Storm1974
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi,
We've had our 9 week old boys Bracken & Bramble for 5 days now and they are still quite nervous, so we haven't even attempted to pick them up yet. They aren't living in our house, but in our neighbours utility room which is right next to our garden, so we pop in an out to see them a few times a day, and obviously to feed/spot clean etc. So, my question is, when should we start trying to handle them as they still quite nervous?
Also, I'm worried about their nails needing cutting and obviously we need to pick them up to do this, but no animal likes it's nails being cut, especially baby piggies! So, I'm a bit anxious about this and how we go about checking if they need doing yet, and then if they do, how do we trim their nails without them freaking out and potentially jumping out of our hands and hurting themselves, or even us accidentally hurting them with the clippers?! Is there anything we can put in their cage to keep their nails short for now?
The last small animals I kept (A long time after piggies, which I haven't owned for around 20 years) were pet rats and these animals, especially if afraid, and if they haven't been handled or socialised well as youngsters, would bite very hard, and to be honest I'm a bit nervous about getting bitten by the piggies because of this, even though I know that piggies are much less likely to bite than (Undersocialised) rats, but maybe they will if they are scared!
Sorry if I sound like a big wimp or over worrying about everything, but that is just me (Well the worrying part anyway), unfortunately.
We've had our 9 week old boys Bracken & Bramble for 5 days now and they are still quite nervous, so we haven't even attempted to pick them up yet. They aren't living in our house, but in our neighbours utility room which is right next to our garden, so we pop in an out to see them a few times a day, and obviously to feed/spot clean etc. So, my question is, when should we start trying to handle them as they still quite nervous?
Also, I'm worried about their nails needing cutting and obviously we need to pick them up to do this, but no animal likes it's nails being cut, especially baby piggies! So, I'm a bit anxious about this and how we go about checking if they need doing yet, and then if they do, how do we trim their nails without them freaking out and potentially jumping out of our hands and hurting themselves, or even us accidentally hurting them with the clippers?! Is there anything we can put in their cage to keep their nails short for now?
The last small animals I kept (A long time after piggies, which I haven't owned for around 20 years) were pet rats and these animals, especially if afraid, and if they haven't been handled or socialised well as youngsters, would bite very hard, and to be honest I'm a bit nervous about getting bitten by the piggies because of this, even though I know that piggies are much less likely to bite than (Undersocialised) rats, but maybe they will if they are scared!
Sorry if I sound like a big wimp or over worrying about everything, but that is just me (Well the worrying part anyway), unfortunately.