Hiding: Day 2 With Guinea Pigs And They Are Freaking Out

[PopcorningLove]

Hi! Anyone remember me with my zillion questions? Well, here's some more.
I adopted 2 guinea pigs [mother and daughter; they were the last ones left] and they were perfectly fine there and we got to holding them and they were shivering but I thought that was just the cold. Then we had a bit of a bumpy ride in the car, oops. They didn't fall but they kept sliding in the basket. We tried to hold them still so they'll feel safe but nada. They freaked out and ran away. When we got home, we put them in their new cage. They froze for a second and then they scampered off to the far corner where there is a somewhat of a hidey place for them. I thought I'd leave them alone for a while to get used to it and still now, they are terrified. They eat the food and right now, the little girl ran like heck when I removed the hay bag over the grid in the home and went to her mummy and now she's eating hay. They're pooping, they're peeing. They're not drinking though. Help. Also, is the baby supposed to run that fast? She's making jerky fast movements. The only fast movement the mom has made was when she wanted to get away from me.

Any tips on how to:

Pick them up
Calm them down
Be able to pet them without them freaking out.
Encourage drinking

Right now they made this cute squeaking noice. They vibrate and oh look, the mom has stopped freezing. Anid is eating the carrots.

[Jojojo]

It took my piggers about a month to get used to me. Now one of them still likes to stay in his hidey, but the other will happily come out and say hello to me. Neither of them like being picked up, so I shepherd them into the upside-down igloo and pick them up that way.
My piggers don't drink much either. The veggies contain a lot of the water they need.

[lissie]

What kind of cage are they in? Do they have places to hide? If you provide them lots of places to hide, they will feel safer. If you're using C&C, did you baby proof the cage? Babies are very active so it's normal for them to run run run. She's just enjoying herself.

Don't worry too much about water. If you leave their veggies wet, they'll get enough water from that. Mine also do not drink much. I have 3 16 once water bottles in the cage (one for each pig), and only 1/10 of the water is missing at the end of the day.

To pick the up, use a piggy elevator.
http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...-elevator.html

To get them used to you, spend as much time as possible doing thing in their cage.
http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...ared-pigs.html

[PopcorningLove]

@Jojojo How did you tame them? Did you stick around a lot of the time? Do they not scamper off everytime you come near?

@lissie Yeah, I have a place for them. Yes it's a C&C cage and uh... baby-proof?

Thanks for the articles btw. Great help

[lissie]

Originally Posted by PopcorningLove

uh... baby-proof?

Regular grids are too big for babies. Their heads can get stuck. You'll have to either overlap the grids to make the holes smaller or use taller coroplast, or put some cardboard to block between the coroplast base and the grids.

Cage Safety - Guinea Pig Cages, Care, Store, Photos of Guinea Pigs and More Forum!

Baby Proofing - Guinea Pig Cage Photos

[PopcorningLove]

Ah. Right. Okay. Well, that's no problem.


Also, they're slightly coming out now but uh... I'm concerned for the baby. The old owner told me they're mother and daughter. But, I sometimes see the mom jerk sideways and the baby [maybe the mom] squeals.

ANother thing I see is the baby constantly shaking it's fur. At first, I thought she might have gotten pee on her fur but then she continued doing that 3 times later on. What's this?

[PopcorningLove]

And I also heard a low sound. Kind of like a bird. Like a very low cuckoo with rolled rrrrrs. What noise is that?

[lissie]

I'm not sure.. try to identify the behavior and sounds from these pages:
http://www.guinealynx.info/behavior.html
Guinea Pig Sounds
Guinea Pig Sounds

There are also lots of videos on YouTube.

[Dichotomy83]

First things first.... relaaax. Being involved with this forum will answer just about all of your questions if you just keep reading/browsing around. There is a search feature too, which is great for keyword searches.

Your pigs are so new to you...of course theyre scared!! I would not be surprised if it takes them a few weeks or even a few months to get used to their new environment. Be patient. Forcing them to be picked up if theyre scared might just make them more afraid. Instead, be present in their home environment as much as possible. Talk to them in soft voices, poop scoop often. Sometimes even pretending your busy rearranging or whatnot helps, too.

[ChristyG]

It took awhile for my girls to get used to me and our surroundings, it just takes time i guess.

[poopysmom]

Alot of answers to your questions can be found on this forum. Piggies are just responding to you in how they would respond to something that is larger than them. Guinea pigs have generally bad eyesight. They cannot see very well and largely depends on smell and sounds to get around.

Imagine you not sounding like a guinea pig, dont smell like a guinea pig and definitely waaaaaay bigger than a guinea pig. Of course they will freak out. Sometimes it takes weeks, sometimes months, sometimes some pig may warm to you a little but will never be as friendly as some others. Its just their personality and you have to accept that each one of them have different personalities.

I have 4 girls right now living together in one massive cage and I am constantly amazed by how different each one is. I have 3 girls that I can pick up very easy, one just keep giving me the run around if I tried to lift her out. But she will come to smell my hand if i just put my hand over the cage (she thinks that food, thats how I make them get used to my hand. holding tasty veg bits and make them feed from me)

2 of them like chin scratches, one like belly rub and one, a massive whinger that would not stop complaining during cuddles and lap time.

2 will wriggle if they want to wee and poo during lap time, one is a silent killer and the youngest baby will never wee or poo irregardless of how long you are holding her. As I had her from a baby, she is the most "trained" if you can consider that.

Btw, from my experience with my baby girl, shivering meant she is really really really afraid. Try not to when first taking her out from the cage, by taking her too far away so there will still be familiar smells around. Also, dont lift her up too high on your chest or stuff like that. Just have her out on a towel sitting on your lap and gently stroke her while talking to her gently.

A quiet environment also I find helps alot. A lot of noises all at once and people walking about or looming over them like a massive shadow I find really freak them out.
if its a low sound, its a rumble sound. is it make by the mommy or the baby?
If its the mommy, it could mean that the mommy is telling the baby not to disturb her.

The jerking sideway and squealing thing is like daily routine for my girls LOL. Its usually the naughty one disturbing the big one and was taught a lesson, then she will squeal for a minute and proceed back to her normal cheeky routine. They are besties and the small baby will copycat the older pig's behaviour.

hope this helps a little. Its all learnt from my daily routine with my girls.

[PopcorningLove]

Thanks for all the posts! Yeah, I guess I did overreeact. I just wanted to be assured that the car ride didn't scar them for life. :O

There has been improvement! They have started eating out of my hands. I had them in my lap once and they were absolutely adorable. But once back in the cage they were totally... skittish again.

The sound the mom is making did seem sort of like the Keep Away sound on the website lissie suggested. She is still so mean to her baby! She kicks it! She nips at it [I think] and she just jerks around. Is that too aggressive or is that what all mom's do? And the baby squeals after but then she still huddles up to her because she thinks I'll hurt her.

I saw a popcorn today from the baby! They shake their furs an awful lot. And I mean A LOT. They also scratch at their fur like a dog and they sometimes stand on their hind legs and wipe their faces with their arms. Once, I saw the mom licking or chewing on her back paw. Is this regular grooming or do you think they have fleas or something more serious. Also, they've either been eating from their colon recently or they just like to nibble that uh... place but I see them ducking their head and nibbling at something frequently too.

They did the cutest thing and fell asleep! They didn't roll on their sides but their eyelids slowly started to close.

Also, the mom had a watery eye a bit but it seems to have been gone and when it did go away, there seemed to be a leeeetle tiny bit of white crusting? :O I'm worried.

And yeah, poopysmom, you're right. The older one makes the noise and she kicks! Im worried it's getting too aggressive.