Ummm... I have some questions on my guinea pig.?

Question

I have a guinea pig who is not well use to its environment.He is not use to the noise and on a certain amount of about 3 people being around him, but I want him to be use to being petted held and other things. I dont have much noise around him, but walking and talking scares him.

He is a Peruvian Cavy.

So could anyone atleast give me some tips or advise on taming or training him to get use to his new environment.

Answer 1

When you first get your guinea pigs it is best to leave them alone as much as possible for the first couple of days. It is very tempting to keep picking them up and showing them to people but this is very stressful for them when they are in a new environment so please resist this until they have settled in.

Make sure that each guinea pig has a nice house to hide in. Otherwise when they are startled the more dominant piggie will kick the other one out of the box and this can cause fights particularly amongst males. If possible don't disturb your pet when he is in his box as this will make them feel more secure. It is sometimes necessary to catch them by tipping over the box but do this as little as possible in the early days.

Feed your guinea pigs at the same time every day. They will soon learn to assoicate the sounds of feeding with something nice happening. Ours squeak when they hear rustling and/or the frige opening. Also have times a couple of times a day when you give them treats.

At first you may have to just put a treat outside the door of the nest box and move away but over time you should be able to get a guinea pig to take it from your hand. This is the most difficult part of the process and it is worth persevering.

Once you have a guinea pig feeding from your hand it is often quite a quick process to get them to come further and further out of the box and eventually come to the edge of the cage to be fed. Before long your guinea pig will be standing ready for a treat. It is absolutely essential that you don't use a treat to catch the guinea pig at this point as it will stop them trusting you. Once they get to trust you really well you will be able to pick them up.



I  hope this helps :)

good luck with your guinea pig.

Answer 2

Any animal, when first brought into a new place, will be scared and skittish.  If you can arrange for a few days of slow media and movement, that'll help him get used to the living quarters he's been placed in.

As for the people, this will take time.  If it is the same three people, have them sit around his cage when playing with him and stick their arms in his cage, allowing him to approach them and not letting them chase him around.  This allows him to trust you rather than feel like he's prey.

Guinea pigs are fairly skittish, as a breed.  If he doesn't warm up, that could be the case.  Also, there are personality types.  So if he's shy, he's shy.  If he's social, he'll come around a little faster.  

As for taming and holding him, you'll just have to do that daily.  Make the experience enjoyable for him by holding him in your lap or close to your chest so he feels safe, but not smothered.  It'll take awhile, but he'll gradually chill out.  Be sure to reward him and he might even dance around his cage to be held so he'll get another treat!

As for the pillow, you could, but I would highly recommend making it of fleece.  Any other material has threads in it and, when shredded, poses a choking hazard.  If they don't choke, there's also the possibility of it getting tangled up in his intestines.   Even though fleece is safe, it should still be removed if he begins chewing on it.  

If you don't know how to make something without thread (I don't even know how to), I would recommend buying online.  They have some really cute things!!  If you can't find anything for guinea pigs, try chinchilla fleece beds extra large.  Chinchillas are a little shorter than guinea pigs when laying down, so anything a fairly big size for chinchillas will be good for a guinea pig.  (I know this because I own a chinchilla and have had a guinea pig//been around them enough to compare sizes.)

Some nice websites to check out and reviewed by myself for my own chinchilla include:

http://www.critters-n-more.com/products....

http://www.freewebs.com/simplychintastic...

Answer 3

bring him out as much as possible and give him as much cuttle time also. bringing him out of the cage and letting him run around on the couch or chair he will get use to everything around him/her

Answer 4

Guinea pigs are like this when they are young. It is because they are prey, and low on the food chain. To get him used to you, I would start with gaining his trust. This means:

-never scare him on purpose

-feed him out of your hand

-try petting technique below

   Start by first petting his nose with one finger If he lets you do this, still using one finger, pet slightly behind this, and keep petting until he doesn't like it. If he lets you, pet his whole back with your hand. At the end, give him a treat or a carrot or something as a reward to let him know that he is being good, and that he can trust you.

Good luck with him!

Erika :)