Helping freaked out pigs?

[RomeAndSmores1]

I found my pigs this morning in a state of absolute fear, like they were petrified of something, and i don’t know what. They were both stiff as a board and wouldn’t move at all, even for treats. They aren’t sick, just incredibly scared.


Is the best thing to do leaving them alone for a while in a calm environment? I’ve never seen this before, but whatever It is, its effecting both of them. They seem to move around a little by when they are close together but when Rome ran across the cage into another hidey s’mores started chirping because she couldn’t see her anymore.

[bpatters]

Pigs get weirded out by the strangest things. Rearrange the cage furniture, and drape something over the end of the cage to protect them from the house predators. They'll get over it.

[RomeAndSmores1]

There are no house predators though.

Rome is acting strangely. I picked her up out of the cage to cuddle her and instead of lying down and sleeping on me she sat there and stared. When I put her in the cage she almost jumped out of my hand into the cage and ran for a hidey faster than I’ve ever seen her move.

Could she still be scared, or is it something more serious?

[RomeAndSmores1]

Thank you for that advice. I put a blanket over the top of the cage and now they are moving around and vocalizing. They actually came over to the uncovered side of the cage to eat some hay.

Thank you! They gave me a scare.

[Sef]

Search the forum for "scared pig" or "frightened pig." It's something that periodically happens with guinea pigs and rarely has a known cause.

[RomeAndSmores1]

Update- they’re fine now, if anything a little more timid than before.

Thank you guys I greatly appreciate it

[bpatters]

RomeAndSmores1, ask the pigs about the house predators. They'll tell you there most certainly are some. To pigs, every house has house eagles, and most have furry monsters that hiss or growl and bark. And then there are all the two-legged giants. You just have to think like a guinea pig.

[ItsaZoo]

One time Lacey scared herself when she popcorned inside her hidey and flipped it over. She spent several hours in the back corner of her cage and her eyes were huge. When she did move it was to run across the cage to the other corner. I wouldn’t have known why she was scared but my husband saw it happen.

[Sef]

Poor Lacey and the evil hidey!

[Lynx]

Lacy >(!!!!)>Shadow

[ItsaZoo]

Funny, she hides when the vacuum cleaner comes out. But when the dog flies off the handle barking at anything that moves she watches to see if he gets a treat and then starts wheeking and pacing.

[Renonvsparky]

I've been lucky so far with not having jumpy or easily frightened pigs. Sure, the occasional loud car or unusual noise might startle them when they're outside, but they get over it quickly and get back to the business of eating grass. With the exception of Scruffy, they were all a little apprehensive about letting me pick them up when I first got them, but never anything as bad as Rome, S'mores or Lacey.

Although my piggies are in one of the rooms, away from the dog and cats and not out with us, they get very frequent visits for treats, lap or grazing time, feeding, water bottle checks, hay, pellets or just to get some attention. They are in that room, but seldom alone and never isolated, especially with 7 of them in there. They've also got a television that stays on all the time at a normal ambient volume so they always have human sounds. I think that helps them to be so outgoing.