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Sounds Second day with guinea pig - help understanding behavior/noises!

kaleidoscope

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So I got a baby female guinea pig just yesterday (her name is Izzy) and the strangest thing happened!! Twice now I have sat in front of her cage and opened the cage door. I didn't really do anything, I just talked to her. And the two times I've done that, she would suddenly get the urge to explore her cage. The first time, she hadn't eaten anything so far, but when I showed up, she suddenly started walking around (not running nervously), but just walking, sniffing things, making little noises that sound happy.. and ate some pellets and some hay! The second time, the same thing happened as well! I guess I'm just trying to understand because she IS skittish (she's just a baby) and she does get scared and hides, and yet those two times I just hung out with her, she just seemed.. happy! Is this possible on day 2?

I guess I'm just seeking validation that I'm not like terrifying her or making her nervous. She just sat there calmly munching on hay and making little noises. Any thoughts?

(Question on the side: When should I consider trying to pick her up and having some lap time with her?)
 

taffy123

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Aww sounds to me like she likes your voice :) and if it were me, I would start holding her now. And start lap time now. She will get used to you faster! But be careful because babies are fast! So sit on the floor maybe. I once had a baby on my lap that nearly ran right off the edge of my couch! I would love to see a picture of Izzy if you have one :)
 

Fay

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Welcome to the forum and becoming a piggy slave :D

She sounds like she might be feeling lonely and bored and so she only perks up when you distract her?

It's recommended that she has a same sex friend or a neutered male to keep her company. Pigs are very social creatures and need their own kind so she might be feeling lonely and depressed. I hope you will consider adopting her a friend from a rescue.

Alternatively she might be hiding illness. I added a link to the bottom of this post to a medical guide, have a look at the EMERGENCY category and see if she has any other symptoms.

Some other possible reasons: What kind of toys does she have? How big is her cage? Also, Have you tried feeding her her daily veggies and how did she respond to that?

And you should definitely pick her up just be careful. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing pigtures :eek:


P.s. Some must read guides/info that I'd highly recommend reading fully if you haven't yet :):

https://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/medical_guide.html
https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List (scroll down to the second post beneath the chart for additional info)

For when you adopt a friend:

https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html
 
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kaleidoscope

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Aww sounds to me like she likes your voice :) and if it were me, I would start holding her now. And start lap time now. She will get used to you faster! But be careful because babies are fast! So sit on the floor maybe. I once had a baby on my lap that nearly ran right off the edge of my couch! I would love to see a picture of Izzy if you have one :)

Aww okay, I will try that!! :)
 

kaleidoscope

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Welcome to the forum and becoming a piggy slave :D

She sounds like she might be feeling lonely and bored and so she only perks up when you distract her?

It's recommended that she has a same sex friend or a neutered male to keep her company. Pigs are very social creatures and need their own kind so she might be feeling lonely and depressed. I hope you will consider adopting her a friend from a rescue.

Alternatively she might be hiding illness. I added a link to the bottom of this post to a medical guide, have a look at the EMERGENCY category and see if she has any other symptoms.

Some other possible reasons: What kind of toys does she have? How big is her cage? Also, Have you tried feeding her her daily veggies and how did she respond to that?

And you should definitely pick her up just be careful. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing pigtures :eek:

It doesn't seem like she has any of the illness symptoms.. But yeah, she's in a temporary smaller cage while I get my larger C&C delivered, and I will be getting her a piggy buddy in a few days! Hopefully she'll be much happier then :)

She has a wooden hidey hut, a willow branch ball, but I'm not sure what other types of toys I can get her.. Suggestions are welcome!!

And she has eaten most of her veggies, but there were a few left in her bowl.

Here is a picture of Izzy!

IMG_0959.jpg
 

Fay

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Oh my gosh she's so cute!!!

As for toys, you might have to wait until the C & C for anything major but you could try an empty toilet roll and stuff it with hay? I think a lot of her inactivity will subside when she has a friend to speak with and a big cage to run around in. You'll notice a huge difference!

For now try to give her extra attention and try to hold her on your lap now and then but be careful she can't jump off. Even a tiny drop can kill them easily they're very fragile.

Just make sure to observe quarantine with the new Guinea Pig although it might be worth skipping it seeing how young she is and clearly lonely. @bpatters might be able to confirm whether this would be the best option for this young pig or not, if not you want to observe strict quarantine.

https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/2989334.html

Just make sure you have enough money to take both to an exotic vet if you do decide to skip quarantine. This can be very expensive, hundreds of dollars, read the 'finding a vet' on Guinea Lynx to line up good exotic vet (not a normal small animal cat & dog vet, they aren't trained to treat guinea pigs appropriately).

