Guinea Pig help requested..

[Magnolia]

We just adopted two female guinea pigs aprox. 4 months old.

 

Any tips or suggestions on properly caring for them?

 

Any thoughts on the grid/cube-style cages? We would like to enlarge their living area to about 6' x 2.5' with a loft. Has anyone put one together inexpensively? Any ideas where to buy the grid/cube sections and Coroplast to make the tray?

 

One more question: What is the best bedding to use? We were given a large bag of red cedar chips. I thought I read that the cedar chips aren't really a good choice for guinea pigs.

 

TIA! :)

[GothicGyrl]

ACK!!!!! Red cedar can and will kill them---do not use it!!!!

 

The best I've found is a soft cotton bedding that looks like a block cube (carefresh bedding). You can also *****temporarily***** use newspaper, but only temporarily while you buy the good stuff.

 

http://www.skytoseapetshop.com/guinea_pig_care_sheet.htm

 

Also, http://www.guineapigcages.com/

 

that should start you off.. just make sure to give them a proper veggies/hay diet. do not DO NOT give them an all pellet diet. Pellet should be a rare treat or a "going away for a week" feeding. NOT all the time.

[Gigi]

We bought our grids from Target I believe. We bought an extra set and used zip ties to make a portable play area to take outside. We bought the coroplast from a local sign shop for under $30.00. When we went to order it they even knew what we were looking for and had many colors to choose from.

 

For bedding we buy pinechips but we go to a feed store and buy a huge bag for under $5.00. Our cage is 2.5 ft by 8ft. and we get at least 3 changes if not more. We also picked up food pellets and hay there and it last forever and MUCH cheaper than buying it in little bits at the petstore. We store the extra in our basement and have had no problems with bugs or such.

 

We did have a loft at one point and you need a piece of wood or something to support the bottom but other than that we used zip ties to hold everything together and a piece of carpet for the flooring.

 

We give them fresh food twice a day- usually bell peppers and lettuce.

 

Two more sites are:

 

http://www.cavycages.com

 

http://www.guinealynx.com

 

HTH,

Gigi

[GothicGyrl]

Gigi, you do know that pine chips aren't good for them either? Any kind of wood chip secretes a toxic fume when activated by their urine. And lettuce is very bad for them-- too much water in both and it gives them diarrhea...

It might be working for you, but any kind of wood chip is not good for them at all. If they try to ingest it, it will kill them and the toxic fumes will suffocate them.

 

The best kind of bedding is either the carefresh or as you see in some pictures, they use that "fake turf" stuff.

 

No wood chips of any kind should enter any rabbit, guinea, bird, hamster, gerbil, snake or any animal of any kinds, cage. It's just horrible for them.

[Laura K (NC)]

We keep ours in a small plastic baby pool. We built a wooden box for the middle with a door. The water bottle hangs on one side. There was a ramp up to the (wire) roof and the younger pigs would climb up there to look around, but now that they are older and more sophisticated they don't do that anymore. The box is about 1' x 6", and all four adult pigs squeeze in there... it's their favorite place. The pool is perfect because it was so very cheap, and the sides are high enough that they don't kick the shavings out. If you don't have other pets or small children the pool can be placed on the floor. We have ours on a card table. We have a food bowl that also can be attached to the wooden box in the middle. The pigs run laps around the box when they're feeling frisky.

 

We use a compressed pellet bedding we get at Tractor Supply. It's more expensive than pine shavings but it absorbs moisture and odor much better and lasts longer.

[Gigi]

We have used pine for 3 years with no problems and most sites say it is okay if it is kiln-dry. I haven't seen any data to show that pine is bad for them, we did a lot of research when we bought the pigs and have never heard of a negative reaction even on the most die-hard guinea pig sites. We actually go to a vet who specializes in smaller animals and they have no problems with it. The lettuce we use is actually a mix of greens and we use parsley.

[Ellie]

we used wood shavings--not chips--with ours with no problems. The breeder we bought ours from used wood shavings. All the guinea pig kids in our 4-H club used wood shavings (probably pine, not cedar) with no problems.

 

Piggies will potty train themselves if you put a little box filled with kitty litter in their cages.

 

Do NOT use a cage that has a wire bottom. Their little feet are much more tender than a rabbit's, and their toenails can get caught on the wire and tear.

 

Just get a pellet food, not one that has sorts of other seeds and stuff in it. I think Purina makes a guinea pig food.

 

Piggies can eat all sorts of stuff--almost any fruits and veggies.

 

They will bite/nibble at their water bottle tubes, so get one that has a metal tube, not glass or plastic.

