Widget is terrified and we don't know why

maremma

Post   » Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:21 pm


Tear the entire cage apart and scrub the life out of it. Throw away all hay that is in the pen and put all fresh things back in.

This happend to my poor James. The poor baby was so afraid he wouldn't eat or sleep. I had ot get him out and hold him out i nthe living room for him to be able to eat or sleep and he NEBER sleeps when out for lap time. He is way to busy looking for danger and what not.
He snuck around peeking very slowly out around corners to try to get in and out of his hidey box. He became so panicked he began stampeeding in circles around his pen so fast I was afraid to try to stop him for fear I would break his back or neck. He literally ran so fast he managed to throw himself right up and over his pen wall landing him smack in the middle of another males pen!

I saw the incident but didn't get to him in time before he began stampeeding. I realized he was afraid of his hay. Something smelled different to him and it was terrifying the poor thing.

I suspect some predator smell remained in the pile he had. After all hay is grown out in a field. Fleid mice rats etc live in them. Hauks, owls cats etc seek food in hay feilds due to this. You get the idea.

I do believe prey animals give off a scent when something terrifies them to serve as warning to the next prey animal that comes that way. It must stay on whatever it is sprayed on for quite some time. Especially if it was sprayed, no rain came and the farmer came out and cut the hay the very next day.

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domill

Post   » Mon Aug 06, 2007 2:29 pm


My Snickers went though something like that a while back. He refused to go in his hiddy house. He usually loves it and sleeps in it, but every time I tried to put him in it he ran into the corner like he saw the boogie man or something. Whatever it was, he was back to normal shortly, but it did take a few days. Never did figure out what happened.

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twofinepigs

Post   » Mon Aug 06, 2007 11:44 pm


A case of The Spooks - seems to be common!

Is he continuing to recover?

TwoWhitePiggies

Post   » Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:17 am


I have been putting hay in his "safe" area and at the end of his walkway, and the poops don't lie - he's been eating in both places. I still can't get him into the hayloft.

He's back to running out and biting bars to let us know he wants attention though, so that's a good sign.

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Sonaa

Post   » Tue Aug 07, 2007 4:03 am


Hehe Rshevin!
Yah I read it a while back. Really changed my perspective on the animal mind. It's really got very practical info that I've actually used.

Brandilynn
Who's your Branni?

Post   » Tue Aug 07, 2007 7:30 am


:{ Come on Widgey, come back to hayland!

TwoWhitePiggies

Post   » Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:30 pm


Yaay! I came downstairs to find Widgy munching in his hayloft!

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rshevin

Post   » Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:32 pm


Hurray! Go Widget go!

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1aicha
Ze French Piggies

Post   » Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:47 pm


Yes! Seems to be on the way to recovery then?:)

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RavenShade
Thanks for the Memories

Post   » Tue Aug 07, 2007 3:08 pm


I just remembered the time Max freaked after I cleaned his pen and accidently put a dead mouse in there. I'm glad he's coming around, but it makes me wonder what might have been in the bin or hay and if it was smell and not a binder clip.

cutemomomi
Obey My Authority

Post   » Tue Aug 07, 2007 3:54 pm


Oh poor thing, something scared little Widget...
I hope he will start feleing safe and playful in his whole mansion soon.

TwoWhitePiggies

Post   » Mon Dec 10, 2007 9:06 pm


It has happened again, and this time, I was there to witness it. I was installing Widget's fresh water bottle. He was lounging in his hayloft, not moving around, not eating, just hanging out.

He was watching me, knew what I was up to. Suddenly, he leaped in the air, and started to back into a corner and wouldn't move. My three-pound pig squished up into a ball the size of a softball.

We managed to coax him over to the other side of the cage, where he stayed squished up against the corner, in absolute terror. He kept staring at the cuddle cup as if it were going to attack him. (The cuddle cup wasn't even in his line of sight when this started.)

I had to take out the cuddle cup.

He wouldn't drink from his bottle for almost 5 hours because he was too scared to approach it. (Widget is our big drinker - in the summer, he finishes an entire bottle by himself so we have to keep two bottles in there for him to make sure he doesn't go thirsty.)

He wouldn't go in his pigloo until I washed it.

He has started moving around the cage a little, but he does it by stretching out only his front feet as much as possible.

He still won't go on his walkway or in his hayloft.

There was no bug, spider, or mouse. There was no hay stick. I didn't startle him, because he was watching me with interest. It was like he'd seen a ghost.

He was shaking. My big Widget was just terrified. I was begging him to give me a hint as to what the problem was, but no luck.

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