Guinea Rescue #4 – Handling

Guinea pigs like most small prey animals do not enjoy being handled or held for the most part, they thrive within the protection of their herd and will more than likely avoid your hands completely unless you are handing them food. It takes time and patience, with a careful hand in a calm environment for your Guinea pigs to open up and begin bonding with you, it can be saddening having your new friend run away in fear from you every time you get near their home but if you follow the steps I took, hopefully you can indeed grow closer to your piggy’s.

Ghost and Hero both had completely opposite reactions when it came to their liking (or disliking) to being handled and touched in general. I mentioned in a previous blog that I do believe in an animal right to body autonomy and with that in mind, I took a very patient and steady approach to bonding with my two boy pigs after they arrived from home from the rescue. Hero loves head scratches and strokes when he is roaming around on his own, he will even approach me for interaction if I am lucky enough to catch him in an exceptionally good mood. However, he really has issues with being picked up and held, often times squirming and wriggling away from us if the chance arises, this makes him particularly difficult when treating his nails, teeth, and fur. Across the pen, Ghost is a significantly more timid soul and while I have made immense strides forward bonding with him, he still has moments of panic in which he will bolt away and hide in one of his safe spots. Picking him up is never an issue, once he knows he is being scooped up he stands still and then remains placid while we groom him or check his physical health. If you really want to see your piggy’s true personality, you will need to invest many hours into gaining their trust, here is what I did to achieve that.

Picking Up Your Guinea Pig

Guinea pigs are fragile little creatures, they can be unfortunately hurt very easily and potentially very severely if they fall from heights. Breaking bones, damaging teeth, and snapping nails are just some of the dreadful results of mishandling a Guinea pig and dropping them. It can be scary when you first start handling them and without prior knowledge it can be easy to make mistakes or get into bad habits that could negatively affect your relationship with the pig. As usual, I did my studying online with various professional YouTube channels (LA Guinea Rescue once again) and listened to techniques that have been used to create a safe atmosphere for the Guinea pig before I even attempted to scoop them up from above. I will give you the information I received and also share some additional feelings on what worked, or didn’t work, for my two boys.

First thing to remember whenever you need to pick up your pig, which I would recommend doing at the very least once per week to check for injuries or new lumps/bumps/wounds, is that the Guinea pig will be terrified regardless of how gentle you are speaking or how calm you behave. This is not a sleight against you, this is a prey animals’ natural reaction to what they deem to be a predator or threat trying to corner them. Go slow, draw your closed fingered hands gentle towards them in a cupping motion as if you are going to gently scoop them instead of grabbing with open fingers like a looming vulture. Once you have your Guinea pig held down safely, slide your fingers underneath their belly ensuring that one or both of their front legs fit between you fingers. This will give you a better grip on the piggy and also create a sense of security for the animal that will lessen the likelihood that they will squirm or wriggle away. Support their backside at all times, Guinea pigs need two hands to support them and will always be calmer in situations that allow two hands one under their belly and one by their bums. Keep them flat or keep them upright, for my two boys they despise being held horizontally with an arm propped beneath them as some suggested online. Hero and Ghost prefer being held with two fingers holding their legs, as mentioned earlier, and one hand beneath their bums holding them with their back upright against my arms. Every pig is different, try a couple of techniques if you are struggling but at all times keep your grip, Guinea pigs can wriggle and fidget, do not let them feel like they are in danger of falling.

Putting Them Back Down

Sounds simple enough right, that’s because it is the easiest part of handling your excited (or scared) little Guinea pig. When returning them to their home/cage/pen, however you wish to describe their accommodation, it is vitally important that you keep two hands on them until the moment they touch the ground with all four feet. A Guinea pigs’ natural instinct will to bolt away the second they feel solid ground approaching, this can lead to them kicking before they are safely down and badly hurting themselves from the fall. Keep those hands firmly in place and hold you Guinea pig still when they are placed back for a second or two to ensure they calm down and don’t sprint into anything that could harm them. Bonus tip for anyone like me who’s got a feisty Guinea pig companion (looking at your Hero), beware of those nails, they might be clean and trimmed but when they start kicking in excitement to reach the ground, they can and will scratch you up and down.

Head Scratching and Chin Stroking

Here we are again with the same thing I have been saying since the first blog in the Guinea Rescue series, every Guinea pig has a different and unique personality that requires different approaches, this is especially pertinent when it comes to bonding and handling. There is really no set method of getting to the stage in which your Guinea allows you to scratch their head or give them loving pats or strokes, they are incredibly social animals but that comes with time and developing trust with their carers that you would be foolish to rush. Having the journey with them from fear to love is one of the most rewarding experiences I have had in my adult life, watching Ghost develop from a terrified little man that would flee every time we entered to room into a loving curious spirit who now approaches me for attention has been worth every struggle since bringing them home.

Hero is a simple man, he loves a gentle scratch on the top his nose and head, but never the ears and never further down his body than his hips. I learned his rules and now we enjoy a little session of scratching and sometimes cuddles every evening, if he is in a good mood that is. Being the brave of my two boys it was Hero that first approached Tanya and I with the intention of sniffing at our hands and getting closer by the day, slow closed hands, and the ability to read his body language landed me at the point in which he now allows the back-and-forth trading of affection. Normally I can tell when the little black-and-brown fella is not feeling very friendly, if I attempt to stroke his head in the morning and get a rapid head shake of his ears then I know that he does not want attention and I should leave him alone. Learning their language in this way has helped me to create an environment in which they aren’t scared to tell me to “go away” when they’ve had a bad morning. 

With Ghost the experience was significantly different, his apprehension to anything related to being handled was a testing time as we watched Hero open up. Ghost seemed scared of any movements, hand waves or attempts to talk to him for the first three months, it broke my heart thinking that he was constantly scared of me. Five months on and the relationship between Ghost and myself has changed in a beautiful way. We still aren’t at the comfortable level that Hero and I have achieved, but Ghost is now happy to approach me if I am not being loud or making fast movements, his mood is significantly more relaxed and has even taken to sleeping on my lap when we are checking him over in the evenings. I believe that patience, dedication to the cause and respecting their body language coupled with the physically trick I picked up on that any Guinea pig will become your best friend if you give them the effort, they need to feel safe. If you are trying to bond with your piggy and want to get that heart melting little head scratch into your relationship, here is what I did. Reach out a closed fingered hand when the piggy is Infront of you, attempt to stroke them or give their head a little scratch and if they let you but seem scared, give them a little pat and then stop showing them that they weren’t in any danger. This is the tactic I used with Ghost until he finally accepted that attention from me won’t kill him or put him in any physical danger. It was worth the effort having known how timid they both had been when they arrived, these two Guinea pigs from Watford are now more than “pets” they are now part of my strange little family.

Summing Up

What it all comes down to is the effort you are willing to put into the bonding process, they will feed of your patience and calm atmosphere more than you think and after a while they will stop seeing you as the threat from above. Ghost and Hero bonding with me has been rewarding beyond words, with the acceptance that I am now a safe haven for them and a part of their little herd, I have brought two animals that suffered previously into a safe and loving environment. I hope that will patience and love, you and many others reading this can do the same for your Guinea friend.