Always with the purring

PPSpaghetti

Post   » Mon Sep 11, 2017 9:55 pm


I think I will try a buddy first. They had two females that just came into the shelter. Waiting to see if they are a bonded pair because I really don't want three!

She fits some of the symptoms of ovarian cysts , mostly the moodiness. She has no hair loss on her sides but her hips and shoulders lack any fatty padding while her tummy is plump.

She is eating more hay now that she knows she won't be getting unlimited veg like before.

As a side note to all of this, she shows considerably less aggression to my son who can pick her up without so much as a squeak. Maybe she's just not a fan of me. Hopefully a buddy will help her.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Sep 11, 2017 10:13 pm


Do you wear any strong perfumes? Anything really distinctive?

PPSpaghetti

Post   » Tue Sep 12, 2017 12:15 am


No perfumes, no lotions or anything. I have two small children so I don't get to shower as often as I'd like. Hah, maybe she's trying to tell me to take a bath!

Clint The Cuy

Post   » Tue Sep 12, 2017 9:28 pm


Her behavior may be due to any of the potential medical issues that people have already listed or it could just be that she has not been socialized as JX4 had said. I can only imagine what kind of life or social interaction (or lack thereof) she's had considering her condition when you took her on. Poor pig.

PPSpaghetti

Post   » Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:13 am


UPDATE - she seems better these last couple days. We haven't done any lap time because it didn't seem like she was enjoying it but still gets to run around my floor every day. We also move her items around in her cage daily. It's my sons job to "redesign" her cage every day. The other thing I have been doing is food training her, so to speak. She really likes her veg, so she only gets it hand fed and she must sit nice and let me rub very gently on the top of her head for 3 seconds without any aggressive or dominant behaviour. If she gets grumpy I walk away. Then she WEEK WEEK WEEKs for me to come back. She's super smart and caught on pretty quick. We still plan on getting a buddy for her but she seems quite a bit happier.

Another question. Do your pigs sort of nibble on your fingers? She nibbles on my sons a lot. Never with rumbling or chattering and he giggles when she does it so it obviously isn't painful. I told him not to let her do that but now I'm wondering if it's maybe ok? Perhaps they're just bonding?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:28 am


It sounds like you have an adorable guinea pig! Unsure about the meaning of nibbling on fingers but hopefully another member or two will add their two cents!

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Thu Sep 14, 2017 11:03 am


Don't let her nibble. It's much easier to establish a good habit than to break a bad one.

JX4

Post   » Thu Sep 14, 2017 1:39 pm


She sounds like she is learning! Guinea pigs are smart. If you have the time, you can train them to do tricks like run in a circle or jump through a hoop. I don't have time for that, but my daughter taught one of ours (Squeaky) to run through an obstacle course across our living room.

Do NOT let her nibble, even if it "tickles," to show affection. Teach her to lick instead. It feels way nicer on your finger and will still elicit a "giggle" response from your son, I'm sure. One of ours is a nibbler, and after two years she is finally learning to lick like the others do. It is too easy for them to forget and nibble a bit too hard, then you run the risk of your son dropping her out of reflex and she could be seriously hurt, break bones, etc.

When Sugar (she's our nibbler) nibbles, I pull my finger away momentarily, then give it back to her. Sometimes this means doing this repeatedly in quick succession. She is finally learning that if she licks my finger instead, I don't pull it away. All the other piggies learned this within a couple of months. For her it has been about 2 and a half years, lol.

Nibbling can be done for several different reasons. Sometimes it's just a curiosity thing, to see what something is. Sometimes it's to show affection (as in Sugar's case) -- which needs to be re-directed to licking. Sometimes it's to tell whoever is holding them that they need to pee or for some other reason needs to be put down -- they are ready to go back in the cage or are just done with being held. When my piggies who are not nibblers do nibble, it means they are ready to be put down for some reason and I respect that and put them down.

PPSpaghetti

Post   » Sat Sep 23, 2017 4:57 am


Well things have gotten not so good around here with Peppa. She has now turned her aggression to my son. She's great with me, I've been working really hard with her. She still ocassionally tries to push me around by rumblestrutting and shoving my hand about but if hold my ground and shove back (gently of course) she now has kind of accepted me as the dominant one. Problem is she constantly is biting my son and even another little boy yesterday. She bites my son when he tries to pick or up or even pet her. I know he's only four and shouldn't be allowed to pick her up but it's his pet essentially. He always does it carefully with a hand under her bum and he is absolutely heartbroken that she keeps biting him. The rule is that her hidey house is her safe spot. If she runs in there she's not allowed to be bothered. Problem is she rarely runs away just stands there then bites. He can be petting oh so gently (just like my sons friend was yesterday) on the top of the head then she will quickly flip her head and chomp down often leaving a mark. I feel bad, she has been showing me the really sweet side of her. Sometimes when I let her out to run on the floor she will climb right into my lap and lay down and close her eyes for a few minutes before climbing down and continuing to explore. But I have two small children, I can't have an animal that bites like this. I don't want to give her up especially since she's getting to bond with me a bit but she can't be biting kids. She's just so confident in herself, rarely scared. Cocky is the best word to describe her. I know her attitude is probably because of whatever happened in her previous home but I feel we are unequipped to deal with her behavioural issues. Is there like a Caesar Milan of guinea pigs? Any suggestions on what I can do for my son? I should add that he is so good with her when she bites. If she bites while he's holding her he doesn't so much as flinch, just puts her down gently then sits and cries quietly because "Peppa doesn't like me".

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PooksiedAnimals
Supporting my GL Habit

Post   » Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:49 am


I didn't go back and re-read carefully, but has she been treated for mites? That can make it painful to be handled, which would explain the biting when touched.

I had one pig that nipped a lot when I first got her and it took months for her to get adjusted and stop biting. From what you describe, I wouldn't label her as being confident. A confident pig doesn't bite. A biting pig usually is trying to tell you something they're not happy about.

Does she bite you at all? If not, then I'd say that young kids are making her nervous. Either way, a month is not a lot of time to adjust to a new household and I think you need to give her more time. Just my opinion.

JX4

Post   » Sat Sep 23, 2017 1:48 pm


It sounds to me that she is nibbling hard, not outright biting. If a pig means to actually bite you, they bite HARD and they draw blood. If she is leaving an impression that is a hard nibble but she's stopping short of being mean. She needs to not nibble at all, of course, but she is trying to tell you something in the only way she knows how. Since we don't speak guinea pig, we have to try to figure out what she is trying to say. It sounds like she is nervous about being held by anyone, but especially kids.

A four year old should not be holding a guinea pig. Even if he is holding her the right way, kids that young usually don't know how to consistently monitor how hard they are squeezing. You can hold her and he can pet her. Or he can sit on the floor and you can place her on his lap. I wouldn't let my kids (even my careful animal lover) to hold or pick up our guinea pigs until they were 9, and even then I closely supervised them.

Treating her for mites may help (don't test for them, just treat her for them).

Tell your son the way for him to get her to like him is to give her nutritious treats like her veggies. You can put her on his lap and let him feed her (being careful to keep his fingers out of the way). But he shouldn't hold her for quite awhile. She needs to learn to associate him with good things and not scary things like being up in the air in the hands of a little person. If he is always bearing treats (and this goes for you too), then she will eventually get to the point where she will wheek excitedly just to hear him enter the room. The way to a guinea pig's heart is through her stomach.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Sep 23, 2017 11:11 pm


Ditto the advice you have received. Change the way they interact. Check/treat for mites. Read the pages linked to here:
https://www.guinealynx.info/links.html#biting

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