Figgy&Missy
New Born Pup
HI,
I'm a little nervous about making this post;
About two months ago, I bought a female guinea pig from a pet store that told me she was about 10 weeks old. For a week, I let her settle into her new home (I didn't have any other piggies at this point and no local stores had any either, so she couldn't have a friend yet). I didn't touch her; I wanted her to get used to my voice and presence first, but I held my hand in the cage with food for a couple of minutes, a couple of times a day.
After about three weeks of having her, she would sometimes pop her head out when she knew I had carrot before taking a piece and quickly hopping back into her house - I got so excited - I thought I was slowly bonding with her, and the pet store had some female guinea pigs come in! During this mark, however, I woke up at about 3 in the morning to her making a lot of noise and I got really concerned, so I lifted her house to check on her and she had decided to pop out three babies. The pet store didn't know she was pregnant, she wasn't showing at all - apparently before she was brought into the store, the previous owner claimed to have separated her from males, but they're now not sure.
I read everything I could on guinea pig babies and I spoke to my aunt about them (she's a vet), and they're doing really well. I didn't touch or handle them for three weeks (or my new Mumma pig, this was recommended by a lot of sources on the internet), and they are currently four weeks. I've been giving them all lap time when I can and trying to feed them from my hand. I've also tried to bond again with my new Mumma pig separately, but after about 2 minutes, she starts whining and vibrating - I've seen sources say this is either positive or negative, but I'm certain it's because she's still scared of me. So, I bring the babies out with her, but they all whine, too. Sometimes Mumma growls when I sit outside her cage, and I'm convinced she hates me. She would whine and sometimes growl even before her babies, but I though that in hindsight; it might've just been because she was pregnant.
I really want to bond with my guinea pigs, but I'm terrified of scaring them and all the whining sounds they make, and I've been really anxious thinking that maybe it's me, and that I'm a bad owner. I've read a lot of stuff online and watched a bunch of Youtube videos (before the babies came, too) and I sit by the cage and talk to them everyday, try hand feeding, lap time and that sort of stuff, but I'm scared they just hate me. I know it takes time with piggies, because they're natural prey animals but it's caused a couple tears haha.
Any help on bonding or maybe improving something I'm doing wrong would be greatly appreciated!
I'm a little nervous about making this post;
About two months ago, I bought a female guinea pig from a pet store that told me she was about 10 weeks old. For a week, I let her settle into her new home (I didn't have any other piggies at this point and no local stores had any either, so she couldn't have a friend yet). I didn't touch her; I wanted her to get used to my voice and presence first, but I held my hand in the cage with food for a couple of minutes, a couple of times a day.
After about three weeks of having her, she would sometimes pop her head out when she knew I had carrot before taking a piece and quickly hopping back into her house - I got so excited - I thought I was slowly bonding with her, and the pet store had some female guinea pigs come in! During this mark, however, I woke up at about 3 in the morning to her making a lot of noise and I got really concerned, so I lifted her house to check on her and she had decided to pop out three babies. The pet store didn't know she was pregnant, she wasn't showing at all - apparently before she was brought into the store, the previous owner claimed to have separated her from males, but they're now not sure.
I read everything I could on guinea pig babies and I spoke to my aunt about them (she's a vet), and they're doing really well. I didn't touch or handle them for three weeks (or my new Mumma pig, this was recommended by a lot of sources on the internet), and they are currently four weeks. I've been giving them all lap time when I can and trying to feed them from my hand. I've also tried to bond again with my new Mumma pig separately, but after about 2 minutes, she starts whining and vibrating - I've seen sources say this is either positive or negative, but I'm certain it's because she's still scared of me. So, I bring the babies out with her, but they all whine, too. Sometimes Mumma growls when I sit outside her cage, and I'm convinced she hates me. She would whine and sometimes growl even before her babies, but I though that in hindsight; it might've just been because she was pregnant.
I really want to bond with my guinea pigs, but I'm terrified of scaring them and all the whining sounds they make, and I've been really anxious thinking that maybe it's me, and that I'm a bad owner. I've read a lot of stuff online and watched a bunch of Youtube videos (before the babies came, too) and I sit by the cage and talk to them everyday, try hand feeding, lap time and that sort of stuff, but I'm scared they just hate me. I know it takes time with piggies, because they're natural prey animals but it's caused a couple tears haha.
Any help on bonding or maybe improving something I'm doing wrong would be greatly appreciated!