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I have them on the floor now. It sounds like getting something to put their enclosure on so they were at chest level make them happier since it'll be easier for me to come in at eye level? Edit: Nevermind, that won't work. I keep corosplast along the edge of the enclosure to keep debris inside, so I can't come in at eye level anyway. Diogines fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Dec 6, 2010 |
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Dec 6, 2010 01:27
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Diogines posted:1. I feed them plenty of varied veggies daily but they VASTLY prefer the hay I give them to their pellets. They eat the pellets eventually, but not much of it. Nothing to be worried about, is it? Nah, not really. As alucinor said, pellets are valuable for calories and vitamin C for the most part; some people simply feed their pigs hay and veggies (making sure that they get enough C from things like bell peppers and the like). What type of pellets do you give them? There are a lot of kind of mediocre pellet brands out there (and a lot of really crappy ones); when I switched to high-quality stuff (Oxbow or KM's Hayloft) my pigs became noticeably more interested in eating their pellets. And seconded on the condor thing. I have my cage on a folding banquet table, so it's closer to chest level. My girls have absolutely no problem with me if they're looking at me through the grids, but the instant any part of me appears above the top line, all bets are off. If you can raise them up to where they're viewing you more through the safe and secure bars, they'll probably freak out less upon simply seeing you, but they'll always lose it when the claw comes into the cage.
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Dec 6, 2010 05:35
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Some pigs have weird preferences about how they tolerate being picked up. For mine one is a-ok with the normal way. One freaks out if you don't hold your hand under his stomach and leave his back feet dangling. The third one is ok with just about anything as long as have a hand covering his back.
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Dec 7, 2010 12:54
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I know I don't post in this thread often but this evening we had to put my girlfriend and mine's hamster down due to cancer. 
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Dec 8, 2010 18:54
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I just clipped my guinea pig's nails for the first time. One of my guinea pigs actually purrs a bit when I pet it and is generally much easier to handle. I got her nails without issue. The second one is much more difficult to handle. She is clearly pretty unhappy and struggled the whole time and both are pretty skittish whenever I move around my home now. I did not hit the quick on either of them, though I left them a little longer than I should have, dealing with a struggling guinea pig while cutting her nails for the first time is hard enough, their owner couldn't handle then bleeding on me too. How good are guinea pig memories? Will they forget the trauma by tomorrow?
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Dec 8, 2010 23:38
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Diogines posted:How good are guinea pig memories? Will they forget the trauma by tomorrow? They will forget within seconds. But most guinea pigs have at least a minor flip-out reaction to getting their nails clipped. We had one once who would flail and cream like he was being murdered. Sometimes it takes another person to help you hold them because even veggies won't distract them.
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Dec 9, 2010 00:35
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Serella posted:Sometimes it takes another person to help you hold them because even veggies won't distract them. This part is important. Pigs generally doesn't have the strength to seriously injure them selves like rabbits do, you have to watch out though not to twist or bend their legs by accident.
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Dec 9, 2010 18:01
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I managed to cut all of their nails alone without hurting them or myself, with no experience. I suspect I'll be able to manage doing it alone in the future.
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Dec 10, 2010 01:48
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Diogines posted:I managed to cut all of their nails alone without hurting them or myself, with no experience. I suspect I'll be able to manage doing it alone in the future. You've got tame pigs then. We used to have one who'd contort in the craziest ways to escape nail clippings. I have ferrets and clip their nails, brush their teeth, and bathe them all against their slinky will and without any help, but that pig had to be held down while I clipped his nails because otherwise it could not be done.
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Dec 10, 2010 04:13
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I just don't understand my pigs sometimes. Sometimes they freak out when I go over their cage. Yet if I spend 10 minutes hovering over their cage spot cleaning and at the very end replacing the hay, they often move around the whole time get really close to my hand, when I am at my most hovering-predator-ness.
Diogines fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Dec 10, 2010 |
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Dec 10, 2010 04:34
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Diogines posted:I just don't understand my pigs sometimes. Sometimes they freak out when I go over their cage. Yet if I spend 10 minutes hovering over their cage spot cleaning and at the very end replacing the hay, they often move around the whole time get really close to my hand, when I am at my most hovering-predator-ness. This is the delightfully entertaining thing about cognitive and behavioral psychology. It has to do with cognitive schemas: Predators come in overhead quickly. Trees are overhead too, and sometimes they move a little, but mostly they just stand there, so something that's permanently overhead isn't as scary as something that moves quickly. There was an interesting study several years ago showing that many prey birds (like chickens) have different reactions to a model when it is flown overhead in two different directions:  Fly it to the left, with the long neck leading, and it's a short-tailed goose; chickens don't give a poo poo. Fly it to the right, with the short head leading, and it's a long-tailed hawk, and chickens engage in all sorts of predator avoidance behavior.
