if you need to keep a closer eye on your piggies in case they are noticeably thinner/smaller, splogdy etc. That is another good early warning system. Don't panic the moment something is slightly different or unusual, but you are welcome to ask for confirmation until your have got the necessary experience to judge by yourself. :)
 
Tigermoth said:
It is one of your recommended shelters so I'm confident that they have done all they should in terms of post neutering waiting...
Click to expand...

If it's on the Forum's rescue locator then it's fine... well done you... :yahoo:
 
Hello and :wel: to the forum! Well done on rescuing two lovely piggies. We look forward to the pigtures! You will find that a male/female pairing is completely trouble -free. Two females can sometimes have bust-ups when in season , and two males will start to have disagreements when they hit puberty. But male/female pairs, at least in my experience, never have any problems.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top