Now that I have them, I'm terrified

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Caris

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I’ve had guinea pigs before (both boars and sows), but I’ve never been this nervous. I don’t know whether it’s because it's been a number of years since my last ones.

So today, completely unplanned, I ended up with two boars. I’ve had everything set up and ready for quite some time (months!), have managed to walk in and out of places with guinea pigs plenty of times without giving in to temptation, have even gone to see a few and decided that they weren’t for me, no matter how adorable they were (certain things made me uncomfortable). I had decided that sows were what I wanted, but… then I saw these two boars and fell completely and utterly, hopelessly, in love. I haven’t felt like this towards any other piggies. I’d only meant to pick up something for my dogs! I was a 100% not planning on coming home with any guinea pigs.

I feel somewhat guilty that they are shop bought (I know it’s not recommended!), but, unfortunately, rescue wasn’t an option for me. I suffer from severe anxiety (partly why I decided to get guinea pigs again) and all the nearest rescues are beyond my anxiety “range” so I wouldn’t have been able to get to them. My new boars are slightly older than I'd planned, were in a cage by themselves (they only kept them in pairs, because that way there was no chance of picking two piggies who didn’t know each other/actually weren’t friends), and I wasn’t allowed to have them until I’d shown evidence, right down to the hay that I had got, that I had everything the boys would need. They were also able to tell me their different personalities and characters (one’s the chattier of the two, while the other is the more dominant and is very speedy), and seemed to know them as individuals and how each was to handle (the more dominant one doesn’t like to be picked up, but is fine once caught, for instance), and they genuinely seemed to care a lot for them. I was left feeling (rightly or wrongly) impressed and reassured.

Now that the boars are home, I’ve put a blanket over their cage (its sadly not a c&c; I have a cockatiel who would be straight in there singing at them and following them around (or sticking his head through the bars) if he got half the chance, because guinea pigs are just Chihuahuas with stubby legs, and he adores my Chihuahua...) and am planning to leave it that way for a few days. They’re currently on Burgess pellets, but I’m hoping to slowly transition them onto Harringtons. I’ve had a quick check on them (I don’t want to disturb them too much) and one of the slices of pepper I left for them has completely disappeared. No sign of it whatever. As I’m sitting here writing this I can hear them moving around and munching away on something!

My question, after this long ramble, is how do you get over your fears? I’ve read everything there is to read, but it’s been such a long time since I've had my old boys and I’m worried that I’m going to do the wrong thing and make mistakes. I’m worried that I rushed into it (after all, they were supposed to be sows!), but it was kind of like that The One moment. I only want the best for them! Is this worry normal?
 
Caris said:
I’ve had guinea pigs before (both boars and sows), but I’ve never been this nervous. I don’t know whether it’s because it's been a number of years since my last ones.

So today, completely unplanned, I ended up with two boars. I’ve had everything set up and ready for quite some time (months!), have managed to walk in and out of places with guinea pigs plenty of times without giving in to temptation, have even gone to see a few and decided that they weren’t for me, no matter how adorable they were (certain things made me uncomfortable). I had decided that sows were what I wanted, but… then I saw these two boars and fell completely and utterly, hopelessly, in love. I haven’t felt like this towards any other piggies. I’d only meant to pick up something for my dogs! I was a 100% not planning on coming home with any guinea pigs.

I feel somewhat guilty that they are shop bought (I know it’s not recommended!), but, unfortunately, rescue wasn’t an option for me. I suffer from severe anxiety (partly why I decided to get guinea pigs again) and all the nearest rescues are beyond my anxiety “range” so I wouldn’t have been able to get to them. My new boars are slightly older than I'd planned, were in a cage by themselves (they only kept them in pairs, because that way there was no chance of picking two piggies who didn’t know each other/actually weren’t friends), and I wasn’t allowed to have them until I’d shown evidence, right down to the hay that I had got, that I had everything the boys would need. They were also able to tell me their different personalities and characters (one’s the chattier of the two, while the other is the more dominant and is very speedy), and seemed to know them as individuals and how each was to handle (the more dominant one doesn’t like to be picked up, but is fine once caught, for instance), and they genuinely seemed to care a lot for them. I was left feeling (rightly or wrongly) impressed and reassured.
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Now that the boars are home, I’ve put a blanket over their cage (its sadly not a c&c; I have a cockatiel who would be straight in there singing at them and following them around (or sticking his head through the bars) if he got half the chance, because guinea pigs are just Chihuahuas with stubby legs, and he adores my Chihuahua...) and am planning to leave it that way for a few days. They’re currently on Burgess pellets, but I’m hoping to slowly transition them onto Harringtons. I’ve had a quick check on them (I don’t want to disturb them too much) and one of the slices of pepper I left for them has completely disappeared. No sign of it whatever. As I’m sitting here writing this I can hear them moving around and munching away on something!

