Piggy doesn't like me!

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amhaigler

New Born Pup
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Haven't been on here in a while. Joined after losing my single female piggy who was perfect. She loved to cuddle, purred when I held her, licked my chin- she was perfect. She would run to the edge of the cage and wheek for me to get her. I followed advice not to get another single and got 2 baby boys. They are 13 weeks now. I've had them since they were 5 weeks. Problem is- one literally hates being touched or held. The other is much calmer and doesn't mind but they'd rather just be with each other and have me to provide food and clean up after them. Will this get better? I'm wishing I had gotten another single female...
 
Try not to worry too much, all piggies are different and have their own personalities. It doesn't have anything to do with their sex. It will usually get better after a while, but be prepared that they may never like to be cuddled or touched. I have three piggies, two of which are girls and a neutered male. Daisy, my 5 year old girl, loves pats and always comes up to the cage for attention. She doesn't like being picked up (most piggies don't) but enjoys cuddles once she's out. My other two, Poppet, a 1 year old female, and Oscar, who's almost 5 are both pretty hard to get pats from. Poppet does enjoy pats most of the time, but is so full of energy that she gets bored very quickly. Oscar, on the other hand, is a very nervous and skittish piggy so most of the time he doesn't like to be pet.
All of mine hate being picked up, so I usually herd them onto a carrier to get them out of the cage. After that, all of them enjoy cuddles, although Poppet and Oscar are the first to want to go back in the cage.
All piggies are different. You can try just sitting by the cage and talking to them, and they may slowly get used to you and eventually enjoy pats. Hand feeding is a good bonding technique as well.
Hope this helps 😊
 
As @My Piggies said, all guinea pigs have different personalities.
amhaigler said:
The other is much calmer and doesn't mind but they'd rather just be with each other and have me to provide food and clean up after them. Will this get better? I'm wishing I had gotten another single female...
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I understand how it feels! My first piggies where a pair of 2 females, but they really didn't like pats or interaction with me, instead I was there to clean up after them and to keep them fed. 🙁 Personally, I didn't want to provide for piggies that I received no appreciation back from them. All piggies are different, and these ones just weren't for me. I sold them to a good home and eventually settled for 1 boar (which is a perfect piggy and I'm glad I bought him in replacement)
In my experience, my single piggy has been very happy even though he doesn't have another pig to interact with. I think this is due to the family always being around, the fact that I play with him at least twice a day and I try to give him as much enrichment as possible to make up for him not having a friend.

This is just my experience with something similar, I'm not saying you should sell your 2 boars but just pointing out that a guinea pig is a big commitment so you want to make sure you have the right one that you are happy to care for (which will be for the next 8 or so years).
 
Your piggy does like you but I feel you may have unrealistic expectations of your current pair based on your previous single piggy whose behaviour would have been very different given she didn’t have a piggy companion. This may have felt better for you because she wanted the cuddles (and to be very clear, paired piggies can absolutely enjoy cuddles as well) but for her, she had to have you as she didn’t have another piggy and was relying totally on you for any and all interaction and sadly none of it was in the way of mutual communication (pheromones and body language is a huge way piggies communicate and not something we can replicate).
It is nothing go do with their sex, its their characters, and actually boars tend to mellow out and become more affectionate with age whereas sows and their never ending hormones can become more grumpy.
Being kept in pairs is the right thing to do, deliberately keeping them single in the hope you will be able to cuddle a piggy more goes against everything they need - they don’t need a human to cuddle them, they need piggy companionship.

What you are seeing at the moment is very normal for an animal who is wired to live only with its own kind. Wanting to be with each other and not have humans cuddling or touching them is normal and rightly so - they are prey animals and there is no mutual communication with a human and to them, currently, you are bIg and scary.
However, it will settle in time and with using the piggy whispering tips but it won’t necessarily be quickly. It could take potentially months but it will happen.
They are also characters in their own right and even if they never want to be cuddled, the bond with them is what you make of it. Taking food from your hand and sitting and talking to them is a lovely way to bond with them, it doesn’t have to be holding them for cuddles if they don’t like it.

