You may be able to pick them up in time - but you may always find it difficult with some pigs. Mine are picked up every day but three of them still run around trying to get away and I’ve had them a year and a half! I find it helps to be very slow in movements when initially putting your hands in the cage, then if you can hold them at the shoulder it usually makes them stand still (well, mine do), then you can get my other hand under them to pick them up. It’s not foolproof and doesn’t always work, if they are very nervous I used a snuggle sac and then hold them from that.
Yes I do they let me hand feed them. Is a guinea pig bite serious?
I use like a bed to trap her and she can't escape. When I put my hands in she moves around in circles and I'm afraid I'll hit her eyes or another wrong part of her body
Not usually. Have your piggies actually bitten you at any time? If they're letting you hand feed them they sound pretty tame, which makes it even less likely that they'll bite. I think it's your fear of being bitten rather than the piggies being skittish that's stopping you picking them up, and the only way to overcome that is to get confidence by picking them up. Try getting used to picking them up in tunnels etc. and spending time with them on your lap until you aren't afraid. As others have said, they may always run away , that's just their instincts as prey animals, so you need to be confident to be able to lift them with your hands.
They have not bitten me yet. Yes they SEEM pretty tame, but I can't touch them even when they're eating.
One of my guinea pigs was in the adoption area of the shop and I was told he couldn't mix with others and he's obviously had some kind of bad start to life. First time I picked him up he properly bit me but no lasting injury. Plus he had done the sign for "put me back in the cage NOW" which is slightly agitated nuzzling on clothes and I didn't put him back, so even with this very rare event of a pig biting, there was a solid warning. If your pig does that signal, put them back. For some reason they don't seem to want to use their teeth.
Of my 5, 2 love being scratched under the chin and are OK being picked up, 2 tolerate a head scratch, but only while I'm hand feeding them and they make complaining sounds, and one just won't let me pet him at all. The trio all run away when I try to pick them up, but I've got the knack of catching them. All 5 are fine once I've picked them up. Groucho pulls at my clothes to get put down, or my skin if there's no cloth there. That is just very gentle though, and is communication rather than aggression.