Do you handle your guinea pig soon after handling food without washing your hands?
Are there any sources of loud noises?
Do you often handle your guinea pig roughly?
Have you or the previous owner been abusive toward your guinea pig?
Was your guinea pig injured recently?
If your hands smell like food pellets, hay, veggies, fruit, fresh grass, or something else that smells like something they would eat, guinea pigs could take a bite at your hands. A guinea pig will quickly stop nibbling when it realizes it's your finger.
Noise or other commotion in the immediate area is frightening to guinea pigs. This could be anything - a thunderstorm, a vacuum cleaner, a loud TV or stereo. If something is frightening a guinea pig and it doesn't feel secure in your arms, so it could bite you to persuade you to put it back in its cage so it can burrow into a hideout house.
Guinea pigs want to feel secure and well-supported. If a guinea pig feels like its feet are hanging in mid-air, or like your shoulder is too high of a perch, or that it's being jostled too much, it will let you know. Some guinea pigs don't like to be carried while you walk around the house or go up and downstairs, and will demonstrate their objections by biting you.
Guinea pigs will become permanently fearful of a person who has been angry or abusive toward them, or a person who has consistently mishandled them. If a pig's history is unknown to you (e.g., you got them from a shelter or found them abandoned outdoors), you may have to deal with the consequences wrought by whatever human preceded you.
A guinea pig that's feeling sore in one spot, or pain all over, won't want to be held. Sources of pain or discomfort can include bruising, strains, or sprains caused by rambunctious play; getting nipped by a cage mate; skin irritation that's painful to the touch; and arthritis. It should also be noted that sick pigs don't want to be handled much either.
Sometimes guinea pigs just want to be left alone. Maybe it's feeding time and they want to focus on the lettuce leaf you just gave them. Maybe it's their usual nap time. Maybe their cage mate has been crowding them with too much attention and they just want some space from everyone. Maybe they were in the middle of a good game with a cage mate. And maybe they just don't feel like being social, for no particular reason.
https://guineapigconnection.typepad.com/pig_notes/2009/08/6-reasons-why-your-guinea-pig-is-biting.html
Sreten null
Hi! I’m Sreten Filipović. I graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Belgrade, with a master's degree in Environmental Protection in Agricultural Systems. I’ve worked as a researcher at Finland's Natural Resources Institute (LUKE) on a project aimed at adapting south-western Finland to drought episodes. I founded a consulting agency in the field of environment and agriculture to help farmers who want to implement the principles of sustainability on their farms. I’m also a founding member of the nonprofit organization Ecogenesis from Belgrade whose main goal is non-formal education on the environment and ecology. In my spare time, I like to write blog posts about sustainability, the environment, animal farming, horticulture, and plant protection. I’ve also published several science-fiction short stories.
You can find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sreten-filipovi%C4%87-515aa5158/
