Getting Adjusted

[LoveCutePiggies]

Well, I've searched and searched these forums, and nowhere does it actually say HOW LONG it took for anyone's guinea pigs to get adjusted to their new surroundings. All I see is, "every guinea pig is different"... Well, I want to know how long it took for YOUR guinea pig(s) to get adjusted. Please tell me the pig(s) ages and how long it took for them to get adjusted. Thank you!

[Haley0489]

I have three pigs and they all adjusted at different times. They were all about six weeks old when I got them.

Milo - Popcorned on the second day. Didn't run into the nearest hidey house when you walked in at about a week. Allowed petting around a week and a half. Became a total ham in three-ish weeks.

Norbert - Wouldn't run and hide around two weeks, came to the door to beg at three/four weeks. He's still not much into petting, but he's getting better [this is around 3 months after I got them].

Thor - Just now starting to come to the door for food, allows petting on his nose if you approach him slowly. Is very skittish.

None of them like to be held. :/ I'm hoping they'll grow into lap pigs as they get older, but who knows. They're all roughly 18 weeks old now.

And just to note - I think Milo came around so quickly, because I held him in my lap on the way home. Wish I had done that with Thor, maybe he'd be a little calmer!

[Ziggy&Herald]

I bought my first Ziggy from a pet store as a baby, I've now had him for a little over two months and he's still really skittish. Even when hand feeding veggies. My other two Louie (1) and Grizzly(2) I adopted from someone around Easter, they both run up to the side of the cage and wheek for food and do really well eating hand fed veggies. It took them maybe a week before they started. Hope that was more helpful.

[Karsluma]

I've had mine for 3+ weeks now, and they still run and hide when I enter the room. They do not come to the side of the cage for food yet, but will eat veggies out of my hand if I take them out of the cage.

[fourboys4now]

My very last adopted pig Thumper is 2 months old now and I adopted him about 3 weeks ago. He is very confident and popcorning, I thinks it's because he's a baby and he's never done without and has always been handled.

The 2 pigs I adopted before him are Tribble and Cerk. They are about 3 years old. They were pretty skittish when I brought them home. I adopted them back in late January. Tribble is very shy acting still and I have to really hold him and baby him to make him comfortable in my lap. Cerk is not as scared but both of them run like the wind when I go to pick them up. I feel at first they didn't consider my house their home, but they seem to be getting really comfortable with their cage and I think they are starting to see this is where they are staying and that we really love them and want to spoil them.

[Ly&Pigs]

What exactly are we talking about in terms of adjustment. Adjustment to your home, their new cage, to you or to what? Are talking about them being skiddish and coming to you or acting like they don't anything to do with you?

[LoveCutePiggies]

Just coming out of hiding, really... Cinnamon will slowly peek her head out, grab a pellet, then RUN back in the pigloo. I just want to know when everyone's piggies are used to being out of pigloos and such. Is that better? I didn't mean to be so vague.

[Res Judicata]

Roxie is my skittish one. It took her a good 3-4 months to stop hiding all the time. She 's still the one to run for cover when someone walks by the cage or one the kids gets too loud. It's a rare occasion I can reach in the cage and give her a head scratch.

Cloudy only spent a couple of days freaked out, then she took over as dominant pig, although she was no more than 2 months old at the time. I can pet her almost anytime I reach into the cage. She's the most secure with people, but I wonder if that's because I got her young and she's been treated right most of her life. Roxie came from a situation of neglect and I have no information on Bunny's life before she came to me.

Bunny seems a different kind of pig. She's never needed a place to hide unless the Hand is coming towards her. She did her little weird hind-leg-only popcorn within a day of getting her, and within a couple of months let me scratch her on the head at least half the time.