how to tame a skittish pig?

[cami]

I've got a male guinea that is just over a year old, i have had him all his life as he was the only baby born from an accidental litter of mine. He started out life living indoors and was a friendly little thing, but then i got a shed and kitted it out so he went outside where he could have much more space.

Sadly over the past year he has slowly turned feral!

I make sure i hold him at least once a day, give him a full health check once a week, sit with him when he is in his run and give him cuddles as and when i can, but he has turned into a ****tish little pig.

I decided to bring him in for a little while to try and tame him again, he is temporarily in a 2 foot cage, but that is only when i am not in, the rest of the time he is allowed the run of my room, but he just hides in a box he has and when i go to let him out of the cage he is litteraly climbing the walls to get away from me, when i try and cuddle him he does his best to run away and has managed to dive bomb the floor once, when he can't get away he resorts to nipping me.

I have tried sitting on the floor trying not to make much movement so i don't scare him and have had fresh greens on offer next to me to try and get him used to me, but he still just hides, he has come out a couple of times, but runs as fast as he can round my room looking for a better hiding place

I just don't know what to do with him, if anyone can offer any advice i would be very grestful

 

[Connie]

Often piggies can become much more friendly when they have a friend of their own kind, i expect he is a little bored on his own.

 

[cami]

sorry, foregot to mention, he has had a friend for the past year and they have gotten along fine, but i had to seperate them recently due to the fact that Biscuit (problem pig) bite his friends ear and was restricting his access to food and his friend suddenly lost a lot of weight, since seperating them, his friend has gained lots of weight and is much happier

 

[Connie]

Ahh, ok, Sorry about that, in that case, i have no ideas, hopefully someone else will be along soon.

 

[cami]

Thanks anyways, I've dealt with skittish pigs before and have managed to tame them down, but with him i just don't get it, i've never done anything to harm him, yet he is petrified of me!

 

[LoneGuardian09]

My piggy Carter needed eyedrops for an ulcer in ze eye, this had to be done three times a day. He was very skittish before this, now he has calmed down a lot and is getting a bit cheeky. So either bring them in three times a day for 5-10 minutes, or give them an eye ulcer.

 

[GoodbyMyLove]

Give him time, let him know you aren't going to be forcing him to like you. Not every guinea gets as tame as the next one. Some will always keep their distance. Just accept it as it is, don't give attention to his skittisch behaviour.

When you do pick him up, make sure he associates it with something he likes. His favourite food perhaps?

Don't go chasing him to pick him up, if it isn't needed. If he doesn't want to be picked up it's ok, then just take his friend out of the cage. Perhaps in time, he'll see you aren't the bad guy.

But most off all, understand that his behaviour is natural, he has the space afterall, guinea pigs are natural pray animals so they will hide and run!