Guinea pig lost

Guinea pigs get lost from time to time. Most often this happens while walking around the room – a loosely closed door is enough, and the pig will take advantage of the opportunity and run away. However, the mumps can also run away from the cage, for example, at night when you sleep.

What needs to be done to quickly find the escaped pig? Most importantly, do not panic – methodical searches increase the chances of finding a fugitive safe and sound.

• First of all, close all doors. So the pig will be locked in one of the rooms and will not be able to run from one room to another, and it will be easier for you to find the animal. *For your pig’s safety, walk around the room and remove potential hazards, such as removing electrical wires and items from the floor that may be poisonous to your pig. If you keep other animals, isolate them temporarily so they don’t harm your guinea pig.
• Now you need to go into every room and rustle with a plastic bag or hay bag (this will work if guinea pigs usually react to rustling). Most likely, this will have an effect on the pig and she will either run away from the place where she was hiding, or give out her location by whistling. 
• Quickly look around each room: suddenly you notice a pig? Where is her favorite place while walking around the room? Maybe she is there? Check under tables and chairs, behind cabinets – if desired, the pig can crawl into very small holes, especially if she fled in fright. Stand in complete silence, listening: you may hear the pig scratching or whistling. If you look closely, you may notice pieces of gnawed paper or pig droppings. 

If the mumps doesn’t show up during a superficial examination, it’s time to do some detective work! Listed below are the most effective ways to detect runaway gilts.

Pig lure!

If you have a second guinea pig, try bringing one into every room and positioning the cage so that the escaped guinea pig can smell or hear it. Hopefully, this will seduce the fugitive, she will find herself, and you can catch her. 

Appeal to the belly!

Place food and water in every room. This will help you determine which room your pig is hiding in, as it will eventually come out when it is hungry or thirsty. Notice what the pig has eaten to use as bait later. Or you can put a cardboard box with hay inside on its side. It’s funny, but when you enter the room some time later, you may very well find your pig sleeping in the hay! 

Catch this pig!

When you know what room she’s in, set up a pig trap. It is constructed in the following way. Place a box (or any other similar container) high enough so that the pig cannot jump out of it. Build a narrow “ramp” or ladder for the pig to climb to the edge of the box (for example, from several books). Line the bottom of the box with something soft, such as hay for a soft landing – the pig should not be hurt if it falls. After that, put bait on the books – fragrant vegetables, such as celery or cucumber. The smell will lure the pig out of the shelter, she will eventually climb the “ramp” for a treat and plop into the box!

If you lost a pig not in a room, but, say, in a garden, make similar traps, but first of all make sure that the pig does not suddenly run out into the roadway. Either way, don’t give up on your quest! 

Remember! Don’t let your pig get lost!

• Check if cage doors are closed.
• Always close the door of the room where you let the pig out for a walk.
• If you take the crate out into the garden, make sure it is absolutely safe and secure for your guinea pig, even if the guinea pig is in an enclosure/pen. Check fences and gates for gaps through which a pig can escape from the garden. After all, as soon as she leaves the safe garden, she may become a victim of wild or domestic animals, she may run into the roadway, or simply run away so far that you cannot find her at all. Don’t let this happen – don’t take the cage to an unsafe place.

Golden Rule: if you let your guinea pig out of its cage so it can run around, ALWAYS keep an eye on the guinea pig as it is without exception your responsibility to keep it safe. 

When you manage to catch a pig, carefully inspect it to make sure that it is not injured. Pet the animal, never scold the pig, because the escape is NOT HER fault. Place the pig in a cage where it will be under your close supervision for some time. This is necessary in order to make sure that her behavior is normal. 

Learn from your experience and don’t let it happen again! 

The original of this article is on Diddly-Di’s Piggy Pages

© Translation by Elena Lyubimtseva