dani_starr
Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2012
- Posts
- 390
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2012
- Messages
- 390
My guinea pigs have officially been home for 5 days now. Their cage is on a grid stand, and is raised one grid length high for storage underneath. The coroplast walls are only about 4.5", and they are at PERFECT height for my dog to sit and stare at them for most of that day.
Typically, she just sits with her nose touching or almost touching the grids, and whimpers/whines occasionally. She only does this if she hears them moving, or if I am trying to feed them/clean their cage/give them attention.
I thought she would get bored of them pretty quick, but it doesn't seem like that is happening. She has a VERY high prey drive, and she also is *very* needy. She does not like it when I give them attention or my cats attention and ignore her while I'm petting them. She LOVES to be petted, and HATES when you stop. She was back yard breeder stray who most likely was abused, so she has major psychological issues and is very dependent on myself and my boyfriend.
When I had the piggies out yesterday for their first floor time in the bathroom, my dog had herself parked right outside the bathroom door. She would occasionally whimper/whine or bark, and they would chatter back at her. They were pretty scared though, and spent the entire time on my lap. Poor Ginny wouldn't move even a cm for the first time 10 minutes, and just stayed snuggled into Harry the whole time. I finally got smart and draped a towel over my lap, and she adjusted herself a bit to a more comfortable position. It took another 5 min before she would start eating the veggies. The whole time though, they seemed to enjoy being petted and once they got comfortable, happily ate veggies on my lap for a half hour.
They are well socialized (at least, that's what the rescue said), but incredibly skittish in their cage. They won't eat out in the open really, instead, they dart out and snatch a piece of veggie, then dart back in a box or tunnel and hide.
Before, I was thinking they were still adjusting to being in a new place, and that they were still fairly scared of me. After lap time yesterday though, I've realized that they probably don't find me to be as scary as I thought. I started thinking that perhaps it's my dog that's making them skittish and stressing them out.
Now, finally, my question. Do I-
1. just wait it out? Should I give it another week or two for my dog to lose interest, and for them to adjust more to their new home?
2. get another piece of coroplast, and build higher (6") walls, so that my dog can't stare into the cage directly?
3. buy more grids, and make the stand into a double stand? That way, my dog wouldn't be able to look into their cage at all unless she was on the couch.
4. buy more grids and coroplast, and make a loft? That way, they'd have an area of the cage where they would be higher than my dog.
When they first came home, they only had the bunk bed/loft to hide under (with a make shift fleece forest covering it), and a box. I added another box and a couple bendable bridge log tunnels, and they started to come out more. I felt like their floor space was cluttered though (it's only a 2x4) so I took out a couple things. For the rest of the day, they hid. I added the stuff back in during the evening, and they went back to coming out a bit more like before. I don't like that their floor space is cluttered, as I feel like they don't have space to pop corn and do zoomies.
Either way, I'm planning on switching to fleece soon (just have to hit the fabric store, and wait for my mail order stuff to arrive), and will have a fleece forest covering most of the cage to give them more security, and more floor space. I'm also building a 1x4 mid level loft along the back, which will have a fleece forest in the front, so they will have a place to hide all along the back, and more floor space when I replace their boxes with piggy tunnels, cozy sacks, and cuddle cups.
I can't move the cage to my bedroom and have a pet gate to keep her out, as I am in a studio apartment right now.
Thoughts?
Typically, she just sits with her nose touching or almost touching the grids, and whimpers/whines occasionally. She only does this if she hears them moving, or if I am trying to feed them/clean their cage/give them attention.
I thought she would get bored of them pretty quick, but it doesn't seem like that is happening. She has a VERY high prey drive, and she also is *very* needy. She does not like it when I give them attention or my cats attention and ignore her while I'm petting them. She LOVES to be petted, and HATES when you stop. She was back yard breeder stray who most likely was abused, so she has major psychological issues and is very dependent on myself and my boyfriend.
When I had the piggies out yesterday for their first floor time in the bathroom, my dog had herself parked right outside the bathroom door. She would occasionally whimper/whine or bark, and they would chatter back at her. They were pretty scared though, and spent the entire time on my lap. Poor Ginny wouldn't move even a cm for the first time 10 minutes, and just stayed snuggled into Harry the whole time. I finally got smart and draped a towel over my lap, and she adjusted herself a bit to a more comfortable position. It took another 5 min before she would start eating the veggies. The whole time though, they seemed to enjoy being petted and once they got comfortable, happily ate veggies on my lap for a half hour.
They are well socialized (at least, that's what the rescue said), but incredibly skittish in their cage. They won't eat out in the open really, instead, they dart out and snatch a piece of veggie, then dart back in a box or tunnel and hide.
Before, I was thinking they were still adjusting to being in a new place, and that they were still fairly scared of me. After lap time yesterday though, I've realized that they probably don't find me to be as scary as I thought. I started thinking that perhaps it's my dog that's making them skittish and stressing them out.
Now, finally, my question. Do I-
1. just wait it out? Should I give it another week or two for my dog to lose interest, and for them to adjust more to their new home?
2. get another piece of coroplast, and build higher (6") walls, so that my dog can't stare into the cage directly?
3. buy more grids, and make the stand into a double stand? That way, my dog wouldn't be able to look into their cage at all unless she was on the couch.
4. buy more grids and coroplast, and make a loft? That way, they'd have an area of the cage where they would be higher than my dog.
When they first came home, they only had the bunk bed/loft to hide under (with a make shift fleece forest covering it), and a box. I added another box and a couple bendable bridge log tunnels, and they started to come out more. I felt like their floor space was cluttered though (it's only a 2x4) so I took out a couple things. For the rest of the day, they hid. I added the stuff back in during the evening, and they went back to coming out a bit more like before. I don't like that their floor space is cluttered, as I feel like they don't have space to pop corn and do zoomies.
Either way, I'm planning on switching to fleece soon (just have to hit the fabric store, and wait for my mail order stuff to arrive), and will have a fleece forest covering most of the cage to give them more security, and more floor space. I'm also building a 1x4 mid level loft along the back, which will have a fleece forest in the front, so they will have a place to hide all along the back, and more floor space when I replace their boxes with piggy tunnels, cozy sacks, and cuddle cups.
I can't move the cage to my bedroom and have a pet gate to keep her out, as I am in a studio apartment right now.
Thoughts?
