Guinea pig information

[Rachel in KY]

I'm thinking about getting a couple of guinea pigs but know nothing about them. I figure we'd have to get two because they're social animals. I imagine they need lots of play time outside their cage, and a pretty varied diet. Are they pretty friendly? Do they tend to bite? Is going through a breeder better than going to the pet store?

 

Any info would be appreciated.

[Ellie]

I'm thinking about getting a couple of guinea pigs but know nothing about them. I figure we'd have to get two because they're social animals. I imagine they need lots of play time outside their cage, and a pretty varied diet. Are they pretty friendly? Do they tend to bite? Is going through a breeder better than going to the pet store?

 

Any info would be appreciated.

Well, depending on the size of their cage, no, they don't need playtime outside of it. You *can*, of course, but it isn't *needed.*

 

You want to be sure to get a cage that DOES NOT have a wire bottom. Their little feet have very soft pads, unlike a rabbit's, and the wire really hurts. Also, they can catch toenails on the wire :-o

 

*I* would probably go to a breeder. I like to know for sure what breed of piggy it is. And who can resist a little having Official Papers for the piggy? You could show your piggy, too. My dc enjoyed that.

 

I think it's good to have a basic piggy food, and then add stuff to that. The breeder we bought from said NOT to buy "Universal" brand piggy food. We bought ours in a big ol' bag from the feed-and-grain store (it might even have been Purina), and added alfalfa cubes and whatever fresh fruits and veggies we had at home.

 

Any little critter can bite, but piggies tend not to be biters. Your dc just have to remember not to put them up on tables and sofas and ignore them because the piggies will fall off. :-/

 

If you put a little litter box in your piggies' cage, they'll learn to use it.

[gingersmom]

I would check with a rescue group before you go buy.

 

I am constantly seeing ads for people trying to give away their guinea pigs.

[JudoMom]

I'm thinking about getting a couple of guinea pigs but know nothing about them. I figure we'd have to get two because they're social animals. I imagine they need lots of play time outside their cage, and a pretty varied diet. Are they pretty friendly? Do they tend to bite? Is going through a breeder better than going to the pet store?

 

Any info would be appreciated.

 

We got Twix & Snickers from a rescue group at the end of June. I have a friend who got her two off of Craigslist.

 

I built one of these cages.

 

It is the rare piggy that bites. They are prey animals, so they scare easily, but they are also friendly once they know you. Mine recognize my voice, and the sound of their hay bag, pellet bag, and fridge door. They are fun!

[lauriep]

http://cavyspirit.com/

 

This is my favorite website for guinea pig info

[Susan in KY]

Just don't put them outside in direct sunlight while you clean and air dry their cage. They will die in that short time, belly up, and cause your dc to weep copiously and inscribe a tombstone with a Sharpie,

"Farewell Most Nodle Frends!"

 

*sigh*

[lllll]

You might also want to see if the people who will be handling them are allergic to them. I once held a friend's guinea pig for a few minutes, didn't wash my hands, rubbed my eyes (later), and my eyes were almost swollen shut for a few days. :tongue_smilie:

[Perry]

I'd go with a breeder. We got ours from PetCo and they were skittish and shy. We got two but they hated each other and had to be separated. If you want two, get them at the same time. You may have problems if you try to introduce a new piggy to an already established one.

 

I also made the cage that JudoMom linked. They are much larger than what you'd get at the pet store.

 

We feed them a combination of dry food, bagged lettuce, raw veggies, and alfalfa. They are eating machines!

[usetoschool]

The only thing I would add to all of the good information is that guinea pigs need vitamin C in large amounts. You can enriched food or feed them plenty of vitamin C rich fresh food.

 

And, the best, happiest, healthiest pig we ever had was from a private breeder. All of the pet store ones have had health problems or personality issues.

[My3Boys]

We always got ours from private homes. Not breeders, just people whose piggies had little piggies before they had a chance to get them fixed.

 

Our first piggy was an "only child" and bonded very closely with ds. They tend to do that when there is only one. The second time we got a brother and sister who had no problems getting along because they were littler mates. They were still very affectionate with us but didn't seem quite so lonely when they were in their cage as our first one did.

 

I ditto the vitamin C and don't give them iceberg lettuce. Some books will tell you it's okay to give them other kinds of lettuce and some will say none at all.

 

If you chose to let them play outside while the cage is being cleaned, make sure you put the top of the cage over them to keep them safe while you clean the bottom part. Don't leave them unattended even then. We never did this, however, because we were afraid of them picking up diseases from wild animals, neighborhood cats, etc. Somebody else would hold them or we would put them in this little playpen type thing we got at the pet store with a towel to protect the floor.

 

The only other thing I would add is that they don't do well with really small children unless you supervise closely. They do scare easily, as someone else said, need to feel secure when they are being handled, and can't take rough treatment. They are also susceptible to chills and don't recover well when they get sick. Preventive measures are best.

 

One warning: guinea pigs will steal your heart!