If you don't feel confident about whether you can tell whether one of the pigs is ill (although a lot of illnesses are hidden, thus the quarantine) You could maybe take each of them to the vet separately for a health check which would also give your vet a base line for future visits, before introducing them. And would also allow you to ask your vet questions about their experience with guinea pigs.

Make sure to read the introduction link that I linked in my other post so you know the best way to go about introducing them. Also, double check your pig is female regardless of where you got her from, same for the new pig:

https://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm
(broken link removed)
 
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SavvyCavies

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Oh my goodness, your little Izzy is a doll! Congratulations on your new baby and getting a C&C cage!
 

kaleidoscope

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Oh my gosh she's so cute!!!

As for toys, you might have to wait until the C & C for anything major but you could try an empty toilet roll and stuff it with hay? I think a lot of her inactivity will subside when she has a friend to speak with and a big cage to run around in. You'll notice a huge difference!

For now try to give her extra attention and try to hold her on your lap now and then but be careful she can't jump off. Even a tiny drop can kill them easily they're very fragile.

Just make sure to observe quarantine with the new Guinea Pig although it might be worth skipping it seeing how young she is and clearly lonely. @bpatters might be able to confirm whether this would be the best option for this young pig or not, if not you want to observe strict quarantine.

https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/2989334.html

Just make sure you have enough money to take both to an exotic vet if you do decide to skip quarantine. This can be very expensive, hundreds of dollars, read the 'finding a vet' on Guinea Lynx to line up good exotic vet (not a normal small animal cat & dog vet, they aren't trained to treat guinea pigs appropriately).

If you don't feel confident about whether you can tell whether one of the pigs is ill (although a lot of illnesses are hidden, thus the quarantine) You could maybe take each of them to the vet separately for a health check which would also give your vet a base line for future visits, before introducing them. And would also allow you to ask your vet questions about their experience with guinea pigs.

Make sure to read the introduction link that I linked in my other post so you know the best way to go about introducing them. Also, double check your pig is female regardless of where you got her from, same for the new pig:

https://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm
(broken link removed)

Thank you for all the helpful tips! This is all incredible information. I really appreciate it. I am feeling so sad that she's all bored and depressed, and I can't wait for her to get a cage buddy, and a bigger cage! I do want to get them checked out at the vet though (separately), just to make sure they're in good health and to have something to go off of for the annual check up. I wrapped her up in a little fleece blanket and put her on my lap for a little while and she was so good, she didn't squirm or make nervous noises or anything. She still needs time to get used to me and the whole situation though :)

Oh my goodness, your little Izzy is a doll! Congratulations on your new baby and getting a C&C cage!

Aww, thank you!! I am a proud mommy. Here's some more pictures of little Izzy :)
 

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Fay

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She's so cute! I'm slightly jealous :eek: And don't worry, you're doing a great job at trying to do the best for her :) most of us have been there and it's just process a lot of people go through to begin with, it can be a bit overwhelming, but it's so rewarding!
 

kaleidoscope

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She's so cute! I'm slightly jealous :eek: And don't worry, you're doing a great job at trying to do the best for her :) most of us have been there and it's just process a lot of people go through to begin with, it can be a bit overwhelming, but it's so rewarding!

The support on this forum is definitely so helpful and reassuring! Thank you so much again :) One last question for you, if it's not too much trouble. So when my C&C cage arrives the day after tomorrow, it'll be a so-called neutral territory where neither piggy have been in. Would you say that's a good place to do the intro? It's the 2 x 4 grids size. They'll be both females, too!
 

kaleidoscope

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I'd pen off a bigger area for the intro if you can. It's good that the cage will be neutral territory once you're ready to put them in it, but usually intros take place in a bigger place, like a kitchen.

That makes sense! They're also two baby female piggies. Should I expect it to go relatively smoothly? I'm a little nervous at the process of introducing them..
 

jaycriae

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She's very cute, congratulations! Sounds like you're going to be a great piggie parent. Until you get a bigger cage, I just suggest giving her lots of carefully supervised floor time. Welcome to the forum :)
 

kaleidoscope

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She's very cute, congratulations! Sounds like you're going to be a great piggie parent. Until you get a bigger cage, I just suggest giving her lots of carefully supervised floor time. Welcome to the forum :)

Aww thank you! I hope so!! :) I got her a play pen today and she was just running around making those little noises and exploring, she absolutely loved it! She would not sit still. She also ate two bell pepper slices from my hand!!! Success! It was so awesome. She kept running around, coming back and sniffing my hand.. like two, three times before she finally gave in to her curiosity and just started nibbling on her treat.

:)
 
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