Behavior I am raising a spoiled brat!

[fgradowski]

Lately my guinea pig Jameson has really been making me angry. He has bitten me several times lately. It seems to be that he doesn't like the be held away from my chest. One day he bit me because I only gave him one piece of cilantro as a before salad snack. When he is laying on my belly he will nudge my phone out of my hands because he wants my attention. Anytime I get up and leave the room he starts squealing. Hes has become a completely spoiled brat!

 

[CavyMama]

I hope you aren't being serious when you say he is making you angry. Of course he doesn't like being held away from your chest, he needs to feel secure. Being held out away from your chest puts an awful lot of open space under him. Which would YOU prefer? Being held out over a cliff? Or being held securely over solid ground?

Perhaps he nipped you because your fingers smelled like cilantro. You can't blame him for wanting to eat something that smelled good to him.

As for your phone, guinea pigs will nudge anything in their way, out of their way. And in any case, would it really be so bad if the reason he nudged it was because he DID want your attention?

 

[fgradowski]

I still have my hand under him supporting his butt and I usually don't hold him like that for long. He has drawn blood at least three times now. He is making me angry with all of this biting. I have had him for a little over a month now and he never used to bite, even when I did hold him up.

 

[lissie]

For his squealing when you leave, he could be lonely, or hungry.
Does he get fed unlimited hay?
Would you consider getting him a friend?

Edit to add:
There are many reasons for biting.
Did he come from a pet store? If so, has he been treated for mites?

See this page for info:
https://www.cavyspirit.com/biting.htm

 

[fgradowski]

.
Does he get fed unlimited hay?
Would you consider getting him a friend?

He gets SO much hay! He goes through it like crazy. I always make sure that the hay loft is full and a fill up a toilet paper tube with hay. He really loves that and gets excited when I do that.
I'm worried about finding him someone to get along with. My parents didn't even want me to get him, but I only live with them for the summer months and breaks. (I'm a college student) I also live in a very small apartment that doesn't have enough space for a cage large enough for two boars.

 

[lissie]

Since you've only had him for about a month, he could be around 2 months old. He'll nibble on everything, just like a human toddler.

 

[fgradowski]

There are many reasons for biting.
Did he come from a pet store? If so, has he been treated for mites?

See this page for info:
https://www.cavyspirit.com/biting.htm

He did come from a pet store, but I took him to the vet a few weeks ago and had her specifically check for mites and a URI. He checked out fine.

 

[CavyMama]

I agree with @lissie , one of my first thoughts when you said he bites is that it might be mites. Mites burrow under the skin and are very painful which can cause guinea pigs to bite when touched.

He did come from a pet store, but I took him to the vet a few weeks ago and had her specifically check for mites and a URI. He checked out fine.

Mites cannot be seen with the naked eye. Just having a vet "check" for them will probably not show them even if they are present. Doing a skin scrape is painful to the pig and is usually inconclusive since it hinges on mites showing up in the one area that was scraped. You can treat for mites as a precaution without knowing mites are present. Just seeing evidence is enough.

 

[fgradowski]

Since you've only had him for about a month, he could be around 2 months old. He'll nibble on everything, just like a human toddler.

That does make sense. He tries to eat anything and everything. I have to keep a close eye on him when he is out of his cage. He frequently pulls my cross stitch patterns off the bottom of the coffee table and tries to eat the paper. He also likes to try and eat my hair.
Like I said, he was just at the vet a few weeks ago. He was very small and definitely under 6 months of age. I think he was only 358 grams.

 

[xanima]

Hthat doesn't have enough space for a cage large enough for two boars.

Don´t really see, why a lone pig should need less room than two.
He doesnt has anything to do most of the time and he also doesn´t get enough room to run around? Seems very weird to me... A lone pig should have plenty of room to make up for the fact he doesn´t has a companion! (besides of the fact that I don´t think just keeping one pig is ever okay, especially for such a young one)

Might be lots of things, I have a guinea pig originally from a pet shop and she is pretty weird and was from baby on. She did bite her former owner a lot, and she has a good instinct to where it hurts most.
She hasn´t really bitten me since she lives in my group, but she does still have a tendency to try when she doesn´t like something. And while she want always try to bite she pretty much dislikes everything that has to do with me. Except feeding.

 

[Fick2010]

I have two boars and I have them in a 2x4 cage. My one does bite, but normally its because he's just curious to it. Even sometimes he'll bite so he can go back into his cage. When he was by himself in quarentine he bit more. Now that he is in with Harvey he inly bites to tell us something. Like @CavyMama said they don't like being held out away from you. I do hope you're not actually mad at him. He is probably just trying to tell yiu something or you smelled like something yummy to him.

 

[fgradowski]

Don´t really see, why a lone pig should need less room than two.
He doesnt has anything to do most of the time and he also doesn´t get enough room to run around? Seems very weird to me... A lone pig should have plenty of room to make up for the fact he doesn´t has a companion! (besides of the fact that I don´t think just keeping one pig is ever okay, especially for such a young one)

He is only in his cage for about 4 hours a day while I am at class. He is also in his cage while I am sleeping overnight. The rest of the time I am home and he has free range of the living room/kitchen area. He has plenty of room to run and he definitely does so often. He runs laps under the coffee table and popcorns over to the fridge.

 

[CavyMama]

As for being "angry", I still don't understand that. Would you be angry at someone who did something bad to you accidentally or without intention? Do you think your pig is biting with intention to hurt you? Do you think he thinks about what he is doing before he does it? No, of course not. He is an animal. He is acting on instinct and need. Just like you wouldn't be "angry" at a puppy who knocks over a vase when running by it or angry at a baby who knocks your glass over. They don't mean to do these things. They don't know any better. So I'm having a hard time with the being "angry" at your pig.

 

[Artista]

No matter what Mooshy does (sometimes bite me or pees on the fleece instead of her litter when she normally does it 98% of the time) there is no way I can be angry at her. She's an animal not a human. She's not out to "get me" or upset me. She's being a gp who has a reason for what she is doing and you can't change that. That's part of having pets or kids for that matter except pets will be forever 2 year olds where you will experience mishap. When I find I'm getting a little pissed at Moosh like when I'm sick and she makes a bigger mess than usual, I just look at her cute face and it's gone in a second. I can never be mad at any animal. That's reserved for select humans.