Hiding I'm at a loss. What can I do to help him?

[txtwstr]

My husband and I recently adopted a long-haired male Guinea Pig, Hairy, from one of my co-workers. He is only about 10 months old and this is already his third home. My co-worker rescued him from a shelter, where his previous owner dumped him after breeding him at a young age. We adopted him about a month ago. He was not getting along with his other two pigs, and had become a little hostile, biting and lunging, at them. Now that we have him in our home, he is not hostile towards us or our hamster, but he is extremely shy, almost anti-social.
He prefers to sped the majority of the day in his igloo hide-out, coming out only to eat, drink, and snack on hay. And at those time when he his out, the smallest sound sends him scurrying back inside for safety. He will let me pick him up with little fuss, but will not let my husband. Once he is in my lap, he calms down quite a bit and will let my husband pet him or feed him a carrot. When ever we put him in his play-pen, he just sits there, not touching any of his toys of food.
Is this normal for Hairy to act this way? Or is this a result of his traumatic life so far, being bred so young and being shuffled from house to house? What can I do to make him more comfortable in our home. I have no intentions on sending him packing to yet another home. I'll do what ever it takes to make him a happy pig.

 

[txtwstr]

Hairy is starting to come around a little bit more, but he is still extremely shy. He has taken a liking to his nightly veggie snacks but will drag the food into his hut and snack away there. I try feeding him by hand, and he'll nibble at them for awhile before he starts getting fussy and scurries back to his cage. As well, I'm worried about my husband. He does not really interact with Hairy very much, something about how he thinks that Hairy does not like him and is afraid of him biting. How can I help the two of them bond?

 

[Trace_n_Ripley]

Hello! I think Hairy is still somewhat traumatized from his experiences.
Also, piggies are prey animals and are naturally skittish and love to hide!

Last fall, I adopted Delilah, who was at Petco for a long time before being given to my friend's daughter's day care. She is now quite happy with her two sisters, Trace and Ripley in their new, larger C&C cage. I think she doesn't want to leave the cage she likes it so much. However, she is still my "drama piggie." She often squawks when I pick her up and tries to run away. Once I pick her up, she is perfectly happy but never quite as relaxed as the other two. I keep telling her that she is stuck with me no matter what, but I don't think she quite gets it.

It is probably going to take Hairy some time to get over his experiences. Check around on these forums for tons of other information on how to make Hairy a happy piggie. As to your husband, Hairy may equate him at the moment with other human males who may not have been so kind to him. He needs to bribe Hairy with food when he sees him until Hairy makes the association that your husband is not a bad person, he's the nice guy who brings food!

 

[akstrohm]

Is he the only guinea pig you have? He would benefit the most by being with another guinea pig. Even if he fought with others before, chances are good that they did not have enough space and hideys to get away from each other. If he absolutely will not get along with any pig (which is unlikely if you do intros properly and pick an appropriate cage mate), he would still be better off in a divided cage near another pig. I think this is the best thing you could possibly do for him. And just to clarify, are you letting him interact with the hamster? They could injure each other or pass diseases to each other.

Pigs do not bond with humans. They appreciate getting good care and food from them, but they are not a substitute for another guinea pig. So I wouldn't worry about your husband not liking the pig. However, you could let him know that guinea pigs rarely bite.

Finally, guinea pigs are prey animals. They are skittish by nature, and even with the best care from a young age, they often hate being picked up. Be patient. Handle him many times a day but for short times. Hand feed his favorite veggies to him. He will get more used to you as time goes by, but he will probably always be skittish. Getting him a friend will probably encourage him to get out and explore as well.

 

[txtwstr]

Yes, Hairy is our only pig so far, but we are looking into adopting a friend for him. We are just going to purchase a bigger and better cage first. No, we do not let him interact directly with the hamster, he will just occasionally sniff at him or his ball and hobble off to find something more interesting, such as my favorite cook book, but what can I say, the boy has a taste for good food. Other than the occasional passing sniff, the two do not have any contact, and are always brought out at separate times.

He seems to be coming around more, especially with me. We have our daily snack time together of a few veggies and strawberries. He gets fussy and will crawl up my stomach and shove his face into mine if I don't give him his peppers right away. He has become a little more comfortable around my husband too, they 'talk' when I'm at work and share some 'guy time'. Hairy hasn't bitten either of us, but he will occasionally nibble at us looking for food or to let us know he's ready to go back to his cage, but other than that, he has not been too grumpy.

Thank you for your help, I will keep reading through other threads to see what we can do to make him feel more at home.

 

[CavyMama]

I'll just echo what others have said...guinea pigs in general tend to take a little while to warm up to their new surroundings and new people. It can take even longer if the pig comes from a traumatic experience early on.

I think patience is the key. Definitely make sure the cage is big enough and consider getting him a friend. As others have said, guinea pigs are social critters and prefer the company of other guineas.