Bonding Floor time/cage cleaning gone bad.

[Malice]

Title's slightly dramatized, although it was still a bad experience.

My Luna needed a cage cleaning so I took her out. She hates getting picked up so I lured her in to her little bed and put her down from there on to my floor, blocking off tight places she could go. I left a tunnel and some treats around to keep her occupied. This was the first time she ever experienced this as I recently adopted her. She's just under two years old if that matters too.

There's room on my floor, but not an incredible amount. She walked around nice and curious for a little bit and was even starting to approach me as I tried to bond with her for a bit. Then eventually after I had left her be for a minute she started freaking out and trying to run away fast, and went in to a corner from me. There was no loud sound to trigger this freak out and I wasn't even focused on her and was a few feet away. I tried to get her back in her bed but she was standing still looking extremely frightened. The sound was the usual sound associated with 'leave me alone'. She ate some hay from my hand surprisingly and when I backed away she hopped on her bed and I placed her back gently in the clean cage and she immediately retreated in to her hidey spot. Back to normal from there.

I get it was her first time and it's a new environment, but what did I do wrong? She looked and ran like I've never seen before. She had floor time in her old home and popcorned quite a bit, and even did it in her cage here. What can I do to make floor time/cleaning time easier for her?

Sorry for the lengthy post as well.

tl;dr Took piggy out to clean cage, piggy got scared like never seen before and almost didn't let me put her back in. wat do

 

[Amalee]

Is it hardwood or tile floors? I know sometimes my pigs will even try to walk on coroplast and "slip" and freak out that they can't find their footing right away and run across the damn coroplast, making this slip and slide effect even worse and then going into a corner and pouting until I return their fleece.

 

[Malice]

Is it hardwood or tile floors? I know sometimes my pigs will even try to walk on coroplast and "slip" and freak out that they can't find their footing right away and run across the damn coroplast, making this slip and slide effect even worse and then going into a corner and pouting until I return their fleece.

Hardwood, and rather slippery. Her nails are a bit long so she might have slipped, didn't think of that. Although she did the run away thing twice shortly after.

 

[advil zyrtec]

You made this thread seem like Luna is the only piggy in the cage. If that's the case, a friend will help your Luna feel more safe. Piggies just act like that sometimes. It's like a ghost is haunting them, or they feel so safe that they think they're gonna get hurt(idk). My piggies do that all the time, and it's scary. One silent night my piggies are happily eating hay and I'm doing homework in the other room. There is no noise and it's very peaceful. All of a sudden, I hear a huge noise. My piggies are terrified and they are hiding in their fleece pocket. I offer them hay, they won't move. I refill their hay, they won't move. I offer them a treat and some fruit, they won't move. Nothing happened to scare my piggies, they just got scared for no reason. I know it's terrifying when you don't know what happened and what you did, but don't worry, Luna will be back to normal in no time, just give her some time and don't mess with her too much to scare her even more.

 

[Malice]

You made this thread seem like Luna is the only piggy in the cage. If that's the case, a friend will help your Luna feel more safe. Piggies just act like that sometimes. It's like a ghost is haunting them, or they feel so safe that they think they're gonna get hurt(idk). My piggies do that all the time, and it's scary. One silent night my piggies are happily eating hay and I'm doing homework in the other room. There is no noise and it's very peaceful. All of a sudden, I hear a huge noise. My piggies are terrified and they are hiding in their fleece pocket. I offer them hay, they won't move. I refill their hay, they won't move. I offer them a treat and some fruit, they won't move. Nothing happened to scare my piggies, they just got scared for no reason. I know it's terrifying when you don't know what happened and what you did, but don't worry, Luna will be back to normal in no time, just give her some time and don't mess with her too much to scare her even more.

I'm in the process of building her a C&C cage as she's in one of those awful store-bought ones, although it's decent sized. I'm waiting on some responses to adopt two more sows for her to be with, just need the introduction area to be ready to go.

 

[slidero]

How long have you had Luna? And is she a lone pig? It just seems to me if she's alone and has a new owner she will be more prone to getting scared from new experiences and hide. I know when I had first pig, Winnie, alone for a week without a buddy he seemed very... distant and was always hiding from me. When I got him a buddy he became much more lively. I've only had my two boars for a little less than a year now so I'm certainly not an expert.

 

[Malice]

How long have you had Luna? And is she a lone pig? It just seems to me if she's alone and has a new owner she will be more prone to getting scared from new experiences and hide. I know when I had first pig, Winnie, alone for a week without a buddy he seemed very... distant and was always hiding from me. When I got him a buddy he became much more lively. I've only had my two boars for a little less than a year now so I'm certainly not an expert.

My girlfriend had her for a year and a half roughly, and I just adopted her not even a week and a half ago. She alone for now but I'm looking to adopt and in the process of building a much bigger cage.