Guinea Pig question

[iheartdisney]

This is the bedding we use:
http://www.petco.com/product/100574...?CoreCat=MM_SmallAnimalSupplies_BeddingLitter
With 2 GPs and a rabbit, I needed something to cut the smell, and this does the job! I can go two weeks without cleaning the rabbit cage, and it is in the living room. Best at odor control of all the litters, and we have used every kind! even tried the fleece method, but my piggies tore it up in one night.
Another thing to consider is that GPs are very social animals. If you aren't planning on playing with it a lot, and I mean A LOT, consider getting two so it has company.
And i second, ours were loud. Any time you walked past DDs bedroom they started squeaking up a storm. But they were awesome with all of my kids!

 

[MichelleinMaine]

If you want to go with a smaller pet- we chose gerbils over hamsters because the latter is nocturnal. DD11 absolutely adores them.

Gerbils need aspen (not pine!) bedding, which is a little pricier. I just bought a huge bag at the pet store though ($20) which I expect will last us 5 or 6 months. (First time I've seen the huge bag, so not sure.)

They also need a solid glass cage (eg a fishtank, vs wire or plastic one). Their toys and tunnels also need to be ceramic or wood. They will eat plastic.

 

[mjkacmom]

Totally double posting here but if you decide a pig isn't something you really want to get into, I'd highly suggest rats. Yes, rats. I had four over the course of a few years and they're AWESOME. They've very easy to care for, I find they have the fewest issues out of small animals (not none, but they're not awful) and they're very friendly once they're used to you. Should you choose rats, I suggest boys over girls as they tend to be a bit more mellow and friendly, and you need to keep them in at least a pair, preferably from young. Females are also prone to mammary gland tumors, and while usually not immediately life threatening, I just find it easier to keep boys. They need stuff to chew but not as much as pigs do, they need less food and you can give them fruits and veg as well (they love it) and they're very clean and not as noisy as pigs. Rats will naturally train themselves to use certain spots in their cage as the toilet and they are fastidious about cleaning themselves. They do like a lot of room so you'd still need a decent size cage, but with small spaces between the bars because if they can fit their head through something, they can fit their whole body through. As much as I hate to say this as I got very attached to mine, some people like that they don't have a super long life span (2-4 years). I suppose they see it as an easier commitment to make. Truly I find the only issue with rats is as long as there's food around, they'll eat, so they can be prone to obesity but that's easily regulated by only feeding them enough to satisfy them at meals, not having tons of snacks around the cage. You can also teach them simple tricks, they'll learn their names, some people can teach them to fetch and sit and stand up on command, and even leash train them! Definitely worth considering!

**From your friendly Disboard pro rat council**

Rats are the best pets ever! We now have a great dog (rescue), but I will always miss my rats (much smarter than dogs). Unfortunately, we learned about the tumors after we got our girls, and after a few (expensive) surgeries, we had to put them down. I've heard boys are more friendly than girls, but I can't imagine any rats nicer than our girls. If I had to do it again, I think I'd get male rats, and have them fixed (I've heard they tend to pee a bit, if not).

They were very clean pets. They had only a couple of (pee) accidents outside the cage, but only if we kept them out a long time.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

We got DD a guinea pig in May. We have the only guinea pig on the planet that will not eat dark green lettuce, carrots, any fruit, etc... She will not eat a single thing from our garden! If we put vitamin c in her water- she won't drink it. She won't eat a vitamin c tablet. I have to buy pellets that have vitamin c, oh- and she will only eat 2 type of pellets- Oxbow and Gerty. I am ready to pull my hair out! We call her Polly the Picky Piggy.

We ended up making a C&C cage so she has more running room (google it). I got a PVC pipe and she loves to run through it and hide in it. I lined it the cage with fleece and put a litter pan in the corner (from Tractor Supply) and filled that with carefresh. She does the majority of her potty visits in the litter pan and not on the fleece. I did get a tiny dust pan and brooom from dollar tree to sweep up the waste that she didn't do in the pan. I am still on the same big bag of carefesh from mid-June (I found it cheapest when on sale at Tractor Supply Co.). When I had her in her cage from PetSmart I was going through a ton of Carefresh. Walmart also sells a generic Carefresh, I am pretty sure it is made by the same company. I get the brown Carefresh, don't spend extra on the colors.

