Worried about our new Piggies

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dean&steven

We brought our piggies home yesterday. We have 2, both about 8 weeks old. We have a huge cage, kitted out with everything they could need/want. We are really worried because we don't think they have eaten or had a drink, they have just curled up into a corner together. The food we have is the food they were having in the shop. We are new piggy owners so any suggestions would be gratelly appreciated. THANK YOU.. Dean & Steven
 
They might just be nervous. If you have anything they can hide under, I'd put the food underneath that. Good luck with them :)
 
Hi, Good luck with them. If youve got a water bottle maybe you could put in a shallow bowl too just in case they dont know how to use the bottle ? Unlikely but just a thought. Keep us posted - I'm sure they're probably eating or drinking when you cant see them (hopefully),
x
 
Do you have a house or hidey for them? Guinea pigs like to feel secure so this will help. An upturned cardboard box with a door cut out will do.
Not all guinea pigs drink very much. They should be started on veg as well as dry food but if it's new to them you must introduce it slowly. Carrot is good to start with. Do they have plenty of hay as well?
You'll probably find that they're sneaking out for food when you're not there. Are they pooping ok?

:)
 
It will take them some time to get confident enough to eat when you're around. Make sure they have a cozy dark space to snuggle up together in and try putting the food very close to them so they can quickly grab something then run back to safety. Also put something a bit further out to tempt them out. Their stomachs will get the better of them eventually!
They'll get there.
 
Thank you all for these suggestions... There was a shelf that came with the cage that we had taken off, we have just put that back in so they can hide under it and put play sticks against it so it makes a totaly covered area at one end. We have moved there food which was right at the other end of the cage and we have put that underneath as well as putting another little bowl with some water in it. We have put a carrott just outside of their shelter to temp that out. I have seen droppings this afternoon so we think they are pooping ok. i think each day we'll move there food out a little bit at a time and see how they get on. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. I will try and get some photos uploaded so you can all see what we have done!
Our SINCERE thanks again!
Dean & Steven
 
They will be fine, I remember posting something similar about mine when I first got them. It took a good few days for them to get confident enough to come out of their hidey hole but they got there.
 
I recently took on two boar babies as a matter of urgency and in just over 1 week they will call out for food and will come to the cage bars for treats.

What i did was leave them for 24hrs then handle them a few times each day - i started with only a few mins at a time because they were so tiny and obviously scared. Each time i picked them up for lap time i made sure i was armed with a very tiny piece of veg (i started with carrot and pepper because i knew this was what they'd been given). At first they were very reluctant and wouldn't eat any of the veg if i was holding it during lap time - but within a couple of days they would have 1 or 2 bites whilst i held the veg. I then used to put them back in their cage and put the veg on their cage floor (just inside their hidey house) - now any veg goes at the other end of their cage - so if they want it they'll come search for it.

Making them associate me with good things was my goal - and if there's one thing guinea pigs love it's their veg. I also had them out in our run out in the back garden (for 10-15mins at time because they were/are still small) which helped massively getting them used to sounds.

They still run and hide if you walk up to the cage too fast - but if you approach them slowly my two are fine. With my baby boys, there is a definite 'confident' one of the two and the more 'shy' piggie takes his lead from him. This is great to watch and with each day that passes it's amazing how much their confidence is growing.

I generally talk to my piggies a lot. I often sit by their cages and talk to them - all my piggies know what the term 'Yum, Yums' means - they know that good stuff is on it's way.

I did also open their cage and sit there with my hand inside and let them come up and smell me - i held my hand still so's not to scare them - the point was to get them used to my hand being in there but not in a scary way

Just keep doing what you are doing, talk to them daily, and each time you handle them make sure you are armed with a piece of their favourite veg :)
 
dean&steven said:
Thank you all for these suggestions... There was a shelf that came with the cage that we had taken off, we have just put that back in so they can hide under it and put play sticks against it so it makes a totaly covered area at one end. We have moved there food which was right at the other end of the cage and we have put that underneath as well as putting another little bowl with some water in it. We have put a carrott just outside of their shelter to temp that out. I have seen droppings this afternoon so we think they are pooping ok. i think each day we'll move there food out a little bit at a time and see how they get on. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. I will try and get some photos uploaded so you can all see what we have done!
Our SINCERE thanks again!
Dean & Steven
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All sounds good. Pooping is a good sign that they are eating and healthy. When I got my girls they were about 8 weeks old and they spent the best part of a month darting between their house and a chube. They should settle with time.

Good luck. x
 
We have been so worried this last day or so about our baby boys but we feel so much better now after reading all those wonderful posts. We want to look after them the best we can and thought we were doing something wrong. We were just saying that we would probably be nervous wrecks if we had been taken from our family, carried in a dark cardboard box across town then dumped in to a new place with different sounds, smells etc. We are just so excited about starting to bond with our new beautiful babies.
THANK SO MUCH AGAIN!
Dean & Steven
 
flips said:
All sounds good. Pooping is a good sign that they are eating and healthy. When I got my girls they were about 8 weeks old and they spent the best part of a month darting between their house and a chube. They should settle with time.

Good luck. x
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Thank you so much!
 
Once they have settled in after a few days then I'd sit next to the cage, talking quietly to them, and just watch them. When they get confident enough to come out to eat yummy treats like carrots with yout there, then I would start handling them for five minutes a day, or twice a day. The after a few days, move it up to 10 minutes, and then up to 20 maybe after a couple of weeks. You can just sit them on your lap and rub them gently. Also, when you catch them, try to herd them into a corner and catch them quickly if you can, as it stressed them less. And try to hand feed them some treats. They mightn't take them from you if they're really nervous (my two girls still won't) but they might come over and grab them out of your hand like mine do! And if they won't eat from your hand, then after they've been on your lap and you put them back in the cage, give them a piece of carrot or something so they associate handling with getting a treat!

It might take some time, because they mightn't have been handled much at all before, but being indoors will help them get tame fast I'd say :)

They'll soon start associating you with food, so they'll love you! :)

I hope that is some help anyway, that's just what I did with my pigs that I got that were very nervous. But now they squeak at me loads, and run up for food. They still don't like being handled, but I chose to not start handling them and instead just give them lots of treats . . . :P And when I sit in their run with them they'll run around me and climb over my legs and all, so that's good enough for me.
 
thanks for this advice... we'll certainly do this. Anything to make them less scared of us.
 
Your guineas sound like normal guinea pigs, who just need to get used to their new surroundings. They would have been used to all the noises where you got them from, and now they have to get used to hearing all new sounds and a new environment, and learning that none of them are harmful. They really will be like that advert where the minute the lights go out, the toys all come out to play. x
 
You are doing all the right things. Its just time and patience. I wrote on here when I first got my piggies as I was worried that they didn't drink at all. In fact my piggies were with me for about 2 months before they started drinking from their water bottles. Apparently they can get water from their veg. I know being on here you can get loads of information. No question is too silly, there will always be someone along to answer any queries you have. It won't be long and you will be their piggy slave. I am sure you are well on your way already. :))
 
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