How Long Is It I Have To Let My New Guinea Pig Settle In Before I Start Handling Him I Got Him On Sa

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poohbear01

poohbear01

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:-):) how long do I have to wait until I start handling my new baby piggy peanut I got him on Saturday
 
Personally, I would start handling him when he trusts you enough to come and pick up food from your hand.that way, you know that he is likely not to panic or freeze and he is more likely to accept a little treat on your lap. ;)
 
Ok thank you he already got out of the hutch yesterday and ran underneath it I thought omg but he is fine think he got a bit spooked lol he's loving his new toys though which he is on his own so I want to spend as much time with him as possible
 
Try to make friends with him first. make yourself as small as possible (ideally on head height), so you don't loom. Talk to him all the time, praise and encourage him lots.

When he is out or at least is watching you, mimic washing your face and hair with your hands piggy style. Look at him out of the corner of your eyes. Ideally, he will respond by grooming himself. This is piggy body language for "I want to be your friend". It is usually quite effective! ;)

When you handle him, gently fondle his ears. Ear grooming is also called "power grooming"; it means "I am inviting you to join the group I am leading" and is basically friendly dominance. It also establishes you as the dominant part in your relationship right from the start.
 
Wiebke said:
When he is out or at least is watching you, mimic washing your face and hair with your hands piggy style. Look at him out of the corner of your eyes. Ideally, he will respond by grooming himself. This is piggy body language for "I want to be your friend". It is usually quite effective! ;)

When you handle him, gently fondle his ears. Ear grooming is also called "power grooming"; it means "I am inviting you to join the group I am leading" and is basically friendly dominance. It also establishes you as the dominant part in your relationship right from the start.
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Wow never knew these tips. I might try this on my two younger piggies as they aren't as brave around me as my older two.
 
If I waited until they came and took food from my hand, I'd never handle some of my piggies! So if you're not lucky enough for that to happen I would quickly and firmly pick them up, hopefully once they realise you have tasty treats they will learn to trust you!
 
Wow this is great new info. You should make a sticky on how to talk pig.
Wiebke said:
Try to make friends with him first. make yourself as small as possible (ideally on head height), so you don't loom. Talk to him all the time, praise and encourage him lots.

When he is out or at least is watching you, mimic washing your face and hair with your hands piggy style. Look at him out of the corner of your eyes. Ideally, he will respond by grooming himself. This is piggy body language for "I want to be your friend". It is usually quite effective! ;)

When you handle him, gently fondle his ears. Ear grooming is also called "power grooming"; it means "I am inviting you to join the group I am leading" and is basically friendly dominance. It also establishes you as the dominant part in your relationship right from the start.
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It is planned for when I have time... Between moderating and looking after two dozen piggies (some of them unfortunately currently ill), there is not a lot of my free time left! ;)
 
Julesie said:
Wow never knew these tips. I might try this on my two younger piggies as they aren't as brave around me as my older two.
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The face washing really does work my fudge copies me when I do this to him, we do this often now (the neighbours must think we've gone completely mad ha ha) it takes time for them to get used to you mine are much easier to handle now plus my voice seems to work every time, they stop and look when they hear me...I'm sure it's just because they think I've got more veggies lol.
Will try the ear trick too.
 
They are settling in well and you are building up trust very nicely indeed! Looks like Fudge is accepting your overtures and that he wants to be friendly with you, too... :)
 
My3cuteBoys said:
The face washing really does work my fudge copies me when I do this to him, we do this often now (the neighbours must think we've gone completely mad ha ha) it takes time for them to get used to you mine are much easier to handle now plus my voice seems to work every time, they stop and look when they hear me...I'm sure it's just because they think I've got more veggies lol.
Will try the ear trick too.
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That's really amazing. I'm going to feel nuts though.
Someone needs to do a youtube video on the way to wash your face as a human in a guinea pig way as I can't imagine how. xD
At least I don't have to do this with my eldest two. They have complete trust in me. The younger ones I'm still trying to get used to me touching them. Sakurai (avatar) was fine with it until I put her in with my male and he made her scared again.
 
@Wiebke Tag me too. I tired the looking out the corner of my eye but nada. She is getting very snuggly with me. She crawled up kind of under my chin on my shoulder and sprawled out and I get lots of kisses on my chin. She also takes food if I hold it between my lips. I tugged back yesterday and she kind of paused and gave me a look like "oh really" and yanked it out lol.
 
I admit I tried washing my face too lol lol lol. But she didn't do anything other than look at me like I was CrAzY hahaha.

I find it funny that I always said I would never have a Guinea Pig never really wanted one, but after we lost our gerbil Peanut it was too hard to get another gerbil. We have had hamsters and while they're cute and all they just weren't as sociable and were awake when we were sleeping. So after peanut I started doing more research and learning about guinea pigs and decided that maybe it would be a good fit for us and now I've gone pig crazy lol. I totally love and enjoy them so much! Never say never is my motto :)

Angela
 
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We'll peanut let me stroke him today in his hutch briefly then decided to go into his igloo lol he soon comes out if theres tasty romaine lettuce he loves that stuff I ref will be trying the washing technique haha if people think I'm crazy also I'm buying him his own pouch for laptime you can carry piggies safely from the hutch to wherever
 
Peanut took a romaine lettuce leaf from my hand today I held it out he stole it from the other end lol not so sure on the carrots yet though
 
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