# Very strange guinea pig behavior



## Pagey (Sep 6, 2011)

Hi,
I've had my guinea pig Squicky for about 9 months now. He's never been sick, has always acted perfectly normal (although he's more on the aggressive side), and lives alone but I make sure to take him out of his cage for at least two hours a day. When I got home earlier today (about 3 hours ago), I took him out to put him on my lap as usual, but he started jerking in a pretty convulsive manner. This stopped when my mom came in, and as soon as she left it started again. I thought maybe he wanted to run around so I put him on the floor; each time I tried to touch him he ran away from me as fast as he possibly could...I eventually managed to put him back in his cage, I've tried petting him while in it but he still won't let me. It really seems as if he's terrified of me. Other than that, he's been acting perfectly normal and has been eating as much as usual. Do any of you have any idea why he might be acting so strange? I'm really worried


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## MrsSmith (May 24, 2011)

Hopefully someone who knows more will come along. Until then, to me it sounds a bit like what my boy does when he is "courting" the girls. He will move around with jerking motions and do a chrrrrr kind of noise. We joke he looks a bit like a robot when he does it. Maybe he is just feeling his oats?

Hopefully someone else will know. Anyway you can get a video of him doing it? even just a few seconds would help.

Good luck


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## Maria_1986 (May 15, 2011)

My inital thought would be mites - when your mum came in did you move your hand away from him? Does he have any dandruffy skin, redness to the skin, hair loss or is scratching a lot?

Mites are easily treated with some kind of ivermectin containing product - Xeno 450 is a good one, you can get this from the vets, but its cheaper to order it online.

I should stress though that this would be for if it was like he was trying to get away from you or get your hand off him - if you are talking about something more like a seizure/fit then I would get him to the vets.


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## mstori (May 22, 2009)

how is he now?

he needs to be seen by a vet. You made it sound like he had convulsions? 

If it is mites, like post below he would need some treatment as mentioned, but please do not try and self diagnose or order online, still take to vets.

Let us know how he is doing


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