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Dec 10, 2010 16:19
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Pres posted:I know I don't post in this thread often but this evening we had to put my girlfriend and mine's hamster down due to cancer. Rip unnamed hamster
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Dec 11, 2010 00:32
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Hi, I have been having an issue lately with water bottles and my hamster (specifically leaking bottles). I have tried about 4 different brands and all are leaking . I have tried Lixit, sunthing, superpet glass bottle, and another generic bottle. I am at a loss as to which bottle to buy next. MY hamster is in a wire cage so the bottle has to clip on the side. I used to use the plan glass bottles, with no metal balls, that only had a rubber stopper. They looked just like a test tube. These bottles never leaked, but I cannot find them anywhere. Can anyone recommend a non leaking water bottle or where to find the old school glass bottles?
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Dec 12, 2010 17:42
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zoombit posted:Hi, I'm honestly not sure if this suggestion is good for a hamster, but I just wanted to say I feel your pain. For years I went through water bottle after water bottle with my pigs, the traditional ball-bearing style bottles leak terribly and after my pigs would chew on the tips of them the vacuum 'seal' would be ruined and they would just leak out their entire contents over a short period of time. Eventually, I came across these bottles: http://www.woodlandbird.com/text/WBuddy.html Of course, that brand is no longer being manufactured. It has a small lever in the spout and when the pig/bunny/etc agitates it with their teeth or tongue, water will come out. It doesn't rely on a vacuum seal to keep it from dripping. These bottles don't drip AT ALL and have been a godsend for me. This site: http://www.bunnyrabbit.com/price/waterbottle.htm says there is a similar style bottle, the "MJ Bottle", still being sold. It looks exactly like my bottles, so maybe this is something you can look into. My pigs didn't have much of a problem learning how to drink from this style of bottle when I first put it in their cage but I have read accounts of some people's pets not being able to figure out how to use them. I've never read of anyone using one for their hamster but because I don't have hamsters I've never needed to find this out either. I think it would be good to try though if you can buy one.
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Dec 12, 2010 17:58
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Thank you Sirotan, I will look into those bottles.
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Dec 12, 2010 19:15
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My parents have two male guinea pigs, a little under a year old. They were both bought from the same cage in Petco (I know, I know, I tried to talk them into getting a rescue but to no avail ) but are probably not brothers. One of them is still very skittish about being held, one is mostly all right around people. They've had some problems with the pigs humping each other and snapping, but that just seemed like dominance stuff, nothing too serious or injury-causing--no actual biting. Lately my mom said that they've been getting a little more aggressive: one will chatter and snap at the other, or they'll stare at each other for a few minutes then rear up before they get separated. (She also can't figure out which one is more dominant, they both seem to instigate at times.) I've suggested that they get a larger cage (they have a big plastic-bottomed cage, about twice the size of the awful "starters" that pet shops sell, but it's still pretty crowded with two cardboard tubes, the food bowls, etc) or a one of those coroplast cages... my first thought was that it could be a space issue that was causing the aggression, but I don't know. Does anyone have any other ideas as to what they could do to restore the peace? My mom is afraid they're going to hurt each other.
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Dec 12, 2010 22:32
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It's about 40% a space issue and about 60% a "teenage pigs are assholes" issue. Once they pass about 18 months their hormones will settle down and they're less likely to be dicks to each other. Have her read this for information on normal vs. dangerously aggressive dominance behaviors. In the meantime, I've found that for two teenage intact males, you need at LEAST a 2 grid by 6 grid (30" by 76", or 3'x6' if you're using closetmaid shelving) if you want a reasonable chance of giving them enough space to stop fighting. That's also big enough that you can divide the cage entirely if they just refuse to get along, but I have never had a pair of males that couldn't get along in a 3'x6' cage.
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Dec 12, 2010 23:19
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Thanks alucinor.  I will forward them the link, and also keep pushing them to get a bigger cage, even though hopefully the pigs will grow out of the worst of it soon, I'm fairly sure that constantly tripping over each other isn't helping calm their tempers.
