Scared guinea pigs

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kmanmx

Hello,


I just got my first guinea pigs a few days ago, because i've always wanted some ! :)


I used to own some pet chickens, which obviously require a larger enclosure. So i spent many many hours cleaning the run out and the hut, putting new stuff in it and making it very guinea pig friendly. The outside run is about 2.5meters long by 2meters wide, the indoor hut is fully sheltered and about 1.5meters by 1.5meters. I only bought two guinea pigs (they're young, not sure about they're age but only 4 or 5 inches in length, both female) so i thought they would love this new place to live as it's plenty big enough !.

However they are totally petrified of me and don't appear to be eating or drinking. They are hid constantly behind the various toys and things i put in the run, and they move very little. If they see me approaching they'll run super fast into the corner of the hutch, but since yesterday they have gone into the hut and haven't come out at all. I have put various foods such as cucumber, carrot, special guinea pig food in the doorway between the hutch and the run and some water to encourage them, but they haven't had a nibble in over 12hours !

I don't know whats wrong with them, it seems odd. They were checked in the pet store and they are both perfectly healthy. I can understand them being scared, but to not eat any nice fresh food in over 12 hours when i am not even there to scare them seems peculiar and worrying me abit !


If any of you have any thoughts and ideas i would be very thankfull.
 
Give your piggies time to get their bearings - they are in foreign territory right now and need plenty of time to settle in. Talk to them as often as possible and put you hand in arranging stuff as well as putting new food in, so they get used to your hands being around them.

They have a great set-up and will come to appreciate it in time. If they are that young (mere babies by the sund of it), they will be popcorning and dashing around with joy in the future! The slower you go right now, the more they will learn to trust you and come round later.
 
Thanks for the replies. So it sounds normal that they're to scared to even eat ?

Is it best I leave them alone for a day to get to know there new surroundings, or interact as much as possible despite them being scared of me ?

Thanks once more.
 
I agree, let them settle into their new surroundings, it will take time for them to learn to trust you. Maybe put them some food into where they are sitting for now. Eventually once they settle they will gradually gain confidence and come out. If you try sitting quietly by their cage and talking softly to them, this will help them learn to trust you. Sudden movements at this stage will send them running for cover.
 
I'm quite new to guinea pigs and I have to say I was quite taken aback by how shy they are to start with. I have 6 now and 2 temporary wards that I picked up last week and those two have been just as you have described. They have been eating a bit but I have had to compromise and put it right inside their hidey in the day as it's too noisy for them to even dare to peep out but in the night I leave it a few inches outside of their hidey and they have eaten it by the morning.

My other ones by the way seem way laid back now and come running when I am on my way to them with their veggies but they never used to be.
 
Thanks for the help once more.

Good news, I chopped some carrot and put it just outside the hut where they are, I then hid my iPhone and set it recording video and hid it pointing at the food, returned 2 hours later and watched the video back. Got some seriously adorable footage of them creeping up with plenty of causion and eating the carrot ! :D :)

Thanks
 
They'll come round! Just remember that they are animal of prey in a strange territory controlled by loud, smelly predators... Once they have got used to the noises and the smells and got the hang of the routine, they'll come on.

It takes patience and persistence, but it's oh, so worth it!
 
i was exactly the same as you, and ive still got a lot to learn!ive had my piggies two weeks now, and mine were the same, they wouldnt come out of there hidy hole, and if they heard anything i could hear them dashing about!i was worried because they werent coming out to nibble anything, even fresh cabbage and that! but i followed everyones tips on here, i would talk constantly to them everytime i went past and when i was cleaning them out or changing water and things.i left them for a day then i brought them inside and sat on the floor with them while they were in a run, and spoke to them. i personally still havent held them skin to skin because I'm still a bit scared-my partner does all the picking up, and i do all the cleaning out!lol. but it is quite obvious that what i do is making an impression, because when i go up to them and start talking they come up to me when they are in there run!and they sit and eat and drink whenever I'm walking around in the garden now! to me that seems one of the most important things-talking to them. just be patient and you will see a difference!its only been two weeks, and mine come up to the bars and sniff our jack russel now!gemx
 
Hi,
Just wanted to reassure you that what you describe sounds normal to me!
It must be a relief to know that they are secretly eating and drinking though :))
I had a similar experience when we brought Rocky and Rufus home, I have never seen two so frightened piggies! They each dashed straight to a corner and hid there (squeezed as tiny as possible) for about 24 hours, I was so worried that they weren't eating or drinking but slowly, slowly, they come around and before you know it they'll be taking treats from your hands and squeaking at you to hurry up with breakfast! We've had the boys for 3 months now and every day is an improvement so small you wouldn't notice it, but when I look back its like they're different piggies!
The only advice I can give is to let them settle in in their own time, and to persevere! I spent so many evening upset and down because 'they hate me' but they are just so frightened of us big scary loud giants and that takes some getting used to :)):))
Good luck x
 
Thanks everyone. I am slowly moving food further and further away from the hut they hide in so they gain confidence being away from where they feel most safe. I still record them hehe, it takes about 10attempts of them going in and out towards the food before they have the guts to go the whole way ! But they will slowly learn.

