Handling And Weight?

[Raven_LG]

Hi Guys,

Wondering if anyone can help with a couple of queries I have about our piggies.

Firstly, we have a pair of un-neutered boars approx a year old. We (myself and boyfriend) got them from a family, they were a gift for a teenage girl and she said she didn't have time to care for them properly. They were well fed, and clean, she just didn't have time to handle them, socialise with them etc. We had them checked by a vet a few weeks after we brought them home and they had a clean bill of health.

When we first had them out of their cage, it was clear they hadn't been handled much and would sit frozen on our laps, shaking with fear. After a few weeks they came around and would start eating from our hands and squeaking, even exploring and climbing up onto our shoulders. Their cage is in a very social area of our house, and we aim to handle them approx 10/15 mins a day. However, lately they have really not wanted to be held, to the point of struggling out of our hands trying to get back in their cage. They always run away when we try to pick them up, this has always happened so I can't tell by that behaviour and can't see any other changes in them. I've read if they are uncomfortable being handled it might be a sign of mites, however there is no increased scratching or itching and some days they will sit nicely so i'm sure it isn't this. Does anyone have any ideas why suddenly they would not want to be held any more? I'm beginning to miss my cuddles.

2nd thing is their weight. We have been tracking their weight, and when we got them they were a healthy weight, on the light side, but nothing much to worry about. They are fed fresh veggies in the morning before we go to work, and when we are having tea around 6pm. They have a supply of fresh hay, which is changed daily and pellets. They share food bowls and never squabble over food or show dominance over the food bowls. We noticed they were putting on weight, and thought perhaps we were feeding too much veggies, so cut back on that, still twice a day just less at each sitting. However, we have one lighter pig (Mojo, who is also the dominant one) and Bumble, the heavier one. We really wanted Bumble to loose a bit of weight, as he is on the verge of being a little porky pig, however it was Mojo who lost the weight and Bumble gained. Does anyone have any ideas how we can help the right pig loose weight while maintaining the other pig? We can't really separate at feeding times, and as I say they don't fight over food etc. We're just worried that one will get too skinny and one will get too chubby!

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Veggies Galore]

to the forum .

How long have you had your Guinea Pigs? I will tag @Wiebke as she understands boar behaviour better than me .


Again, Wiebke will be better to advise about their wieght than me . My Max was a chunky boar. It was just his build as, like humans some Guinea Pigs are bigger built than others. I was concerned about his weight and was advised to linit his pellets and omit "sweet " foods such as carrots, baby corn and fruits - and to give plenty of floor time.

 

[Wiebke]

Your boys have now started to trust to the point to tell their true feelings. You may understand better what is going on and how you can slowly gain their trust in this link here; however, it is not going to be a quick process, but it is one that is now underway:
How To Understand Guinea Pig Instincts And Speak Piggy Body Language

The dominant piggy always gets the lion share; that is a fact of piggy life. Please feed several times in smaller portions, including pellets and in separate bowls, which are at least a body length apart. If necessary, have a third bowl with a little more food at the ready to make sure that your underboy is getting his fair share. make sure that the portions are of a size that they can be eaten in one go (including the pellets, which shiuld only amount to a half or a handful per piggy per day anyway). In the meantime, you boys can eat as much as hay as they want to; it should make up to 80% of the daily food intake. If you can, please creat a second hay station so your underboy can't be kept away. You will have to live with your top boy being on the porky side to a certain extent, but as long as he is not obese, there is not worry.
Boars: A guide to successful companionship.
Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet
The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight

 

[Freela]

I would guess that the cuddles earlier were based on the pigs being anxious and coping with that by standing still (pigs tend to either freeze or run when stressed.) They may now be a bit more comfortable and are now willing to make a dash for it. And, for what it's worth, even my most social, lap-pet pigs make a leap for the cage once it's in site. I think that's pretty normal. I would keep on handling daily. They do get used to handling by being handled, so keep at it.

Are you using more than one dish? I find using two dishes helps. It is very hard to get a pig to lose weight while the other gains... realistically, there's not a lot of way to make sure only one gets the food, and since pigs are grazers it's pretty much impossible to do separate mealtimes. I would add that some pigs just seem to be larger and it's not necessarily that they are obese. One may just be built a lot bigger than the other and it may be his normal weight. At one point, we had two pigs living together, eating the same, and about a pound apart in weight. One of them with a huge girl at almost 3 pounds, the other never hit 2 pounds in her entire life. Both were fine, one was just extremely petite and the other was built like a tank- broad head, big feet, broad rib-cage, etc.

 

[Raven_LG]

Thank you for all your replies.

For what it's worth, they have been ok being handled these past few days so perhaps they were just going through a phase.

We feed them in the same bowl, there is no arguments or dominance over them sharing but I think they would just eat out of each others bowls anyway haha. I'm guessing since our bigger boy is the more subservient piggie he's just meant to be a bigger boy. I'll keep monitoring but I appreciate the replies.

Many Thanks to you all