A Game of Chess fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Dec 12, 2010 |
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Dec 12, 2010 23:54
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Hamster mites question. I have a male robo hamster. About a month ago I picked him up and noticed my hand was covered in tiny black bugs. I googled it, found that hamsters can get mites (which I had no idea was possible before), and followed the internet's suggestion of throwing away anything not plastic that he interacts with, including all food and bedding, in case it's contaminated. I completely sterilized and cleaned out his cage, his toys, and the surrounding area, refilled it all with brand new fluffs and food, and sprayed him with anti-mite medicine. He's been completely clean and free of mites until about 5 minutes ago when I saw him itching. I picked him up and, yup, my hand is covered in tiny black bugs. Are these actually mites? (They're not fleas, I know what those look like). Do I need to throw away everything again or am I just throwing my money away? How the hell did he get mites AGAIN? Help. 
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Dec 13, 2010 21:55
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If you're not freezing his bedding for at least 24 hours prior to giving it to him, there's your problem right there. Freezing bedding kills mites, and I always freeze the poo poo out of my Carefresh since it seems mites just loooove Carefresh for whatever reason. And yup, time to re-sterilize. This time freeze the bedding before starting all over again! 
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Dec 13, 2010 22:41
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Captain Foxy posted:If you're not freezing his bedding for at least 24 hours prior to giving it to him, there's your problem right there. Freezing bedding kills mites, and I always freeze the poo poo out of my Carefresh since it seems mites just loooove Carefresh for whatever reason. Ughhhhhh... Oh well, thanks for the quick answer! I just moved to a warmer climate from a much colder one so I'd never encountered this before, and had no idea about the freezing thing! I guess I'll buy smaller packages to freeze now. Thanks so much!
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Dec 13, 2010 22:59
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One or possibly both of my piggies dragged one of the pigloos around their enclosure. It was moved about 2 feet in another direction. Based on the way it was moved, it seems intentional, I do not see how it could have moved it into that position without meaning to do so. Are they smart enough to do that, or did they simply move it by mistake and I should move it back? I have my two piggies in a 2 by 3 grids. I have the two pilgoos next to each other in a corner, facing into the middle. One of the pigloos was dragged alongside the other, next to the longer part of the cage, facing in. They could not have possibly have moved it like that without having dragged it and then turning it back to face the middle, if they simply dragged or pulled it, then it would have faced the other way. I wish I had a camera, I do not. I do not mind that it is in a different position. 1. Are they smart enough to have done this by intention? 2. If it was an accident, should I move it back?
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Dec 15, 2010 18:58
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Diogines posted:One or possibly both of my piggies dragged one of the pigloos around their enclosure. It was moved about 2 feet in another direction. Based on the way it was moved, it seems intentional, I do not see how it could have moved it into that position without meaning to do so. Yep, pig redecorating is common. They like to move stuff around and rearrange it. It's not accidental, but you can move it back, it won't offend them or anything.
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Dec 15, 2010 19:07
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I am happy to let them move it wherever they want to, I just thought it odd that it was moved out of a corner to someplace more exposed.
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Dec 15, 2010 19:22
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Diogines posted:I am happy to let them move it wherever they want to, I just thought it odd that it was moved out of a corner to someplace more exposed. How else are they going to explore, except by taking their safe house with them? I think if they could, they would evolve into turtles and take their pigloos everywhere with them.
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Dec 15, 2010 20:01
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alucinor posted:How else are they going to explore, except by taking their safe house with them? I think if they could, they would evolve into turtles and take their pigloos everywhere with them. The optimal spot for pigs is to drag the food bowl over by the water bottle and then the pigloo over the bowl so they can eat and drink from within their plastic shell.
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Dec 15, 2010 20:52
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I kept the food and water away from their shells. Don't they like to poop while eating? Then they are going to poop in their shells even more.
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Dec 15, 2010 21:13
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Heh. My technique for picking up my girls - putting one hand behind them and spooking them into backing up - has convinced Freyja that her rump is her weak spot, so whenever I put veggies and hay in the cage she'll do her best to eat without letting her butt leave shelter. I've seen her stretch out like a ferret to try to reach romaine while leaving herself covered, and if she can't reach, she'll knock a pigloo around to try to give herself cover. The queen of cage redecoration was my Shivani, though. She used to drag a food bowl inside a pigloo and then turn it so the door was pressed against the back coroplast wall so no one could bother her. One time, though, she managed to jam the bowl against the pigloo in a corner in such a way that she got stuck; I remember putting veggies in the cage and hearing this plaintive wheeking as this pigloo kept frantically banging against the cubes.