Thanks alot :)
 
They will; and with patience and love they'll be wonderful pets quicker than you would imagine right now!
 
Hopefully.

For the moment i am leaving them alone as much as possible, they are already making improvements. I simply place the food close to the hut where they hide, retreat back into the house and watch them with binoculars (Long garden :)) ) They are now coming about 1 or 2 feet away from the hut and staying there to eat. They still run inside with the slightest unfamiliar noise or sight, and go back in immediately when they are done eating - but a few days ago they would barely go 6inches from the entrance of the hut !.

By the end of next week i think i will have them getting food from a good 4 feet away from the hut entrance, getting them confident when they hear odd noises and i approach them will be difficult. Because as soon as they see me from perhaps 10meters they are inside that hut quicker than you can say Guinea Pigs, hehe. And as soon as they are inside the hut i of course can't see them. So that might take some figuring out. I don't think they have realized i am even bringing the food, for they only come to get the food when i am long gone so never actually see me even place the food.

I'll figure something out :)

Thanks.
 
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I've had my little Topaz 7 weeks now and she's still very shy. She sits in the wooden house in the living room of the hutch at feeding time and won't come out until she thinks I've gone. However, she has got the hang of the idea that I'm not trying to put a rattlesnake into the cottage when I'm slipping a tasty little morsel through the door - it's a dandelion leaf that I'm giving her before Basil scoffs the lot.

They're well worth waiting for.

Samantha
 
you could try putting a radio next to their hutch so they are used to human voices and noises? also spend sometime just reading the newspaper to them just talk to them let them get used to your scent and presence. Patience is a virtue here. they will come to trust you and look forward to your visits
 
My guinea pigs used to hide from me if i moved to fast while sat on my bed at other side of the room to their cage for the 1st few weeks, but as time went by and they got used to the day to day walking past cage etc they settled down a lot.

I'm sure yours will do the same. Just give them time :)

Before long they will be squeeling for food when they hear you passing, mine start squeeling as soon as they see/hear me get out of bed in the morning :))
 
I make a tsk tsk sound whenever I come with food; the piggies are still running away a bit, but only in exietment and to get ready to pounce while I sit right next to them.

If you create a "food's coming" whistle or call, they will pick that up quickly!
 
Vickyt said:
I make a tsk tsk sound whenever I come with food; the piggies are still running away a bit, but only in exietment and to get ready to pounce while I sit right next to them.

If you create a "food's coming" whistle or call, they will pick that up quickly!
Click to expand...

Hmm..

But remember, they never see me put food down.

It goes like this:

1)They hear me open the garden door
2)They run inside into the hut where i can't see them and they can't see me
3)I place food down
4)I go back inside
5)15minutes later they come out to explore and eat the new food very hesitantly.

I wish i could play the radio to them! but with them being down the other end of the garden it's kinda tricky. I guess i need a radio first aswell :))

So whether piggies are clever enough to make the link between seeing me coming and then food coming out of nowhere, i'm not to sure..:{

What makes me laugh though is in the hut where my pet chickens used to live, there is two nesting parts where the piggies like to sit, this nesting part has a lid so i had easy access to any eggs that the chickens produced. And now everytime i lift it up to check on the piggies they have no idea i can see them, then if they hear me they burrow there head into the straw/hey and think i can't see them (even with there big bum sticking out) really makes me laugh :)
 
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kmanmx said:
Hmm..

But remember, they never see me put food down.

It goes like this:

1)They hear me open the garden door
2)They run inside into the hut where i can't see them and they can't see me
3)I place food down
4)I go back inside
5)15minutes later they come out to explore and eat the new food very hesitantly.

I wish i could play the radio to them! but with them being down the other end of the garden it's kinda tricky. I guess i need a radio first aswell :))

So whether piggies are clever enough to make the link between seeing me coming and then food coming out of nowhere, i'm not to sure..:{
Click to expand...

Soon they will associate the sound of you coming with food from the fact that they have little food left, they hear you coming (which is a bit scary at the moment cause your a gigantic stranger), then when they emerge there is lots of nice fresh food for them to munch on.
 
I guess so :)

I'm not to sure what food they like best or how much i should feed them. Any ideas ? Remembering that they are only young and small :)

So far they seem to prefer carrot over the other foods i have tried. But never to sure how much to give them, and how often.
 
Mine love green peppers and carrot.

As for dried food I feed them burgess complete food, that way they have to eat the whole thing and cant pick out the bits they like and leave the bits they dont like(which means they dont neccessarily get a balanced diet) they can with gerty guinea etc.
 
Fresh food wise I feed mine veggies twice a day. They don't get a massive amount but I give a variety (Esp as it's so cheap in Aldi right now!) Mine have greens in the form of spring greens, coriander and basil. Then a bit of a carrot between them, bit of an apple, bit of pepper and a bit of cucumber. Not masses of any of them though. By morning they have generally eaten everything.
 
Getting somewhere !

I can now place the food around 4foot away from there large hideout :) It takes them a while to get the confidence to go the full distance for the food, but after an hour or so they get there :)

I feel mean making it so hard for them to get food, But i feel i must build up there confidence in being in the outside part of the hutch. Bless them, they run inside everytime the wind bows ! :))
 
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