New Member and New Piggies

[mango]

Hello, I'm Mango and I am very new to this so bear with me.

    I've wanted to join a forum for a while now and I've been having trouble finding one that is active and willing to answer my questions. Crossing my fingers that I can find some help here .

    I currently have two guinea pigs, one Cuy and one American Shorthair. Our shorthair, Logan, is a small tortoiseshell. He is about three or four years old and he already acts like an old man. We adopted him from Cavy Haven after he was abused and dumped . He is picky, doesn't like any sort of handling, and will tolerate some stroking on his back. He absolutely hates getting touched from the sides, back, face, anything but his back. We have tried everything, but he seems like the solitary type. I can even go as far as saying that he was happier in the months when he was alone in his cage without a buddy. He continues to be a piece of work, and also a huge eater. Doesn't like being hand fed and he actually will yank the food out of your hand so he can go enjoy it else wear.

    Popcorn, our Cuy, is actually the polar opposite to Logan. Since my brother shops at Pet Smart, we had seen Popcorn in his cage a couple of times. His initial name was "Van Gogh", due to him being born with an inverted ear. After about two months without seeing him leave his pitifully small cage, we decided to buy him. Before I get a lot of resistance to this, I'll explain why we got him. Even though he was in such a small cage, he had such an outgoing personality. We saw him pop-corning dozens of times, and he always seemed to love interacting with you through the glass. I feel like we made the correct decision because he is by far the most charming piggie I have ever met. He is overweight, as expected of a Cuy, but he is currently on a diet and gets LOTS of floor time each day to keep his muscle tone up. He has a wide snout, floppy ears, and the classic orangeish coloring. Popcorn seems to love everything. He doesn't exhibit the normal skittish and aggressive behavior that Cuy are known for. We hope to keep him healthy for as long as we can, but we know that his genes are working against us and in the end there is only so much we can do .

    I don't know who the dominate one is, but I'm guessing its Popcorn. Popcorn has the size, but Logan has the attitude. I swear, he is the sassiest pig I have EVER taken care of.  

    Trying to keep this short, but it seems impossible XD. A little bit about me: my real name is Sydney, I do ceramics, competitive swimming, and participate in writing competitions. I love science and I've participated in the Science Fair multiple times (I got to the State Competition this year ) and I want to enter a career that involves biology. 

If you have any questions about the piggies feel free to ask, but this is really just an introduction. I actually don't know what I'm doing... I'm very new to this.

[Bean]

Hi and welcome to Wheekers! Can you teach me to swim front crawl please?!

Please don't feel you need to justify buying Popcorn from a pet shop (love the Van Gogh part!) - you won't get jumped on for it here! Your pigs sound wonderful, and I'm glad Logan now has a nice safe home with you, even if he's never going to be a people piggy. It sounds like you can respect that and it's great that Popcorn provides balance to that. Does Logan seem fairly happy? I was just really making sure you'd excluded anything like mites or a skin condition which could make it uncomfortable for him to be touched, and that it was that he simply doesn't care for people too much (which wouldn't be surprising given his history).

If you don't have a clear boss out of the two, that's a good sign as it hopefully means they're getting along reasonably well. When pairings don't work, one pig is often the underdog and gets bossed around loads. I hope they can get along well and provide lots of companionship for one another.

How many pigs have you had before?

[jolovespiggies]

Thank you for your lovely introduction hunni. Welcome to our happy family.

Hugs
Jo xx

[mango]

These are my third and fourth piggies, so I haven't had that many. We just did a physical exam on Logan and we didn't find anything wrong... he's always been a healthy guinea pig. Today I got a little purr out of him, but it's probably because I had food with me.

[Bean]

Haha, piggy hearts can definitely be won over with food! I always use veggie bribery for reluctant pigs. Glad Logan seems generally healthy too, it was just a thought.

[3piggles]

Hello and welcome No justification needed for buying a pet store pig. I've had several, including my absolute favorite of all time Thank you for getting the poor big guy out of that tiny cage, and giving him a real reason to popcorn.

Dominance can be hard to determine until it's used. Size has nothing to do with it, which surprises me. Just watch them, and eventually something will happen that shows who's dominant.

[jolovespiggies]

Very true Piggles love. I became so fed up with charities and rescues ignoring me that I went to Pets at Home. Most of them just ignored me or wanted to make a home visit which they wouldn't do because of the distance and others saying they don't have any. I adore Prudie and Demi and so glad I have them.

