Insecure Guinea Pig

[RedToothBrush]

We have two guinea pigs who live in our bedroom. They are both getting on a bit (6 and 7) and have always been fairly well behaved and not bothered us in all that time.

However they have suddenly changed their habits and are now driving us both bonkers. One of them has taken to screaming the house down for attention morning, noon and night for no apparent reason and has developed an annoying habit of becoming an alarm clock at 5.30am every morning.

The only thing that I can thing of thats making him go crazy is the fact I'm pregnant. Now obviously, I am going to have to get used to screaming in the night, but it would be nice to get a good night's sleep in the meantime, whilst I can!

I can't even go for a nap at the moment, due to him going mental squeaking and chewing bars. Unfortunately moving them isn't an option.

Any one had similar insecure attention seeking small furries and has anyone got any suggests for how to get them to STFU?!

Aww bless them they are old dears now at 6 and 7 .
Is your noctural guinea maybe getting a draught? They are susceptible to changes in temperature,

Can you put a cover over them at night? I used to put my GP1 and GP2 in the small bedroom which is cooler but with a duvet over their cage to insulate them against cold and echos/noise. GP2 used to like chewing cardboard boxes at 3am "I'm so over square doorways, must be arched, and big enough for GP1s sizeable arse"

Boxes stuffed with hay? We gave one each , they liked their own space (as do GP1/GP3 )

GPs are crepuscular (dawn and dusk active) so maybe he thinks he should be up at awake at an unholy hour.
Do they have enough night food.

Are you sure you don't have a Singing Guinea-Pig ? They can sound lovely , like birdsong or they can sound like a terrified bird caught in a trap.

Try a low volume radio?

Or you have a ghost which is annoying him

Good Luck with the baby and the inevitable night-time wake-ups but you might be lucky and have a baby like my DD, who had a 10pm feed and slept til 6am, and even when she woke, she just looked about.

He seems to be up ALL day and ALL night at the moment. If he's snoozing I am trying to let him sleep during the day at the moment as he seems to get grumpy later on if I don't.

Both pigs have their own space as they are male/female so can't be kept together but like each other's company. They have been in the same room for the last couple of years and theres been no changes to their patch or to the room, so I don't get why he's started doing it over the last month or so. So it can't be a draft or something.

They get the same food as they always have. DH came home tonight and got screamed at. He couldn't work out why as he had a full food bowl and full hay rack (as I topped it up a few hours earlier due to screaming).

He's definitely not a singing GP. We've had one of those before (his father when he was still a baby as it goes) and its was weird and as if the GP didn't even know it was doing it. This little fella definitely knows he is doing it, as its top of the lungs squeaking combined with running over to the side of the cage looking for attention of some description. He's very good at communicating what he want to us normally; if he wants dry food he normally sits on his food bowl; if he wants water he goes to that and bangs on it until he gets service but we just can't work out what he wants at the moment.

At the moment the ghost option seems the most likely option, though this is a new build!!!

I've only two other thoughts; either his mate isn't as well (quite possible given her age) and he can tell that or he can smell my hormones and its driving him crackers somehow. We've had a lot of GPs over the years but its behaviour I just can't work out at all! We did previously had a GP that was very possessive of me to the point that we think he thought he was human and sometimes got jealous when DH gave me attention!!! But he was a lot younger and this was gradual rather than a sudden change in behaviour.

Gah, it's driving me nuts! I just wish I could work out the logic behind why, so I could do something about it. I don't like not being able to work him out. We've had him since birth and he's always been especially tame and house trained.

Logic and Guinea Pigs don't go in the same sentence

Could well be the hormones (Our cat loved me when I was pg)

You could try one of those DAP plug ins? Alot of owners recommend them for settling stroppy boars or when they are arsey over Fireworks noise.
I think you need the cat one but I'll find a google site somewhere and check.

Don't rule out ghosts with new builds . What was on the land before?
Though our house is 80+ and I'm sure the original owners died here from what my old NDN told me. Our GPs haven't batted an ear.

Or you need a Rat Jumper thingy with pockets and wear him.(Get you into practice)

I'm sure GP1 would love to be carried about all day by DD and sleep in her bed.
GP3 would shred clothes

I'm getting conflicting advice with everything I put in Google

Looks like the cat one (Felliway or something) can be used if you have cats/ rodents but the dog one is more effective.

But then I got an interesting one and thought "OK this looks in depth" and it was about poison levels (that's not what I meant by safe for guineas Google, I don't want to kill them)

There's one which has pictures of a range of animals so presumably safe all round, but wether it would work on guineas...?

Thank you!

Yeah logic and guinea pigs... they are usually just daft!

He would love to be carried around all the time. He would never let us put him down if we started that one though. We do get the feeling its attention seeking as he loves being handled. I am actually genuinely worried about how he is going to react when the baby arrives. Which probably makes me sound like a proper nut job, however I've found a couple of our GPs to be very similar to dogs in temperament at times (One of them used to have cage by the sofa, which he could climb out of if we let him. He used to jump out, run over to a cushion on the arm and sit and watch tv with us!!!!) I fear we may pander to them a little too much at times!

I think I might look into a DAP plug in though, because I really don't know what else to try and it is getting stupid. Last night he woke us at 3am and 5.30am and I really don't need it right now.

He might be by the new baby (our cat was "How dare you bring that noisy THING into my house" (we'd had her for nine years when DS arrived).

But your hormones will be different after pg , so if it's that he's getting hyper excited by, that should settle?
And he'll need to chirp very loudly to compete with a babies singing .

You do realise though, your GPs will expect you to have weaned and rehomed the baby before he/she is six wheeks old , don't you?
And for St Georges Day.

Have you had a good look at your female pig?
It might be her that is getting your male pig all aeriated?

I have no idea how long female piggies stay actively fertile but one of our oldest pigs (when I was a child) one we 'bred' (accidental litter ) and the only female. She never had piglets herself but she did get the waxy plug that some females get ( she was well in excess of 5 yo when she died).

Female oldies are prone to ovarian cysts too .
It might be worth checking her over for soft swellings, hair loss . (There are loads of Googlable photos)

Definitely nothing to do with her as he behaves when its just the two of them in the room. He's just going loopy when we go in there.

DH had him out for a good hour last night, giving him attention as we were at wits end. We rarely have him out as long as that as he gets too restless. But he was happy as Larry grooming DH and posing on webcam for DH's friends.

However he wasn't interested in me at all. Didn't want hugs.

Amazingly he behaved overnight and this morning... blissful silence.

DH speculated that he is trying to get the favour of the 'Big Pig' and reassert his position in the house because he knows its potentially under threat.

Ridiculous furry!

at a restful night - hopefully your boar will stay settled (not quiet though, piggie chat is lovely)

Do keep an eye on your female pig though, older girls can be prone to cysts.
When our GP2 was (whispers) dying, GP1 was very OTT, protective, herding him, pushing our hands away. Climbed on me to put his head on GP2 back.
I thought he was bullying his brother but it was not nasty, he was protecting his weaker cagemate the only way he could

A few Peruvian Recipe Books - roast guinea-pig looks nice- lying around helps to focus them (Good job DH and I are vegetarian)