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Dec 15, 2010 21:38
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alucinor posted:How else are they going to explore, except by taking their safe house with them? I think if they could, they would evolve into turtles and take their pigloos everywhere with them. The goal is to get fat enough so they're stuck and the pigloo has to come with them
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Dec 16, 2010 03:27
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My pig scoots his pigloo to striking distance of his food source, then emerges like a snail to eat. It looks absurd. I've been looking at C+C cages since I'm moving and finally have more space for our pig, and I was wondering if there's a thing as too much room for a single pig?
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Dec 16, 2010 09:21
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Bastard Tetris posted:I've been looking at C+C cages since I'm moving and finally have more space for our pig, and I was wondering if there's a thing as too much room for a single pig? Nope! I've just recently gotten down under 10 pigs, so I as I was juggling the creation of new pairs and trios, I've had the opportunity to watch singles using full 3'x7' C&C cages. I've noted four things: 1) They still spend most of their time in front of the hay. However, with more space, I gave them several extra hay mangers, and they used every manger. 2) Most of the poops stay near the mangers, to the point that the back 1/3 of the cage still doesn't need poops removed after nearly a week. However, they used that rear space for sunbathing and running back and forth, so it was not wasted space. 3) I got way more zoomies in bigger cages, even from my old guys. There's nothing like watching an obese bug-eyed pig waddling with all his might, just for the pleasure of it. 4) When the cage had a neighbor, they spent 90% of their time next to the neighbor's cage. In one case the pig literally did not move more than 3' from the neighbor until I moved his pellet bowl over by the other wall. He helpfully moved it back for me. So, if you're cramped for size, a single will do fine in a 2by3 (28"x42") but if you can, go up to at least 2by4 (28"x56"). They really do use the extra. Years ago I saw someone who had just 3-4 pigs in something like a 4'x18' C&C. Anyone remember that? It was a guy who worked for Fark if I recall.
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Dec 16, 2010 16:19
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Hay question: I'm in need of more hay for my adult pigs. I'm taking a road trip to the west side of the state tomorrow and theres a farm there selling 2nd cuttings of mixed grass hay bales. Its 10% alfalfa. I know I've read they don't recommend alfalfa hay to adult pigs due to calcium content but with such a marginal amount it doesn't seem too worrisome to me. Seems most bales I can get are a mix that include alfalfa, this particular place is the only one that will tell me the actual percentage of alfalfa. Ok to buy or I should seek out another farm?
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Dec 17, 2010 01:34
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Sirotan posted:10% alfalfa If your pigs are under 4 years old and have no history of stones, it's probably OK. If they're older and/or have already had stones, I would not risk it. Since the total dietary proportions of calcium is as important than the actual intake, you can help reduce this as much as possible by reducing or eliminating calcium-rich veggies, and making sure their overall dietary ratio of Ca:P is within the ideal ranges. Use the charts on GL to select veggies in the range you desire.
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Dec 17, 2010 02:09
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alucinor posted:If your pigs are under 4 years old and have no history of stones, it's probably OK. If they're older and/or have already had stones, I would not risk it. I have one that is 5.5 and the other is 3ish. No history of stones in either of them. I think I'm going to try and find another source first. Though I've been feeding them timothy hay mix/grass hay bales for the past 2ish years without knowing the exact % of alfalfa (if any) that was in the mix and have had no issues. Would rather be safe than sorry. For reference here is what the farm says about the hay: Mixed hay bales (contains: timothy, kentucky bluegrass, about 10% alfalfa & 8% clover) Edit: Heh, well I decided to splurg and get 45lbs of 3rd cut timothy from KM's Hayloft because I've heard good things about them. Sort of the opposite from my buying $4 bales to save money but $63 for 45lbs of hay shipped is really not that bad at all. Sirotan fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Dec 17, 2010 |
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Dec 17, 2010 02:28
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KM's Hayloft is freaking AWESOME. I only get their bluegrass (allergy issues) but it's mindbogglingly good stuff. The first time I put it in the cage, my girls abandoned baby carrots to eat it.
