New Guinea Pig Bonding/Handling Advice

[amy7735]

Hi all! I got my first piggies on Monday, they’re both brothers and get along lovely with each other. I am after some advice on handling and bonding with them, one of the pigs is more curious than the other and does explore the cage if I’m sat on the couch in the room, the other is more timid and usually stays in a hide and eventually comes out whilst I’m sat on the couch. If I do get up to leave the room, enter the room etc they will both run and hide. I have had a blanket covering the top section of the cage for a while and have slowly moved this further back so they can get used to more of the cage being open. I have also left them alone for the first couple days, but I do need to handle them so I can brush their fur and check their overall health etc. I’m not sure where to start with this, I have tried to hand feed them but when my hand is in the cage they don’t come out and I do talk to them regularly too. Any tips are appreciated

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all! I got my first piggies on Monday, they’re both brothers and get along lovely with each other. I am after some advice on handling and bonding with them, one of the pigs is more curious than the other and does explore the cage if I’m sat on the couch in the room, the other is more timid and usually stays in a hide and eventually comes out whilst I’m sat on the couch. If I do get up to leave the room, enter the room etc they will both run and hide. I have had a blanket covering the top section of the cage for a while and have slowly moved this further back so they can get used to more of the cage being open. I have also left them alone for the first couple days, but I do need to handle them so I can brush their fur and check their overall health etc. I’m not sure where to start with this, I have tried to hand feed them but when my hand is in the cage they don’t come out and I do talk to them regularly too. Any tips are appreciated

Hi and welcome

Please be patient and persist. What most owners are not aware of when they bring piggies home is the fact that they are prey animals ripped away from their own social environment that have virtually not had any meaningful and friendly human interaction and that their new pets are totally unprepared for a complex pet home with its own huge and sadly often misplaced expectations. This goes for both pet shop and for sale breeders.
It takes guinea pigs about 2 weeks to establish a working hierarchical group in their new territory once they have got their initial bearings.

Thread 'Arrival in a home from the perspective of pet shop guinea pigs'

Feb 24, 2019

Arrival from the view of guinea pigs

This text is part of an article I have written for Guinea Pig Magazine issue 47 (November 2018).
It is the propriety of GPM and is being shared on here with the magazine's permission. Guinea Pig Mag

Guinea pigs are most often seen as cuddly pets and as a living extension of our human desires and expectations.
This can cause problems because guinea pigs are prey animals whose instincts are still intact even after thousands of years of domestication and they are also highly social animals with their own...

• Wiebke
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Arrival

• 
• 

Thread 'How Do I Settle Shy New Guinea Pigs?'

Aug 11, 2009

- Expectations and reality
- Give them shelter and place food nearby
- Cover the cage
- Avoid behaving like a hunting predator
- Wait with handling (after your quick health check & sexing on arrival)
- Introduce new foods slowly
- Drinking
- Scent-marking ramps and unused hutch/cage areas
- Run time and lawn trips


Expections and reality
Guinea pigs take time to settle in their new surroundings; more than you think. They are prey animals and not instant living cuddly toys. The cute videos...

• Wiebke
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Arrival

• 
• 

You may find this guide link here very helpful, which tells you step by step how best to settle in new guinea pigs - what to best do when and when is the right time to take things further. There are further links to practical advice for each new development with all the how-to tips for the follow-on stuff; including how what to expect, how guinea pig prey animal instincts work and how you can avoid triggering them.

Thread 'New Guinea Pigs: How to Best Manage Arrival and Settling In'

May 20, 2023

Intro
1 What to do on arrival at home
- A welcome in piggy language
- Health check, sexing and weighing
- Quarantine or not if you have other guinea pigs?
2 Helping your guinea pigs to settle in
- Some practical tips for settling in new guinea pigs
- Avoiding predatory behaviours
- Skittish or ill?
- Group establishment and dominance
3 Handling and human...

• Wiebke
• Replies: 2
• Forum: New and Wannabe Owners Corner

It takes a lot longer - weeks and months - rather than days for piggies to settle in fully. Unfortunately, since social media are driven by human interest, cute piggy videos do not portray the reality. Who wants to watch clips of piggies stuck in hiding, after all?

