Taming Guinea Pigs
Every guinea pig owner agrees that with their wonderful temperament, guinea pigs make great, tame pets. However, they would also agree that it takes time, effort and lots of patience in taming a guinea pig. Keep a few of these basics in mind if you have new guinea pigs and are on your way to taming them.
The survival instinct in a guinea pig always tells it hide when it hears or senses something approaching. Years of running away from predators have made them wary of strangers. They will need some time to get used to the fact that you mean them no harm and that they are safe inside your house.
If you have a pair of new guinea pigs, the best thing would be to just let them be, as much as possible for the first few days. The temptation to show off your new cuddly guinea pigs to friends and family may be overwhelming but that would not be a good start. The new guinea pigs are already very wary of their new place and all the new people and too much noise and handling may terrify them.
Remember not to get too enthusiastic when your guinea pigs start venturing out sooner than you expected. Any sudden show of affection or picking up may scare them and they may lose whatever little self-confidence they had acquired.
Help them get comfortable. Leave lots of fresh green grass, dark green salad leaves and fresh fruits and vegetables for them to nibble on whenever they feel like.
It is also important that guinea pigs have a fairly large cage so that they can move around comfortably. In fact, it is extremely advisable to make a nice house for each guinea pig to live in. It is noticed that most of the time, when guinea pigs are startled by any noise or sudden movement, they tend to take shelter in their houses. If one guinea pig is more dominant than the other and there is only one house, he will always force himself inside that house and kick out the others. These can cause major fights, particularly among male guinea pigs.
When you feed your guinea pigs at the beginning, you may need to just leave the food in a bowl and move away. However, slowly as your pigs start getting used to you, you may have them eating out of your hand. You may want to try not giving them food for some time if they do not take it from your hand. That way they will be forced to come and take the food from your hand. Every time they do that, you may want to add some treats for them.
Once your guinea pigs have learned to start eating from your hand, it is easy to make them come out their box more and more, first to just eat the food from your hand and later whenever you call them or approach their cage.