New Guinea pig owner 😊

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Ness24

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi there, I recently adopted two female guinea pigs. They are our first guinea pigs and myself and my kids absolutely love them! (My husband is still to be convinced!)
They are both female and almost a year old. Their previous owners were very loving and took very good care of them but couldn’t manage them any longer. The guinea pigs are used to being handled and groomed (they have very long hair!)
We have had them for 5 days and I think they are starting to settle in but I want to make sure I’m helping them as best I can. They have come from a quiet flat where everyone was out at work most of the day to a busy family home where there are people about most of the time. So far we have been taking them out twice a day for a few minutes so my older children can pet them and gently brush them. They sit still while being held but I’m unsure whether they are still and calm or still and terrified?! Also, when trying to catch them to hold them they dart about and hide. Is this ok or should I avoid chasing them about and try to entice them to us with food (so far this hasn’t worked)
I have lots for questions but will save them for later!
Thanks in advance for any tips and advice x
 
Hello, welcome to the forum

Be lovely to see some photos of your girls.

The chasing around is a normal piggy thing to happen even with tame piggies as they are prey animals so hate been caught and picked up... think eagle from the skys

Sounds like it is going well at laptimes though! Try using a technique like the video below to pick them up takes stress out of it for them and you

 
Excellent - thanks for the video - that looks a lot calmer than our current method 🙈 I really don’t want to stress them out so I’ll try those ideas.
 
Ness24 said:
Excellent - thanks for the video - that looks a lot calmer than our current method 🙈 I really don’t want to stress them out so I’ll try those ideas.
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Pleasure, we used it for years. Still do with new piggies. you sort of get used to catching them after a while but some are that skittish that the techniques are still handy.
The idea is to keep them as stress free as possible, makes for a more peaceful laptime :)
 
Just be careful when lifting them in the tunnel. One of our pigs won't entertain this method and launches herself out the end like cannonball before I get the chance to cover the end. Last time it was mid lift so she literally flew! She is still very young so I am hoping she will calm down soon and allow cuddles!
 
Hello and a massive :wel:.
Great you joined us here. Browse around and everthing piggie related is here.
20181204_184035.webpI have a very hairy piggie too. :lol!:
 
SallyM79 said:
Just be careful when lifting them in the tunnel. One of our pigs won't entertain this method and launches herself out the end like cannonball before I get the chance to cover the end. Last time it was mid lift so she literally flew! She is still very young so I am hoping she will calm down soon and allow cuddles!
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Ah, ok, will be careful 👍🏼
 
Both Guinea pigs are now starting to wander about their cage more and don’t dart away when we move about. They are very quiet though. Should I worry about this? Does it show they are stressed or is this normal at first?
 
Sounds like you are doing all the right things, if they are exploring the cage and not darting for cover when they see you that's great, they should soon become more confident and noisy :)
A good tip for picking them up is a wicker or woven grass waste paper bin, they go in and you can just scoop them up without worrying about them launching themselves out of the other end! One of the forum experts Wiebke posted a video of herself doing this with a huge herd of piggies and a wicker laundry basket and its such an easy way to catch a flighty piggy, piggies love going into a wicker or seagrass basket especially if you put a bit of salad in it :)
 
PigglePuggle said:
Sounds like you are doing all the right things, if they are exploring the cage and not darting for cover when they see you that's great, they should soon become more confident and noisy :)
A good tip for picking them up is a wicker or woven grass waste paper bin, they go in and you can just scoop them up without worrying about them launching themselves out of the other end! One of the forum experts Wiebke posted a video of herself doing this with a huge herd of piggies and a wicker laundry basket and its such an easy way to catch a flighty piggy, piggies love going into a wicker or seagrass basket especially if you put a bit of salad in it :)
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Thank you 😊
 
David Pet Lover said:
How are the piggies doing. :hmm:
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I think/hope they are doing well! It will be a week tomorrow since we took them home. They are certainly moving about their cage more and eating well. They stay out more confidently when we are about in the house. Does this sound ok? It’s all very new to me! They are very quiet most of the time. They still dart away when we open the cage to clean/feed etc although we now remove the top section of the cafe rather than going in through the hatch in the top- they seem to get less startled as we are coming more from the side. When we handle them they sit very still and tolerate it but I’m not sure they’re really enjoying it. We are doing two very short handling times, once in the morning and once at dinner time. Is there any of this we should change to make life easier for them? Any advice is much appreciated 😊
 
that's normal. all piggies are different but most will hide and love areas to do so. You doing good. Just take yer time. :yahoo:
 
Ness24 said:
I think/hope they are doing well! It will be a week tomorrow since we took them home. They are certainly moving about their cage more and eating well. They stay out more confidently when we are about in the house. Does this sound ok? It’s all very new to me! They are very quiet most of the time. They still dart away when we open the cage to clean/feed etc although we now remove the top section of the cafe rather than going in through the hatch in the top- they seem to get less startled as we are coming more from the side. When we handle them they sit very still and tolerate it but I’m not sure they’re really enjoying it. We are doing two very short handling times, once in the morning and once at dinner time. Is there any of this we should change to make life easier for them? Any advice is much appreciated 😊
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As for handling. I had a piggie shes gone now and phew I miss her she loved cuddles.
I give mine a cuddle sometimes they ok sometimes not. I give them a little treat after cuddles so it's a two way thing. x
 
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