It took my Popcorn 18 months before he would take food from me (taking food being a main sign of trust) (Dexter took about 6 weeks for him to first take food). He was just so nervous but when he finally did it after all that time of slow, steady, patient work and using the piggy whispering tips , it was an amazing feeling! He learnt to trust me in his own time and as Dexter was already at that point I then began being greeted by both of them at the bars, rather than just Dexter with Popcorn curious but hiding further back, was a lovely and very rewarding feeling.
Neither of them particularly like being handled even now, but I can get their health checks done and sneak in a very quick 30 second cuddle before they realise what I’m doing!
Popcorn tries to get away quicker than the Dex which is absolutely fine by me because his reluctance to sit shows me he is more confident now and able to tell me he doesn’t like it. I much appreciate his honesty And I’d rather see the fire in him than him sitting complicit through fear.
My enjoyment of my animals (I have four, soon to be six) comes from watching their natural behaviours, their bond and interactions with each other. I dont need anything physically back from them in the form of cuddles - if I did a dog would be a much better pet - but I have a great bond with all of them in their own different ways, some don’t mind a head stroke, some don’t mind a cuddle, but all of them trust me and are eager to see me - it may only be to see what food I’ve brought them but that is how it is! I sit in their enclosures with them and they go about their business, they come over to me for a sniff, a piece of coriander, a head stroke and then go on their way!
 
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I find it's always better to think of what the animal needs ahead of what we want.

Some animals you have to work a lot harder with to gain their trust but that always has to be the aim and if you try to force them, they will not trust you and not want to be near you.

Be patient. Sit next to them while they are happily munching but don't make any move to touch them, just talk to them in a soft voice or song softly to them. Just being with them without them running away is a good start. Then you can start putting food down near them and work towards them taking food from you.

The cuddling part is a reward to us for our patience and commitment to the piggies happiness. Sometimes a piggy will enjoy long cuddles but some piggies will only tolerate a few seconds. We have to take what we can get without pushing them.
Also, piggies don't like to pee on us so a piggy might start to squirm/teeth chatter/nip because they want to be put down to pee. We can communicate with our piggies but we have to be observant and learn what they are telling us. If a piggy tells us they want to be put down and we respect that, between us we will have learnt how to communicate. Piggies enjoy being with their humans when we listen to them and show respect.

My Rory and Dexter were rescues and were neglected so took a while to learn to trust me which was totally understandable. Dexter quickly learned to love cuddles but Rory would shake when I picked him up and I would respect his feelings and put him back in his pen. Just very short sessions helped Rory to see that nothing bad was going to happen and that he was safe. The first time Rory chirped while I held and stroked him brought me to tears but I had earned his trust and it just got even better from there.

Please be patient and speak kindly to your boys. They are so young and you have the potential to create something really special with them. All my piggies loved being spoken to and even without touching them, they knew they were cherished and adored. Tell them that they are good boys and that you love them. there is so much positive energy that they will feel through gentle kindness. Please don't give up on them xx
 
I found over the years with most pets its food that’s the key to acceptance. A morsel of veg/one Nugget offered through the bars when you approach the cage works a treat. (Adjust the allowance you give)It also works with hens.
At the Ned of the day they are individuals, but food does help
 
Hi and welcome

Interaction with your piggies can happen on so many more levels than just human-centric cuddling, which is not a natural behaviour in guinea pigs. Try some enrichment ideas - they are equally fun for the piggies as they are for you.
Food is usually key but there is so much more than just placing a bowl in their cage. You have to be aware that you have to build that up gradually. Trust is a plant that needs to make deep roots before it can flourish. But enrichment gives both sides an more equal stake in the exchange instead of them conforming to the narrow set of human expectations you are demanding of them.
Guinea pigs are a species in their own right, with their own needs and expectations; they are not naturally born animated cuddly toys. Try to discover what they are in their own right - it is fun and so much more than you would imagine. ;)

Please keep in mind that most guinea pigs these days are commercially mass produced, whether by commercial pet store chain producers or by backyard/online breeders. They have usually not had any friendly human interaction whatsoever before being thrust into a pet home with its own very specific expectations they have no idea of or preparation for.
Also be aware that social media work to human preferences and not to the reality on the ground. Who wants to post and watch videos of piggies running away from your grabbing hands, as they usually do? :(
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs
Arrival in a home from the perspective of pet shop guinea pigs