Hugs
Jo xx

[3piggles]

The anti-pet store issue is that they buy from backyard breeders, and if we buy pigs from them, they get more from the backyard breeders, keeping those poor piggies in horrible conditions. Leaving a piggy in a tank, or with a fungal infection the store won't bother to treat, is torture to the poor things, and they deserve to be rescued, in my book. I don't want the breeders to keep breeding, but rather than sacrificing a whole slew of piggies to owners who buy them to shut up their kids, and put them in terrible cages, I want laws stopping the backyard breeders.

I'm glad you got your girls, Jo, and for every other piggy bought by a truly loving parent. I can only hope the rescues in your area have enough adoptive parents to place most of their piggies.

I also want to see better literature at pet stores and rescues, detailing the costs of having piggies, the actual cage sizes needed, vet costs for common ailments, etc. Even rescues tend to pick the person to go with the piggy, but not vet the person to make sure they can afford a vet bill, or have space for a large cage. If the rescues in your area do home visits, and you were too far for them to go, that could be why they told you they didn't have any piggies.

[mango]

PetSmart has been importing pigs from brazil guinea pig farms so many of the animals arrive with health problems and issues due to how they were treated. I know my first pig from PetSmart was very skittish and afraid of humans, probably because of the way he was treated when he was younger...

Logan and Popcorn were having floor time today and I noticed that Logan was picking a lot of fights... if Popcorn so much as got near his rump or side or face he would lash out. Do you guys know why he is acting like this? It seems like he doesn't just not like being touched by humans but also by other piggies too.

[jolovespiggies]

You are right ladies and ordinarily I wouldn't have done it but I don't think Pets at Home would buy from dreadful breeders. I know about these people and they make me sick, I can't bear to think of a piggy suffering. I too want to stop backyard breeders everywhere.

Hugs
JO xx

[Bean]

This is a great page about their social lives and there's a section on introductions which gives you a nice clear list of signs that all is okay and signs that they may not be getting along. Have a read and see if it tells you anything about how your boys are interacting.

With boys, space is always key to them getting along. But as you found, sometimes when you move them to a different area, even if it's a big one, they can feel the need to assert their dominance again to take claim on that space. But hopefully it will blow over quickly, rather than putting either of them constantly on edge.

I haven't found that pigs who have been wary of people have transferred that over to not tolerating other pigs. But it could be that Logan has been made anxious by his experiences so is more on edge.

I'm assuming no one is actually getting injured?

[mango]

I check for little scratches or spots on the lips where they tend to bite... nothing there. I also comb through their fur to look for little scabs. I do this about every three days or so. They don't fight while in their enclosure. Thanks for the website and I will take a look!

[bazookagoof]

I'm coming in a little late to the party, but welcome to the board, mango!

If you get a chance, please post pictures of your piggies; we'd love to see them!

[3piggles]

We've had this discussion many times, but unless we breed our own pigs from healthy, well-treated parents(no,I'm not suggesting we do this), we never know exactly what we're getting. They could have a genetic flaw that will end their lives early, or they may have been treated in ways we don't know, and can only guess.

The fact that he doesn't seem to like to be touched tells me he's had bad experiences with being touched, period. We can't tell what he would consider to be a bad experience, but since animals seem to be extremely adaptable, for him to act this way, I'd say he had a history of bad experiences from being touched by humans or animals, or both. He doesn't seem to have any trust that humans will treat him well, or that they will protect him from attacking animals, which seems so sad.

Obviously, this is all guess work, but we spend a large chunk of our lives guessing what's wrong with our spouses, our children, our pets, our coworkers, etc., so a little common sense and guesswork shouldn't be too far off

I would let him have his space. Maybe get a mate for Popcorn, and let Logan live where he can see, hear and smell other piggies, but not have to tolerate them getting too close. He may change his ways, once he's had a chance to really get settled in and relaxed, and knows he doesn't have to be touched if he doesn't want to be.

[mango]

Unfortunately, I will not be able to get another guinea pig. My parents run the house and I am already fortunate enough to have two. Logan is getting his physical exam today so hopefully everything goes well!

[jolovespiggies]

I hope all is OK hunni.

Hugs
Jo xx

[Bean]

It's good that they get along within their enclosure. Dominance can be complicated, so it could be that certain situations or events trigger Logan's need to throw his weight around. Hopefully he and Popcorn will iron out their relationship over time, but if not, then they can still provide an enormous amount of companionship for each other living side by side.

Good luck at the vets, hope Logan gets a clean bill of health.

[3piggles]

I hope Logan is healthy

Bean's right. Sometimes just changing the cage bedding can get the dominance going again, and changing settings, such as floor time versus cage time, can also trigger it. Hopefully they will work it out

[mango]

SO sorry for the late reply!

Logan is completely healthy! Popcorn is completely healthy! I guess that rules out any physical problems.

[jolovespiggies]

That is great news hunni, thank you for telling us.

Hugs
Jo xx