A few guinea pig questions

[IrresistibleGrace]

So we are planning to get our first guinea pig from a breeder in the next town over. I have been looking at old posts and found answers to many of my question, but still have a couple:

 

Is it actually possible to train a guinea pig to use a litter box in their cage? How would one go about that?

 

Does a guinea pig use/need many (or any) "toys" in their cage?

 

Does anyone use those plastic 'balls' that you can put your critter in and let it run/roll around the house for guinea pigs?

 

 

Explain to me their poo-ing habits :) I believe I read somewhere that they poo mostly where they eat? Ewww!

 

Thanks so much!

Sarah

[scrapbabe]

Guinea pigs don't really use balls to run around in. Those are for smaller rodents. In fact they advise not to use them. They will want a hut to hide in. Something like this http://www.amazon.com/Super-Pet-Guinea-Hide-Out-Colors/dp/B00068K132

 

We keep their food in a dispenser that is elevated, so they never go to the bathroom in it. However we do give them timothy hay to eat sometimes that we just place in their cage and they do use the bathroom in it.

 

We scoop poo/pee out every couple of days and once a week we clean the entire cage and replace all the pine bedding.

 

They are fun pets to have. My kids love their guinea pigs.

 

ETA: I don't think it's possible to train them to go to the bathroom in a certain place. They go so often.

Edited June 29, 2012 by scrapbabe

[Ghee]

So we are planning to get our first guinea pig from a breeder in the next town over. I have been looking at old posts and found answers to many of my question, but still have a couple:

 

Is it actually possible to train a guinea pig to use a litter box in their cage? :lol: Not that I'm aware of. How would one go about that? I don't think you can, guinea pigs are cute but NOT terribly trainable.

 

Does a guinea pig use/need many (or any) "toys" in their cage? Ours never cared about toys, they do like shelters. You can buy the igloo kind or just cut a door in a shoebox and turn it over.

 

Does anyone use those plastic 'balls' that you can put your critter in and let it run/roll around the house for guinea pigs? We have. The only thing is that they will poo/pee in them. Ours did it every. single. time. This necessitates cleaning it...every. single. time.

 

 

Explain to me their poo-ing habits :) I believe I read somewhere that they poo mostly where they eat? Ewww! They poo mostly everywhere.

 

Thanks so much!

Sarah

 

 

We've had several guinea pigs over the years, I'd love another but my youngest was highly allergic to them as a baby and I don't know that he'd tolerate it. I hope my answers didn't put you off, but they aren't really a pet that you teach tricks OR let run around unless you want to pick up "pellets" :tongue_smilie: We fed ours mostly fresh vegetables and it got HUGE!

[AngieW in Texas]

Don't use one of the ball things for them to run around in. Guinea pigs aren't really built right for them.

 

They do like having a hut to hide in.

 

We built a two-story cage using the plans on cavycages.com . We put all the food upstairs and that means that there isn't much mess downstairs. Ours is 2 grids by 4 grids on bottom and 2 grids by 1 grid on top with a ramp to go between.

 

Ours have never been interested in toys.

 

We use bathtowels instead of litter. You can get them cheap at Goodwill and then you just run a load of piggy towels whenever you need more.

[raceNzanesmom]

Some piggies will pee in one corner. That can be helpful for cleaning. We had 4 piggies- 2 large homemade C&C cages- only one female pottied in a particular corner.

 

Never place a piggie in a ball or wheel.

 

Our boys liked to push the little balls with bells in them, girls could have cared less; all liked hidden treats. They had timothy hay available at all times, fresh veggies/some fruit daily. Watermelon rinds and corn cobs were top favorites. We fed Oxbow food, not sure what's out there now. You want a timothy hay based food without additives. Babies and pg/nursing moms like a bit of alfalfa hay.

