She is just barely over two months old and i read somewhere that young guinea pigs will bite. It started out as a nibble which didn't bother me but now she actually bites hard. She has plenty in her cage to chew on and doesn't mind being taken out of her cage. We wrap her in a towel when holding her and talk to her whenever we got to hold her and while we are holding her. She will even be "purring" and then just bite for what appears to be no reason, is any of this normal and what else can we do to get this to stop?? We have two children who don't get to hold her unless supervised and do not even pester her while shes in her cage. Help!
Answers:
Make sure that you wash your hands really good before holding her and don't eat anything right before... hopefully once she gets more socialized and used to you she will stop.
Ok, next time you take your guinea pig out, I would recommend talking to your guinea pig in a calm voice. Talking to your guinea pig will reasure him that you aren't there to hurt him. Another thing that you can do, it to see what posistion he is in. If you were him right at that moment, would you feel safe? If not, try to adjust him to a place where if you were him, you would feel fine. Your guinea pig is probably just scared. Putting yourself into his shoes, will help you see how he is feeling. If he continues to bite, put him back into his cage and let him stay there for about a day. Once both pet and owner have cooled down, you may take out again the next day!
This should work! If you have additional questions, you can email me at: pethelper4@yahoo.com! Thanks!
what do you mean purring. see i have this guinea pig and he makes that squeaking noise but it's not the purring noise. when we pet him the wrong way like brush his fur up then he makes this what sounds like a purring sound which means that he doesn't like it.
first- is it a happy pur? if it goes up, then she's upset. Also, wash your hands before petting her. I hope that helps!
Are you sure the sound you hear is "purring" and not "chattering"? If she's chattering, that is a warning signal that she will bite you if you don't leave her alone.
Have you treated her for mites? This can make them very irritable. You cannot see mites with the naked eye %26 sometimes there are no telltale symptoms like patches of hair loss, red skin, scratching, etc. I would have her treated by a vet just to be sure. It won't hurt her to be treated even if she doesn't have them. But then, I always err on the side of caution. Check this list to see if there is a cavy-savvy vet near you: http://www.aracnet.com/cgi-usr/seagull/v...
Another thing may be that you need to wash your hands well before holding her. I know that my piggies have a tendency to bite if they smell food on my hands.
Sorry she's giving you a hard time. Have you considered getting her a same-sex buddy?
I heard that animals nip to communicate.
This is what I heard you should do if your rabbit nips your hand: Yelp "EEK!" loud and high pitched. He/she will know that she's hurting you and will be much more gentle the next time she's trying to get your attention and it will just be a gentle nibble. Repeat the process if she still isn't gentle enough next time.
I'm not sure if that will work with a guinea pig though... just a guess.
You shouldn't be holding them so much either. they don't like it and will die of heart attack eventually.
Well, make sure that you work with her everyday. It's probably just from the lack of being held when she was born. Make sure you know the signs of when she's going ot bite, so you can prevent it, and maybe start out by holding her while wearing gloves. Just make sure she doesnt feel threatened and talk to her in soothing voices and pet her softly, and try to not pet her by the head.
Eventually your guinea pig will stop biting and just nibble, or maybe even not nibble at all. Your guinea pig has had too much eximent, maybe it met the family too fast, everyone was holding it! If it is a family pet, then get the person who will most likely be feeding it, spending a lot of time with it to pet it, hold it, just get the guinea pig used to you! then a few days later introduce it to the family and then to maybe the dog... You just rushed too fast, have patience!
Ok. Lets start by solving this "purring" problem. Use the following sites to establish what sound your guinea pig is actually making:
http://www.jackiesguineapiggies.com/guin...
http://www.mgpr.org/mgpr/guinea%20pig%20...
Wash your hands very well before handling your guinea pig as if you have handled food prior to holding your guinea pig she make think that you are food. Guinea pigs bite only if they are hungry or if they do not like what you are doing. Are you holding her correctly? http://depts.washington.edu/compmed/vete...
Try feeding her something like parsley when holding her and do not allow even a nibble.
guinea pigs don't really like being cuddled up in a towel. i suggest putting it on ur lap and feed it some veggies while tou massage buyind it's ears
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