New Guinea pigs help needed!

[MrsFlorrick]

We got two Guinea pigs yesterday. Only small still. Both boys from same litter.

They seemed terrified after I brought them home.

We've got a nice space for them and their hutch for sleeping in is fairly large at 120cm x 80cm. And other space to run around in too.

We've left them alone as much as possible to let them settle in.

I obviously cleaned their cage today and made it fresh and sorted out food and water plus veg several time

They were terrified and ran around the cage. I was quiet and gentle but it was as if they feared for their lives.

I am just so for the little piggies.

Please help me be a good mum to these piggies and help me find.a way to get them to want to come near me.

No other pets btw. I had lots growing up - dogs, cat, rabbits, chickens etc so not a novice to pet keeping. But the little piggies seem so scared and not happy that I'm really worried about them.

[FernieB]

It's early days. Everything is new for them but they will soon settle. Just let them get used to your voice and the noises of your house and start offering them treats - parsley, cucumber etc - from your hand. Eventually they will take it from you. Then you can start handling them. Use an old towel just in case of accidents . Give them treats whilst you are holding them.

They will soon realise you are the source of food and start to get excited when they see you.

Provided the food is going and they are pooing/weeing everything is fine.

[LackaDAISYcal]

Are they indoors or outside on their own? If they have come from a breeder they will have been used to an indoor (or heated outdoor) environment with lots of other pigs and people around. If from a certain large pet store, again they will have been inside with lots of noise, lights, heat and people. They may just be lonely and scared?

If you have them outside, consider bringing them indoors (at least until the weather is better) where they will be able to get used to you and your family and ll the noises of family life. Guineas are not suited to our damp climate and will live linger and be happier if kept either in the home, or in a heated outbuilding, rather than in a hutch in the garden.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

YY Fernie is right, it is early days.
All they know right now is each other. Everything else is new and scary , including the travelling to your house (and GPs are most certainly timid prey animals deep down).

Our boys were adults when we got them.
When GP2 died and we got GP3 as a 6 week piglet he spent the first 24 hours permaglued to GP1 side or under his tummy.

Once they realise that the noises of the house are normal, and the food is forthcoming, they'll come out of their shells.

[ChippingInLovesChristmasLights]

That's very normal :)

Advice varies from 'handle them a lot' to 'leave them alone for a few days' - I go for the middle of the road, a bit of both and a lot of chat around their cage so they get used to your voices. Offer food by hand, but leave them alone to eat as well.

Once they've settled in a bit, they do need a lot of handling to become happy with it.

Try mint, mine used to go MAD for it!

PS: Feel free to tell us what they look like & their names Not at all living vicariously!

[MrsFlorrick]

Ooohh.
Thanks so many great tips!!!

The Piggies are indoors. So nice and comfy. I use the old baby thermometer to check room temp and its a steady 20c.

I have two young DC so the piggies are in a spare room down (downstairs). The dC wanted them
In the playroom but the DC are noisy and I'd feel sorry for the piggies when the DC squabble.

One is brown and white and black patches. DD has named him "Rosie" . The other one is brown and DS has named him "Thomas" ( after Thomas the tank engine).

They were from a pet store (pets at home). They were in a large litter so probably lonely just now.

I will get the mint cucumber and parsley out tomorrow.

I did hear the make purring noises this evening after I had put some more kale into their home.

They just seem scared of us. Poor littlies.

I will bribe them with food (veg and herbs). It works with the DC so why not. Obv kale doesn't work with DC but choc does

They are eating well. I've had to administer several refills of pellets and lots of hay. Plus all the veg I've put in has gone.

I got various straw hiding place things which they really like huddling in.

And they seem very keen on the hay I got for them. I got a special posh kind which was dandelion and something or other hay.

I wanted the little piggies to feel welcome.

DD (4) is in awe and will stare at them for hours and very quietly and still.

DS isn't that interested. He liked putting hay in and that was it. He had wanted to get rats from the pet store.
I've had many animals (grew up in farm country) but the only rats we had were unwelcome visitors and I couldn't bring myself to handle one.

I'm hoping the piggies will like it here with us.
Anything else I can do for them?

[Gingerbics]

You sound like you're doing just great. I'm a new guinea mum too, had ours just over a month now, the advice here has been a godsend. Check out my thread below 'reassurance needed re new baby gps'. Our boys much less terrified now and have found their voices, still can't get over how much they poo! Love them though and am still v protective of like a new mum! Keep us informed and enjoy your new babies

[MrsFlorrick]

I put some cucumber in with them. The scurried away and hid from me but once i left the room I can now hear them purring and chomping on the cucumber.

Got mint and parsley at the ready for their next meal.

They are still very frightened. Poor littlies. I do hope the start to feel safe soon. I hate to see the stress it causes them. I can't even enter their room and they scurry away and freeze like statues.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

MrsFlorrick

alfafa hay is good for baby or nursing pigs (but not for adults, too much calcium).
I bought some for my piglet when we first got him.(it is difficult to find but I saw some recently in Pets @ Home)

Try lots of different bits of food but not overdoing any one thing. Parsley is meant to be three times a week small sprigs but my GP1 would argue this is not the case and insists of daily parsley.
Herbs can make them go a bit OTT so be aware

At this age I wouldn't give them any straw (just hay) . I give my adults straw (very soft barley straw) in the back of their pighouse to insulate. But it's too harsh for piglets (though the hay is pretty jaggy too )
and there's minimal nutritional value.

If you give them a few blades of fresh cut grass they've love that too.
Any veg should be room temp to aviod chilling their bellies and don't overdo grass ( they can get bloat )

Yes they pooh alot and their claws are like needles. They are fragile featherlight little bodies. When you cuddle them , wrap them in a towel and sit them on your chest to chat to them.

When we had the two boars GP1 and GP2 , DD and I always carried them on our left shoulder. So if I had GP2 (my pig) and I carried GP1 (her pig) , GP1 tried to push his brother out of the way. He was not a "right shoulder pig"

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Oh and good luck explaining "Rosie" the boar if you go to the vet

Oh yes, find a good vet who specialises in small animal especially guinea-pigs. Chances are you won't ever need one but if you do, you'll have the number handy.
If you go onto local vet websites they have a list of staff and their specialities.

[MrsFlorrick]

70. Thank you!!
    Yes to explaining "Rosie" to the vet. DD (4) insisted and I didn't want to break her heart and tell her Rosie is a boy.
    
    I've not got any straw for them just hay and the dust free wood shavings for bedding. Although I may change to shredded paper bedding after seeing some advice on tinternet.
    
    Just cleaned their cage and they were less scared. They still scarpered and hid but not as frantic plus they kept peeping out at us. We were waving parsley at them
    
    DD is desperate for a piggie cuddle. I hope she won't be too upset when she realised it will be a while. She has started asking if Rosie doesn't like her.
    
    It's so hard. In some ways a cat or a dog would have been easier. But the DC are waaaay to young for us to consider a dog and a kitten or a rescue cat wouldn't get a moments peace here. I grew up with both but they were there before I even arrived.
    
    Any other advice is appreciated.

[Cerisier]

When the DDs want a cuddle with a GP they get a small old towel and pop the GP in that and have them on their lap. Our GPs like that and sit there quite happily. Then any droppings go on the towel and can go in the wash. The GPs don't like being picked up but once on our laps are happy. Ours like a bit of celery as a treat.

Our GPs don't have a cage as they are so shy they don't go far. They like their area of igloos on newspaper (very quick to change each day) on a big landing. The oldest is 8 years old and going strong, so being inside is not doing her any harm.