JudoMom Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 I adopted 2 guinea pigs yesterday. They are the sweetest pigs I've ever seen. I've been planning on getting a piggie for the school room, and these 2 came up for adoption from a local animal rescue organization and were available yesterday. The timing is bad (my in-laws come on Wednesday), but I couldn't resist, so now in addition to cleaning and getting ready for their 10 day visit, I'm cramming to learn about pigs. So tell me what you guys know about piggies. I had one in high school and one a couple of years ago (both males), but didn't really do much with them besides basic pellets for food and pet them. I'm building these girls a big cage, and bought timothy hay along with pellets yesterday, and they've enjoyed some carrots & apples. What do they love to eat? What isn't safe to feed them? What fun things would they like? Advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journey Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 Guinea pigs are so awesome! We have had them for years now and I highly recommend them as a chid's first pet. Anyway, we use something called pellet bedding for our girls. You can get it at a farm supply store. Here in New York a 40 pound bag costs under $5 and this stuff lasts forever! We change the cage about every 2 weeks and there are two pigs in there. This stuff looks like the pellets they sell for some wood stoves and when it gets wet it turns into sawdust (but not real fine). We highly recommend it over shavings as they get wet and stinky very quickly. Our pigs love to eat carrots, lettuce (not iceberg), apples, cucumbers, red (not green) peppers, peaches, pears, grapes (but they don't love them) hay (and there is a certain kind and I can't think of what it is) grass. There is a website that you can go on called cavies galore. I think it's www.caviesgalore.com and they will tell you everything. One thing to never forget is to never, ever, ever, leave your pigs out in the sun. They will die in minutes. Sadly, that happened to us last year and it was heartbreaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny_Weatherwax Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 Apple cores/seeds are poisonous to GPs. You can give them sliced apples but not the core. Newspaper is not good for them either; something in the ink or processing causes GPs to become ill. GPs like to climb on rocks and hide under things. Our cage was rather large and contained some nice rocks and wooden structures for them to climb on and hide under. My DD won the county 4H Fair Grand Champion award a few years back with her GP, Carmel. Carmel passed away 2 years ago of old age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikeBookBread Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 They are darling! I had better close this thread before DD5 sees them, though, or I won't hear the end of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 I've been thinking about getting little piggies, but I'm a bit worried that our cat Magic will have too much fun trying to get inside of the cage. (can just hear her thinking, "yummy yummy dinner") Someday, we may just have to get some! Carrie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingmommy Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 Someone once gave me some advice for keeping the cat away from the piggies. When they brought the guinea pigs home, they let the cat come up to sniff them. As soon as the cat got close and sniffed, the owner pinched the cat's nose really hard. It scared the cat, who thought the guinea pig had bitten him, and he never got near the cage again. jeannie (We love our piggies, Caramel and Domino) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 We have 2 piggies Bugsy and Gintree. We have had others in the past that died of old age. Our cat was never a problem with them, she would sit and sniff the cat but mostly stayed away. They are very social creatures and will come out of their igloo to chatter at me while I cook(their cage is in the kitchen), though could be because I give them peices of veggies etc I am cutting up. On nice days we put the top of the cage outside and put them in so they can nibble on the grass etc. I used to have a plastic kiddie pool with my old piggies that I would set up obstacle courses in etc and give them time to run and play. They loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jensway Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 We used to have 2 piggies. I second the recommendation of http://www.caviesgalore.com this website is really great. They have lots of information all about piggies. Enjoy Trix and Snickers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katemary63 Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 We love piggies here and raised them for years. We are currently piggie free since our move to AR and purchase of every OTHER possible farm animal. But we did just love our piggies. The nicest thing about them is the way they live communally. We had a male and two females in a large cage in the kid's playroom. They routinely had adorable babies, born with hair and eyes open, ready to eat and play. A newborn cavie is equal to a 4 week old rabbit. It's funny. Anyway, have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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