 

I highly recommend getting two same sex piggies and as big as cage as possible. They need a friend and plenty of room for running and popcorning around. We made ours with cubes and coroplast (corrogated plastic). Cages bought at pet stores are too small and $$$$. I made both of ours for around $60 (total). You just need cubes, a sheet of coroplast (I bought ours at a plastic supplier) and zip ties. The plastic place cut my coroplast for me, free of charge, but you can do it yourself with a sharp utility knife. You'll need to score it to bend the sides. Keep the sides high enough to keep bedding inside. Note, bedding is often cheapest at animal supply/feed stores, hay too. We kept a bale in our garage.

 

Here's info on the C&C homes: http://www.guineapigcages.com/cubes.htm Ours were 2x3 cubes because that's what fit on the tables we had. I think it was enough, 2x4 would have been better, but they still had plenty of running room. You only need a lid if you have other animals that may harm the piggies. We had a cat, so ours had a lid. It takes a little work to put it together, but it's fun work and your piggy (piggies) will thank you for it.

 

Enjoy!

 

ETA: My ds says ours were 2x4, I had wanted 2x5. I need to pull out pics.

Edited June 29, 2012 by raceNzanesmom

[i.love.lucy]

If you do a search here you will find some threads about guinea pig care and cages and stuff. I know I've posted pics of our large homemade cage.

 

We did the towel thing for a while but I got to where I didn't like all that pee and poo and hair in my washer - pretty sure it was just my machine. Now we just use aspen bedding.

 

No ball-thingy.

 

Our cage has a shelf at the end that we intended to make 2 story, but never made the ramp for it, so they hide under there. But they have 2 other igloos in there and a big log/tube that you can chew on. It keeps their teeth short.

 

Ours like paper towel or wrapping paper tubes and will toss them and chew on them. We have had a couple of little balls in there, made for cats, but they only push on them to get them out of the way. They're not really "play" animals.

 

They are good communicators though! They will squeak and bounce around if we talk in a high-pitched voice and squeak and squeal loudly when we announce "sssaaaaaallllllaaaadddd" in a sing-song voice. They LOVE their salad time. They love all kinds of fruits and veggies: romaine, kale, parsley, cilantro, turnip greens, carrots, celery, cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe, apples, grapes, peppers. Usually we give them romaine/kale and carrots every day, and I add in whatever I am cooking with that day, so they get a great variety.

 

Keep in mind they are very shy and hide-y. They are used to being prey. It took a long time for ours to get familiar with us and they still run and hide if we appear to be picking them up. But no biting. They are super sweet that way.

 

:001_wub:

Edited June 29, 2012 by i.love.lucy

[raceNzanesmom]

They are good communicators though! They will squeak and bounce around if we talk in a high-pitched voice and squeak and squeal loudly when we announce "sssaaaaaallllllaaaadddd" in a sing-song voice.

:001_wub:

 

Isn't that the truth. Ours would start when we opened the frig or pushed in/out a kitchen chair. So cute!

 

ETA: LOVE the pic!!

[HappyLady]

Great info given so far! And yes, they do technically eat their poop, but they have 2 different kinds of poop. One you'll see, and one you won't. If they start leaving behind the ones they should be eating, it isn't a good sign. They need to eat these poops to stay healthy so be aware of that.

[Zebra]

Everyone will tell you that you MUST get 2, and it's not true! We did this. 2 baby girls, and when they grew up...well, one kept biting and terrorizing the other one terribly. It wasn't just friendly play or even some sort of reasonable "I'm the alpha female" thing. No matter what we did (huge cage, 2 food dishes, 2 houses, 2 water things....) nothing worked. If they can see each other one terrorizes the other one and the scared one screams and screams....We have tried to get them back together several times, and nothing works. Then I found out that this is common too. Sometimes they get along fine until they are adults, and then when they are fully grown one wants to seriously hurt the other one.

 

They are not that exciting, they don't play. They also eat their poop, I think that's why they put it in their food dish, for later :lol:. They are just kind of cute and you can hold them (with a towel under them!) and they will make very cute noises especially if you give them veggies, or they want something.