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Dec 17, 2010 03:18
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kazmeyer posted:KM's Hayloft is freaking AWESOME. I only get their bluegrass (allergy issues) but it's mindbogglingly good stuff. The first time I put it in the cage, my girls abandoned baby carrots to eat it. Carrots? Wow. Yeah what you wrote has basically been all I've heard about their hay. The last local bale I got was 95% stalk and my pigs have been wasting a lot of it. I felt bad for them, I know they love all the hay flowers and leafy bits. I figure 45lbs should last me at least 6mos, so $10/mo for quality hay, seems decent.
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Dec 17, 2010 04:12
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I would like to propose the Heizenburg Guinea Pig Psychology principal to explain guinea pig behavior, wherein, you cannot both observe a guinea pig behavior and understand why they are doing it. I take my pigs out for a couple of minutes along each day, say, 10 minutes to feed them some veggies and then put them back. Whenever I take them apart and then reunite them in their enclosure, they chase each others butts and seem quite happy. Why are they chasing each others butts?
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Dec 19, 2010 05:22
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Im confused and worried. Im taking my dwarf hamster home with me for christmas break so I went and got him a small travel cage since I usually keep him in a 20gal tank. Anywho I put him in the travel cage to get used to it and hes been fine for like 6 hours he has everything but then now hes doing something wierd. He gets on his back and makes little distress squeeks. It looks like hes sleeping and hes just on his back squeeking in his sleep. I have no Idea what to do so Im putitng him in his tank to see if he stops. These are distress squeeks and different than the ones he gives me when pissed. edit: Im going to harass a vet tomorrow but Im up at 4am cause he wont stop squeeking. This has been going for 3 days straight. Ive checked on google and mostly it seems if my guy is making noise in his sleep, hes fine. But this is new, hes like crying everytime he goes to sleep, and now hes letting one squeek off every minute or so in his sleep. When hes awake I gave him a good once over, squeezing and poking various parts of him too see I got a negative reaction to anything like if was hurt, and all I got was a damp pee stain and some licking. Did he just decide the little travel cage was too much and hes having a nervous breakdown? He just sounds so pitiful and sometimes has squeeking fits, all asleep. Im in the middle of a bad depression and my little guy is my emotional parent-surrogate, I couldnt stand to see him hurt. Gaj fucked around with this message at 10:37 on Dec 21, 2010 |
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Dec 19, 2010 05:56
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Chinchilla issues... I have one chinchilla, Loki, who is totally chill and I love him to death. My fiance's mom "rescued" (bought) a chinchilla from a pet store "for us" (me and my fiance) while we were away, so currently we have two. Both chins have ginormous, multistory cages with extra tiers, platforms, hidey places, fleece tubes, toys and chew things. Their cages and diet are not for want. Pet store chin, Nick, is a spaz. He's one of the dumbest animals I've seen and he was fairly skittish from the start. During a play session he got himself *into* the cabinets and it took a crowbar to get him out. He went nuts and was screaming because he was scared (there was nothing to hurt himself on) and has become spazzier since. He was a spaz when we were here 3 weeks ago over Thanksgiving break and has become Bitey McFuckface now that we're back on another break. He agressively darts out an nips at my fiance. He literally rushes to the cage and starts biting through the bars, jumping all over the place. Unfortunately we're out of state, so we can't bond with him the way we should but he wasn't this aggressive a few weeks ago. He will come to the cage door when the fiance's mom walks in and she can open the cage to pet him and rub his ears. Do chins have an rear end in a top hat teenage period? Is there any hope with this chin? He was a kit when she got him this summer and we won't be back for any length of time for another 1.5 years. I know chins have a long memory and can take awhile to get comfortable with people however the chin I have took to me pretty fast and he had a rough past. I never had any aggression issues with him. This one though is a different story. What do I do?
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Dec 23, 2010 08:28
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Z. Beeblebrox posted:Chinchilla issues... They do go through a kind of teenaged period, but you also have to keep in mind that he came from a pet store and likely from a giant mill breeder where he was basically never handled and didn't have social interaction. It's kind of like bringing home a puppy-mill dog and then having to deal with the accompanying issues. Some chins adapt quickly, but others take longer and need some intensive socialization. I mean, he's had a fairly traumatic beginning -- mill to pet store to new place, to getting trapped under a cabinet and having to be crowbarred out... I think he really just needs more time and needs more time to bond with you. It was kind of an rear end in a top hat thing to have your MIL buy a 20 year commitment for you and risk your current chin (if she didn't do quarantine).
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Dec 23, 2010 08:53
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