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.
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.