 

One thing I have learned is that they are "prey" out in the wild and are scared of shadows. If you can walk up to them without making a shadow on their cage they are far less likely to run away all the time.

 

They are fun easy pets, but not super exciting. And don't feel like you have to get 2!

[Ellie]

We once put a little box of sand in our piggy's cage, just because, and to our surprise, the piggy began to use it regularly. Who knew?

 

They have no sense of height, and will walk right over the edge of a sofa or chair or bed.

 

They have very soft little feet, which means you must be sure not to get a cage with wire on the bottome. Bunnies can handle that; piggies, no.

[raceNzanesmom]

 

They are not that exciting, they don't play.

 

Maybe a difference in animals?? All 4 of ours played. They loved to crawl around on our son and give him kisses, they'd romp around the yard together, eat veggies from his hand, etc. He had loads of fun with them. We had to find a new home for them when we were moving. If we had room here, I'd have piggies again (probably). All prey animals will be scared of sudden movements, it's how they're made.

 

I'm sorry your girls aren't getting along! We had a pair of girls and a pair of boys and they were great friends (not mixed sex, obviously, or they'd really have been friends, lol).

[kwickimom]

Mine generally poop in the same spot but they pee everywhere. Mine LOVE toys....we got those wooden "orb" balls that look like they are made of sticks..they grab em with their teeth an toss em and then jump and squeal. They push em around with their noses too :)

 

I too ditched the fleece blankets and went back to pine shavings. Too much hair (they shed worse than my dog) I clean the cages about every 3-4 days.

 

I learned that males have a "grease gland" that can get caked up and then they smell to HIGH heavens. Worst smell EVER. Anyways my male gets a bath every other week (sometimes weekly but I dont wanna dry him out)

 

Ours have personalities and they love to play. We have pens for them to run around in and take them outside if its nice..they love the fresh clover we have (we grow it for our deer) and they squeal with major delight when we take them out. Of course we are with them every second they are outside because we have cats and dogs.

 

Enjoy! They are so fun!

[missmoe]

I found that when our guinea pigs had enough space they tended to go to the bathroom in the same spot. We evidently put a little box with bedding in that spot. We let our guinea pigs have the run of a bedroom when someone is in that bedroom.

[kolamum]

You might benefit from reading the information over on the forums at Guinea Pig Cages. :)

[missmoe]

You might benefit from reading the information over on the forums at Guinea Pig Cages. :)

 

Was this the right link? it took me to a website about horsemanship.

[DragonFaerie]

Mine generally poop in the same spot but they pee everywhere. Mine LOVE toys....we got those wooden "orb" balls that look like they are made of sticks..they grab em with their teeth an toss em and then jump and squeal. They push em around with their noses too :)

 

I too ditched the fleece blankets and went back to pine shavings. Too much hair (they shed worse than my dog) I clean the cages about every 3-4 days.

 

I learned that males have a "grease gland" that can get caked up and then they smell to HIGH heavens. Worst smell EVER. Anyways my male gets a bath every other week (sometimes weekly but I dont wanna dry him out)

 

Ours have personalities and they love to play. We have pens for them to run around in and take them outside if its nice..they love the fresh clover we have (we grow it for our deer) and they squeal with major delight when we take them out. Of course we are with them every second they are outside because we have cats and dogs.

 

Enjoy! They are so fun!

 

Ugh! I think I need to work on changing my son's mind to a rabbits instead of piggies. Sounds icky!

[Rjmakmom]

We just got two 5 month old female piggies, Gardenia and Winnie Pig, on Wednesday. Build a c&c cage in 3 hours and for $27 total. Obviously they are still getting used to us and their new environment, but they are so sweet, don't bite, and Gardenia loves to hide in my daughter's long hair. We also have dogs, cats, hermit crab, fish and a snake. So far, so good. Enjoy your new piggies!