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I've had my 2 female short haired guinea pigs for a few months now. Thanks to a lot of wonderful information provided by this thread, they are both doing great. Healthy and happy! One of them does not really seem to like me all that much but she does not exhibit any behavior that I would call fear. They were both afraid when I first got them of course, but now she seems pretty relaxed and happy. The other one is actually friendly and lets me pet it in it's enclosure  . It is very friendly and purrs when I put it.I always have trouble trimming their nails, which I likely put off a little longer than I should, because I really hate doing it. I always have powder and cotton swabs on hand. I use a small cat nail trimmer. I take them out of the enclosure one at a time and sort of prop them on my lap under a towel. With my left hand that I sort of elevate their front or back and also keep a piece of vegetable on there, so their attention is on it. While they are focused on the food, I use one finger on the left hand to lift their foot up, elevating the nail, then wait till they are still and swoop in quickly to clip a nail with my right hand. It is a slow process as I get many false starts till they are positioned right and not moving, I likely have to wait till they get still 3 or 4 times till I actually make the attempt, on each nail. It is a little awkward and I have had a few yips, but I have yet to cut the quick or cause any damage or real freak outs. I usually do the front feet one day, wait a few days, then do the back, so they are calm. I have not had any real trouble clipping their nails, though it is always awkward. Today, I did the front nails of one of my piggies without issue. I put her back in her enclosure and then tried to do the nails of the friendlier piggie. While I was working on it, she yipped once and can only do what I described as panicked, she started to quiver which I had never seen her do before. She was not screaming but actually shaking. When I took away the nail clipper she calmed down. I fed her some veggies, stroked her gently till she purred a bit, then tried again a few minutes later. When the nail clipper got close she began to shake again, so I put them away, fed her, stroked her a bit till she was happy and put her back in the enclosure. I know I did not cause any serious injury, she did not bleed, I did not hit the quick but she seemed REALLY scared, I've never see her this afraid since the first night she came home. She seems to trust me, how long should I wait till I try again? I am afraid i'll terrify her again  .Any tips from other guinea pig owners on how to clip fidgety piggies alone is also welcome.
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Mar 24, 2011 01:19
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Naffer posted:Nope, he was too busy trying to eat it to try to pouch it. We didn't let him pouch it and finish it later because it'd be an awful lot of sugar. This is cute but I avoid lettuce as a snack all together because of the risk of wet tail.  Research says it's just iceburg lettuce that does this but I like to err on the side of caution.
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Mar 24, 2011 03:19
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Nereid posted:This is cute but I avoid lettuce as a snack all together because of the risk of wet tail. There's not actually a lettuce that will give a hamster wet tail. Wet tail is an infection that often presents most commonly as diarrhea. Eating tons of veggies can cause diarrhea, but typically it'll resolve on it's own without antibiotics (unlike wet tail).
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Mar 24, 2011 04:12
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I am freaking out at how god drat adorable chinchillas are. Once I am in a living/financial situation that will allow for it, I am totally getting one. In the mean time, I've got my new hamster, Cassidy: 
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Mar 24, 2011 08:34
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Hey guys. My dwarf hamster started making little sniffle noises and slight wheezing today. Sounds muffled and comes out like a chuffing sound. Im a non smoker and keep him in a seperate room when cleaning. Should this be a vet vist or something I watch?
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Mar 24, 2011 17:51
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Ok guinea pig people, help me out here. I've got two pigs right now, and my oldest bestest sweetest pig ever is approaching 6 years old this May. I just moved and when I did a built a new pig cage which is huge and looks sad and empty with only two pigs in it. My concern though is with my grandma pig. I don't want to stress her out if I were to get some young whipper-snapper in there with her. Should I be worried? Is six too old for new introductions? The senior citizen:
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Mar 24, 2011 20:07
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Nope, unless she has a history of being difficult with younger pigs. I've regularly shuffled and reshuffled my old singles in with younger pairs, with no problems. An extra large cage should make it even easier for them to come to an agreement. She's a cutie, I have a soft spot for himi PEWs. Diogines posted:she started to quiver which I had never seen her do before. I've seen pigs do an all over body quiver which I'm almost convinced is a sub-audible vocalization. I've always assumed it was an annoyance behavior rather than a fear behavior. I doubt you traumatized her too much. Pigs have incredibly short memories, especially if food is given immediately afterwards as you did.
