Guinea pigs nervous

[elizabeth27]

Hi

I have two 16 week old boys - once I get hold of them they don't seem to mind a cuddle but they still seem soooo nervous of us. Is this quite normal?

Thank you!

Absolutely normal. They are prey animals and so will nearly always try to run when someone tries to pick them up - it's just instinct. My boys are 3.5 and still resist picking up . They love parsley cuddles though.

Yes, I'd say normal too! Any of my pigs that were used to being handled still tried to get away when first approached for picking up, despite then being happy to sit snuggled for ages at a time.

In fact I've read it's a possible sign of illness if they don't run away when you try to pick them up...

At that age I remember Fatimus and Naughty Girl disappearing down the back of the sofa at every cuddle time.

Sadly we no longer have Fatimus. However Naughty is 3.6 years old and is happy to sat for a cuddle, especially if a handful of grass is offered.

Naughty has also learnt nice manners. She stamps her feet and has a special 'I need a pee' noise' when she needs to go back to the hutch. Regretably most pigs just let you get that warm feeling when its too late

Our lardy boar just sits and waits to be scooped up (we had him since he was 6 weeks old)
The girls are still a bit lairy (GP5 worse) we have to chase them round a bit but we try to coralle them into a box or tunnel so as not to traumatise them.

Ours are all pretty good at giving The Sign when they need a pee, not 100% , if we miss the warning we get a judgey look and a pee spot.

And YY dotty first inkling I had that GP2 was ill was him sitting their tucked up. I saw him, came up to the house and asked DH to look up the vets number. It is a huge giveaway when your pet acts so out of character.

It is normal. They are prey animals and their natural instinct when been picked up is to run away and hide. For all they know you're a hawk carrying them away for lunch.

IME though after a while they do begin to mellow out and stop running away once they get used to it and become tame. I'm not sure about the not running away thing being a sign of illness...for young piggies then maybe.

However my last two guinea pigs did stop running away from me when I went to pick them up and they both lived to the ripe old age of 8 and 9. They were always very healthy too.