My question, after this long ramble, is how do you get over your fears? I’ve read everything there is to read, but it’s been such a long time since I've had my old boys and I’m worried that I’m going to do the wrong thing and make mistakes. I’m worried that I rushed into it (after all, they were supposed to be sows!), but it was kind of like that The One moment. I only want the best for them! Is this worry normal?
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Hi! Take a deep breath! Your piggies are doing fine and will sort themselves out. Your old instincts will kick in soon.
You are doing everything right and your piggies seem to be settling in if they are eating with you in the room; that is what you want at this early stage.

You may find the tips in our New Owners' guide collection helpful to catch and learn new things. So much has changed in recent times and we have also learned a more from the piggies themselves, including a spot of piggy whispering, new recommendations re. diet (especially when it comes to how much and which veg and pellets to feed). I hope that you'll find the guides both helpful and interesting.
Of course you are welcome to ask any questions you have along the way in our Care sections.
 
I did something similar to you, except I didn't have quite the right setup available. Still, I brought these two boars home, got everything sorted for them, let them hide in their cage, and then panicked. First it was they weren't drinking, turns out the water bottle was dodgy and it took @Wiebke to remind me that I could give them a bowl. I should've known that, but panic does weird things to the brain.
The first month or two was...hard. And then I realised that my boars were taking the lead - they were learning what a bag rustle meant, they liked to play with their new toys, they started letting me handfeed them. All little milestones, but when I started recognising them, THAT'S how I stopped panicking - because if they were happy, settled, content...that was what was important.
 
Definitely agree with the amazing @Wiebke above and try not to worry, you're doing right! Worrying definitely normal though! I'm always worrying and had them years!

I'm a boar lady and definitely think they'll calm down and you'll love boars soon, bet you'll want more in a few months! Even if you set out to get ladies :) I want a house full but don't have the space!
 
Its totally normal to panic, I had guinea pigs almost 30 years ago then last April we went to get 2 boars and ended up with 2 girls! They were so tiny, especially Puggle who was just 390g and is still small as an adult, I couldnt imagine how they could be possibly survive- would they eat the food? Find the water? Then the first time I saw them laid down asleep I thought they were dead! I felt totally unprepared to be responsible for these little furry things that were relying on me!
Now almost a year later they are grown up and settled and opinionated and we have lots more piggies. They are always a worry (I still get up at 3am sometimes feeling a bit uncertain and go check on them!) but they are ok. The very fact you are so worried means you are going to be a brilliant piggy slave and take very good care of them. The forum is great for advice and support.
Best of luck, please post some pigtures of your new piggies!
 
I totally agree with everything @PigglePuggle just said! Btw NEVER feel guilty for buying from a store. My second pig was from a store too (after my first pig was dropped by a breeder I was later able to contact, literally just left the pig on my porch)! I wanted a pig from a rescue but none had a baby and I wanted one th same age so they could grow up together. Went into a pet store to get bedding...POOF I come out with a gp lol. You are going to be a great owner, everyone worries and I STILL worry a year later. You sound like a very caring person who wants the best for them
 
Welcome to the forum.
I agree with @cavylover2002 - rescues are not always an option.
My first 2 boars were from PAH Adoption Centre - a bit of an impulse buy as it had been a long time since I had guinea pigs. All pigs deserve a good home.
Then the very steep learning curve began and I still have a tendency to be an over cautious owner.
You sound a very caring owner and I’m sure your piggies will have a lovely life with you.
Please can we see pictures
 
Thank you so much for the reassurances! I guess I'm slightly worried that because they're boars and still young, they're not an already established bonded pair and won't get on in later life. But we'll cross that road when/if it comes to it! They seem to be settling in well. When I checked on them this morning, their previously very neat cage looked like either they had had a very raucous party or a bomb had hit it. Hay flattened and no longer just in their house, litter tray and hay rack. I'm not sure how they got it on top of their wooden tunnel, but they evidently managed somehow. Most of their pellets were eaten. Remaining pepper had vanished. So much poo! It's everywhere! Water bowl is empty (I'm assuming it was tipped), so I'm happy they've apparently been comfortable enough to have had a good old explore.

I went off this morning and bought them more veggies (and chocolate for me... couldn't have too healthy a basket!) so hoping they'll enjoy them.

