Bonding Piggy wasn't handled before being rescued, now skiddish

[tpeach]

Hi all! I'm new here lol My partner and I just adopted a set of piggies - a mother/daughter. The little one is five weeks old and for the most part is friendly and cuddly. The momma pig wasn't handled before being rescued, though, and isn't used to human contact. Tips on calming her down and making her comfortable? We've been holding her in a small fabric bag that the rescue gave us and she settles fine in it eventually, but she doesn't like getting picked up nor will she eat any snacks from our hands.

 

[mtilink]

We have 3 guinea pigs, and the most tame of them also doesn't like being picked up. They are fine with eating and cuddling afterwards. Only one of them actually lets us pick her up when she wants to get out of the cage, but she will run away if she doesn't want to leave the cage.

Your guinea pig just needs time. We have one that we adopted 7 weeks ago, and she is fine with us out of the cage, and eats from our hands, but she is still cautious inside the cage, and won't rush to us for veggies. The first two weeks we had to cover her cage or she won't eat if she sees us. Four weeks later, she is making progress.

So, first give it time. Now, since the younger one is fine with you. Try having them next to each other (in or out of the cage), and hand feed the younger one. The older one might get courage to also approach you for veggies. We found that the new one got courage from the other two, and knew to trust us from them.

 

[onefutui2e]

I have two pigs. One was given to me by a friend and another was a rescue.

The first one, I noticed that if you stroke his head enough, it kind of lulls him into a comfortable daze and then he becomes easier to pick up. Except now he's caught on and any time you touch his head he might scramble away. He used to be very amenable to picked up until I adopted his friend. Bad habits rub off.

The second one is super skittish, but again, if I rub his head and stroke him a little bit he doesn't run away as much when I try to pick him up. But if I go past the middle of his back, he jumps up, squeaks, and runs away. But I think it's kind of a game to him. He'll run 2-3 laps around the cage when I try to pick him up before letting me take him without resistance, which is weird.

I guess my point is, even if they're very skittish (and they may continue to be), it can be quite interesting observing their behavior around you. I wouldn't force them to change their habits; just enjoy their quirks! Of course, you can also find ways that work as I stumbled on the whole stroking thing by accident.

 

[Bandb]

I have the same problem. I rescued two male guinea pigs and one loves to be cuddled and the other when stroked twitches?