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Diogines posted:I am trying to find someone who will be able to come but I want to be set, just in case. Leaving multiple water bottles and a ton of hay and pellets in the cage would be better than trying to use an autofeeder which might get stuck and leave them without food at all. If you go that route, you're mostly only looking at normal health risks - keeping in mind that daily visits could prevent those from becoming fatalities. I've seen pigs ending up without water for a week because the nozzle got stuck and the water couldn't get out, or because a bit of hay got in the nozzle and drained it all out (I can recall at least seven cases of this, one fatality). One lady came home to find a pig leapt out of the cage - a pig who had never done ANY escaping - and spent a weekend on the floor without food or water and with a broken leg (eventual fatality). One pig who got her head stuck in a hay manger trying to get the last little bit of hay (fatality). Two occasions where the owner was away for a week at christmas and the power went out, and the heat didn't come back on, so the house was <32 degrees - in one case the owner said there was ice in the water bottle (surprisingly no fatalities). One pair of pigs who had a tiff while the owner was gone and one pig ended up with his lower incisors pierced through his lower lip - he couldn't eat the whole time they were gone, and his owners didn't notice for several days after they got back (eventual fatality). A dozen or more cases of "I just came home and he's DEAD" that were probably stasis or stones, given the absence of poops/presence of bloody urine in the cage. Only in two cases could I do a necropsy; one was stones and the other was inconclusive because it had been too long, but stasis was not ruled out. God I'm depressing myself now. I'll admit this is partly selection bias - nobody ever frantically calls me on Sunday night to tell me that their pig had a great time with the petsitter and is doing fine. As long as you know the risks going in, just leave multiple bottles and lots of extra loose hay and a big bowl of pellets and they'll probably be fine. Maas Biolabs posted:As it happens, I opened this thread to ask about Degus, so I have a couple of questions for you Putinontheritz: I fostered degus for three or four years and in my experience they crap just as much as any other rodent. They definitely crapped ALL over the playpen when they were out to exercise. Also they liked to pee down the back of my desk. That was fun to discover.
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Feb 7, 2011 16:26
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I foster small animals and I can give you a list of calamities as well: - I've had multiple pigs randomly decide one day to jump out of the cage. The last one had fostered with me for nearly a year. The one before that leapt into his neighbor's cage and got the ever loving crap kicked out of him. - Each of my cages has two water bottles; I've had pigs jam one and break the spout off the other (flooding the cage). - Pig with head in hay rack choking to death (my husband heard her rasping at 3am). - Dumb pig managed to wedge pigloo into the corner and block all food - Various issues of pigs down with stasis, bite wounds, UTIs, etc, at the last minute.
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Feb 7, 2011 19:16
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alucinor posted:One pig who got her head stuck in a hay manger trying to get the last little bit of hay (fatality). Rodent Mortician posted:- Pig with head in hay rack choking to death (my husband heard her rasping at 3am). God, that reminds me of the time I found a pig INSIDE the hay manger. I was convinced she had escaped, and after looking in the pig room for like an hour I decided she must have somehow climbed the stairs. Just before heading up to search I decided to top off the manger and felt movement under the hay. I have no idea how she got in, but she could never have gotten out by herself. This is also why I remove all hay mangers before leaving them with the petsitter. If you can kill yourself in a pile of loose hay, I really can't help you.
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Feb 7, 2011 19:24
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The thing I would definitely worry about the most is them going into gut stasis. Luckily it hasn't happened to my pigs in quite a while but every time I've ever had it happen on a pig it has come suddenly enough that if I had been gone for more than a day they would have surely died. (Even when I was there sometimes it was too late.) I am not trying to scare you, and yes the probability that nothing at all will happen if you just leave them enough food and water is probably pretty high, but if they were my pigs I would be sure to arrange for someone to come and check on them at least once a day.
