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Sister just adopted three albino rats. Originally planned on two, but we couldn’t leave the other one behind in good conscience 
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Jul 26, 2020 23:58
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 01:11 |
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Adopted two pigs from the shelter this week. Two brothers that are enjoying the upgrade from their old cramped cage to the 12 square feet one they’re in now  They won’t eat any veggies though. Romaine lettuce or bell peppers. I know they tend to subsist on hay and pellets at the shelter, so is there a way to ease them on it? I tried putting some pepper slices in their pellets, and also replacing pellets outright with veggies. No dice. They did eventually eat some small banana slices I set out for them, the fatties. But the pepper alongside it was largely ignored. Should I give them Vitamin C supplements until they acclimate?
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Aug 13, 2020 22:16
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I actually bought those earlier today, so it’ll be a nice alternate for now.
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Aug 14, 2020 01:14
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Speaking of bites, do guinea pigs just not do curious nips? Our rats will only bite hard if they cannot see something or you do something to deserve it. Otherwise it’s gentle, curious nipping. My guinea pigs, however, will just chomp anything. They may do a cursory sniff, but they have already drawn blood once and they were not showing any signs of distress or aggression prior. Just an “I assume everything is food.” Or is this just a biological thing where the bigger pigs are just incapable of gentle nibbles?
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Sep 4, 2020 21:33
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First time nail clipping did not go well. One pig bit me and spend the whole time trying to escape, and the other squealed and squirmed making it difficult to get accurate clips. The latter also has what I think are spurs that I at least cleaned up a bit. All said I clipped three nails total  I’m going to try again tonight with a friend and also some carrots to see if that settles them down.
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Sep 7, 2020 19:17
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Is there any way to keep my pigs from getting their hay everywhere, or should I resign to their bedding being 10% ha? I’ve tried three different ways to store their hay in the cage, and they always manage to get it everywhere, the slobs.
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Sep 17, 2020 22:21
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So, weigh-in this month has both of my pigs gaining about a quarter of a pound. I give them about a 1/4 cup of pellets, and m/w/f they get a red bell pepper and t/r they get a carrot. I’m still getting them to eat other veggies (they won’t touch lettuce of any kind). They get bananas as a treat, but not for about two weeks. The only food they get is hay of course (although this month it has been a hay/grass mix from Oxbox I bought by mistake) and a whole vitamin c cracker each (as per the packaging). Am I overfeeding, do they just need more floor time, or is going from 2.5 lbs to about 2.8 nothing to worry about just yet?
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Oct 13, 2020 02:31
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Their adoption papers say about 16 months old (they’re brothers from the same litter)
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Oct 13, 2020 05:17
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What should I be looking for when examining guinea pig day-to-day activity? People say to look out for lethargy, but my pigs pretty much sleep until they get hungry or thirsty. One does love floor time and popcorns around, but the other will either beeline to his hidey or just lay there occasionally following his brother if you remove the hidey.
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Oct 22, 2020 22:10
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I’m probably being paranoid as these are my first pigs, but just trying to be vigilant of potential health issues. I walked over to see my pig passed out in a pile of hay like a tiny, furry drunk and was wondering what constitutes “normal” pig behavior.
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Oct 23, 2020 00:29
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Why the heck do my pigs immediately make a rumbling sound when they hear a knock? It’s the only time they make this sound, and it’s never accompanied by other sounds or behavior. They can chill in my lap and will hear a knock and rumble briefly without moving or follow-up noises. It’s so weird and consistent.
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Nov 5, 2020 06:00
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Their eyesight isn’t great, so if they drop a treat then they sometimes fail to find it and just waddle over to eat some hay. One of mine thus morning dropped his vitamin c cracker three times and needed me to guide him back to it.
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Nov 8, 2020 17:32
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Neither of my pigs are really tame yet and bolt all over the place when I go to pick them up. Even then, I have never been pooped or peed on. In fact, they never peed during floor time until I put down a blanket.
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Nov 23, 2020 18:45
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My stores have had a lot of small pets missing. I think it makes sense; there’s a pandemic and a pet is a way to pass the time without leaving home. I had a really odd situation where my shelter had my guinea pigs at a PetSmart that I had to drive over to pick up once I finished all the paperwork and paid the fees.
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Jan 18, 2021 02:44
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One of my pigs stopped eating his little vitamin c cracker. Both used to gobble it up, but now I gotta pick up this bozo for him to eat it. He eats normally otherwise, and even will take carrots and peppers from me. But if I dangle this treat in front of him, nothing unless I pick him up. It’s so weird.
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Jan 30, 2021 01:37
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Sometimes he’ll eagerly take treat like his brother, other times he’ll stare at it until I pick him up and give it to him. And I have to, because his brother will absolutely steal it from his sibling’s mouth, so it’s important they eat at the same time.
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Feb 9, 2021 03:21
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I have tried looking this up to no avail: my pigs will sometimes make soft wheeks when I pet them. No other action, so I’m not sure they’re complaining or just content. I know they both hate being stroked across the bridge of their noses, as they headbutt my finger away when I do it. One also shakes his head when I try to scratch behind the ears. It doesn’t sound like a particularly happy noise, but guinea pigs make some really weird noises, so it’s hard to tell.
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Mar 14, 2021 06:05
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mrfart posted:Weird how hamsters can have completely different characters. We have two brothers now. Rod is very calm, doesn’t run much and wants to sit on your hand while eating. He does, however, want to sleep by himself. Todd is very mouselike, he could charge a Tesla with the energy he creates in his wheels. He’s easy to pick up, but then can sit still for a second. He likes to go sleep next to his brother and seems oblivious when that guy tells him to go somewhere else.
