Olive_piggies
New Born Pup
I feel very guilty about my Guinea pigs and even though I’m trying my best I feel like I could do more . To give you some context when I first got my rehomed Guinea pigs about 5 months ago I was extremely busy (comp dance, job, internship, Rec dance, school, and business) I have finally opened up my schedule but I feel as if I am still not doing enough
1) space: I have my 2 Guinea pigs in a midwestern cage and I wanted to double up but I don’t have enough space in my house. The room that they are in is pretty difficult to have floor time. I wish I could give them more space to run around though
2) holding: this is the biggest issue. I have tried for so long to have a bond with my Guinea pigs but I think they hate me. Since they are prey animals I knew it would be difficult to hold them but I think they’ve been getting worse. Every video I’ve seen online about holding Guinea pigs, they put their arms near the Guinea pigs before picking them up. My Guinea pigs won’t let me do that. If I even touch them slightly under their belly to get a grip on them, they go crazy and run away. The only way for me to pick them up is to risk hurting them and I don’t want to do that. When I finally pick them up, they are super stressed and probably uncomfortable which only reinforces them to run when I try and pick them up. Because of this I struggle to allow them to have time out and give them what they need
3) nail clipping: because of the previous problem of holding, I struggle to get their nails clipped. I can’t pay 50 dollars every month to bring then to the vet and my parents won’t take me. I have gotten close a couple times but they are very squirmy and I’m ver close to giving up
I feel like my Guinea pigs hate me and I am failing them by not doing enough to keep them happy and make sure the area around them is clean. I clean their cage 3x a day and yet it is still a hot mess. I try to give them toys and they just fight over them. It seems impossible.
Any advice?
1) space: I have my 2 Guinea pigs in a midwestern cage and I wanted to double up but I don’t have enough space in my house. The room that they are in is pretty difficult to have floor time. I wish I could give them more space to run around though
2) holding: this is the biggest issue. I have tried for so long to have a bond with my Guinea pigs but I think they hate me. Since they are prey animals I knew it would be difficult to hold them but I think they’ve been getting worse. Every video I’ve seen online about holding Guinea pigs, they put their arms near the Guinea pigs before picking them up. My Guinea pigs won’t let me do that. If I even touch them slightly under their belly to get a grip on them, they go crazy and run away. The only way for me to pick them up is to risk hurting them and I don’t want to do that. When I finally pick them up, they are super stressed and probably uncomfortable which only reinforces them to run when I try and pick them up. Because of this I struggle to allow them to have time out and give them what they need
3) nail clipping: because of the previous problem of holding, I struggle to get their nails clipped. I can’t pay 50 dollars every month to bring then to the vet and my parents won’t take me. I have gotten close a couple times but they are very squirmy and I’m ver close to giving up
I feel like my Guinea pigs hate me and I am failing them by not doing enough to keep them happy and make sure the area around them is clean. I clean their cage 3x a day and yet it is still a hot mess. I try to give them toys and they just fight over them. It seems impossible.
Any advice?