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Feb 7, 2011 19:24
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Sirotan posted:The thing I would definitely worry about the most is them going into gut stasis. Luckily it hasn't happened to my pigs in quite a while but every time I've ever had it happen on a pig it has come suddenly enough that if I had been gone for more than a day they would have surely died. (Even when I was there sometimes it was too late.) I am not trying to scare you, and yes the probability that nothing at all will happen if you just leave them enough food and water is probably pretty high, but if they were my pigs I would be sure to arrange for someone to come and check on them at least once a day. Webcam surveillance?
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Feb 8, 2011 00:17
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alucinor posted:Leaving multiple water bottles and a ton of hay and pellets in the cage would be better than trying to use an autofeeder which might get stuck and leave them without food at all. If you go that route, you're mostly only looking at normal health risks - keeping in mind that daily visits could prevent those from becoming fatalities. Your not depressing, I wanted to know the sorts of horror stories which could happen and you told me. I'll try to arrange for someone to come but I've found out it would be two and a half days, tops. I think they would be alright, if that happened.
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Feb 8, 2011 01:13
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Maas Biolabs posted:As it happens, I opened this thread to ask about Degus, so I have a couple of questions for you Putinontheritz: Well I'm no expert, but I can help you here. They seem to just continuously poop- but not nearly as much as say, a rabbit. I've never had any other rodents besides a bunny before, but these guys are generally good about keeping clean. When I have them out in my pocket or on my shoulder they don't usually poop at all, but sometimes I guess if they're more comfortable it's pooping time. They always crap all over their ball when they run around. We keep ours in the living room, and there's generally very little smell or mess to deal with, since we clean up once a week or so. We keep them out, but only on our shoulders or in pockets since Millie keeps trying to catch them otherwise. Hope this helped.
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Feb 8, 2011 02:29
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alucinor posted:God, that reminds me of the time I found a pig INSIDE the hay manger. I was convinced she had escaped, and after looking in the pig room for like an hour I decided she must have somehow climbed the stairs. Just before heading up to search I decided to top off the manger and felt movement under the hay. I have no idea how she got in, but she could never have gotten out by herself. Heh. When I first got my Parvati, she was the absolute worst about hay discipline. I'd zip-tied grids against the back wall to make a sort of V shape to fill with hay, and while the other pigs would be content to eat from the ends or through the bars, she'd dig her way in and pee on everything while she munched. I started going through a ton of fouled hay, and tried to come up with a solution. Finally, what I did was take two grids, bend them into a sort of V shape, overlap them, and suspend them from the end of the cage. The idea was to keep the hay off the floor, but give everyone the opportunity to munch away at the hay that stuck down through the bars. We figured there was no way Parvati could foul this hay, because to do so, she'd pretty much have to leap vertically almost an entire grid, and then wiggle her 1.5 kilo butt over the lip. She was in the hay rack inside of ten minutes. At that point, I gave up. No matter what I did, she would climb in the hay - although with the suspended hay rack, she never peed in it for some reason. It was extremely nerve-wracking seeing her up there, given that from her perch she could very easily hop out of the cage. But it never occurred to her, even though from where she was sitting, she could look down into the 45# box of hay sitting at the end of the cage. In the end, I just stuck a couple of extra grids around the top of that end of the cage, and let her climb wherever she wanted. When I moved, I gave up on hay racks entirely, and just dumped piles in the cage. More fun for them anyway. (Parvati's climbing habit also led to a particularly funny and touching little tableaux - my two oldest pigs were littermates, and one was very outgoing (Indira) and the other extremely timid and didn't like to come out of her pigloo (Kali). When I'd put a big pile of fresh bluegrass in the hay rack, Parvati would jump into it, kick a big pile down onto Indira's head, who would then run across the cage like a tiny green haystack and shake it all off inside the pigloo where Kali was hiding.)
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Feb 8, 2011 10:13
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Having a bit of a problem here. I'm 99% sure that we have a case of mites in cage, on all three pigs. The problem is that the medication isn't available over the counter and the local vet refuses to prescribe it without first examining all three pigs and possibly charing for the injection or application as well. They are pretty much holding my pigs ransom for at least €240. Now what I might be able to do is get some kind of ivermectin or similar product from a bulk pack made for horses or livestock. How would I go about to safely apply this to the tiny furry cows in my cage?
