Guinea pig won't stop squeaking

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PiggieMom56

Post   » Sun Apr 20, 2014 10:07 pm


I agree with Red252 it sounds like she is lonely, and instead of just socializing with her (which is probably what she wants is to see a familiar face) you're feeding her lettuce. Well of course she will stop squeaking because now she has a distraction away from her trying to communicate to you that she's lonely and stressed out. My advice would be get her pellets, some toys to chew on, give her plenty of lap time to get to know you, get her a friend, and feed her on A SCHEDULE. Whatever you do, don't feed her at any time between those feedings for a while, I say give it a few months. My girls know exactly when its time to eat and when its not time. They may be little, but they know what they want.

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PinkRufus
Contributor in 2020

Post   » Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:21 am


If you give her lettuce to quiet her down every time she hears footsteps, you are enforcing the very behavior you don't want. I learned this the hard way by giving my first guinea pig (Rufus) a treat every time he chewed on the cage bars. Soon he was chewing them all the time, expecting a treat! He even had us getting up in the middle of the night!

I agree with PiggieMom56 about feeding on a schedule. I have been doing this with all of my pigs since Rufus and it works quite well. Now they only wheek at feeding time. When they are young they get more excited and wheek more often and louder, in my experience, so she may calm down as she ages too.

Also, I agree about getting her a friend to keep her company and distract her from the footsteps.

raven21ca

Post   » Sun Jun 21, 2015 12:09 am


For all you saying its her fault for not having a feeding schudule I find that to be dishonest

I have had my piggy since he was a baby he is about 4 months old and I only feed him fresh veggies twice a day. He always has pellets and always has hay. He squeaks whenever he hears someone.. specially plastic bags lol

I came online to see why he never stops chirping and beggin for food he already has.. to see this forum... I do not think its due to lack of schudle

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PinkRufus
Contributor in 2020

Post   » Sun Jun 21, 2015 1:45 am


"For all you saying its her fault for not having a feeding schudule I find that to be dishonest"

Calling the posters on this thread, "dishonest" is a faux pas on your part. This forum is for people to share their experiences with others. What works for one, may not work for another, but no one is intentionally deceiving anyone else here. Obviously, giving a guinea pig treats every time he/she wheeks for food, is the way to have him/her keep wheeking until he/she gets what he/she wants, thus promoting more wheeking.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Jun 21, 2015 6:43 am


Yes. This is a psychological issue. Behavioral conditioning, I think it's called. It happens with people and also with animals (has been scientifically proven).

Maddy_harper

Post   » Sun Jun 21, 2015 8:50 am


Mine are on a schedual for greens and pelits. They have unlimited hay. I dont have any issues with wheeking for food as a result. My pigs are a pair called chock and spike. Finding chocks cage mate really braught him out of his shell and he has someone to play and snuggle up with when he wants to for when i cant always give time if i have a busy day.

TLC_Dragonfire

Post   » Tue Feb 20, 2018 6:44 am


Luckily, this is something I've gone through, but kinda in a different way. First of all, you should invest in some pellets, my guinea pigs loved it so much, that I had to take it away just so they would eat the hay again. Secondly, to me, it sounds like you have one guinea pig. I would highly recommend bonding it unless you want to take the risk of a guinea pig death. I say this because I hear if you have another guinea pig, and they like to eat hay, it should influence the first one to eat as well, just from the habit of "I want what they have".
Stop feeding it lettuce, it is not good for them is it becomes a main food supply. Beg your family to put up with the squealing because if you respond to the negative behavior, the guinea pig thinks it's fine and knows it can have lettuce whenever it wants. instead of spoiling it, ignore it. Even though it might be annoying, I've been there to, and it was worth it in the end.
If your guinea pig prefers to be hand fed, I think that's awesome, they must love you and trust you, so do what is best for them. Get some pellets, stop feeding them lettuce And other human vegetables, and hand feed them if needed.

TLC_Dragonfire

Post   » Tue Feb 20, 2018 6:55 am


Since this also relates to the topic, can someone help me?
My guinea pig is non stop squealing, her original cage mate died just a bit more than a week ago, we took so long to get a new one because on the third week I changed my mind on rehoming her, but now I have a new one, 8 months old. We bonded them, I already knew my original one, whose name is Chippy, would be the non-dominant, and I was right, because the 8-month-old baby, S'mores, was very bossy. There was no fighting because Chippy was submissive, but ever since we changed the bedding and put them both in the cage, Chippy has been nonstop squealing. Their water is full and they have easy access to it, they have pellets, and they have hay. Chippy and S'mores sit next to the hay all day, and I'm not sure if they move unless to get water. Has anyone had something like this happen, because I am beginning to lose sleep over it, and I do have school.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Feb 20, 2018 7:51 am


First, I totally disagree with not feeding lettuces (green leafy lettuces) and vegetables. This should be part of a good diet.
www.guinealynx.info/diet.html

Sounds like you may have a cage that is too small or poorly set up. Read over www.guinealynx.info/companionship.html and all the links.

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PooksiedAnimals
Supporting my GL Habit

Post   » Tue Feb 20, 2018 7:59 am


As long as they maintain their weights, and things don't escalate to fighting (which if they've been together for a few days, I really doubt that would happen), I wouldn't worry. My guess is the squealing is still part of the introductions, and should start to taper off in a week or two (heh - or three - I think it took a long time for Cannoli and Boadicea to quiet down).

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue Feb 20, 2018 10:39 am


TLC_Dragonfire, the last post on this thread was nearly three years ago. Please pay attention to the dates before responding. It would be better if you'd copy this information about your pig and post to on a new thread about your pigs.

TLC_Dragonfire

Post   » Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:08 am


I'm sorry, I just signed up looking to find help for my guinea pig, and one of the rules I can remember is something like don't create a post if there is one similar, so I was also trying to find answers.

Also, turns out the new guinea pig was a male :(

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