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Mar 24, 2011 21:27
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alucinor posted:Nope, unless she has a history of being difficult with younger pigs. I've regularly shuffled and reshuffled my old singles in with younger pairs, with no problems. An extra large cage should make it even easier for them to come to an agreement. Awesome. So here is the pig in question:  Photo is from the craigslist ad. Its been shocking to me how difficult its been just to find a pig to potentialy adopt. If there are rescues nearby they have only males, or it turns out that they are run by people that are breeding them at home and then misrepresenting themselves in their ads. A few months ago I even emailed a place that was in Illinois near Chicago because they had a TON of pigs that needed homes and I was told they wouldn't let me adopt because I lived in Michigan. 
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Mar 25, 2011 00:54
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Sirotan posted:Awesome. Have you tired petfinder? A lot of their listings are from city shelters, so you know they're not breeding.
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Mar 25, 2011 04:44
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Glasgow posted:Have you tired petfinder? A lot of their listings are from city shelters, so you know they're not breeding. Yeah, I checked off and on. That's actually how I found the breeder-posing-as-rescue woman. Most of the time what I'd find there would be males, bonded pairs (I really only have space for one more), or pigs 2+ hours away. Of course now that I finally found someone off craigslist a new pig 15min away pops up as of today.  As it is I'm going to have to drive 3 hours roundtrip to pick up this pig. I wonder if they'll drop the $10 rehoming fee if I tell them how much gas I just used to get to their house....
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Mar 25, 2011 18:26
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Sirotan posted:Ok guinea pig people, help me out here. I've got two pigs right now, and my oldest bestest sweetest pig ever is approaching 6 years old this May. I just moved and when I did a built a new pig cage which is huge and looks sad and empty with only two pigs in it. My concern though is with my grandma pig. I don't want to stress her out if I were to get some young whipper-snapper in there with her. Should I be worried? Is six too old for new introductions? It should be ok. Guinea pigs are social creatures and like new friends, especially the females. Just make sure the new guinea pig is a female and supervise the introduction. My guess is that your older pig will be a little dominant towards the new arrival for a few days and then everyone will settle down.
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Mar 26, 2011 03:04
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I can finally get a bigger cage for my pig (time for a friend!), but the rescues we're looking at have neutered boars, and Carl is intact. Do intact and neutered boars have any issues getting along? The rescue descriptions seem like they keep trying to pair them with girls.
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Mar 26, 2011 04:37
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Bastard Tetris posted:I can finally get a bigger cage for my pig (time for a friend!), but the rescues we're looking at have neutered boars, and Carl is intact. Do intact and neutered boars have any issues getting along? The rescue descriptions seem like they keep trying to pair them with girls. I've never had any issues with this type of pairing and I've had a score or more of them. The neutered male usually gets humped more than if he was intact, but that's all. The only thing I've noticed is that intact males tend to have gross anogenital sacs and clean sheaths, while neutered males tend to have clean sacs and filthy sheaths.  So you have to pay attention to what each needs and be sure to clean appropriately.PIG rear end: NOT OKAY
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Mar 26, 2011 15:30
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The above is why I had zero interest in getting any males heh.
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Mar 26, 2011 18:50
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Yeah, next time I'm getting sows, holy poo poo the pig rear end
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Mar 26, 2011 21:12
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I have a quick question about guinea eating habits. I have two pigs (Nutmeg and Cinnamon). I've had Nutmeg since late December, and purchased Cinnamon a couple of weeks ago to give Nutmeg some company. They have a really big cage with two shelters and some fun stuff to chew on. They seem to be doing really well. Right now I feed them timothy hay and Oxbow's Cavy Cuisine. Cinnamon (the new one) loves hay, and seems perfectly content to receive nothing else. Nutmeg, unfortunately, is addicted to pellets. When I first got her I did not realize that pellets should be restricted, and are not designed to be the staple of the pig's diet. I always have a fresh supply of timothy hay in their enclosure, and I also have a large tunnel in there that is made out of timothy hay. Nutmeg will eat the hay occasionally (She always eats the softer, cat-tail looking pieces) but she doesn't seem to like it very much and will whine for pellets constantly. She stands up on her back hind legs and sticks her nose through the cage and makes noise at me until I give her some or just ignore her until she finally stops (Never for long). It's hard for me to not give her what she wants because she's so stinkin cute but I don't want to harm her in the long run. Anyone have any advice for my situation? Thanks in advance!
