Single Piggie

Makaiobaby

Makaiobaby

Junior Guinea Pig
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Aug 12, 2019
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Hi I hope someone can help!
Just as a little background to my guinea pig we got him single as there was 2 others left with him so we decide to take the 1 instead of leaving him. Makaio was bullied by all the other piggies and it was pretty clear considering his chewed off ear when we got him. So that is why he is a single piggie.
Makaio has always had such a character so sweet and crazy and funny!
Something started in about July last year where he started turning himself on his back, due to it being summer me and my mum assumed he was just hot but since then he has been doing it a lot and he seems to love it! But he seriously acts like a baby! Yesterday I was holding him and I work with children so naturally I starting rocking him and I noticed I was doing it and when I stopped he stopped purring (not purring like a cat but I don’t know how to describe it 🤣) So I carried on rocking him then stopped and everytime I stopped he stopped making the noise! Also when I went to put him back in his cage he seemed as though he didn’t want to and kept trying to get on his back!
I have googled it and all the results I was getting is that if he is depressed and not got much energy but he has becuase he runs around his cage like crazy sometimes.
I am just really unsure what to do. He is a very happy and healthy and loved guinea but he is just not normal? 😅
 
Makaiobaby said:
Hi I hope someone can help!
Just as a little background to my guinea pig we got him single as there was 2 others left with him so we decide to take the 1 instead of leaving him. Makaio was bullied by all the other piggies and it was pretty clear considering his chewed off ear when we got him. So that is why he is a single piggie.
Makaio has always had such a character so sweet and crazy and funny!
Something started in about July last year where he started turning himself on his back, due to it being summer me and my mum assumed he was just hot but since then he has been doing it a lot and he seems to love it! But he seriously acts like a baby! Yesterday I was holding him and I work with children so naturally I starting rocking him and I noticed I was doing it and when I stopped he stopped purring (not purring like a cat but I don’t know how to describe it 🤣) So I carried on rocking him then stopped and everytime I stopped he stopped making the noise! Also when I went to put him back in his cage he seemed as though he didn’t want to and kept trying to get on his back!
I have googled it and all the results I was getting is that if he is depressed and not got much energy but he has becuase he runs around his cage like crazy sometimes.
I am just really unsure what to do. He is a very happy and healthy and loved guinea but he is just not normal? 😅
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Hi!

Even a single guinea pig still requires constant stimulation and interaction. Lacking social interaction with their own species, they will then transfer their needs on you. This is usually a mix of what fills his needs of closeness (he was clearly purring with you, which is not a behaviour you see between guinea pigs) and any tricks and behaviours that get and hold your attention. The latter is the reason why individual quirks and behaviours of single piggies can vary enormously; for the piggies it is a matter of trial and error. These behaviours can be to make you laugh and be happy or they can come out as annoying behaviours in piggies that are feeling starved for attention. It is basically an 'anything goes' field as there are no set rules.


You may find our singles guide interesting. It looks at single guinea pigs in a variety of situations, their specific needs and the varying challenges that you face as an owner, companionship (which may not be as straight forward) and then has a look what guinea pig expectations and species needs mean for your interaction with them and how this can come out.
Single Guinea Pigs - Challenges and Responsibilities
 
I can understand why Makaio has been classed as a single piggy as I too have a boar who was labelled as unable to live with other piggies.
Like your boy, my Micah had been bullied and has raggedy ears.
However - I brought him home, had him neutered and for 6 weeks he lived next door to my 3 sows.
The day the barrier was removed and Micah formally bonded with the girls was a real high for him.
He has gone from being a pathetic scrap to a hunky boar.

There is a solution for Makaio so good luck
 
PS: Macsen, who I adopted yesterday was surrendered because he was bullied/not accepted by the adult boar trio he was introduced to. He is currently in heaven living next to a sow now that his neutering post-op wait has come to an end. She is a single who has some social deficits who has lost her first ever friend, a very gentle old lady, last week.

There is a social future for bullied boys - even if it is living next to a single sow or two if you can't afford a neutering/de-sexing operation. ;)
 
Wiebke said:
PS: Macsen, who I adopted yesterday was surrendered because he was bullied/not accepted by the adult boar trio he was introduced to. He is currently in heaven living next to a sow now that his neutering post-op wait has come to an end. She is a single who has some social deficits who has lost her first ever friend, a very gentle old lady, last week.

There is a social future for bullied boys - even if it is living next to a single sow or two if you can't afford a neutering/de-sexing operation. ;)
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Congratulations on the new addition to your tribe
 
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