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Feb 8, 2011 14:30
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Kaz you REALLY have the best stories.cat with hands posted:Now what I might be able to do is get some kind of ivermectin or similar product from a bulk pack made for horses or livestock. How would I go about to safely apply this to the tiny furry cows in my cage? http://www.guinealynx.info/ivermectin.html Specific dosing information from the links on the left. Good luck!
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Feb 8, 2011 15:36
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alucinor posted:Kaz you REALLY have the best stories. I forgot to mention that the medications I've seen seem to have a higher concentration, can it be safely diluted for easier dosage?
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Feb 8, 2011 15:44
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cat with hands posted:I forgot to mention that the medications I've seen seem to have a higher concentration, can it be safely diluted for easier dosage? Yes, just dilute with water, but double and triple check your math. Keep in mind that the undiluted dose for an average sized pig is something like .02 mL which is basically like the size of a small drop of water, so your calculations should give you something even smaller before dilution. I find topical dosing works better than oral or injection, in my experience, so don't dilute too much or it will all run off.
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Feb 8, 2011 15:59
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PutinOnTheRitz posted:Well I'm no expert, but I can help you here. They seem to just continuously poop- but not nearly as much as say, a rabbit. I've never had any other rodents besides a bunny before, but these guys are generally good about keeping clean. When I have them out in my pocket or on my shoulder they don't usually poop at all, but sometimes I guess if they're more comfortable it's pooping time. They always crap all over their ball when they run around. Interesting; before I get any (assuming the persuading-landlord hurdle is somehow overcome) I'll see if there's any specific method to training them (if that's even possible) to crap in their cage. Good to know they rarely do so when out; maybe they're just more relaxed when in the cage, or since they spend more time in there are more used to doing it there. Or something similar.
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Feb 9, 2011 15:57
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About a year and 2 months ago, I got 2 little guineapigs as a Christmas present from my husband (ended up also being birthday, seeing as with the cage and all the supplies, it ended up being quite pricey). I had done some research on the web, and my parents kept guineapigs for years when they first got married, so I had a little bit of help from them. We didn't get into the rescue research though, and we bought 2 guineapigs from our local petsmart. They had a 2 week 'warranty' where if they would get sick, they would either treat them, or we could get a new one. Jaimy, my American Satin, I think, was absolutely fine. However, Mo, my Abyssinian/American, started sneezing a lot, and we ended up having to take her to the vet 2 days after we got her and she had a URI. They treated her for free, asked if we wanted a different one (OH HELL NAW!) and handed her back to me Christmas Eve, after a week and a half of treatment. She's doing fine now. Both of them are now nice, big, and according to my husband, living up to the 'pig' part in their name, with their cute big bellies. I recently got a new cage for them, the old one was wood, and they started to chew up the whole thing. I love their little personalities! Sadly, Mo has kept a little bit of a 'I'm scared of humans' from her days at the vet, where probably, all the interaction she had was 'stuff meds in face'. She still gets a little bitey when you pick her up. She'll pull on your clothes, trying to make you put her down. It's gotten a little better, I've been trying to pick her up and then put her back immediatly, and then pick her up, hold her a little longer, and put her back, trying to make her more comfortable being handled. She still gets scared though. Is this ever gonna change? Do you guys have any advice as to help her not be so scared anymore?
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Feb 10, 2011 21:15
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First and foremost, if you bought the cage whole, it's too small. Check out guineapigcages.com for an easy and inexpensive way to give your pigs plenty of room to run and play. What guinea pigs are most afraid of is being picked up, because they associate your hand swooping in with a predator attack, and it's a very unstable and unpleasant feeling for them. The best thing you can do is get them to associate you with snacks. Get a bag of spring mix, pick up the skittish pig, and go lay down or recline somewhere. Let the pig sit on your stomach or in your lap while you pet her and offer her leaves of spring mix. At first, she's probably not going to want to have anything to do with them, but if you make a habit of this, she'll eventually start eating from your hand. Once you get to that point, the human = food switch will trip in her brain and she'll warm to you immensely. Once you have a pig out for laptime and they're on a stable surface, they should calm down quite a bit. However, if you've got her out for 10-15 minutes and all of a sudden she starts biting or pulling at your clothes, or making annoyed squeaking noises, it probably means she's got to go to the bathroom. Ignore such warning signs at your peril.
