Guinea Pigs Care: How To Handle Your Guinea Pig Correctly.

Do you feel like your guinea pig is way too shy when you handle it?  Or are you just lacking the knowledge as to why it acts that way?

You see, guinea pigs do not have superior vision. This means, once they become aware that they are being stroked by humongous hands without any notice, they might naturally be frightened since they are not aware that someone will be picking them up.

A technique to help with this, is by going slow at first. Moving not so fast will relax your beloved pet. Also, from moving slowly, it will get to hear more and adjust to the pace of your actions. This will prevent you from scaring it. Move slowly towards the guinea pig run.

One other thing that you may also want to do is to take away its hiding place from inside the guinea pig run around 15 minutes before handling it. By doing this, when they run away and hide they will have nowhere to hide in. Once they realize this this, they will be reinforced at the same time, as you are now ready to handle your pet. This principle is also applicable when kids are afraid of the dark and parents would want to take away this fear in them.

Now that it has nowhere to hide, you can sing or hum to it serenely and make it feel like it does not want to let go of you.

When you pick your pet guinea pig up make sure you use both hands. Guinea pigs love to try and jump into mid air, so this will prevent them from doing that. You should ensure that when you are holing your guinea pig pet that its entire body is supported. It is a good idea to wrap one arm around its chest and the other under its bottom.

Upon holding it for some time  you will want to place it once again in its cage. When you do this make sure that you are using both of your hands. It is very important too that you educate your child about this. The reason for doing this is you would not want it to be startled and to run through mid-air as you try to hold it with just one hand. In contrast, when you use two hands, you can be sure that it is secured and can avoid breaking its legs.

One way to begin to train your guinea pig not to wiggle so much when being held is as follows.

When you return your guinea pig to its cage don’t just let it go when its feet hit the floor of the guinea pig run. Instead hold onto it until its wiggles subside. then you can let go. Over time your guinea pig will learn that for it to be set free it must not squirm around.

These measures must be carefully considered if you want to ensure your pet’s safety and if you want to handle it with more care.