Please meet the tentively named (since they started off as Han and Chewbacca) Arthur and Merlin. Arthur is the grey and white, and is the dominant one. And Merlin is the black, white and tan, and a big more shy, although quite the chatterbox!

uwOt4hE.jpg
 
Arthur and Merlin are very handsome! All piggies deserved a good home wether shop bought, breeder rejects or rescues, so don’t feel guilty.
I think all caring pet owners worry about their pets, so you are not alone and welcome to the worrying club! They are getting along fine, so try to relax and enjoy your gorgeous boys x
 
Gorgeous looking piggies.
I panicked when I got my first piggies too. I think it's kind of normal if your a good owner, you just want to do the best for them.
I've only ever had boars and most have got along fine. Only had 2 that fell out, they ended up in a large divided cage. They loved living side by side, being able to talk to one another, see and smell each other. They just couldn't live together.
Sure Merlin and Arthur will be fine.
So glad and enjoy your lovely boys.xx
 
Caris said:
I’ve had guinea pigs before (both boars and sows), but I’ve never been this nervous. I don’t know whether it’s because it's been a number of years since my last ones.

So today, completely unplanned, I ended up with two boars. I’ve had everything set up and ready for quite some time (months!), have managed to walk in and out of places with guinea pigs plenty of times without giving in to temptation, have even gone to see a few and decided that they weren’t for me, no matter how adorable they were (certain things made me uncomfortable). I had decided that sows were what I wanted, but… then I saw these two boars and fell completely and utterly, hopelessly, in love. I haven’t felt like this towards any other piggies. I’d only meant to pick up something for my dogs! I was a 100% not planning on coming home with any guinea pigs.

I feel somewhat guilty that they are shop bought (I know it’s not recommended!), but, unfortunately, rescue wasn’t an option for me. I suffer from severe anxiety (partly why I decided to get guinea pigs again) and all the nearest rescues are beyond my anxiety “range” so I wouldn’t have been able to get to them. My new boars are slightly older than I'd planned, were in a cage by themselves (they only kept them in pairs, because that way there was no chance of picking two piggies who didn’t know each other/actually weren’t friends), and I wasn’t allowed to have them until I’d shown evidence, right down to the hay that I had got, that I had everything the boys would need. They were also able to tell me their different personalities and characters (one’s the chattier of the two, while the other is the more dominant and is very speedy), and seemed to know them as individuals and how each was to handle (the more dominant one doesn’t like to be picked up, but is fine once caught, for instance), and they genuinely seemed to care a lot for them. I was left feeling (rightly or wrongly) impressed and reassured.

Now that the boars are home, I’ve put a blanket over their cage (its sadly not a c&c; I have a cockatiel who would be straight in there singing at them and following them around (or sticking his head through the bars) if he got half the chance, because guinea pigs are just Chihuahuas with stubby legs, and he adores my Chihuahua...) and am planning to leave it that way for a few days. They’re currently on Burgess pellets, but I’m hoping to slowly transition them onto Harringtons. I’ve had a quick check on them (I don’t want to disturb them too much) and one of the slices of pepper I left for them has completely disappeared. No sign of it whatever. As I’m sitting here writing this I can hear them moving around and munching away on something!

My question, after this long ramble, is how do you get over your fears? I’ve read everything there is to read, but it’s been such a long time since I've had my old boys and I’m worried that I’m going to do the wrong thing and make mistakes. I’m worried that I rushed into it (after all, they were supposed to be sows!), but it was kind of like that The One moment. I only want the best for them! Is this worry normal?
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I reckon the nervousness just represents how much you care! Lucky guinea pigs.
I see why you had to get them too, they’re too cute! X
 
My lot (I have 5) often have a party in the hutch at night. I go out in the morning to give them breakfast and give them a cuddle each and put them in the run (if it's not raining) and the food bowls are turned upside down, the hideys are all over the place, the fleece tunnel that is upstairs (up ramp?) is halfway down the ramp and one morning the section of 4" pipe (that my son "acquired" out of a skip when he was working on a building site one summer) that was in the top of the hutch had myseriously found it's way to the bottom.:hmm:
 
Betsy said:
My lot (I have 5) often have a party in the hutch at night. I go out in the morning to give them breakfast and give them a cuddle each and put them in the run (if it's not raining) and the food bowls are turned upside down, the hideys are all over the place, the fleece tunnel that is upstairs (up ramp?) is halfway down the ramp and one morning the section of 4" pipe (that my son "acquired" out of a skip when he was working on a building site one summer) that was in the top of the hutch had myseriously found it's way to the bottom.:hmm:
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Don't forget the carrot cottages that somehow end up in the wrong Midwest, and I still don't know how Comet managed that. Bloody miracle lol.
Honestly most boar pairs make it. My two had a few hormonal scuffles, but nothing serious. Mostly they just annoyed the crap out of each other, like any housemates do.
 
