Taming an adult

Hi!

I havent been on this site in a long time! I have my albino baby harvey who is 1.5 years old and hes doing great but I recently got a new little guy and I wanted to ask some q's. When I got harvey he was very young so taming and bonding was pretty straight forward. My new boy george is nealy 2 (also an albino) and he hasnt been handled much in the last year or so he was taken out maybe once or twice a week sometimes just for footbaths and nail clippings. He gets very huffy when he is 1st picked up but he settles down soon enough, the problem is that everytime I move or make noise while he's out he huffs up again. I'm not sure if I should ignore it and carry on as normal and wait till he gets used to it (but its been 2 months and I see no change). Or if I should try to find a way to slowly introduce him to noise.

He also is guaranteed to have poopy feet every morning from his wheel and he hates the bath so I'm not sure if giving him a footbath when I first take him out is making him hate coming out more but I also dont want to have him crawling over me and other things with poopy feet and they need to be cleaned. It does seem like he just wants to be left alone but I would like to try to get him used to me even just so cleaning his feet and cutting his nails aren't so traumatising for him............Any advice, suggestions or help would be gratly appreciated

Thanks!

I would say his behavior is normal for a hog. He's not nippy just a bit huffy and once out is OK but he reacts to nose, all hogs will. The degree depends on the hog. I've had hogs who barley flinch and others who ball tight while in your hands. I've had quill punctures from hand trapping with adult Europeans (tame captives) and our little APH so there is nothing I could suggest apart from when you are holding him, to reduce the chance of injury to yourself and to him, keep loud noise and sudden movements to a minimal. Otherwise carry on as normal. It can take a lot of time and patients. I can tell you it really is down to him, he may well get used to his new routine and settle a little but I wouldn't image he will ever be like your other boy. Also, can I just ask, are you spending more time with him during the day or evenings/night time. This can play a part in their behavior.

When you clean his feet just put enough warm water for him to wade. He doesn't need a full blown bath every day. Again, some hogs love a good swim and others will fight all the way and seem to hate it but clean feet are essential for good hygiene and reducing the risk of nasty bacterial build up. Unfortunately it is us who must adapt to our animals a lot of the time and not the other way round.

Thanks I usually take him out around evening time. I don't mind if he doesn't get much better he is friendly enough I just don't want to be scaring him everytime he's out but I guess he'll get used it. I have noticed he hates the light so I try take him out when its dark enough. Thanks for all the advise!

how's this wee guy doing for you, has he calmed down any?

He's doing fine thanks still very grumpy but he settles down fast enough, seems to enjoy being out and wandering around. He'll come up to me if he's out on the floor but he doesn't like being handled so I just leave him to it as much as I can.

I've found that once the room is as dark as possible he's less jumpy so I give him footbaths in a dimly lit room and have the room quite dark when he's out.

I'm happy with him anyway... I think he's more grumpy than scared of everything now

Good to hear how he is doing. Do you think he is showing a sensitivity to light at all? This is something I have been interested in for a while now. God I'd love to meet him and interact with him. I love meeting hogs I don't know and seeing their body language, never fails to fascinate me.

Great info from tan as usual! Hogs really are fascinating little creatures...

Yeah he can't stand the light he wont come out of his igloo bed unless all lights are off. If I do take him out when the lights are on he curls up and goes to sleep in any dark place he can find. He's usually out on his wheel when I go to bed and as soon as I turn the light on he freezes and then makes his way to bed really cautiously.

The only time I've found him out of bed during the day he was lying half in his flower pot all stretched out and I had a mini panick attack thinking he was dead I was so happy to hear his huffing when I opened the cage.