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General How much napping is too much?

theosdad

Member
Cavy Gazer
Joined
Jan 16, 2022
Messages
7
My guinea pig Theo, who I just got less than a week ago, is clearly very comfortable with me. He jumps in my arms whenever a stranger is holding him and I walk towards them, and he starts squeaking immediately when he’s back near me.

I have heard that guinea pigs will wait until they’re comfortable with you to lay down and close their eyes to sleep. But it seems like he’s asleep every other time I check on him. His routine seems to be: eat, drink, sleep, eat, drink, sleep, etc.

I also saw a little drop of water in his eye this morning while he was sleeping. But that’s all I’ve seen as far as watery eyes goes.

When he’s not sleeping, he seems very happy and active and squeaks happily when I hold him. He eats plenty, and never refuses food when I give it to him. But he seems pretty lazy a lot of the time, and that worries me.
 
It sounds like mostly normal behaviour. Although sleeping a lot might be due to boredom. Guinea pigs are recommended to be kept in pairs at a minimum.
 
My guinea pig Gidget is much the same. She’s young and seems to eat, run, drink and then she’s down for a nap. She also falls asleep when I hold her on my lap.

You can watch Theo’s input and output to see if he’s eating well. And one of the best things to do is get a scale and weigh regularly. Guinea pigs hide any health issues so sometimes the only tip-off to eating issues or health problems is that young pigs aren’t gaining weight, or adults are losing weight.
 
Boredom is an issue with single pigs, or pigs that didn’t have much mental stimulation as youngsters. There are some things you can do to keep them busy.

I rearrange the cage, hideys and the food and water each day so she has to explore. I put veggies in a treat ball that she rolls around, I hide veggies in a snuffle mat so she has to dig and forage, and I have a play wall with wood and wicker balls and a woven mat that I can hide food in.
 
It sounds like mostly normal behaviour. Although sleeping a lot might be due to boredom. Guinea pigs are recommended to be kept in pairs at a minimum.
I meant to put this in the post, but I forgot - I would love to get him a cage mate, but the rescue I got him from said they weren’t able to bond him with anyone because he didn’t play nice. He’s a year old at this point, so probably too late to pair him with someone at this point anyway.

But thank you for your reply. I’m glad to hear that I don’t need to be worried. I’ll keep an eye on his behavior and update the thread.
 
I meant to put this in the post, but I forgot - I would love to get him a cage mate, but the rescue I got him from said they weren’t able to bond him with anyone because he didn’t play nice. He’s a year old at this point, so probably too late to pair him with someone at this point anyway.

I can appreciate that. Sometimes a pig just doesn't want a buddy. Age, though, has little to do with it. They'll either get along or they wont. Some pigs just adore one another, and some just learn to co-exist and that's about it.

I had two boys from the same litter that loved each other immensely. They were the best of friends and absolutely inseparable.

Prior to that, I had two boys that basically co-existed and that was as good as it got. I have few pictures of them close together so I cherish them.

The boys I have now were both introduced to each other when Leo was well past a year and a half and Simon was about 14 months. While not as close as Punkin and Scooter were, these two hit it off tremendously.
 
Age, though, has little to do with it. They'll either get along or they wont. Some pigs just adore one another, and some just learn to co-exist and that's about it.
Thanks for clearing that up. I was under the impression there was a threshold at which a pig was too old to bond with anyone. Should I just follow the recommendation of the rescue, or should I try to find him a suitable partner?
 
My guinea pig Gidget is much the same. She’s young and seems to eat, run, drink and then she’s down for a nap. She also falls asleep when I hold her on my lap.
Thanks for this reply. It’s nice to hear that other guinea parents are experiencing the same thing.
 
Whether or not to trust the rescues evaluation that he doesn't do well with other guinea pigs depends completely on the kind of rescue it was. If they housed them in small cages and may not have done proper introductions I wouldn't trust it, nothing will completely ruin any chances of successful pairings more then crowded conditions and a rushed/incorrect introduction.

Here is a link that has really good information about how to correctly introduce two guinea pigs https://www.guinealynx.info/introductions.html

If you do trust the rescue would have done introductions correctly it still doesn't completely rule out future cage mates it just makes it a little bit more complicated. If he in an intact male and you feel the rescue is trust worthy on his incompatibility that just mean he doesn't do well with other males so having him neutered and then later trying him with one or more female cage mates would still be an option.
 
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