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Feb 10, 2011 22:03
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Thanks! She's fine as long as I have her close to me, and am not moving. The second I move, is when she starts pulling my clothes. She's worse with others than she is with me, but I think that might be because she knows my smell, or something along those lines. I'll look into getting a bigger cage when we move out of our current living situation. Right now, they spend a lot of time in a big pen on the floor, when there's no extra dogs around (which happens regularly). There's a 4 month old lab puppy that runs around here, so an open cage is just not an option right now, seeing as he thinks they're toys. WindowLiquor fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Feb 10, 2011 |
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Feb 10, 2011 22:15
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Just tried the new Carefresh Basic bedding for my girls, and it looks like a good, cheaper option than their usual offerings. You always have to be careful with softwood shavings, because they contain phenols that can be harmful. Kiln-drying the bedding evaporates them, and I can definitely say Carefresh processes theirs to be as safe as possible -- I used to use kiln-dried pine way back when, and the strength of the aroma when opening the bag is nowhere near as strong as that stuff was. There's really barely a woodsy smell to it at all, just enough to give the cage kind of a fresh smell. The girls were a little freaked out not to be on their gray cellulose, but they quickly got over it, and seem to dig the new stuff. We'll see how absorbent it is, but it's definitely a contender being half the price of Carefresh Natural. I'm still paranoid enough about the phenols that I wouldn't use this in an aquarium cage, but in a big, open C&C I think it's probably as safe as anything else out there.
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Feb 12, 2011 14:59
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Where did you get the bedding from? I have been using Carefresh Natural and been really happy, but would like a cheaper option. Haven't seen Basic in our local pet store though.
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Feb 13, 2011 09:45
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I got mine at a Pet Supplies Plus. It's still pretty new, though, so it might still be filtering down to shops in your area.
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Feb 14, 2011 10:18
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5 day old chinchilla at our shelter. I'll just leave these here. Click here for the full 1520x2032 image.  Click here for the full 1520x2032 image.
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Feb 14, 2011 19:14
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I have a pet feeder mouse, and she's been in the habit of sleeping in the towel surrounding her cage when I leave it open. Last night I closed the cage thinking she was in there when she wasn't. Today I found her on the towel around 9. At the most she's been there 16 hours, and I know she's slept for that long before, but when I took her out she seemed really tired, and started vibrating in my hand as I pet her. She's eating now, and has no interest in water, but she still looks really tired. Should I be concerned? Edit: She does look a bit more animated after a few sunflower seeds, hopefully it was just not having eaten in awhile 
BoomtownRat fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Feb 15, 2011 |
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Feb 15, 2011 03:43
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My hamster really likes chewing on my hoodie laces. I don't let her because it's probably dangerous for her, but is there something like that, that would be safe for her to chew on?
