My piggy has some problems

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shinyhunter101

shinyhunter101

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I have two piggies: Peppy and Coco (both female). Coco is fat, and terrified of leaving the cage. I've had both for about two years. Here are some issues that I have with Coco:

1. She is extremely inactive outside her cage. If I put a treat a few inches away from her nose, she won't even budge to get it. I think she does this because:
A. She is quite fat.
B. She is so scared of being outside that she won't even acknowledge treats in front of her.
Coco refuses to move around at floortime, no matter what. I'm out of ideas. Interesting toys, paper bags with treats inside and veggies scattered around the floor won't help.

2. Coco will let me touch her and scratch her outside of the cage fine, but inside the cage she runs into her pigloo and avoids my hand at all costs. Sometimes she'll let me scratch her cheek, but if I touch her anywhere else she panics.

Any ideas for fixing these problems?
 
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After I got my guinea pig I went out and bought a book about them. It said something about sitting by the cage and just gently talking to them in a calm reassuring voice and telling them it would be okay and that their fine etc. My little Boar always runs into his Pigloo to avoid being taken out of the cage but once I have him he seems to be totally fine. I used treats and veggies to lure him out of the cage and he finally doesn't run into the pigloo when I'm around and is much more willing to come to me when it's floor time. As for the inactiviy outside of the cage I have no idea how to help there. Hopefully someone will give you more of an insight.

Good luck with your girls!
 
When my girls were younger I had problems trying to get them to play outside their cage, but I soon figured it was because they felt too exposed and out in the open. I got a pen to put them in and loads of pigloos and boxes to hide in, and they soon got used to being outside. Now it's difficult trying to stop them from escaping and running around! Oh, and putting her on a diet wouldn't hurt either!

Hope that helped (:
 
Yeah, I've tried putting pigloos around. But the problem is, once Coco is in the pigloo, she never comes out. She could sit in her pigloo all day without stepping outside. Only Peppy will walk out of her pigloo voluntarily.

I'll try putting Coco on a diet. I'll change her food so that there is no corn/carrots/fruit in it. I will try plain pellets and lots and lots of hay.

Thank you for offering some advice.
 
that is exactly the problem I have with Honey, Sophie will come up and get food, she is happy to get into her bag at the end of playtime and displays much more interest in life. Honey looks permanently terrified. She runs at pretty much any sound, even if I come in to the room I call out to them - this happens every day and results in food, she is still scared after a 1 and a half! Sophie will be there at the bars looking for food and honey will be in a tube under a blanket......She does come out for food e v e n t * a l l y but doesn't always eat it.

She is better than she was but I feel she doesn't enjoy life. In the run she only moves when Sophie moves and she won't share a cosy with Soph who is constantly getting kicked out of the bag! and then sits right next to it looking pathetic.

In the indoor run tonight Honey spent the entire time in a bag!

My attempt at a solution is to get them a boyfriend!(neutured) and see if Honey feels better with a bigger herd? Equally it might be someone for Sophie to snuggle with other then me! (she loves being brushed!)

I know its not a solution for everyone but I am in the same position as you and quite worried about it.

xx
 
sophieandhoney said:
that is exactly the problem I have with Honey, Sophie will come up and get food, she is happy to get into her bag at the end of playtime and displays much more interest in life. Honey looks permanently terrified. She runs at pretty much any sound, even if I come in to the room I call out to them - this happens every day and results in food, she is still scared after a 1 and a half! Sophie will be there at the bars looking for food and honey will be in a tube under a blanket......She does come out for food e v e n t * a l l y but doesn't always eat it.

She is better than she was but I feel she doesn't enjoy life. In the run she only moves when Sophie moves and she won't share a cosy with Soph who is constantly getting kicked out of the bag! and then sits right next to it looking pathetic.

In the indoor run tonight Honey spent the entire time in a bag!

My attempt at a solution is to get them a boyfriend!(neutured) and see if Honey feels better with a bigger herd? Equally it might be someone for Sophie to snuggle with other then me! (she loves being brushed!)

I know its not a solution for everyone but I am in the same position as you and quite worried about it.

xx
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Aww, poor Honey...

I hope Honey feels better when she gets her new friend :)

Good luck!
 
Sometimes I think that guinea pigs just enjoy playing 'hard to get' !
It's like they enjoy running around with you chasing you when they're in their cages, like it's a big game, but they'll be totally cool once you get them out!

I promis it's not you! Some guinea pigs are just mental, is all : )
Some of my eldest, best trained, happiest guinea pigs act like that sometimes, they'll skip and hop round the cage like they dont wanna be caught, but they're completely happy once I DO catch them. Maybe they just want to feel wanted...!

Give it time.. : ) It's really not anything you're doing wrong, you know guinea pigs are quite timid creatures. And hey, the fat lazy thing? that sounds like typical guinea pig behaviour! Just enjoy having a 'lap pig' who doesent flip out and run off at the smallest thing, I guess?
 
bekked said:
Sometimes I think that guinea pigs just enjoy playing 'hard to get' !
It's like they enjoy running around with you chasing you when they're in their cages, like it's a big game, but they'll be totally cool once you get them out!

I promis it's not you! Some guinea pigs are just mental, is all : )
Some of my eldest, best trained, happiest guinea pigs act like that sometimes, they'll skip and hop round the cage like they dont wanna be caught, but they're completely happy once I DO catch them. Maybe they just want to feel wanted...!

Give it time.. : ) It's really not anything you're doing wrong, you know guinea pigs are quite timid creatures. And hey, the fat lazy thing? that sounds like typical guinea pig behaviour! Just enjoy having a 'lap pig' who doesent flip out and run off at the smallest thing, I guess?
Click to expand...

LoL I never thought of that...

Thanks for posting :(|)
 
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