Guinea Pig Owners???

[Creativebeth]

My pigs are a little fussy with food. I was told by my vet that if you give them high quality timothy hay, they would not need pellets. My pigs LOVE pellets, but love the ones with dried 'treats' in them, they hardly ever eat the timothy pellets with the food. The others mentioned Oxfood pellets, but I usually just get the cheaper stuff since the don't eat the pellets anyway!

I have two big water bottles for the 3 of them and change the water daily.

Mine get fed in the morning. Lettuce (I buy the pigs ORGANIC, which my husband finds hysterical, since the family doens't get organic anything) I get the baby romaine usually. You're not to feed them iceburg lettuce ever. It's not good for them. I give them apples once or twice a week. Don't give them alot of fruits, since it can cause diarrhea. They love baby carrots, celery, and the vet told me to feed them green peppers that it really good for them.

I only give them fresh veggies/fruit once a day. They beg for it all day, but they will continue to eat until they explode!!!! So, once a day is enough.

Beth

**when we go away for a long weekend, I'll have someone check on them once while we are gone. They really don't need to eat fresh stuff every day, as long as they have hay and water. I don't see the need for a daily check in while we are gone. But, I will have to say they seem to really miss us! They love human interaction!

 

[Kath2003]

Thanks for all of the wonderful information. It has given me a lot to think about.

Another question, I've noticed that there are a lot of different types of food for them. Which of them do y'all find it the best for them. (pellets? mix?)

You need a good quality dried food, the more colourful the better is the usual term. BUT piggies need a LOT of Vitamin C to stay healthy so you need to suppliment whatever dried food you give them with fresh fruit, vegetables, hay and grass. They particularly like anything leafy so spinach, kale etc. but NOT iceburg lettuce (it has no significant nutritional value and tendst to give them the runs). Leftovers e.g. carrot peelings are also good.

 

[Savanah'sMom]

Thanks again for the great info.

 

[stevenpensacola]

I'm looking for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Any advice????

they taste like chicken.

 

[Savanah'sMom]

they taste like chicken.

Always good to know!!

 

[Savanah'sMom]

Good morning!! Well we went Friday evening and got our little guinea pig, DD7 picked her out and named her Oreo. She's a little sweetie, and is slowly warming up to us. She's in a store bought cage right now, but I'm looking forward to building her a bigger one as soon as we finish adding on to our house. (we are adding on a bedroom, which means we will be moving DS's toys out of my living room, yay!!!)

When we pet her for a bit, she started purring (i think) and vibrating, I'm hoping that's a good thing, she's never even tried to bite any of us. That is great b/c the baby keeps trying to get in her face.

(Ok, I know they are huge, but how do I size them down???)

 

[Creativebeth]

So cute! The more she gets held, the more loving they are. If she is by herself (you really should have 2!), pay alot of attention to her. They tend to change up their sleep patterns to the activity of the family.

 

[Joyciemc]

So what would you suggest for those who by fate have one male guinea pig currently?? Another male guinea pig? How do I know two males would get along?

Male guinea pigs can be neutered! I know not everyone would want to go through the expense of that, but it can allow a male/female pair to live happily with no more homeless guinea pigs created.

OP- congrats on Oreo, she's a cutie pie!

 

[luv2sew]

Oreo is adorable...we loved our guinea pigs that we had....someone mentioned that they did not like trimming nails on their pigs.. we found a pet store near us that would do that for us, so every few weeks we took our two piggies to the store for a trim...she charged $3 for both and it seemed reasonable and gave us piece of mind that we weren't hurting them.

Have tons of stories we could tell you of our pigs, we had them for 8 years. They were the cutest things. Now we have a bunny and she's cute too but we haven't had her long enough to judge between the two.

 

[I*heart*MickeyMouse]

Thanks for all of the wonderful information. It has given me a lot to think about.

Another question, I've noticed that there are a lot of different types of food for them. Which of them do y'all find it the best for them. (pellets? mix?)

I have one female piggie. She was the last of her litter and therefore alone in her case at PetSmart (I know, not the best place to buy a piggie, but I've had them in the past and knew what I was doing)

She always has hay cubes - for some reason she does NOT like fresh hay! We give her plain pellets - timothy pellets no colored treats in it because she will pick out the colored ones and leave the timothy pellets! Keep her bowl full at all times. After going through 5 water bottles I finally found one that didn't leak! She lives in a dog crate... our rabbit lived in it before he died of old age. I line the tray with newspaper, but she also potties in the litter box, which is lined with aspen bedding/shavings. She gets random people food every day - apple or pear cores, greens like parsely, dill, broccoli, carrots, grapes (2 at a time), banana peel, cucumber slices and peels... She chews on the litter box, and she also has this log that she can crawl into and it's edible (got it at Petco) - she loves toilet paper/paper towel rolls too!

I change her newspaper once a week, and her litter box 1-2 times a week depending on how much she actually potties in it (she's not trained to go in there, she just happens to go in there a lot) and I wipe down the tray and litter box with clorox wipes. She never smells! My dd likes to brush her when I'm cleaning the cage. We never let her have the run of the house - she chews on stuff - but we block off the hallway and let her run around for a bit just about every day. She will sit with us, but she's not the snuggliest of piggies. Cutting her nails is a chore that doesn't get done often enough - they aren't curling into her feet or anything, but they are kinda long...

She lived in my ds's room but when the summer rolled around it was way too hot up there (he hates air conditioning) so she lives in our hallway downstairs and she's such a character She squeaks, sometimes annoying like in late at nite, when we walk by begging for treats, but overall she's so entertaining and cute and fun! She does sleep a lot during the day but if we take her out of her cage to clean it or for playtime she perks right up

Crate (we have the biggest size)

litter box

water bottle

hay cubes

pellets

Aspen Bedding


ETA - OP I posted this and didn't even see your post from this morning LOL! Oreo is cute, and our piggie is also Oreo because her head from the top looks like an oreo - black on the sides and white in the middle... your little girl is a cutie! have fun!!!

ETA again - oreo's favorite treat is green peppers. But be careful - this was the only time she bit the kids (ds first and then dd later on!) because they were hand feeding her and she kept chomping up and up the slice of pepper and didn't realize she was at their fingertips! But other than that she's never bitten out of fear/anger!

 

[Fly4free]

You have gotten some great advice. I just love piggies and have had many over the years. I also have an Oreo Cookie piggie. Like yours, his nails are clear. You should have no problem trimming your piggies nails because you can see the quick. My other piggie who sadly died earlier this year (he was about 6) had black nails and it was tricky to cut. I just trim a little at a time. Sometimes they may squeak, but I think it is b/c they are scared.

They do love to be petted and held. I just love the way they purr. If you hold them too long they may pee on you. I noticed when they start to get restless and maybe pull on your clothes they want to return to the cage....usually to pee.

We like to let ours roam around a bit. They have been very good to return to the cage to go bathroom. Oreo Cookie, who is a true piggie and will do anything for food, runs back to his cage for fresh veggies. (If you rattle a plastic bag he thinks he is getting a treat.) Just don't let them hide under anything like the couch. If they get too comfy they may not want to go pack to the cage to use litter.

One very important thing is vitamin C, very important for a healthy GP and it will give them a nice shiny coat. Red peppers are very high in C. You could just give him a slice daily.

Enjoy your new cutie!!!

 

[Savanah'sMom]

Y'all have been giving me some great advice, I really appreciate all of it. I would love to get a piggie from the shelter, so I will be keeping an eye out for one.