New guinea pigs - anxious owner!

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segmentedsarah

Hello,
We bought guinea pigs on Sunday(4 days ago), two females about 8 weeks old. After real skittishness for the first couple of days, one has settled in well and potters around her cage, eating more or less constantly. The other, however, is so nervous that she barely seems to venture out of her "house" and seems not to be eating as much. Both are more or less silent which I'm really surprised about as I was expecting alot of "wheeking". No popcorning either! Is this normal behaviour for new and quite young guinea pigs or should I be worrried? Any advice welcome. Thanks!
Smiley
 
young new guineas will be wary and nervous, mine were, its normal, just go in and talk to them, let them get use to your voice, maybe put something in there of yours with your scent on, I put a sock in when I had my first pair of piggies bout 12 years ago :smitten:
 
Thanks. Will put one of my husband's socks in - likely to be stronger! (Poor liittle things - are you sure!)
 
Hi,

I think some just take longer to settle in than others - give her time. They'll soon learn that you provide food - try to handfeed them the stuff they like best, that might help. Some of mine have only just started wheeking to greet me and I've had them for a few months - they're all different! Good luck with them, let us know how it goes

Sophie
x
 
Thanks - that's really reassuring. I've never owned a piggy before so it's all new and worrying at the moment - feeling an overwhelming sense of responsibility for their happiness!
 
Yes, it is worrying when you just want to do the best for them but are not sure what they want / need! I'm sure they'll be just fine. Some of them are just really chilled about everything, others take a while to come round!

Take some pics for us! :smitten:
 
Camera has just malfunctioned but, believe me, they are cute! Sophie (officially my daughter's) is black, short haired, with a ginger stripe - she's the chillled out one. Sonic - not very guinea piggy, I know, but named by my 5 year old son - (she's the fast, nervy one so probably quite apt!) is ginger with red eyes. Sounds strange but she is sweet! Thanks for all your advice.
 
Don't worry about the non wheeking yet if you have only had them a couple of days - the first piggies we had didn't wheek for about 8 weeks or so, and when we first saw them popcorn we were a bit 'what the heck was that, is he having a fit?!' ;D Most piggies take ages settling in and learning to trust their humans, so don't worry if they are skittish or shy, they are natural prey animals and their instincts are to either freeze or hide, so don't take it personally :)
 
Took my piggies awhile to get use to my mad house but now I hear them wheeks to my kids of a morning when we come down ;D

So cute, my 2 were "offically" brought for my son but now there mine all mine MWAHAHAHA >:D
 
Thanks - not taking it personally any more! It's interesting because they do freeze when we remove their house and then after a few seconds run off at top speed - It really helps to know a bit more about their natural behaviour - as prey animals.

I think these two will end up as mine all mine too - I'm trying not to be at all proprietorial when the children are around but obviously they will love me best eventually! (and rightly so as I'm sure I'lll be doing all the graft in spite of everyone else's good intentions...)
 
oh my lilly and max(who was a molly then) where like that when i get them (thet where from a pet shop

my holly and meggie where fine as i got the mform a bredder
 
It took months for mine to settle in - and even now one of them still runs away from me! It differs from piggy to piggy. I even have their cage in the livingroom with me. They've been getting more used to lately as my new computer is beside their cage. This helped a lot as Daisy will now lie in the cage whilst I'm sitting beside it and she'll go to sleep.
 
When you enter a shed of 20+ guineas with a hangover and as soon as you put your hand in the just grass bale then you will think back to those 'quite days' O0
Most of mine took about two weeks at least before they give me the dawn chorus!
:smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
They are settling in a bit - one's certainly more outgoing than the other and has been doing lots of manic scampering around over the last couple of days, reducing the children to hysterics, so things are looking up! I'm sure I will look back wistfully if they do become noisily demanding - it'll be like having four children!
 
I've had Garry and Minty for three and a half months now and they are just over six months old. Minty is so cocky it's untrue, whereas Garry is a nervous piggy. He'll let me stroke him when I'm cleaning them out and have taken everything out of the cage and he sits quite happily on my lap, but if there is a house in the cage, you will find him in it (until you leave the room!). Minty is a devil and just won't let you get near him - I can stroke his head, sometimes, and that's the absolute most! He's been declared a 'sensitive piggy' by the vet and will let you know if you try and pick him up by sinking his teeth straight in!

Three and a half weeks ago, I added Benjamin to the mix. He is now only nearly three months old, but he is very confident - he comes up to the bars of the cage and comes straight out when he hears food! He's a mental popcorner and is the fastest moving piggy of them all!

I think it's down to each piggy's personality. I don't think Garry will ever be the running to the bars type pig, but I love him just the way he is, and the other two too! :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
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