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Feb 22, 2011 03:00
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Thought I would share some pictures of my pigs. I've been the proud owner of Reese and Charlie for about a year now, and I'll probably end up having piggies for the rest of my life. I acquired them on Kijiji from the typical "my kid wanted guinea pigs now she doesn't" poster, and they were in sad shape when I got them. They weren't really sick or anything, but they clearly never got groomed, so their hair was very badly matted. This is Reese when I first got him.  Click here for the full 604x453 image. Charlie the emo pig when I first got him:  Click here for the full 604x453 image. Charlie shows off his gorgeous locks and refusal to have eyes.  Click here for the full 2048x1536 image. Reese on Christmas morning.  Click here for the full 2048x1536 image. I'm shocked at how good they are at foraging. We brought them to my mom's place once for dinner, and after putting them on the floor in another room, Reese found this plant in the living room within minutes.  Click here for the full 2048x1536 image. Don't be alarmed at the cage shots- I haven't used it for months now. I've somehow lucked out and gotten pigs that only pee in one corner and don't chew anything that isn't food or cardboard, so they wander freely now. They're a ton happier than they were before and I enjoy coming home to have small pigs doing laps around my feet. And one more bonus shot:  Click here for the full 604x453 image. My boyfriend found this little guy in a pipe at his work, stuck and starving. We live in Alberta, so getting a vet or rescue agency to care was impossible (it's a gopher... they're a pest here). So he figured he'd take the little guy home and try to help it out. Richardson's Ground Squirrels make incredibly entertaining and lively pets, but will never be cuddly, and you can't take it out of the cage ever or it will be gone. And they'll eat anything. Like literally, anything.
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Feb 23, 2011 21:06
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SuperJa posted:Don't be alarmed at the cage shots- I haven't used it for months now. I've somehow lucked out and gotten pigs that only pee in one corner and don't chew anything that isn't food or cardboard, so they wander freely now. They're a ton happier than they were before and I enjoy coming home to have small pigs doing laps around my feet. drat I wish I could do that. My two pigs are like ying and yang: one poops incessantly when you take her out of the cage, and the other is a nervous pee-er. If they get any uncorralled floor time at all it has to be very brief and the nervous one gets watched like a hawk. If I see any butt wagging its back into the cage you go! Super cute pics btw.
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Feb 23, 2011 21:19
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Glasgow posted:5 day old chinchilla at our shelter. I'll just leave these here. So cute! I wanted a baby chin sooo bad but I went ahead and got adults from Craigslist instead. Do you have any pictures of the baby with it's mom? Or is she not around?
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Feb 23, 2011 22:41
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I've been advised against it previously, but do pigs need extra salt in their diet in some circumstances? Winter season here is extremely dry with air humidity frequently below 20%. I've also noticed that the pigs seem really happy to lick my hands and fingers, and sometimes they snack on pee soaked newspaper despite having lots of fresh hay, greens, veggies, fruit and pellets. I know humans need more salt in this climate to stay hydrated, maybe the pigs do as well?
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Feb 24, 2011 14:07
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No, because they don't lose salt to sweat like people do.
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Feb 24, 2011 15:14
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alucinor posted:No, because they don't lose salt to sweat like people do.  My pigs love to work up a sweat in their tiny gym! No but seriously, there's still some in the urine, right? cat with hands fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Feb 25, 2011 |
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Feb 25, 2011 01:47
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cat with hands posted:No but seriously, there's still some in the urine, right? One of my pigs will eat the coroplast their cage is made of even if there is a pile of nice fresh hay 6" away. It doesn't mean they like the taste, it means they're kinda dumb and will chew on everything.
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Feb 25, 2011 01:58
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Sirotan posted:One of my pigs will eat the coroplast their cage is made of even if there is a pile of nice fresh hay 6" away. It doesn't mean they like the taste, it means they're kinda dumb and will chew on everything. Indeed, but it's a new behavior (specially the licking hands part) I haven't noticed before. Thought I would ask just to make sure.
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Feb 25, 2011 11:53
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cat with hands posted:Indeed, but it's a new behavior (specially the licking hands part) I haven't noticed before. Thought I would ask just to make sure. I'm sure, and I've also seen way too many stones to ever endorse mineral/salt supplementation apart from what they get in a good and varied diet. I posted somewhere (upthread or in the rabbit thread maybe) several links to peer reviewed articles about salt intake in small animals. You feed a good diet, that has all the salt they need. cat with hands posted:
HA! This pic didn't load for me the first time, that's awesome.
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Feb 25, 2011 16:29
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alucinor posted:HA! This pic didn't load for me the first time, that's awesome. The Telegraph did a series of these pics a while back. IIRC, you can get a "Guinea Pig Olympics" calendar.
