Taming A Young Piggy

[Lisanjake]

I got my guinea pig 2 months ago - I was told she was 8 weeks old when I got her.
she was always very skittish, I had to take them to the vets twice to get them sexed (as she was too young the first time apparently)
Anyway for some reason the vet must of scared her as she bit her so hard it drew blood.
I'm not sure if she was handled wrongly or something, but shes never done that to me or any other vet.

she did used to at least let me hold her high on my chest, and let me stroke her for a while, but now shes become so scared she literally jumps out of my arms over my arms, trys to get away anyway she can.
shes fine when shes eating (she eats super quick!) but then shes like nope, I'm off! and will do scared little squeaks until I put her back. which isn't after very long as I don't want her to injure herself or being frightened.

any tips on how I can tame her? id really appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Is your little girl a single piggy or has she got a companion?

Having a piggy friend would go a long way towards settling her down, ideally by letting her choose a companion of her liking (either nother sow or a neutered boar) at one of our recommended rescues (the locator, as well as recommended piggy savvy vet locator) is on the top bar. There is one near Chelmsford, which should be the closest for you. You can be guaranteed that any guinea pig from one of our recommended rescues is properly sexed, guaranteed not pregnant and healthy when rehomed.
A companion, especially one that is older and used to being handled, will give her the feeling of safety and comfort that she is craving and can teach her how to be relaxed around humans.
Guinea Pig Rescue Centre Locator

This thread here may help you understand what is going on:
How To Understand Guinea Pig Instincts And Speak Piggy Body Language
Companionship

 

[Lisanjake]

Hi, yes she does, Bella seems to be 'okay' at being handled - well a lot better then Luna anyway, she doesn't try to jump away from me the minute I try and hold her. lol
ill have a read over the links, id love to rescue another one but my other half doesn't seem keen on my having 3 haha. one day!

 

[flintstones]

My two PEW girls where very flighty at first, I tend to stroke their head gently during veggie time in the cage. My girls now are the first one's up and even more confident when out the cage. They used to freeze in terror now they will even eat some vegetables. It can take a lot of time my girls have been here a year now and also had a confident piggy to learn from.

Patience is key, when you have her out you could perhaps try having her in a little blanket to give her more security. Hope your little one settles down soon.

 

[Lisanjake]

ah I think I just need to be patient with them.
I have tried with a fleece on my lap for her to hide under but she wont stay there she will run in and out and away as much as possible.
thanks for your reply's x

 

[sport_billy]

It sounds like she is not scared enough now to freeze but still scared enough to try and run away. We had a really timid piggy in Vimto I thought she was just one of those piggies that hated being handled and was willing to accept this, she would accept food at the bars off us but whenever she was on our lap she would turn round to snap and bite me.
I started just having her out for 20 seconds fed her some coriander and put her back I would do this 2 times a week, 20 seconds no more... After 3 weeks I increased to 30 seconds and so on very slowly. Vimto is now our only pig that enjoys time on our lap and she no longer bites me It took a few months but she is very tame now. It is about building up trust.

I can also recommend getting something like a cavy cosy for laptime this will help the piggies feel more secure too

How easy is it to catch her for laptime? This can stress them out too

 

[Lisanjake]

ahh that's an interesting idea, ill definitely try that!
she is also a pain in the bum to catch (they both are haha) so I wait until she goes into her hidy fleece triangle thing, and pick her up in that.
then getting her out of it is fun too lol

 

[sport_billy]

ahh that's an interesting idea, ill definitely try that!
she is also a pain in the bum to catch (they both are haha) so I wait until she goes into her hidy fleece triangle thing, and pick her up in that.
then getting her out of it is fun too lol

I was going to suggest that trick, it is what we use. Most piggies are difficult to pick up, they have strong prey instincts and dislike things coming from above...

 

[Freela]

It sounds as though she is still settling in. Weirdly, pigs often get worse before they get better as far as running away goes... pigs either freeze or flee when frightened. What looks like calm to us may be a piggie who is literally freezing out of fear. After the freeze phase comes the 'run away!' phase, which is where you seem to be. Different pigs have different comfort levels and some may be more anxious and may take longer to settle. I've had a couple very skittish pigs, but they did come around and ended up being wonderful pets. Actually, the pair I have right now were both very flighty, skittish youngsters (Hadley actually took a running dash off the couch once because my son startled her!) but have grown up to be people-loving adults (and huge food moochers on top of it!)

What helped for me was to hold them with a blanket or cozy or something like that- pigs feel more comfortable with cover. They would often hide their heads and then seemed to feel better (presumably believing I could not see the huge pig bottom sticking out of the blanket!)

Also, some pigs are just not lap pigs. They just have a shorter tolerance to being held and you need to find other ways to relate and enjoy them. I've had a couple of lap pigs who will flop on my knee for hours and a couple of pigs who will snuggle for a few minutes and then want down, just due to personality differences.