My guinea pigs are really aggressive! Help!?

Question

2 weeks ago i bought home some 3 week old guinea pigs from an animal shelter. For the first few days they were jumpy and nervous but they were eating alot. After a week i began handling them so they would get used to it and i gave them their favourite food when they were being handled, but even after two weeks they are the same! They won't let me go near them and they hate it when i pick them up. One of them will bite my hand when i am handling her or when i put my hand near her! Does anyone have any idea why they are acting like this and what i should do??

Answer 1

Three week old guinea pigs are very young. That's what could of made them aggressive to you. & not being socialized with people could of done it. The best way to hopefully overcome this is,to basically ignore them,well of course feed & water the clean them out,but don't pick(or try to) them up for a couple of weeks.Often this helps,as constant attention can make them unsure especially at their age. Neutering when they are older 4-5 months normally,to let them develop properly.They are obviously scared,someone i knew had the same problem,it is wonderful you have rescued them,but sometimes(not always) rescued pets can be nervous,aggressive & shy,we rescued a kitten from a cat rescue center,he is nervous & shy. Iam not at all against rescuing animals from centers i am for it,but sometimes due to before hand ownership of the pet or the age they were taken away from there mother at can make the animal a scared,aggressive thing,though there are many reasons. Sometimes pets can become aggressive due to un seen illness or pain,consulting a vet could be useful.

Hope this has helped you! =)

Answer 2

To be honest, your Guinea Pigs should of stayed with their mum until four weeks, allowed a fortnight to live off dry food alone without any milk from mum and then at 6 weeks you should of got your piggies but that is the shelters fault not yours but good on you from getting them from a shelter. Are your Guinea Pigs Abyssinian? (rough haired) as these Guineas i have found don't like being handled as much as other flat haired breeds do. It may be that your guineas will always be afraid of being picked up but enjoy your company more than your cuddles. The fact you got your guineas so young may mean that they are very afraid of being taken from their mum and it is going to take some time for them to get used to you. You sound like your doing everything right so it just a case of perserverance, I would make sure they always have lots of hay to nibble on with some wooden toys so they can wear down their teeth as it may be the case they are nibbling on you as they dont have anything else to do this on. Good Luck and I hope this helps x

Answer 3

Try stroking them then picking them up an also when you pick them up pick them up from the bottom and scoop them up or they get frightened which may be why they bite you.

hope my advice helps =]

Answer 4

pet them on they're back so they wont be afraid of you

Answer 5

Guinea pigs of that age our very young and more nervous than adult guinea pigs I myself have guinea pigs and when I first got them they didn't like being handled. Don't pick them up screaming just leave them for a couple of days and then gently stroke them on their backs while they are eating. Then start stroking them and then picking them up. I hope they are all right.

Answer 6

It's probably that they were not very socialized as young, babies.

    

Since they are born very developed, it is preferred that the babies are touched and handled frequently starting at the first days of their lives. And the old owners probably didn't do that and just got rid of them. :(

Eloise, Guinea pigs (boys) they can get momma pregnant by 4 weeks of age and by six weeks she'd be more than half way pregnant again. That's why you want to seperate them at 3 weeks.

It's awesome that you got them from a shelter, cause yeah there are WAY to many guinea pigs out there.

What you can do is hold their favorite veggie in front of them and if they come up to it just try to pet their heads.