Some piggies will come to enjoy handling and cuddling outside of single piggies desperate for what attention they can get from you - lacking the round the clock companionship of their own kind - will do everything to ensure that you spend as much as time with them as they can get from you, whichever way.
The last chapter in this link here details how it can come out when single guinea pigs transfer their own social needs and expectations onto you by default without you often realising: Single Guinea Pigs - Challenges and Responsibilities

And here is a fascinating story of a journey through the life time of guinea pigs; how they develop as individuals in their own society and interact at different ages, from birth until death: Journey through a Lifetime: The Ages of Guinea Pigs
 
Zorro1 said:
As @My Piggies said, all guinea pigs have different personalities.

I understand how it feels! My first piggies where a pair of 2 females, but they really didn't like pats or interaction with me, instead I was there to clean up after them and to keep them fed. 🙁 Personally, I didn't want to provide for piggies that I received no appreciation back from them. All piggies are different, and these ones just weren't for me. I sold them to a good home and eventually settled for 1 boar (which is a perfect piggy and I'm glad I bought him in replacement)
In my experience, my single piggy has been very happy even though he doesn't have another pig to interact with. I think this is due to the family always being around, the fact that I play with him at least twice a day and I try to give him as much enrichment as possible to make up for him not having a friend.

This is just my experience with something similar, I'm not saying you should sell your 2 boars but just pointing out that a guinea pig is a big commitment so you want to make sure you have the right one that you are happy to care for (which will be for the next 8 or so years).
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Thank you for this. I wish I'd followed my gut and gotten a single but I didn't. Now I have these babies and I have to be responsible for them. One totally hates me. I think if the other were on his own he could become affectionate. As it is now- it's like you said, I'm just here to feed and clean up and they don't really care for me. So different from my baby I lost.
 
amhaigler said:
Thank you for this. I wish I'd followed my gut and gotten a single but I didn't. Now I have these babies and I have to be responsible for them. One totally hates me. I think if the other were on his own he could become affectionate. As it is now- it's like you said, I'm just here to feed and clean up and they don't really care for me. So different from my baby I lost.
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Maybe if you continue to try and bond with them, they will like you more? Some piggies take a long time to like their owner. If you hand feed them and respect their wish not to be touched, they may warm to you.

Why do you think that one of them "hates" you? What behavior is it displaying? For instance, if you go to pat it and it bites you, it's not showing that is hates you but is just scared or wants you to respect its space.
By the way, they are very cute! :luv:
 
amhaigler said:
Thank you for this. I wish I'd followed my gut and gotten a single but I didn't. Now I have these babies and I have to be responsible for them. One totally hates me. I think if the other were on his own he could become affectionate. As it is now- it's like you said, I'm just here to feed and clean up and they don't really care for me. So different from my baby I lost.
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It’s such a shame you see it like this.
This is going to come across as blunt, but I don’t mean it to be harsh at all.
You need to stop thinking he hates you - he doesn’t hate you, he just doesn’t understand human, he isn’t confident that you aren’t a predator about to eat him. You have to put the time and work in to bond with him in a way piggies understand. Right now he is displaying perfectly normal and natural piggy behaviours and the issue here lays with you - your misinterpretation of his normal behaviour as hate, but also your comparing it with your relationship with a single piggy. Keeping a piggy single is never going to show you how piggies naturally behave. You’ve now got the wrong impression of things and need to adjust your thinking to truly appreciate how wonderful your boys are.

Honestly, your boys have what they need - each other, a warm, clean home and are fed and cared for. They are happy. Being kept single just to satisfy your need for a piggy to be affectionate and interact with you may make you happy, but it goes against everything they need and does result in an unhappy and lonely piggy even if their natural survival instinct won’t allow them to show it.