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Apr 12, 2021 18:59
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Capybaras are just giant, water-loving guinea pigs 
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May 3, 2021 03:45
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Had a scary week m, with the AC breaking during 90° weather. My pigs handled it well, I gave them a bag full of ice to cool off, topped their water off constantly, and just kept a close eye in them. Just a bit nerve-wracking 
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Jun 27, 2021 16:26
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My piggies’ first vet visit is this month (they turned two last month ). Would one larger carrier work for two pigs or should they each have their own? I know you can get a single carrier with two separate compartments.
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Jul 6, 2021 22:06
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They’re brothers, so besides dumbass sibling stuff (I have to give them treats at the same time to prevent treat theft) they have no problems with each other.
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Jul 6, 2021 23:10
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I am a loving idiot and bought detergent two months ago, but it was fabric softener in a similar looking green jug as what I normally buy. So for the past two months their blankets have gotten no detergent at all, and like a giant helping of fabric softener. I didn’t notice much until recently, when visible piss stains were showing up everywhere. I thought the blankets may have just been getting old, and that’s when I noticed my mistake  Their undercarriage and back legs were brown from sitting in presumably a mix of poop and piddle that didn’t wick through the blanket, so I gave them a rinse off in the sink. I didn’t use shampoo, just water to knock the worst of it off them. They’re still a bit stained under there, but I’m not 100% sure if that warrants a full-on bath. Their feet don’t have any sores from what I can see, but their back feet are bright red so I’m going to call the vet this week to be safe since these are my first pigs and I know bumblefoot doesn’t gently caress around. Until then I heard soaking their feet in epsom salt can help. Any truth to that? I feel so crappy.
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Oct 25, 2021 01:51
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Ok Comboomer posted:I don’t understand, why would detergent be the determining factor in whether or not your pigs were sitting in their pooled up waste? Having run the blankets a few times through the wash, there have only been a few tiny wet spots and their hideys don’t have any large wet patches, so it looks like fleece should be back to normal.
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Oct 26, 2021 17:52
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Is there a way to lessen a pig loitering at their hay? One of my boys loves nothing more than to park his rump right next to the hay bin and sleep or chill right on top of the pile of hay they grab but don’t eat. This makes it a gross mix of hay, piss, and feces by the time I get home from work.
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Oct 29, 2021 19:23
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Their hay is attached to the side, they just love to take a piece, eat maybe half, drop it, and repeat. I use blankets to line their cage; only one of them does this. It’s weird.
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Oct 30, 2021 00:31
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Hey I am taking my pigs to their first vet visit tomorrow for a checkup. What should I bring with me? I got a carrier for the pigs, some treats. Should I bring a water bottle or anything else?
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Jan 25, 2022 17:50
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Loading up the carrier with hay was a great idea. I also brought a baggy full of chopped peppers to keep them happy. They got a clean bill of health from the vet!
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Jan 26, 2022 20:15
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One of my pigs has gotten in the habit of biting after being taken out of the pen. It was just tugging on my shirt, but today he nipped my neck. I’ve had them almost two years now, and he’s started doing it in the past few months. During lap time he doesn’t do this, so I’m primarily worried about accidentally dropping him after getting bit.
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May 30, 2022 00:44
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So one of my pigs has had a bizarre change in eating habits. One day I went to their cage, and the food dish was still full of pellets around noon, which never happens. These little gluttons get their pellets eaten up in maybe 2-3 hours. Then I noticed he wouldn’t take the vitamin C treat, which they always eagerly snap up when offered. His brother did go through a fussy period where he refused to eat the treat unless I put him on my lap, but when I tried that here he still refused to eat. Now it’s and off, where sometimes he eats normally and then he just eats sparingly. He only eats part of his red bell peppers when usually they chow down. What’s strange is that, this morning, he refused the treat from my hand, but eagerly went in and stole his brother’s treat right out of his mouth and greedily wolfed it down. He’s drinking normally, and isn’t acting any different outside of eating havits, so it’s just weird. I have an appointment with the vet, so hopefully it’s nothing serious. I thought it might be due to replacing his old hidey with a newer one, but he’s never reacted this way to a new hidey before.
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Jun 23, 2022 20:11
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He is down about 0.2 pounds, from 2.4 to 2.2lbs.
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Jun 23, 2022 20:41
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Nah since I weighed him at the beginning of the month.
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Jun 23, 2022 21:06
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Guinea Pig got an X-Ray and no signs of GI or Bladder problems. Have an appointment next week for an oral exam. Two employees at the vet came in to see him just because pigs were so rare at their place
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Jul 1, 2022 05:40
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It’s technically a (this is loving gross just fyi) scrotal sac where their genitals are at and it gets nasty with poop, fur, and smegma. As boars grow older their sphincter muscles weaken and any blockage could prevent regular pooping, so you have to take a q-tip or something and clean it out every month or so, including wiping down the penis. It is the singular worst-smelling thing that has ever entered my nostrils, and I have worked in a lab with moldy cadavers.
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Jul 31, 2022 05:51
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She’s adorable, and here’s hoping for a good outcome
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Oct 19, 2022 17:33
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Or they’re great at being obvious with meaningless behavior changes so you blow a ton of money on the vet. Shout-out to my pig for refusing to eat treats or pellets and making me blow $400 on a vet visit to get “he’ may be getting fussy as he ages.” So yeah, don’t blame yourself. Pigs are weird, and you gave yours a great life.
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Dec 27, 2022 01:17
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My two boars fight on occasion, especially during cleanings when I am getting poop out of a hidey and they cram into the other and fight over space. Never had bleeding, but they’re brothers so maybe that’s why they never get too violent.
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Sep 26, 2023 13:43
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 01:11 |
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I’d take dick toucher over guinea pig sac cleaner (which still involves dick touching). Just the most ungodly smell.
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Sep 30, 2023 21:34
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