How do I get my guinea pigs to like me?

Question

I keep reading that they are social animals and great pets, but my boyfriend and I are starting to get offended. One of them acknowledges me everytime I come home cuz I have bribed him with food, but when I pick him up, I can't help get the feeling he wants me to leave him alone. The other one apparently will not be bribed with food, and I barely pick him up cuz I can barely catch him. When I do pick him up his heart beats so fast and doesn't seem to slow down. I wonder if it ever does. To boot, we had that one longer, so you would think it would like us by now. We are nice people, lots of people like us. Why don't our guinea pigs?
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Answer 1

Ok first of all, never EVER put a guinea pig in a plastic ball to let it explore. It will hurt it's feet and sprain its back. Not to mention, most guinea pigs will sit in it and look and say what the heck do I do now?

Next, I am going to guess you got these little guys as babies. The biggest misnomer on the PLANET is that one must have a pet as a baby to bond with it. That is NOT TRUE! Especially with guinea pigs. Guinea pigs will bond with whoever puts food in their belly.

As guinea pigs grow up they go through several stages.

Baby stage, which lasts for about 0-6 months old. They are very skitsy, afraid of everything, high-energy, doesn't want to sit still for longer than two or three minutes, some go through a mouthy stage where they "taste" everything which some people misconstrue as "biting" but it is not truly biting.

Puberty comes next. This stage varies in length from about 6-12 months old, but can end as early as 10 months old. You will know when it is over. Now to say that a guinea pig is going through puberty does not mean it is not sexually mature prior to this. Males are sexually mature at 3 weeks old and females at 5 weeks. Puberty is the awkward stage where they do not know their own personality. This stage is like a teenager. One day you have the sweetest pig in the world and the next day you go to pick them up and they are grumpy and want nothing to do with you. Some test their boundaries with "biting." Not hard enough to draw blood but enough to bug you so you put them down, thus they get their way. They are smart. You can never give in to this sort of manipulation.

THEN, finally we come to adulthood around a year old. This is the PERFECT age to get a pig and I highly recommend everyone adopting a pig when they are at this age. They are mellow and sweet, their personalities are fully developed.

So now we know the stages what do we do? We still have to work with them every day. One way is to not chase them around the cage to get them out. I have some blind pigs, thus they cannot see me coming. Pigs don't have the best eyesight so one way I have gotten around this is to slowly put my hand towards their front, let them smell me, taste my fingers and then they step on, from which point I can pick them up with no problem. This takes A LOT OF PATIENCE, but is by far the best way than chasing a pig throughout the cage and stressing it into a coronary. You strengthen your bond that much more.

Some pigs don't mind being caught, others will always be terrified and will give you the run of their life every single time. They are prey animals.

Put your hands in their cage every day, pet them, talk to them. Hand feed them goodies. Put them in a central location of your house so they see you all the time. Let them out on the floor while you are lying down next to them. Spend oodles of time with them but just don't show frustration and be patient especially if they are young, because they will grow out of a lot of this nonsense.

Best wishes,
Lisa and the Wheeks and Squeaks Guinea Pig Rescue

Answer 2

Having raised guinea pigs since I was knee high to a hopper, I found that not all pigs are going to tame down. My first experience was with 13 of those critters and most all of them weeet weeet weeet every time I opened the crisped drawer of the refrigerator, that's because they knew that I was getting them lettus, carrots, celery... as well as feeding them a good bowl of alfala pellets that stays filled all the time, they will become your friend real fast that way and you will most likely get tired of hearing them but...I have a pig as we speak and he'll weet weet at me but run like heck when I approach the cage. once he's out, he'll come running to me and snuggle real close for protection when he spooks which brings up the reality of guinea pigs... All pigs spook real easy mainly because they're at the bottom of the food chain and they know this however...A regular routine of holding and loving on them with veggie treats every day (doesn't have to be a lot, just a little something) and your wigger should warm up to you. Tips..Let them hear the crisper drawer and you saying the same thing every time right before you give him that treat and he will weeet weeet weeet faster than you'll want. I always say hereeee pig pig pig over and over, the whole time also, for some reason it's not good to keep your pig within 20 feet of your T.V. there are sounds and tones that hurt their ears and scares them. I hope I helped you. There's nothing worse than loving something that doesn't love you back.

Answer 3

They're wierd. I had one that was very nice and liked to be held. Still jumpy though as they are high strung. She had a hat to hide in whenever something scared the S__T out of her...as things often did. Every other guinea pig i've ever met was a jumpy little prick though that made the "doodloodloodle" sound of annoyance and did burnouts in the cedar chips to escape my hand. I think it's just thier personality because at 9 years old I wasn't a particularly motherly pet owner and often scared her for the fun of it and dressed her in my sisters barbie outfits so I could laugh at her. (Don't judge me unless you've ever been a 9 year old boy with an overactive imagination). Sorry to say it but, I think you just have a.s.s.h.o.l.e guinea pigs.

Answer 4

Guinea pigs are tough. You should pick them out when they are young and play with them EVERYDAY. I had one that I tried to do that with but he always ran from me like he was running for his life. His heart beat like a drum roll every time and no matter what I did he hated it. I had one other one that seemed to really like us, he didn't run towards us or anything, but he would have fun everytime we took him out. He would run up me and jump from my shoulder to the top of the couch and scream to the top of his lungs.

Answer 5

think about it from their perspective - giant hands similar to birds talons are grabbing them and lifting them from their home - could you sit with them in a small room and let them scurry around you? Maybe they could get to know you on their level? Do you put them in those clear pet balls so they can explore? I know with some animals as long as they have a companion of their own they may not bond with you...

Answer 6

keep picking them up. you have to show them who is boss. when i was younger my pigs didn't like me and my dad kept telling me to wear a carrot necklace. (i still laugh about it). so when my sister's piggie doesn't like her i tell what happened to her carrot necklace. som piggies has mood swings. some days you can pick them up and others you can't. i guess you caught them on there off day.

Answer 7

HA HA HA! Sex with animals is wrong.