What will happen if you continue to see things negatively is that you will harm your relationship with them by not seeing it for how wonderful it is to provide that for them, to see their relationship flourish, to watch their natural behaviours and see how piggies should be interacting with each other but it will also stop you from putting in the time and building your relationship with them. You have a lovely opportunity here to make a great relationship with them and enjoying it for what it is.
If you expecting them to naturally want to be around a human then you are not going to enjoy any of it - it isn’t what they need - but if you see it from their side, then you will get a new appreciation for how wonderful they are. They may even come round to enjoying a cuddle with time, but even if they don’t, thinking of her as ‘perfect’ and these two as hating you isn’t reality of piggy keeping nor a helpful way to go about it

I lost one of my rabbits earlier this year. He was single though his own choice. He lived next door to my female pair so he could still interact with his own species but he never wanted to be with them or any other. He was very human orientated, followed me around, was basically more dog than rabbit. My relationship with him was a wonderful one and his loss has left a huge hole with all my family. My pair of girls aren’t quite as affectionate towards me but they behave like every other pair of rabbits I have ever had. They may not enjoy a cuddle, but they are always waiting at the front of the enclosure each morning, they are happy to spend time with me but most importantly they want to be together. It makes me so sad to know my boy didn’t get that bond with another rabbit, yes he had a lovely one with me, but I know from 35 years experience of small animal keeping and multiple pairs of animals, that it wasn’t a normal one. Now, he chose to be single so it’s not quite the same thing as deliberately making them be single. My relationship with my girls may be different to how things were with him, but they display normal bunny behaviours and aren’t human orientated which is how it should be - I love my boy dearly and miss him terribly but give me the joy of watching and being part of the lives of a well bonded pair - whether it’s piggies or bunnies - any day!
 
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I really think you need to cognitively reframe this for yourself because I think you are projecting human motivations onto your pigs. Your more skittish pig doesn't hate you. He's not capable of hating you as humans understand it. He's a prey animal. You are a huge scary predator and he isn't sure that he can trust you yet. He's also a baby. He doesn't want to sit still on a human lap for long periods of time right now. He wants to be active. He is full of energy. Being cautious and energetic are natural things for a young pig. That's what keeps you alive in the wild, evolutionarily speaking. Get him out and sit with him for short periods of time every day and give him a treat that he likes. That way he associates you with positive things and you are allowing him to tell you when he's done and wants to go back to doing other things. He will get more comfortable with you.

I also think it's important to realize that, just like people, pigs have different personalities. You seem to be generalizing from your previous single female to think that all single females would behave the same. It's quite possible that you would have gotten another single female who is also very skittish. It's not like all female pigs are snuggly lap pets who just want to be held (I have a little devil right now who would beg to differ with you! She's a handful! And we love her for it!) I've always had females in pairs, I've basically treated them all the same as far as making friends with them goes, and I've had a couple that were content to sleep on my lap for hours, a couple who were constantly alert and trying to climb up the back of the couch and run around because they are not lap pigs who want to sit still, and most were somewhere in between. So please, recognize it's not true that all female pigs are the same, it's not true that all single pigs are the same, and if you go in with the expectation of getting a copy of your lap pig who was extremely tolerant to human cuddling, you may be disappointed. I get that it's hard to go from a sedate, comfortable, very people-oriented pig who you loved dearly to a totally different personality. The piggie in my avatar, Hadley, was one of the ones who would snooze for hours on our laps... and I mean hours. Full out asleep, stretched out, eyes shut... she was like a little hot water bottle. After she passed we got Tomie, our current 1-year-old pig who is VERY active, always on high alert, never closes her eyes, and has a tolerance for snuggling that is about five minutes long before she decides she wants to do zoomies around the couch. The personality whiplash was real, believe me!

I really hope you can come to appreciate your current pigs for the characters that they are. I guarantee that, given time and a different mindset, you will find things that you love about each of them that you will remember about them forever. And you need to let go of the idea that had you gotten a single female, you would have gotten a pig with the same personality as your previous one. You did the right thing getting a pair, as it's far better for pigs to live in pairs. You got two unique individuals and you need to get to know them and they need to get to know you. I hope you can go into it with that mindset and start enjoying your new little guys a bit more. I know it's hard when we have that perfect pet and we lose them... and it sounds like you are still grieving that loss. But these little guys, given time and effort, can be just as loved if you give them a chance. Good luck!
 
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