alot of questions about my piggies

Question
hi i have a couple of questions for you, the first one is- my quinea pig is really scared of me and shy he runs away when i go to his cage to see him when i hold him he just wants to be put back home, so how can i get him to warm up to me and start to like to be with me? okay my second question is how can i make easy homemade guinea pig treats? and also one more thing why do guinea pigs lick you its so cute and ive always wondered why they do that. well thank you so much for taking your time to read this.  

Answer
Whitney --

Well, the reason your guinea pig is scared of you is because you're a lot bigger than he is.  You need to remember that in the wild, guinea pigs are prey animals.  That means that they are at the bottom of the food chain.  They are naturally scared of anything bigger, because they figure that you might eat them.  He will just have to learn to trust you over time.

I have never bothered with "homemade" guinea pig treats, because the easiest treats are: veggies!  Guinea pigs love carrots, celery, green peppers, that sort of thing (just don't feed them cabbage, it's not good for their digestion.)  Much easier than baking or making anything.

If your guinea pigs are licking you, it could be because they are not getting enough salt.  Do you have a salt wheel in their cage?  You need to keep one of the white salt wheels (not the block kind, but the small wheels) in the cage, so that he can help himself to some salt whenever he wants it.

Hope this helps answer all your questions.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any more.  Good luck!

Lorena