You may also want to bookmark this link here, which contains all the practical how-to guides for a good start. Nearly 20 years of collective forum experience with literally hundreds of thousands of questions have gone into our guides, which anticipate the most commonly encountered unforeseeable issues.

Thread 'New Owners' Essential Information and Practical Tips Starter Collection'

Apr 10, 2022

Contents Overview
1 What This Collection Is About
2 Guinea Pigs as Pets
- Family and Classroom Pets
- Sourcing Your Guinea Pigs, Common Pitfalls and Your Customer Rights
- Human Pet Anxiety: Practical Tips for Sufferers and Supporters
- Naming and Finding Out the Breed
- Guinea Pig Facts: An Overview
3 Living Environment
- Housing (with sourcing tips)
- Bedding (with...

• Wiebke
• Replies: 8
• Forum: New and Wannabe Owners Corner

• 

All the best. You have got some stunning boys! Just give them their own time...

We are here to help you along the way for all your little and larger questions; they will all be answered in a friendly and constructive way. We have all started out knowing nothing after all and as far as we are concerned there are no silly questions - the 'silly' ones actually often turn out to be rather thought provoking and can lead to some interesting discussions and exchanges of experience...

 

[fluffysal]

Welcome to the forum and (it will be) the wonderful world of guinea pigs. What a handsome pair you have got. Reading the linked guides is very worthwhile as well as interesting.
You have made a better start than a lot of others (myself included) as you already have a C&C cage for them, may I ask what size it is as with a pair of boars a 5x2 is the recommended minimum.
There is often one bolder and more adventurous than the other, when you get to know them they often have very individual personalities. With regards to handfeeding, fresh herbs seem to get good results as the smell is irresistible to many piggies.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum

Hand feeding is the first step so do be patient and keep going with it. It’s not going to be a quick thing though.

I have had piggies who cover the whole spectrum for hand feeding - the most confident was eating from my hand on day 1, another took a week, another six weeks and the most nervous took 18 months. None of them like/d being held though so I never did anything other than handle for the essential weight and health checks. The majority of my interaction with them was sitting watching them interact with each other and they would come to me if they wanted to (which, as the months and years went on they did want to come and see me but didn’t want to be held).

 

[amy7735]

Hi and welcome

Please be patient and persist. What most owners are not aware of when they bring piggies home is the fact that they are prey animals ripped away from their own social environment that have virtually not had any meaningful and friendly human interaction and that their new pets are totally unprepared for a complex pet home with its own huge and sadly often misplaced expectations. This goes for both pet shop and for sale breeders.
It takes guinea pigs about 2 weeks to establish a working hierarchical group in their new territory once they have got their initial bearings.

Thread 'Arrival in a home from the perspective of pet shop guinea pigs'

Feb 24, 2019

Arrival from the view of guinea pigs

This text is part of an article I have written for Guinea Pig Magazine issue 47 (November 2018).
It is the propriety of GPM and is being shared on here with the magazine's permission. Guinea Pig Mag

Guinea pigs are most often seen as cuddly pets and as a living extension of our human desires and expectations.
This can cause problems because guinea pigs are prey animals whose instincts are still intact even after thousands of years of domestication and they are also highly social animals with their own...

• Wiebke
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Arrival

• 
• 

Thread 'How Do I Settle Shy New Guinea Pigs?'

Aug 11, 2009

- Expectations and reality
- Give them shelter and place food nearby
- Cover the cage
- Avoid behaving like a hunting predator
- Wait with handling (after your quick health check & sexing on arrival)
- Introduce new foods slowly
- Drinking
- Scent-marking ramps and unused hutch/cage areas
- Run time and lawn trips


Expections and reality
Guinea pigs take time to settle in their new surroundings; more than you think. They are prey animals and not instant living cuddly toys. The cute videos...

• Wiebke
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Arrival

• 
• 

You may find this guide link here very helpful, which tells you step by step how best to settle in new guinea pigs - what to best do when and when is the right time to take things further. There are further links to practical advice for each new development with all the how-to tips for the follow-on stuff; including how what to expect, how guinea pig prey animal instincts work and how you can avoid triggering them.

