destructive pig and a shy pig

[guineapigmom]

My baby girl Puddles is about 9 months old and she has started trashing her cage, we have a wood house from petsmart and she tips it over onto our other pig Sweeny and takes the walls off about once or twice a week, every time I fix i she tears it apart again, she'll do it for a day or two and then leaves it alone for a while. Does anyone elses pigs do this?

My pig Sweeny won't let anyone hold her since my husband left for his last army thing. Normally she lets people hold her and pet her but goes to him when ever she can but now she is a bit shy. I take them out for atleast and hour a day for free run time and play with them a lot.

I'm still kinda new to guinea pigs these are my first. I've had them since they were a month old and they are a big part of our family.

[hueyeats]

I think maybe your shy pig is bonded with your hubby, so you need to bond her to you. Take an old blanket & have a nose to nose floor time with her... start out floor time while using a "piggy-pen" but sit / lay (if your pen is big enough) in with your GPs (hence nose to nose). Main thing is to have them get use to you.

Besides regular daily floor time with my GPs (where mine roam free), I do individual bonding time at night with my GPs where each will have to have lap time with me watching GP you tubes (I usually have multiple tabs open to switch between other tasks). I repeat playing the same videos till they are comfy then switch to other GP you tubes. Having their fav. treats close at hand is very important (you want to give them a treat as soon as you hold them).

I think you'll need to spend more time playing with your GPs because they could be bored (even with each other).

As to the trashing the cage & taking down the walls of the cage... what do you use to hold the walls together? If zip ties do not work (if they chew on it but as far as I know zip ties are great to secure C&C b/c the GPs rarely touch them)... maybe use some metal folder/report clips?

Hope this helps. GPs are like little humans, they are loving attention from us.

[Chloe1991]

Originally Posted by guineapigmom

My baby girl Puddles is about 9 months old and she has started trashing her cage, we have a wood house from petsmart and she tips it over onto our other pig Sweeny and takes the walls off about once or twice a week, every time I fix i she tears it apart again, she'll do it for a day or two and then leaves it alone for a while. Does anyone elses pigs do this? .

My girl Chloe tips boxes over and Roxy will roll tubes and run over Chloe,I am out of ideas on how to keep there houses up so I have taken them out and have put in a hammock which I made. She actually loves it! They can sleep under it or on top, in fact she runs laps and will hop on the hammock and right off every time she runs around.

[sophistacavy]

Hueyeats- She isn't talking about the sides of the actual cage, she's talking about the little hidey-house things that pet stores sell and that some people make themselves, like a different kind of pigloo, but with the same purpose. L0L, if there was a piggie actually doing that to the cage, I might be a wee bit wary of it, perhaps name it Destrucopig XD Call Cesar Milan, etc...^__^

Guineapigmom- I would try what Chloe1991 suggested about the hammock thing. My piggies love their hammock too. Also, you're giving them enough floor time, just try to bond more with the one who is missing your husband, so she learns that more than just one human can be her BFF-human. It almost sounds like what can much more easily happen to parrots. Its really easy for parrots to become attached to one human only, its called single-human bond. With parrots though, they can "defend" their human and other things, but anyways, you just need to try and teach your little piggie that she can love and bond with you as much as she loves and has bonded with your husband. What Hueyeats suggested doing to bond sounds like a great plan, try starting off with that!

Also, thank your husband from me and all my crazy animal family members for serving this great country of ours. Just try and hang in there, I can't imagine how that must make you feel, and I hope I never do! You're an "army wife" (not trying to make refrences to the tv show here L0L), and I'm sure many women admire women like you for your personal strength and toughness. Imagine if it was the other way around, and your husband had to play your role. ^_^ You could try asking him that and see what he says, that might be amusing, sorta like trying to imagine if men, thinking they're all tough & trying to impress us ladies all the time, could have a baby, or survive with the "monthly gift", and other womanly trials and tribulations.

Good luck! My thoughts are with you & your hubbie & your piggies.