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Mar 27, 2011 17:01
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ChadBroChill17 posted:It's hard for me to not give her what she wants because she's so stinkin cute but I don't want to harm her in the long run. Anyone have any advice for my situation? Thanks in advance! She can definitely be harmed by excess pellets: obesity, bloat, stasis, bladder stones, dental problems, the list of problems they can cause is nearly endless. The only prevention is you just have to harden up and only give the recommended amount of pellets per day. If you absolutely MUST feed her a treat every time she begs, splurge on a variety of grass hays (orchard, bluegrass, oatgrass) or fresh herbs (cilantro, basil, dill; or parsley in small amounts due to the calcium content). You can also feed unlimited strips of sweet bell pepper (any color) as treats. It's basically a perfectly balanced food.
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Mar 27, 2011 19:20
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alucinor posted:You can also feed unlimited strips of sweet bell pepper (any color) as treats. It's basically a perfectly balanced food. Not so fast- one of my pigs will only eat green peppers. He is a food racist.
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Mar 27, 2011 19:30
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Okay, now I am worried. I was told to give as much pellets and hay as they might want. I replace the hay once a day, same with the pellets. They are much more interested in the hay then the pellets and eat much more of the hay then the pellets. Should I be limiting their pellets?
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Mar 28, 2011 03:56
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Does anyone here happen to know anything about jerboas? I've been idly wondering about getting some but there seems to be a huge dearth of information on them. Specifically, it's the greater Egyptian jerboa that interests me and sources can't even seem to agree if they're herbivores or omnivores. I'm not quite so stupid as to jump into owning a relatively exotic pet without finding out as much as I can about them first, so can anyone help me out? Some background information: I'm in the UK, and I can't find any legal issues relating to jerboas here, although it seems to be illegal in the US. While it's the greater Egyptian species that I'm most interested in, I completely understand that I may not have enough space to keep them - the handful of Geocities care sheets I've managed to locate say something like a 100 gallon tank for a pair.
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Mar 28, 2011 04:04
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Diogines posted:Okay, now I am worried. I was told to give as much pellets and hay as they might want. I replace the hay once a day, same with the pellets. They are much more interested in the hay then the pellets and eat much more of the hay then the pellets. Should I be limiting their pellets? Young pigs need more calories, as provided by pellets, than older pigs. Especially if they naturally limit themselves to about 1/8 c per day, you're fine. Pellets contain fillers and minerals which can cause problems in older pigs, so as your piggies age, it's typically recommended that you reduce or even eliminate pellets. Many people don't use pellets at all. Remember, pellets weren't developed to meet a missing nutritional need in the typical pig/rabbit diet (grass plus veggies): they were developed for use in laboratory animals, to standardize the diet, and provide a way to deliver dense calories quickly with little waste, and bring animals quickly to the weight needed for sacrifice. It was really only in the last 20 years that pellet makers started to even THINK about the nutritional content of their products in terms of the actual needs of the animals, rather than in terms of causing the cheapest, fastest weight gain. Bottom line: Unlimited hay and a WIDE variety of nutritious veggies provides all the nutrition they really need. Supplementing with pellets is fine in the recommended amounts. Just keep in mind that pellet problems include: 1) Pellets contain only short strands of dietary fiber. This does not adequately a) wear the molars or b) aid digestion in the way long strand fiber from hay does. 2) Pellets contain extra levels of minerals such as calcium which can lead to the formation of bladder stones. 3) Pellets contain sweeteners and binders which make them calorie dense, which can lead to obesity
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Mar 28, 2011 17:23
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So the new pig's got a bit of a dandruff problem. Nothing really that serious, no worse than the dadruff I've seen on some of my other pigs from time to time. She also doesn't seem to scratch herself much at all and her coat is very full and healthy looking. I was thinking I'd just give her a bath since she might have dry skin, but I guess having dandruff could be a sign of mites. I'm not THAT concerned but since I am about to introduce her to my other pigs I'd like to be extra careful what I could potentially expose them to. I could take her to the vet and pay $60 + med cost or I could pay $2.79+ shipping for a tube of ivermectin and treat her myself. Since it doesn't look like there is any downside to treating with ivermectin even if she doesn't have mites, is there any reason I shouldn't go ahead and do this?