Thread 'New Guinea Pigs: How to Best Manage Arrival and Settling In'

May 20, 2023

Intro
1 What to do on arrival at home
- A welcome in piggy language
- Health check, sexing and weighing
- Quarantine or not if you have other guinea pigs?
2 Helping your guinea pigs to settle in
- Some practical tips for settling in new guinea pigs
- Avoiding predatory behaviours
- Skittish or ill?
- Group establishment and dominance
3 Handling and human...

• Wiebke
• Replies: 2
• Forum: New and Wannabe Owners Corner

It takes a lot longer - weeks and months - rather than days for piggies to settle in fully. Unfortunately, since social media are driven by human interest, cute piggy videos do not portray the reality. Who wants to watch clips of piggies stuck in hiding, after all?

You may also want to bookmark this link here, which contains all the practical how-to guides for a good start. Nearly 20 years of collective forum experience with literally hundreds of thousands of questions have gone into our guides, which anticipate the most commonly encountered unforeseeable issues.

Thread 'New Owners' Essential Information and Practical Tips Starter Collection'

Apr 10, 2022

Contents Overview
1 What This Collection Is About
2 Guinea Pigs as Pets
- Family and Classroom Pets
- Sourcing Your Guinea Pigs, Common Pitfalls and Your Customer Rights
- Human Pet Anxiety: Practical Tips for Sufferers and Supporters
- Naming and Finding Out the Breed
- Guinea Pig Facts: An Overview
3 Living Environment
- Housing (with sourcing tips)
- Bedding (with...

• Wiebke
• Replies: 8
• Forum: New and Wannabe Owners Corner

• 

All the best. You have got some stunning boys! Just give them their own time...

We are here to help you along the way for all your little and larger questions; they will all be answered in a friendly and constructive way. We have all started out knowing nothing after all and as far as we are concerned there are no silly questions - the silly ones actually often turn out to be rather thought provoking...

Thank you so much

 

[amy7735]

Welcome to the forum and (it will be) the wonderful world of guinea pigs. What a handsome pair you have got. Reading the linked guides is very worthwhile as well as interesting.
You have made a better start than a lot of others (myself included) as you already have a C&C cage for them, may I ask what size it is as with a pair of boars a 5x2 is the recommended minimum.
There is often one bolder and more adventurous than the other, when you get to know them they often have very individual personalities. With regards to handfeeding, fresh herbs seem to get good results as the smell is irresistible to many piggies.

Thank you, I’ll look into fresh herbs for them are there any in particular you suggest? The cage is 2x4 which I bought from Kavee before realising boars need the extra room. It’s the best I can do for now in my current home but I am hoping to move in the next few months & can expand it to be much bigger then

 

[amy7735]

Welcome to the forum

Hand feeding is the first step so do be patient and keep going with it. It’s not going to be a quick thing though.

I have had piggies who cover the whole spectrum for hand feeding - the most confident was eating from my hand on day 1, another took a week, another six weeks and the most nervous took 18 months. None of them like/d being held though so I never did anything other than handle for the essential weight and health checks. The majority of my interaction with them was sitting watching them interact with each other and they would come to me if they wanted to (which, as the months and years went on they did want to come and see me but didn’t want to be held).

Thank you I’ll continue with trying to hand feed them, hopefully over time they will take the food

 

[fluffysal]

My boys personal favorites are mint, basil and dill. They enjoy parsley and coriander but don't go quite so mad for them.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you, I’ll look into fresh herbs for them are there any in particular you suggest? The cage is 2x4 which I bought from Kavee before realising boars need the extra room. It’s the best I can do for now in my current home but I am hoping to move in the next few months & can expand it to be much bigger then

Coriander/cilantro is the one you can feed a little daily. Otherwise you keep an eye out on what veg they pick up first and use their favourites to lure them to the grids. I find it helpful to make a sound of disappointment (and not just praise) if they are nearly there but not quite yet. Piggies react primarily to emotion in your communication, not so much the words although they will learn ritualised words, sing-songs and commands.