I’d been thinking of getting guinea pigs for a while, looking at rescues and they were all too far away. I went into pets at home for a look. Saw 2 sows, fell in love, left the shop... and went straight back to get them. I just couldn’t leave them there all unloved and just knew they had to be mine. Like you, I was very nervous but they have been amazing! The best behaved in the household infact. I just couldn’t be without them now xx
 
I'm definitely feeling slightly more confident with them. I decided to take off the top of the cage, and take out the house and tunnel today to have better access to make poo picking slightly easier for me, and they really surprised me with how they reacted. They're definitely little characters! They decided that I obviously wasn't putting the fresh bits of aubiose down correctly and helped me by digging at the bits as soon as I put them down( I think I may look at getting fleece as it was rather an interesting experience dodging bits of aubiose that came flying at me!) They seemed happy to come up and sniff my hand and let me get close; Merlin actually nudged himself under my hand a few times because obviously I was in the way of where he wanted to go and he wasn't going to waste time going around, and Arthur, who actually, though the more adventurous, seems to be the more people shy, had an experimental nibble at my hand. Merlin was also quite happy to tuck into some spring greens while I was poo picking, so it's a great feeling to know they felt comfortable doing that.

A picture of them deciding that I hadn't put the bedding down correctly either:

wn3AKXD.jpg


My only question is: they seem to love spring greens, gem lettuce, pepper and coriander. These all vanish very quickly, but they don't seem to want to touch the cucumber or green beans. Do I keep on trying with them, or just take them out of their daily veg for now?
 
Caris said:
I'm definitely feeling slightly more confident with them. I decided to take off the top of the cage, and take out the house and tunnel today to have better access to make poo picking slightly easier for me, and they really surprised me with how they reacted. They're definitely little characters! They decided that I obviously wasn't putting the fresh bits of aubiose down correctly and helped me by digging at the bits as soon as I put them down( I think I may look at getting fleece as it was rather an interesting experience dodging bits of aubiose that came flying at me!) They seemed happy to come up and sniff my hand and let me get close; Merlin actually nudged himself under my hand a few times because obviously I was in the way of where he wanted to go and he wasn't going to waste time going around, and Arthur, who actually, though the more adventurous, seems to be the more people shy, had an experimental nibble at my hand. Merlin was also quite happy to tuck into some spring greens while I was poo picking, so it's a great feeling to know they felt comfortable doing that.

A picture of them deciding that I hadn't put the bedding down correctly either:

wn3AKXD.jpg


My only question is: they seem to love spring greens, gem lettuce, pepper and coriander. These all vanish very quickly, but they don't seem to want to touch the cucumber or green beans. Do I keep on trying with them, or just take them out of their daily veg for now?
Click to expand...
Wow. A guinea pig not liking cucumber?:hmm:
They have different tastes just like us! You’ll just learn what they like.
Some guinea pigs like banana - but when I gave it to mine they chewed it as if I’d fed them a wrigleys extra and spat it out :)).
 
Congratulations on your very handsome boars. Try not to worry (easy to say I know) you are doing great. I always have a nagging guilt about not going to a rescue, but for many of us that's just not possible, the most important thing is that the piggies have a loving home. I am looking forward to seeing up dates on how they are getting on.
 
Arthur chirped. Is this a bad sign? I thought for a moment that it was my cockatiel, but it sounded a lot more like a songbird and came from the cage when Arthur was out, and I have never, ever heard my bird make a sound like that. I'm slightly panicking, because I've read it's a rare thing, and he's done it on day 3. They've actually been out and about in the open today while I've been in the room, and have been popcorning and running around like mad things. Arthur seems fine and is currently tucking into his food, but it was just so... out of the blue and the strangest sound ever.
 
No need to panic. A chirping piggy is really rare and you are lucky to hear it. Nobody really understands why piggies chirp.
 
You are doing well if the boys are relaxed around you.
You are very lucky if you have a chirping piggy.
Keep on doing what you’re doing and you will be a perfectly well trained piggy slave in no time at all.

Regarding food - they all have different tastes. Just keep offering a varied diet. You will also find that today’s favourite food is tomorrow’s poison and food they hated yesterday is inhaled today
 
My pair despise green beans, really have no idea why! I've tried lots of times but nope!
Jess has a hatred for strawberries as well, she'll cower in a hidey like I've got a blowtorch in my hands! At least Rupert enjoys something she doesn't pinch for a change I suppose! :)

Your piggies are gorgeous :love:
 
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