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Mar 28, 2011 20:39
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There's a good chance it's mites, and the stress of intros can cause mite flares even when there's no over-population already, so definitely get some ivermec and treat all of them. However, the recommendation is to get the injectible and use it topically, once a week for 4 weeks. The consensus on GL (and in my personal experience) seems to be that topical gives better results than oral, and you don't run as much of an overdose risk. There's some dosing guidelines here but as always it would be best to get exact instructions from a vet. Would your vet be willing to just do the math and give you specific dosing instructions if you just called and said, "my pig weighs this, the medicine strength is this, what's the dose you calculate"? Since ivermec is OTC the vet may also be willing to draw it up for you and have you pick it up without a visit. Never hurts to ask! But the paste has been used by many people without issue, so if that's your only option, go for it. That injectible bottle will last you like 10 years though if you do want to splurge.
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Mar 29, 2011 01:40
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alucinor posted:Young pigs need more calories, as provided by pellets, than older pigs. My pigs have stopped eating pellets all by themselves as they get older. During this winer I still kept a small bowl in the cage cause it's a bit colder inside than it should be. It lasts more than a week between refills.
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Mar 30, 2011 07:13
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My girlfriend's mom just picked up some guinea pigs, I want to pick up a toy or something for them to play around with. I was looking online and didn't really see much, but I did see some things made for Rabbits which claimed to be cool with pigs. Any recommendations?
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Mar 31, 2011 00:53
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Evil Vin posted:My girlfriend's mom just picked up some guinea pigs, I want to pick up a toy or something for them to play around with. I was looking online and didn't really see much, but I did see some things made for Rabbits which claimed to be cool with pigs. Any recommendations? Toilet paper tubes, paper bags and empty oatmeal canisters. Seriously, they'll ignore anything else.
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Mar 31, 2011 04:13
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A paper bag full of greens is the best possible guinea pig treat.
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Mar 31, 2011 06:45
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Mr. Vile posted:Does anyone here happen to know anything about jerboas? I've been idly wondering about getting some but there seems to be a huge dearth of information on them. Specifically, it's the greater Egyptian jerboa that interests me and sources can't even seem to agree if they're herbivores or omnivores. I'm not quite so stupid as to jump into owning a relatively exotic pet without finding out as much as I can about them first, so can anyone help me out? They're illegal here because most kinds are endangered. There's not a lot of info on them in captivity, because they don't do well there. They're like prairie dogs, they live in large extended social groups. I don't get the impression they're very...domestic. Evil Vin posted:My girlfriend's mom just picked up some guinea pigs, I want to pick up a toy or something for them to play around with. I was looking online and didn't really see much, but I did see some things made for Rabbits which claimed to be cool with pigs. Any recommendations? Things to hide in/crawl through/rip open and pull treats out of. Anything that jingles is just going to scare them.
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Mar 31, 2011 18:44
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Glasgow posted:Things to hide in/crawl through/rip open and pull treats out of. Anything that jingles is just going to scare them. Kind of shopping for cats isn't it? Paper bags, cardboard boxes, things to explore (and find food in) and stuff to push around. My boars love to push things around with their trunks.
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Mar 31, 2011 22:52
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Glasgow posted:They're illegal here because most kinds are endangered. There's not a lot of info on them in captivity, because they don't do well there. They're like prairie dogs, they live in large extended social groups. I don't get the impression they're very...domestic. Neither of the two species I was looking at are endangered, I was very careful to check that. As far as I can tell the main reason they're so rare in captivity is because they're bloody impossible to breed. You're probably right about them not doing well in captivity though, they just seem too active for it. Oh well, it was a nice idea while it lasted.