 

[Shaylasmommy]

My DD is 13 and has had guinea pigs since she was 6. We had originally only had one, but after a week, when I went to the pet store for a larger cage, the sales girl said that I needed another one to keep the first one happy because they were social animals and would live longer with a partner. So Pigalicious got a new friend - Irwin. I got them a large ferret cage with 3 levels and ramps. That was the biggest expense at $99. Both my piggie boys adapted well to that and I also use the pine chips from the beginning. I pay about $9 for a huge bag from Pet Supplies Plus. It's about the size of a bale of hay. That lasts for close to two months with once a week cage cleanings. They ate regular bulk guinea pig pellets from the same store that was 69 cents/pound. I will say though, that I definitely spoiled them on fresh fruit and veggies though. That was my biggest expense because produce is not cheap. I don't have room for a garden, or I could've saved a bundle. Pigilicious passed away last spring, but Irwin is still going strong. Neither were babies when I got them and so far Irwin's been with us for going on 8 years now. So definitely a long commitment. Both piggies loved to be held and actually would even let my daughter dress them up for Petco's halloween contests. We won all the time. They even went as Disney pirates one year with the little mouse ears. The Christmas ornament mini-mouse ears fit them perfectly. Another year they went as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. My DD treated them just like puppies and they actually seemed to enjoy it. Good luck with your pigs. They are great pets.

 

[Shaylasmommy]

Here's Irwin as Ron Weasley.

This is Pigalicious as Harry Potter.

This is the whole Hogwarts gang.

Here's Shayla & Pigalicious as the Disney pirates.

 

[angel's momma]

If you want to go with a smaller pet- we chose gerbils over hamsters because the latter is nocturnal. DD11 absolutely adores them.

Gerbils need aspen (not pine!) bedding, which is a little pricier. I just bought a huge bag at the pet store though ($20) which I expect will last us 5 or 6 months. (First time I've seen the huge bag, so not sure.)

They also need a solid glass cage (eg a fishtank, vs wire or plastic one). Their toys and tunnels also need to be ceramic or wood. They will eat plastic.

We use carefresh for our gerbils. They can go in a cage, but the tank (with a wire mesh lid) is the best choice because it keeps the debris contained. Cleaning the tank is very easy too. Best part about gerbils - they don't urinate as much as hamsters, which means the bedding doesn't smell as quickly so you don't have to clean the tank as frequently. Gerbils do best as a pair, and males are the best choice - females are more proned to not get along together.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

Rats are the best pets ever! We now have a great dog (rescue), but I will always miss my rats (much smarter than dogs). Unfortunately, we learned about the tumors after we got our girls, and after a few (expensive) surgeries, we had to put them down. I've heard boys are more friendly than girls, but I can't imagine any rats nicer than our girls. If I had to do it again, I think I'd get male rats, and have them fixed (I've heard they tend to pee a bit, if not).

They were very clean pets. They had only a couple of (pee) accidents outside the cage, but only if we kept them out a long time.

See my understanding is they just can't control their pee, like there's no "hold it" option, they just piddle as they go along their lives. I only ended up having 1 of mine put down, the rest went naturally. Morty ended up with that upper respiratory issue that's pretty much bred into rats at this point. I took him to the vet because he was getting so skinny and turns out his breathing was so shallow and ineffective he couldn't stop to eat

 

[DisneyMomma81]

DD got a guinea pig for her birthday *early July* after verifying at the vet that she was indeed a she we got her a girlfriend *also verified at the vet to be a she* they live in a dog "play pen" *open top/open bottom, under the pen are two towels and *on top of the towles* a fleece blanket, I vaccum the poop out at least every other day and wash the towels and blanket at least once a week. There is no smell and no messy chips to deal with.