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Feb 25, 2011 17:03
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Chinchillin as usual.
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Feb 25, 2011 22:45
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Awesome Kristin posted:So cute! I wanted a baby chin sooo bad but I went ahead and got adults from Craigslist instead. Do you have any pictures of the baby with it's mom? Or is she not around? The mom is with him, as well as a 3-legged female that's bonded to her. Pinwheel has 2 mommies. They went into foster pretty much as soon as we pulled them from the kill shelter. I just didn't want to explain to people every day why they couldn't adopt the tiny chin yet, or why he couldn't be separated from his bonded family unit, no, not even when he's old enough to be on his own, assholes...anyway. Can't get any pics right now, but they are the cutest family. The little tard does whatever the big ones do, like flopping awkwardly in dust, but seems really confused as to why he should be doing it. Dunno what their story was, but they got dumped together in a shelter it seems right after he was born. They're clearly socialized, and let me reach into the cage and pet them and carefully pick up and handle the baby with no aggression, I was actually kinda amazed.
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Feb 26, 2011 06:26
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chinchilla posted:Chinchillin as usual. I see your chins chillin and raise you one pile of fuzz.  Click here for the full 2048x1536 image. I tried to get closer for a better picture and I woke them up.  Click here for the full 2048x1536 image. Notice they're sleeping right ~next~ to a hammock I've got them, and they've never used. Fuckers.
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Feb 27, 2011 10:04
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Those are indeed adorable chinchillas, but I refuse to fold!
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Feb 28, 2011 05:20
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chinchilla posted:Those are indeed adorable chinchillas, but I refuse to fold! Curse you! Technochilla loves shiny things.  Click here for the full 539x720 image. But seriously, Diesel tries to eat my face metal.  Click here for the full 539x720 image.
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Feb 28, 2011 21:06
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I'm sorry to interrupt the completely adorable pics with something grim, but I need insight. Yesterday, I came home to find that both of my beloved gerbils had dropped dead for no reason apparent reason. They were one and two year old healthy girls. My boyfriend had been caring for them while I was on vacation last week and he says he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, except for Brownie’s sore foot (she had fully recovered from the same injury in the past.) He says that they were just fine when he left for work yesterday morning. The gerbils were eating the same food as always, which is securely stored in a Tupperware container. They were using the same bedding. I cleaned the cage just one week ago. They were chewing the same kind of cardboard. They had no visible abrasions. They didn’t even look scruffy. The one strange thing I noticed when I took a closer look at their tank/cage today was that they really hadn’t made much of a nest for themselves last week. It looks like they were left for a day, not a week. But they did seem recently dead to me and there was no smell at all. Does anyone know what could have happened? Is there some disease with no visible symptoms that they could’ve had? What could have possibly happened?
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Mar 2, 2011 03:06
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Huge Liability posted:I'm sorry to interrupt the completely adorable pics with something grim, but I need insight. Yesterday, I came home to find that both of my beloved gerbils had dropped dead for no reason apparent reason.  Goondolences, my beloved six month old hamster died suddenly two days ago. Smaller pets aren't really bred for longevity, so an unexpected death could be due to poor breeding. There could also be a number of preexisting conditions like diabetes that are difficult to spot. Were the gerbils siblings?
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Mar 2, 2011 03:36
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I'm sorry to hear about that. Since gerbs can easily make 4 years or older, I agree that one and two years old is way young for two to die at the same time of old age or chronic illness. So my first guess would be environmental. Unfortunately that adds more possibilities than it excludes. Was their water bottle nozzle plugged? Did they get any treats while you were gone? How long had they been eating this bag of store-bought food? Was it a new bag or a very old one? Is it musty smelling or is there any sign of damp/mold in the container? Did your power go off and they got too hot/too cold? Do you have a carbon monoxide detector or any risk of carbon monoxide in the house? Did your landlord spray for pests while you were gone? Etc etc. Have you considered getting a necropsy done? That could certainly set your mind at ease.
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Mar 2, 2011 16:00
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