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Mar 31, 2011 23:21
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Does anyone know where I could find a documentary about chinchillas in the wild? I would love to see some footage.
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Apr 1, 2011 08:17
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SonicYooth posted:Toilet paper tubes, paper bags and empty oatmeal canisters. Seriously, they'll ignore anything else. This. For the first couple of years I had pigs, I bought every toy you can imagine, and their reactions ranged from abject terror (anything that had a bell or made noise) to complete apathy (everything else). Stuff hay or veggies inside something edible, and they'll go nuts for hours.
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Apr 2, 2011 19:19
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LoadedDice34 posted:Does anyone know where I could find a documentary about chinchillas in the wild? I would love to see some footage. I don't know any movies all about them, but there's some clips, mostly bbc I think, here. http://www.arkive.org/long-tailed-chinchilla/chinchilla-lanigera/
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Apr 3, 2011 04:11
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Is there any specific reason to not feed my pigs wheatgrass? We get it absurdly cheap and the pigs love to sit on the flats and chew tunnels.
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Apr 4, 2011 07:08
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Bastard Tetris posted:Is there any specific reason to not feed my pigs wheatgrass? We get it absurdly cheap and the pigs love to sit on the flats and chew tunnels. Nope, they'll love it. Like all green stuff, overdoing it can lead them to have very loose stool but if you build up to larger amounts gradually you shouldn't have any issues.
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Apr 4, 2011 14:14
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I'm so excited!  My breeder finally got some pictures up and now I know what my little guys look like. These are my first pets totally on my own and I want to spoil them rotten.   I've got the tank already set up but I want to make sure that I have everything I need before they get here. They're going to have a 15 gallon tank to themselves with lots of carefresh to dig in. I've also gotten them a bunch of wood chews and toliet paper tubes to nibble on and a little coco cabana. Is there anything I'm missing? I've got the basics (food, wheel, water bottle) and I want to make sure that everything is all set before they come home on the 17th. I've gotten a lot of mixed advice and I trust PI to set me straight instead of some of the "advice" I've gotten. Like how nothing smaller than a ferret has a personality. 
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Apr 4, 2011 18:23
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I took my guinea pig to the vet today after noticing he was having trouble making the whistling noise he normally makes when he's excited about food and was occasionally wheezing for no reason. Turns out he probably have some kind of lung infection and he's been put on antibiotics. He's had the first dose and seems fine. He's been eating and moving around as normal and I haven't heard any more strange noises. What I'm worried about, though, it what I was given to put in his water to keep his digestion normal while he's on the antibiotics. This animal is six years old and very picky. I've noticed that since putting it in his water he hasn't gone near the water bottle at all. He doesn't drink a lot normally, but he will go up now and again. How dilute can I make this powder so that it still works? How likely is it that he can smell something coming from the direction of the water bottle that he doesn't like? As it is now the water is a quarter full and fairly cloudy - the vet advised me to only fill it so he's likely to drain it in less than a day. edit: I think the name of the antibiotic is Baytril by the way but I'm not sure. Crackerman fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Apr 4, 2011 |
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Apr 4, 2011 21:49
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Goldirocks posted:
Oh man I want a black gerbil so bad Personally, I think they have a lot of personality. I have 2, and they're very different in mannerisms.As far as gear goes, Carefresh or Aspen works good. We recently went to using aspen because it's less messy (carefresh creates a lot of lint, imo) and they seem to like digging in it more. Toilet paper tubes are a must, and the best treats I've found for them have been small bits of dried fruit (Fiesta - Healthy Toppings) and for some reason, Cheerios. They're loving MENTAL for Cheerios.
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Apr 4, 2011 22:42
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Goldirocks posted:Teacup gerbils!!!  i'm hilarious
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Apr 5, 2011 01:57
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robotsinmyhead posted:Oh man I want a black gerbil so bad I just buy dried fruit at the grocery store. My hamster seems to love it. Dried apricots, cherries, etc.. Way cheaper than the pet store stuff. Expect those gerbils to destroy the coco cabana in a week.
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Apr 5, 2011 02:54
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