[AngelaC]

Just to add a money saving idea:

 

I don't know where you live, but we have a nice sized yard and in the summer my daughter puts hers outside right on the ground with those big wire grids from Target over the top of them. They really seem to enjoy the fresh air and they eat the grass. You'll have to move them frequently or the grass under them will get eaten clear down to the ground.

 

Also, they love grass and if they have access to fresh grass there is no need to supplement with fresh veggies. Even if they aren't outside on the ground my kids will bring in handfulls of grass every day. You can do this the whole season that the grass is growing.

 

We've enjoyed having pigs around. I hope you do too.

[Elisabeth in IL]

The links that GiGi gave you are great. I have 3 male pigs in a C&C cage - 4X2 with a 4X1 loft for their hay, food and water.

 

I use fleece down in their play and sleep area. I have made a couple of fleece pads so that I can just take one out, wash the cloroplast with vinager and water, and put the new fleece pad in. The pads are made of old matress pads, and towels with fleece sewn over it. Fleece is great because I or the kids just use the dust buster once or twice a day to clean up the poops. It is economical as well.

 

Upstairs we use Cell-Sorb Plus which is a recycled paper product. It works well to hide the smell and dry everything up. We use it upstairs because they tend to potty up where and while they eat.

 

At the www.cavycages.com site someone has created a food list which is posted in the forums. It lists the nutritional value of the food and how often a guinea pig can eat it. I will still sometimes carry it to the store with me so that my pigs can try different foods. Lettuce is good for pigs, just not iceburg lettuce for the reasons that GothicGirl mentioned.

 

I hope that you enjoy your pigs as much as we enjoy ours.

[Magnolia]

Thanks for all the great ideas, tips, and suggestions. We were using the red cedar chips and the pellets with the seeds in it. We are off to get the correct items.

 

One more question: What about calcium in the water and vitamin c added to the food? I read it was a good idea to crush a tablet and sprinkle it over their food. Do we need to do this too?

 

Thanks:)

[GothicGyrl]

Please read the links giving to you. I believe the consensus is that if they get that with their proper diet, they won't need it in their water--that it could actually be harmful to them. See what the Cavy links say, the first one I posted to you says not to give it to them.

 

And don't forget to play with them! They thrive on the attention. :)

[Elisabeth in IL]

If you feed them a fortified food like Oxbow and give them some green, yellow or red pepper every day, you have the vitamin C covered. Those web sites have helped me a lot! :D It sounds like you will be a good guinea pig mommy because you are doing so much research. Have fun with your new pets!

[Magnolia]

Thanks Gothic Girl. I re-read the Care sheet and there it is on page 2! I appreciate all your help with the proper care of our guinea pigs. My dd is already so attached to them, I want them to live long lives!

[Magnolia]

Thanks Elisabeth!

[Sunny]

As said previously, cavy cages has great examples of both kinds of upper/lower builds. We bought our stuff at Target. We went to a "sign store" and asked for the coroplast. At first they didn't want to sell it, then we were specific and said it was for a guinea cage, and they were happy to help. They thought we were going to do a DIY sign!

 

We always used pine for horses. We bought the BIG bag at the feed store. (the paper stuff was way too expensive for such a large cage). Pine was less than $5 and lasted a whole month. Our cage was 6x2 grids on the bottom, and 1x2 on the top. We had 3 pg's. We used a board and bent on of the grids to make the ladder. Put carpet on the board, and they easiily went up and down. Those ties worked perfect to keep it all together.

 

The boys had a fun time gathering sour grass and the yellow weed flowers. GP LOVED that stuff. We rarely fed them pellets, but there were always a small amount in the bowl. We fed them all the left over cuttings from our salads, fruits, ect. Actually, we went to the produce man and got all the old stuff they were throwing away. We had plenty for the gp's to eat fresh a couple of times a day. Don't feed them seeds from apples or anything though! Iceburg lettuce is bad. Romane lettuce is ok. Really, they want real veggies and fruits, grass and LOADS of Timothy hay. I could buy a large grocery sack at the same feed store for less than $5 and it lasted about 3 weeks. They eat mostly hay! Not alfalpha though. THat is really hard on them. If you buy hay in those cute little bags at walmart, you will never feed them enough. Go for a bale or half bale and give them a big handful every day. Make another bent grid and hang it on the cage so that it is up off the bedding, otherwise, they nest in it.

 

Another tip.. We always scooped out the corners of the cage every day. That is where they mess up. We then scooted out the middle cleaner pine chips, and put the new in the middle. This made sure we were constantly rotating the chips and then once in a while we would remove all of it, and wash the plastic. Didn't need it much if we were up on the daily removal of the wet chips.

 

You need a box or something for the GPs to chew on to help their teeth. you don't want them eating the pine. We had an apple tree in the yard, and would saw off a small branch and let them chew on that. THey loved it.

 

Have fun,they are a fun pet!