Very nervous piggies!

[Gembug]

I'd appreciate if anyone can offer some advice.

I've been researching, buying up, building a cage and preparing to adopt guinea pigs for months.

I finally adopted two beautiful10 wk old boars on saturday, who seemed really calm when handled.

I have many concerns
i) They are not drinking from the bottle
ii) They are very very nervous (out and out scared) of me.

It seems that as each day goes pass they get even more nervous!

I've tried to talk to them in all tones, I've tried to pet them and put my hand in the cage to tempt them with treats.
But they just back away, one of them goes into a state of hysteria and starts sprinting around the cage and then sets the other piggie into panic!

All I want to to do is pick them up and give them some tlc but they won't let me!

I feel liek the worst piggie mum in the world.

Anybody PLEASE help

[ArtisticRainey]

You nailed it in your thread title: guinea pigs are very nervous creatures. You'll see the phrase 'natural prey animal' batted around a lot here. That's exactly what they are. Getting pigs to trust you can take a long time, so I've learned. I adopted two 10 week old boars about a month ago, and they're still very, very scared of me. As soon as I come near the cage, they run. Unless they can hear the hay bag rustling or the veggie cupboard opening, in which case one of them runs right up to the cage side. If I put my hand in, however, he runs.

I handle my pigs every day, and hand feed them a veg or two. But when they're down in their cage and I'm way up above them (being rather tall) they don't recognise me. All they see is something large looming over them, and they run. However, when I manage to catch one a pick him up, generally they're quite calm and purr when petted. But that's only a recent happening. For the first two weeks they barely moved when I had them in my lap.

I adopted a third pig, who is living in quarantine (though he wasn't at first, so it's probably a foolish gesture). His cage is raised off the ground, whereas the other boys' cage isn't. The third boy is a lot more accepting of being picked up, possibly because he's closer to me than the other two are, height-wise. He still runs away when I try to pick him up, but he's really happy to be held. He especially likes to look at guinea pig pictures with me on the web, and wheeks and popcorns away. So if your cage is quite low to the ground, you might experiment in raising it. Not only for this reason, but because it'll keep the boys out of draughts and thus less likely to develop URIs. I'm still looking for a way to lift my 3x5 safely off the ground.

As far as the water bottles are concerned, if the water levels aren't going down then you may have a problem. However, if they aren't and you're feeding lots of fresh washed veg, then it's no so much of a problem as they'll be getting water from those. Keep an eye on the water bottle layers. You don't want the pigs getting dehydrated. This page from Guinea Links Guinea Lynx :: What The Vet Will Do has a bit about the signs of dehydration.

Are they eating enough? If they're not eating, it's serious. See this page for details: Guinea Lynx :: Anorexia (not eating)

Hope this helps.

[Gembug]

Thanks for that info Rainey.

Last night I tremoved the pigloo so that I couldn't hide when I went to pick them up.
Instead, this sent them into further hysteria and one started growling at me the othee looked like he was goin to have a heart attack!
After this failed attempt I felt awful and put back the pigloo.
This has completely backfired as they will not come out of their pigloo when I'm in the room ans will not eat in front of me so it is going back to square one their!

Before, the last night's episode I was starting to worry about them less as their appetite had really picked up and i knew they were gettig water from the fresh veg.

I have tried 3 bottles, marked them and they will not drink from any!?!

I need to deep clean their cage tonight and so I will try to raise their cage to see if this makes a difference.

I'm sure that once I can catch them and cuddle them they will start to feel better.
But I just wanted advice as to whether I should keep persisting with trying to catch them if this makes them more nervous and makes them eat less?
Or is it too early too handle them and perhaps I should wait until their appetite is settled.
I just don't like the idea of making them so nervous that they growl!?!
As they weren't like this on day one and were more calm about me picking them up.

I feel like I need to go to parenting school, or have someone show me how its done.
Now I'm so anxious about distressing them further, but I know somethings got to be done.

Thanks for showing me that link.
I do appreciate your help as even thoug I've done lots of research I feel like I'm on my own with 2 little boys who are petrified of me.

I'd appreciate any advixe on talking to them and petting them as when I try to do both they run!

[thalestral]

You need to give them a lot more time to get used to you and settle in It will take them a month or two to stop feeling frightened of you for starters!

Just be in the room with them a lot, let them get used to the noise and hubbub of daily life and make sure they have lots of hidey houses - at least one each. Are they in a busy room? They need to be around humans as much as possible to help them settle and relax around you, ours live in our living room and enjoy watching television.

Soak their veggies before feeding so you know they are getting enough water, it may take a couple of weeks for them to feel safe drinking from the bottles as they feel very exposed when doing this in a new environment.

The easiest way to catch piggies is to have a house with a removable roof as this has minimal stress in preventing them from running away while you lift them out. Running away from you is natural - they will always do this! Later they may treat it as more of a game, but one of my girls still delights in chattering at us. Once out though she now loves her lap time, but it took her well over 6 months to be able to relax when out on my lap. Remember that lap time is for the benefit of us humans, the piggies mostly don't really care though you may luck out and get a snuggle bug. Floor time is much more exciting but I'd hold off on that until your pigs are settled.

I have five girlies, the oldest of which I have had for a year and a half now and all but two of them run away when I try to pick them up - it's just their natural instincts over which they have very little control

It's hard to begin with as you read about people who get on so well with their piggies, but it really does just take time and patience.

[muffin]

Been in exactly your situation! My two girls were about 10 weeks old when I adopted them and they took forever to calm down. They still run when I try to catch them, but without the utter terror that we started with. I think they now see it as a game of 'outwit the human'. We started out with holding them for 30 seconds, and increasing that. Having them in hearing distance of the other whilst hlding them may help.

The best advice I have been given is to be firm and confident. I was always so scared of hurting them, but being at all nervous of tentative in your actions just freaks the pigs out more. Get a good hold of them, hold them firmly so they feel safe and secure, and hold them close to your chest until you have them on your lap. At first I would suggest just holding them to your chest on your lap for a couple of minutes at first maximum. Actually hold them, I think that makes them feel safer than being sat in the open or under a towel.

I'm afraid you just have to be patient. Having said that however, the only way for them to get used to being held is to do it regularly, so try to do it every day. They will realise you're not going to kill them,...eventually. They will come round, they're just young. Young piggies are so hard to catch, they're like a greased bar of soap- you'll know that! Don't put off holding them though, just catch them as quick as you can, get them in a corner, don't be nervous, just go for it. Hope that helps.

[TX_2_Pigs]

The best way to catch the piggies is to let them go in the pigloo, slip your hand under them and then lift off the pigloo. Then with both hands, one supporting each end, pick them up. I have had my boys since they were 3 weeks old (they'll be 2 in Feb) and they don't run until I want to touch them. Then it's off to the races!

They still pretty much just sit there when we are holding them and sometimes during floor time they will run around (like today) and sometimes they will just hide (like last week).

Just relax, they'll come around (sorta). And as far as them drinking. It didn't seem like my guys drank much for the first couple of months either but they had lots of vegetables so I never worried about it.