Edited July 20, 2009 by My3Boys

[jensway]

We used to have 2 piggies. We also built the big cube & coroplast cage, the girls loved it. There is lots of info. online about piggies. We used this a lot:

http://www.guineapigcages.com/

[coffeefreak]

We LOVED our Guinea pigs and we did let them run around the playroom. They LOVE to have a large space to jump and do weird little flips in. We got ours from a woman who lets them run ferel on her farm. they adapted quite nicely to our cage and loved being held by my girls. Unfortunately, we soon discovered (between 3-6 months) that we are highly allergic to them. It was so hard to give them away! If you're allergic to any animals at all (cats especially), I would assume you'll be allergic to Guinea pigs.

Blessings!

Dorinda

[Mom22ns]

We do the cubes and choroplast cage too. We had to put a top on ours (out of cubes to keep the dog out, but it works great.

 

We seem to be the exception in that we got a tiny little baby pig from a pet store (all the rescues in the area were out right after Christmas) and he is happy, healthy, friendly and well adjusted. You couldn't ask for a better pig. He is three years old now.

[AngieW in Texas]

We got our piggies from a rescue. The rescue had a mass breakout (or break IN actually). The males broke into the female pen, so there were a ton of babies. Ours were 3 weeks and 4 weeks old.

 

We also built a cube&coroplast cage. When we had piggies before, we had them in a standard cage. The c&c cage is MUCH better. I had never seen a piggie popcorn before, but the piggies were popcorning within moments of being put down in their cage.

 

Our piggies actually have 3 cages. Their daytime cage is a c&c cage in my 11yo's room. They stay in an under-the-bed storage box in the bathroom at night. I know it's smaller than recommended, but it's only for the night. They also have a c&c cage outside. We haven't been able to take them outside recently since we've hit over 100 degrees nearly every day for the past month.

 

Never leave them outside unattended, even in a completely enclosed cage.

 

We are using towels for bedding and find that MUCH easier to deal with than anything else we've ever tried using. A bath sheet is just about the perfect size for the bottom of a 4 panel by 2 panel cage (recommended size for 2 piggies).

 

We use a water bowl instead of a water bottle because that's what the rescue group we got the piggies from used. I am much happier with the bowl. We can change out the water 3-4x/day if we need to. Water bottles always leak, but the tip-proof water bowl doesn't.

[Perry]

We are using towels for bedding and find that MUCH easier to deal with than anything else we've ever tried using. A bath sheet is just about the perfect size for the bottom of a 4 panel by 2 panel cage (recommended size for 2 piggies).

 

I'm always looking for new ideas for bedding. Right now I'm using newspapers and Care Fresh. It's kind of a pain to clean. Can you describe your system a little more? How often do you change the towel and how do you keep it clean?

[Janet in WA]

Just don't put them outside in direct sunlight while you clean and air dry their cage. They will die in that short time, belly up, and cause your dc to weep copiously and inscribe a tombstone with a Sharpie,

"Farewell Most Nodle Frends!"

 

*sigh*

Duly noted.

[Janet in WA]

 

If you chose to let them play outside while the cage is being cleaned, make sure you put the top of the cage over them to keep them safe while you clean the bottom part. Don't leave them unattended even then. We never did this, however, because we were afraid of them picking up diseases from wild animals, neighborhood cats, etc. Somebody else would hold them or we would put them in this little playpen type thing we got at the pet store with a towel to protect the floor.

We didn't have guinea pigs, but rather rats. We put them in the bathtub while we cleaned their cage.

[AngieW in Texas]

I have a bunch of towels.

 

Our main cage is 4 panels by 2 panels on the bottom and 1 panel by 2 panels on top. I use one bath sheet for the bottom and one regular bath towel for the top (folded to fit). We put the food and water on the top level. All they have downstairs is hay (one big handful each day), an igloo, and the ramp to go upstairs; so they have plenty of room to run around downstairs. They are in this cage from about 7am to 11pm.

 

When my girls get up, they roll up the two towels in the daytime cage (the piggies are still in the night cage). They take the towels outside and shake them out in the grass. If the towels are dry and don't smell, they put them back in the cage. The downstairs towel usually lasts 2 days, but sometimes lasts 3. The upstairs towel nearly always has to be replaced every day. That's where they eat and they tend to eliminate at the same time.

 

After the cage is set back up with the towels replaced (either the same towels shaken out or new ones), they put the ramp and the igloo back in the cage, dump a big handful of hay in one of the corners downstairs, and move the piggies. Then they clean out the water bowl and the food bowl and put them in the daytime cage also.

 

After that, they take the towel out of the night cage and shake it out into the grass. That one usually lasts 2 days, but sometimes it only lasts 1.

 

To use this system, you'd need at least 4 bath sheets and 6 bath towels. I can't fit much more than that in one load of the washer, so I wasn't planning on having any more towels than that. When we went on vacation for 10 days, I had to buy a couple of extra towels so the neighbor taking care of the piggies could replace the towels every 2nd day.

 

We check their food and water about 4x/day.