I have had my guinea pig for almost 2 moths and he keeps runnig away from me when i go to pick him up in his cage. I spend more than 5 minutes trying to pick him up i don't know what to do and when i pick him up he trys to bite me what should i do?

Guinea pigs are extremely nervous animals and are much harder to train to get used to being handled. It can take several hours a day, for several weeks or even months for a guinea pig to stop being so scared that it runs away from being handled.

This requires patience, allowing the pig to come and smell you (leave your hand in the cage and talk gently to it). This can take a long time, but doing this allows the pig to see that your hand won't hurt it. The next time you try it will probably run off again and it will take a long time again... but eventually this will pay off. When it is used to your smell and presence a little more you can begin to pick up your pig (at which it will undoubtedly run away from yet again). Be gentle with it and it will eventually learn that your not going to hurt it and that being stroked is actually quite nice.


He only runs away and bites because he is scared of you. Imagine if something 20x bigger than you grabbed you and started to stroke you!

You just have to be patient. Guinea pigs are prey animals so naturally they're frightened of things coming towards them and trying to grab them. I mean, imagine how scary it would be if a giant hand came up to you and grabbed you *shiver*
First of all, try not to surprise him so that he won't bite you out of fear. Slowly put your hand in his cage and stroke him before picking him up. perhaps you could coax him to come to you with food. Get something he likes to eat and put it in your hand then see if he comes. Don't move so he knows you mean no harm.
He'll get used to your hand and give him lots of pats and then eventually he will probably let you pick him up

put yourself in your piggies spot your sitting chillin in your cage and then these hands come and grab you you would jump. By nature guina pigs are animals that are prayed upon so they are skitish. Try going in the cage with a treat. Then they start seeing you as a good thing treat good hand that holds treat must be good. It takes time to socialize them but once they know you it will get better. I have had mine for over two years shes still a lil jumpy but she knows who i am

guinea pigs are naturally prey animals so it is to be expected that they will be scared to death of a big animal that's trying to catch them, just think about how you'd feel for a second. that being said lets move on to how you get your guinea pig to trust you (some will take to this better then others):

what i did that worked out splendidly was took mine to the futon (a bed works very well for this too, just make sure he has no where to hide and you can intervene before he tries to do something that might harm him). i got one of those baby carots and held him in my lap and let him take a couple of bites and then set him down beside me so he could go to the other side of the futon if that's what he wanted. then i simply sat there, softly snapping my fingers and talking to him. everytime he came to me i offered him a bite or two of the carot and tried to pet him. if he let me pet him he got more of the carot. then i would take the carot away and pet him some more and reward him with a few bites of carot the longer he stayed, but did not let him munch continously that way he would feel free to wonder off a little and still have confidence to come back to me. if he ran away he'd have to wait until he plucked up his courage again to get more carot. mine took to this quite well the first time and he has no problem coming to me but it may take longer for different guinea pigs, depending on their environment and personality. when you sit down to do this, be prepared for little beans all over the area (they're easy to clean up, and as you develope a closer bond you'll discover his signals for when he needs a restroom break) also you may have to sit for thirty minutes or longer so try to do it somewhere you can watch tv or something so you dont lose pacience.

as for encouraging him to come to the open cage door, perhaps bring fruits and grass and dandelions (which is mine's favorite) at random times instead of at one regular feeding time, teach him to associate a word (such as his name) or soft snapping (you can hardly call it snapping but there is still a noise) to you and food.

good luck with your piggy i hope the two of you become close and happy.

a side note: guinea pigs are social creatures and so do better in pairs or groups. the saying that two males will definately fight is FALSE, with the proper introduction and ample cage space, they can get along as if they had always been together.

EDIT: sorry about the misspelling of carrot all throughout my answer. also i missed the second bit about biting (pun not intentional, lol). for when he bites you, you can pinch his ear, not to hard because they are fragile creatures, not sure about the effectiveness of that though. you may just have to learn to avoid his mouth, i doubt he means it as a hostile gesture. you may smell like something that seems edible, perhaps you should rinse your hands in plain water (so you dont get the soap smell) and dry them before handling him.