Handling guinea pigs

[Montague47]

Hi. I’m looking for some advice on how to make our two new guinea pigs feel as comfortable as possible. Grateful for any advice.

We’ve had them for two weeks now. They’re sows. I had guinea pigs as a child so am very comfortable handling and looking after them but the ones I had as a child were in outside hutches whereas these ones are in a large cage in our spare room and we take them outside to their run for at least an hour every day and then extra cuddle time. Is this ok? Should they be permanently outside with access to a run now it’s getting a bit warmer?

I’m also wondering whether we should move their inside cage to the kitchen for more regular interaction with us. Although that would be much more noisy for them because we have two children, and our cats - who at the moment are interested in the new house guests but not really that bothered - would be able to get closed to the cage. I don’t want to terrify the guinea pigs!

Thanks for any help.

Ohh new piggies (you know we need Pigtures don'tcha )

Food is the main way yo get in your guinea pigs' good ooks.
Not just treats but the routine . Ours know when its breakfast and supper time.
I don't feed mine when they have cuddle time , I feel it can make animals a bit toothy but I know that's my view. DD will pick a dandelion stalk for her boar and he hoovers it up before the sows see it . Pity the boar doesn't hoover the hay up off the carpet but c'est la vie .

Ours are in their shed now with open access to floorspace but they only go out when we let them . I need to check the grass is dry , don;t trust them .

They get braver over time and getting to know you. Our sows will happily mill about round our feet , over our feet. DD and I walk round their floorspace shuffling our feet forwards without lifting them off the floor because they invariably want to stand just where we want to put our feet

Piggies indoors are noisy and messy , we have ours indoors for winter , last winter they didn't go out in the daytime. It was too cold and our piggies are nearly 4yo so getting Middle Aged.
They can hear the fridge door open or the rustle of a bag of crisps from 3 rooms away .

Yes, the hay is all over the house even though we’re regularly hoovering it up. It gets everywhere!

They’re definitely getting braver, even after a few weeks. Still quite jumpy though but maybe that takes time.

Are they piglets or adult? We found the safest way to lift them up was for them to run into a small box then scoop them out from that.

Then you're not dragging them . One hand i=under the belly , one under the rump and lift.

Of course , ours still run away when we try , unless they want caught.
Time to go in, supper and a nice fresh hay bed. Yes, fine.
10pm in August when its still nice (but the foxes will be on the prowl) Hell No, they don't play ball.
Something like a thick broom handle (no - not to prod them ) we move it along behind to 'corall' them.

They’re piglets. Not sure how old but definitely not full size yet. Making lovely squeaking noises when we handle them every day so I’m guessing that they’re getting used to us and aren’t so scared.

I am in Sweden and we got a couple of 8/9 months boys last August. A mum in Town, was rehoming them as her teenage son had grown tired of them quickly. Ours have to stay inside due to the weather but last year during the brief summer we put them in wooden planter so they got to play in the grass and eat some but they always came in at night.

They were very skittish at first, and still scramble when the hand of doom comes into scoop but once on the lap they are so sweet. They seem better with the kids (age 10) as they kids give them cuddle every morning before school and as soon as they get in from school and beidre they go to bed. So they are used to the kids more

We have them in the living room, their cage is on a table, just so they would have the interaction. Its easy to walk past the cage and say hello etc. I am sure this has helped. After the kids have gone to school, I move them into piggy day care which is a huge upturned bookcase in a foom we have not decorated yet. Is bigger than the cage and I can put some cardboard tunnels and brown paper bags (mine love them) in for them to play with.

Yes, hay everywhere my new mantra is 'This room is like a bloody farmyard'. I say it several tines a day.