New GP owner - how long to "settle"?

[Housemum]

Hello! We've today become the proud owners of 2 little girl guinea pigs, and I have settled them in their cage and left them alone as advised. (layer of paper chip litter-type bedding on newspaper, hay in the rack, food in the bowl, the hay they were transported with in the "bedroom" and water in the bottle). They have spent all day in the sleeping bit, have taken a little bit of the fresh food I put in the cage, but as far as I can see haven't gone near the water bottle. Is that normal? And they are very quiet - not a squeak or gurgle from either of them. Visions of dehydrated GPs are threatening to stop me sleeping! Thank you for any advice about settling new piggies :)

[FernieB]

Welcome to the world of GPs - they'll have you trained as their slave very soon.

Don't worry about the drinking. They get a lot of their water from veg. My 2 boys rarely drink. Occasionally one will have a good long go at the water bottle but I suspect that is really to make a lot of noise in the hope I'll fetch something lovely from the fridge.

Give them a good day or so to get used to their new surroundings. Then you can start to handle but do it for short periods at first and always give them a tasty treat (cucumber, parsley, celery leaves etc) when they are on laps so they associate you with food. GPs really do think with their tummies.

[FernieB]

Some GPs are quieter than others. One of mine barely talks but the other won't shut up . They will probably start to chatter when they are settled and will start to get very excited when you approach with food.

[kahori]

Congratulations! We have 2 girl piggies that we got in May. It took a while for them to settle in but as FernieB says they are really motivated by food! Our 2 particularly love parsley so we keep that as a special treat for when we require co-operation.

Ours also love cucumber and I think if they have that fairly regularly they won't be dehydrated.

Other foods they love include spinach, rocket leaves, tomatoes, thin strips of carrot, all lettuce except lambs lettuce which they refuse (and of course no iceberg as it isn't suitable). They also like red and yellow pepper and baby corn.

They love to play so enjoy tunnels and cardboard boxes.

Have you named them yet?

[PacificDogwood]

My 2 rescue boys did not drink anything at all for the first 2 months of their stay with us, but peed and pooped most satisfyingly . I simply made sure they had fresh veg every day.

It took a few weeks for them to become more confident and now, 6 months in, they are cheeky little fat things.

They still don't like being picked up but once picked up settle nicely on somebody's lap. Don't let children handle them unsupervised though until you are confident.

I cannot believe how much I've learnt about GP in a few months - you'll be an expert soon too

[Housemum]

I blame the DDs' school - DD2 was in year 6 last year so we got to take home one of the school GPs for a week (should have been 2 but they were sold a pregnant one!). Since then she has been asking nicely for one and we said that if she knuckled down at secondary school and showed good behaviour( doing homework without complaint, keeping organised, tidying room) we'd consider it.

They are short haired and about 8+ weeks old, called Nutmeg and Buttercup (one ginger coloured, one creamy coloured). Would post pic but haven't downloaded off phone yet :)

I can hear movement in the next room now, resisting the temptation to peek so that they can explore! As well as the food bowl I left bits of food all over the cage (on things/under things) so will be interesting to see what they found!

DD2 will be fine handling as she used to clean out the school ones (a year 6 privilege!) but DD3 will only be handling sat down with a towel on her lap and me with her, as I wouldn't trust her not to jump if a claw accidentally scratched her. (She's 6yo)

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Hello new piggies

We've had the sows 10 weeks now and they still do the run-around when we catch them.
Our boar is easy to catch , GP4 sprints round and GP5 sees it as part of the game. "Ha Ha , here's the She Devil. RunAround.....Now" (harnessing her inner Mike Reid).
Once they are caught for a cuddle or to go in the run they're quite calm, but they never associate "Catch= Nice Things"

They need a few days to get used to their new surroundings but yes, food is the way forward.

[Housemum]

Definite runaround kids here! One more so than the other. Had some lovely cuddles after school - not yet found a food they will eat when on a lap. Still not seen them drink! Doesn't look like anything gone from the bottle but keeping an eye on it. Little warbles and chirps being heard at the mo

[PacificDogwood]

Parsley!
You need parsley - or coriander.

It's like GP crack

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

None of my pigs drink water (even though I dutifully clean their water bottles and give them fresh filtered water every night )

I don't feed mine while they're cuddled , they end up depositing bits of leaf down the side of the sofa. They know after cuddle time they go and have supper.

Mine love parsley
They have limited coriander (it doesn't affect them like it did GP1/GP2)

GP4 loves mint
Haven't tried dill - GP3 ( Dill short for Dylan) would consider that cannibalism inappropriate .