The need room to run, an aquarium or plastic tub is not enough room - they can't do wheels - breaks their backs!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2203990_fleece-bedding-guinea-pig-cage.html

The pen is kinda like this.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We love our teddy bear hamster!

 

[Poohforyou]

We have 2 pigs and have had pigs (not the same ones) for about 6 years. They are wonderful pets & Imo not a lot of work at all. We use carefresh bedding. I can sometimes catch a sale it but the normal price for the big bag is about $20. We clean the cage weekly and use about a 1/3 of the bag. So i guess that's about $25 a month. Do not use any kind of shaved bedding. It's very bad for their lungs.

I would highly recommend getting 2 female pigs they are so fun and love human contact. I love how excited ours get when we come home each day.

An important thing to remember is that their teeth are always growing. Make sure you give them things to gnaw on so they don't get overgrown. We give ours lots of fruit & veggies. I like to think of them as our living garbage disposal. They love strawberry tops, pepper stems, banana peels and lots of other things.

 

[Gretchen]

That is just way too cute!

Here's Irwin as Ron Weasley.

This is Pigalicious as Harry Potter.

This is the whole Hogwarts gang.

Here's Shayla & Pigalicious as the Disney pirates.

 

[maggs1035]

It really depends on the bedding. Different animals can have different reactions to wood chip bedding, therefore I recommend STRONGLY to avoid it completely and use something like Carefresh. It's essentially paper pulp, like what they can't use to make real paper with. It's absorbent and doesn't have any smell like the wood ones can, and there's nothing in it that can hurt a critter. Count on changing the bedding at least once a week. You don't need a thick layer of bedding, and this stuff fluffs up outside the bag so it's kind of hard to gauge exactly how much you'll go through without actually trying it out.

I'm going to cross my fingers you're doing your research on what else you'll need for a pig, and hope that you've found that you'll need lots of stuff for the pig to chew on, other food than just the "kibble" (fruits and veg) and vitamin C supplements.

Very, very important!!! You can't give them iceburg lettuce (too much water in it) messes up their intestines! Be very careful who you buy them from, we have had 7 pigs, but 3 of them had a virus and it made their intestines swell, and you wake up one morning and all there intestines are outside the body through the anus! They then have to be put to sleep by a vet (not cheap, happened to us 3 times) I agree not cuddly, and they can have a nasty bite! Do LOTS of research!

 

[LockShockBarrel]

Any rodent bite is nasty....sharp sharp teeth. I got a rat bite on my lip once, good lord did that hurt (not as bad as a macaw bite though, I've been bitten by a surprising number of animals ) But really any animal is capable of biting, I don't consider that a reason not to have one, you just have to know their triggers. No matter what animal anyone plans on getting, research is a necessity, not an option. I HATE reading or hearing about people that got an animal on a whim. Its one thing to rescue one from a dangerous situation but not just "Oh well there was this cute bunny at the mall and we decided to get it"

I don't think people ever go into animal care thinking about the worst case scenario. I was afraid when I got my kitten that my older cat wouldn't accept her and for the first week, my older cat hated the kitten, then he decided he needed to adopt her and give her baths but for a few days I really thought I might have to take her back. A friend of mine adopted a kitten about a week and a half ago and already took it back, she realized she couldn't commit the time he really needed. It seems with small animals, people think less of them and become a burden more easily than cats or dogs. I've seen it a lot where it's like "oh yeah that's the hamster...Sarah wanted it so bad for her birthday now he just kind of lives there in the corner."

 

[muffyn]

awwwww I miss the piggies

many years ago when my daughter was in 4-h (etc) she had over 150 of them. every breed at the time, ranked #1 in the state for ARBA shows & many national #1's ( for most of her breeds) the satin peruvians were gorgeous! she knew everyones name & ear tag number.

she has since moved on to horses.

anyway, as others have metnioned they should have alfalfa cubes every now & then or get a bale of alfalfa from a feed store.

clip toenails & check the teeth for broken ones, uneven ones can be snipped off.
& we never found one that minded a bath & blowdry