Piglett doesn't seem to like floor time

Piglett · Apr 20, 2009

I have a concern. My piggie doesn't seem to like floor time. He normally just looks for a place to hide (I gave him a large tube to hide in) and stays in one spot. He comes out for veggies but then scurries away really fast. All the while he's making the I'm scared, self-soothing nervous cooing and complaining sound. He wheeked today for the first time during floor time yesterday for veggies. But mostly if he moves about he makes very nervous wheeking sounds. I try to talk to him, but that seems to only make it worse. I had to hide veggies around the perimeter of his floor space in four different corners to get him to explore. When I go to put him back he struggles to get away from me and back in his cage when I bring him near it, which makes the whole process stressful on me and seemingly on him. When he gets back inside his cage, he's very calm (can pet him usually in the cage, especially if I'm cleaning it). Will he grow to like floor time (he's pretty young) or will he always be a scaredy-cat during floor time? Could it be that he's just not that used to such a big space (his current cage is store bought, and I'm working on ordering a C&C because I can't find the right supplies to build my own)? Some advice to get him used to floor time would be greatly appreciated.

jenniwat001 · Apr 20, 2009

It has taken my rescue pig three months to enjoy floor time-she even has a buddy to play with an she is a scardy pig! But now she loves it. I think its another one of those time things-he feels safe in his cage-it smells like him and is familiar, his floor time is different and scary-some pigs like it like my piggle-she activly looks for new places to explore where scrabbble has taken months to explore outside the pigloo! But now she runs around and even occassionally popcorns.

MapleOwl18 · Apr 20, 2009

He'll take time to get used to floor time. My Linus Piggy was freaked out by his huge (in his opinion) 2X4 cage and didn't want to come out of pigaloo when we first got him from the petstore. His petstore cage had been barely big enough for his pigaloo.

Now he bounces around it, squeaks at his neighbor and does another lap. So give him some time. I've found the best way to get a piggy to relax during floor time is turn off the TV, and other sounds and basically put them on the floor and let them pretend your not there.

I start them out in front of my lap, so they know were I am and they can come back to me if they get scared. I also have a grids wire tied together like a playpen, because I finally got tired of getting guinea piggies out from under the couch. (This was also the favorite pooing spot. So I let them go in front of me and let them wonder around. I sometimes put some hay out to. I also usually let them run around by their cage, its always funny to see the piggy looking in being like why does this smell like me.

Piglet will calm down after a while once he gets used to it.

tup86 · Apr 20, 2009

I'm having the same issue with my two girls (Edie and Suki) - they seem terrified when they're let out for floor time. However the girls I had before adjusted pretty quickly so I'm hoping it's going to be the same with E&S. At the moment I'm going with naked bribery- lots of romaine lettuce!

greybear36 · Apr 20, 2009

I am having the same problem at the moment with Fudge who is only 12 weeks. He hates being picked up and sometimes runs away from me when i try to stroke him in his cage. What I tend to do when he comes out to play is to sit in the play area quietly and stroke him in his hidey. He usually comes out in the end especially when he sees Patch letting me stroke her. I also always hold him in a fleece as he feels safer wrapped up. He is still very nervous when handled but i'm sure it will improve over time as it did with my others and Piglett will definitely improve too. Some piggies are braver than others and some just take longer to trust you so you just need to be patient!!

wheekypigs · Apr 20, 2009

My Cookie is just plain nervous about anything and does not like to step out of her C&C, nor her hidey for that matter. She chatters at anyone coming near and has quite the vicious bite (twice is the last 2 weeks).

I've come to accept it and stop making her do floortime. I just leave the cage door open for whoever wants to run; it's the blue moon with daisies when we see Cookie venture out. Sigh. What's the expression? Whatever tugs her boat?

akstrohm · Apr 21, 2009

Give him lots of places to hide. The more places he has to turn to if he gets scared, the more likely he is to come out. Other than that, just be patient.

Weekypigs, have you had Cookie checked/treated for mites? Biting is very rare in pigs, but mites can cause discomfort and cause pigs to bite.

wheekypigs · Apr 22, 2009

No she doesn't have mites. She's pretty sweet once picked up, but that's about when all her sweetness is reserved for. Thanks for the thought though

louie_joey · Apr 25, 2009

I have the same problem with one of my guys, Louie who is 4 years old. Whenever I place him on the floor, if there is hut close enough he will dash for it, but if it is far away he will just sit there looking very worried.

Sorry for the spin off here, but I have a quick question... I am new here, and a few days ago, I posted a new topic and it went up fine. I had a few replies so I was going to respond. I have posted a response four times now, and they havn't shown up at all. I have not had any trouble posting replies to other topics like this. I am not sure who to contact or how. Help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

erikahand83 · Apr 30, 2009

louie_joey, I would contact a mod through a private message. They should be able to fix that for you. I also agree with the rest of the people here, give your pigs time and they'll come around and remember a piggies heart is through there tummys, I always place veggies around there play pen when I let my piggies have floor time and that gets them to explore a bit more.

RainbowPiggy · May 17, 2009

Probably just scared.

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Piglett doesn't seem to like floor time

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