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Bonding Handling piggies

sarah0712

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So I've had my girls about a month and a half now. They've been handled everyday, give or take. I get them out seperatly and have them on my knee whilst I either stroke them, or groom them with a soft toothbrush. They seemed to be coming on well.

For some reason lately they have become much harder to handle. Catching them in their cage has become harder. Toffee especially will do anything to avoid my hands, including jumping in the air and trying to climb up the sides of the cage! Treacle is a little quieter. Once I have them on my knee they have become very fidgety. To the point where I'm having to keep hold of them on my knee, which I don't like to do, to stop them from climbing off. They wiggle around a lot and have started turning their heads around, trying to get to my hand. Today both of them were nibbling at my trousers a little.

I think I should add that I handle them either before or after I'm putting them in their exercise pen. So they are either moving from their pen back to their cage, or vice versa. Is this a bad idea? Should they have knee time just generally when I'm not planning to do anything with them?

I just want them to be tame and I'm worried that they're just going backwards. Or are they just testing the waters? Any help would be great :)

ETA: they have also started making a sort of chewing noise when I stroke them on my knee. As soon as I stop they stop.
 

Zuidy

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At first, your Guinea Pigs probably were so scared they were letting you pick them up. They may not be so willing now due to the fact that they aren't scared to run away anymore (weird, seems it would be the other way around, huh?) so they are exercising their ability to do so. (going out on a limb here, let me add)

Also, the "Chewing" is probably teeth chattering. Guinea Pigs chatter their teeth to try and intimidate you (alternatively, to intimidate whatever is bothering them) Teeth chattering means that the Piggies feel threatened and scared. For males, teeth chattering can be a problem as it can be the signal of a fight between 2 pigs. For females, I wouldn't worry TOO much. Your little babies are just scared.

My Guinea Pig, Lil' Babe, does the same thing whenever I attempt to hold her. Not so much once I AM holding her as when I am trying to get her out of the cage TO hold her.

Hope I have helped!

:)
 

sarah0712

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At first, your Guinea Pigs probably were so scared they were letting you pick them up. They may not be so willing now due to the fact that they aren't scared to run away anymore (weird, seems it would be the other way around, huh?) so they are exercising their ability to do so. (going out on a limb here, let me add)

Also, the "Chewing" is probably teeth chattering. Guinea Pigs chatter their teeth to try and intimidate you (alternatively, to intimidate whatever is bothering them) Teeth chattering means that the Piggies feel threatened and scared. For males, teeth chattering can be a problem as it can be the signal of a fight between 2 pigs. For females, I wouldn't worry TOO much. Your little babies are just scared.

My Guinea Pig, Lil' Babe, does the same thing whenever I attempt to hold her. Not so much once I AM holding her as when I am trying to get her out of the cage TO hold her.

Hope I have helped!

:)

Thanks for your reply :)

They have always run away as such, just now it seems to be a desperate attempt. I can see what you mean about them freezing and being more scared.

Also just to add, I can put my hands in the cage with them fine and they don't run away. They also come up to the front of the cage to greet me. It's just as soon as I try to touch them they run off. I'm more concerned about the fidgeting really. Just hope it's not a sign that they are unhappy being handled :(
 

Zuidy

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Thanks for your reply :)

They have always run away as such, just now it seems to be a desperate attempt. I can see what you mean about them freezing and being more scared.

Also just to add, I can put my hands in the cage with them fine and they don't run away. They also come up to the front of the cage to greet me. It's just as soon as I try to touch them they run off. I'm more concerned about the fidgeting really. Just hope it's not a sign that they are unhappy being handled :(

Your story is..... EERILY familiar to that of mine.

At first, my piggies could be picked up. It was somewhat hard, but they were fine once I had them out of the cage.

Also, I can put MY hands in the cage just like you! But the second I go to touch them, they run away, just like FOR YOU! Haha! Small world, small world.

Don't worry about them being unhappy being handled. Around the first months of having the piggies, they are still somewhat scared. So don't worry about it. Just go with the flow my friend.

;)
 

sarah0712

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sarah0712

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Bumping again. Can anybody else help with my questions please?
 

KD006

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Not polite to bump :) Just kidding.

You have to give them time to warm up to you, do you just go the the cage and immediatly try picking them up? A couple min of scritchies under the chin can work wonders in calming them, also might try combinging floor or lap time with a treat of letuce or the like so they come to associate being picked up and taken out of the cage with something piggy pleasant(like food)

What noises if any do they make besides the tooth chatter which means back off, my suggestion is to go slow, petting, maybe slip a hand under their bellies and wiggle your fingers and then back off so they know it is not an agressive motion.

My girl is, I was told about a year old and first week I had her would head for the pigaloo if I opened the cage, most of the time in reverse LOL! But it was a clasroom pig and probably expected to be grabed by overzelous kids, she would not even rest or nap outside the pigaloo for a week and a half, now I walk by and she is snoozing half on her side contented as can be.

You may need to just walk up to the cage and talk to them for a few min giving them time to wake up from piggy dreams and figure out what is going on.
 

sarah0712

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Not polite to bump :) Just kidding.

You have to give them time to warm up to you, do you just go the the cage and immediatly try picking them up? A couple min of scritchies under the chin can work wonders in calming them, also might try combinging floor or lap time with a treat of letuce or the like so they come to associate being picked up and taken out of the cage with something piggy pleasant(like food)

What noises if any do they make besides the tooth chatter which means back off, my suggestion is to go slow, petting, maybe slip a hand under their bellies and wiggle your fingers and then back off so they know it is not an agressive motion.

My girl is, I was told about a year old and first week I had her would head for the pigaloo if I opened the cage, most of the time in reverse LOL! But it was a clasroom pig and probably expected to be grabed by overzelous kids, she would not even rest or nap outside the pigaloo for a week and a half, now I walk by and she is snoozing half on her side contented as can be.

You may need to just walk up to the cage and talk to them for a few min giving them time to wake up from piggy dreams and figure out what is going on.

They are very used to me being around the cage, as they are in my bedroom. I often sit next to the cage and talk to them. They both come to front, so they are fairly comfortable with me. Today I tried stroking them for a while in the cage before I picked them up. Treacle took to this quite quickly and stopped running around. There was a bit of teeth chattering but she did stop fairly quickly. Toffee is a bit of a brat. She spent a while running around, kicking woodshavings at me and kicking out when i stroked down near her back legs. She also took her anger out on her sister. There was lots of teeth chattering going on. Treacle was a lot easier to pick up. I guess Toffee will get used to it, she is just a little more stubborn!

I will definitely try feeding them whilst they are on my knee, I just don't want them to associate my fingers with food. I will try giving them a leaf of lettuce, hopefully this will make them want to stay! I will start to stroke them more in their cage without picking them up (I have to take all hidey holes out of the cage to stroke them, as they just run for cover LOL).

Thanks for your advice, I can't wait for them to get more used to me :D
 
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