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Chin Strap posted:Coroplast is high enough that there isn't a worry about the sides. How wrong I was about this. Caught kitty sticking her paws through the side slots while sitting on the cage. Guess I need to go back to home depot and get more narrow shelving to protect the two sides that aren't against the wall. I've put cardboard up to protect them today while I'm at work. Stupid cat 
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Jun 17, 2011 12:25
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Chin Strap posted:How wrong I was about this. Caught kitty sticking her paws through the side slots while sitting on the cage. Guess I need to go back to home depot and get more narrow shelving to protect the two sides that aren't against the wall. I've put cardboard up to protect them today while I'm at work. Stupid cat Get some plexiglass to put on the outside of the cage, they will cut it for you there too. Its probably cheaper and that way you can still see them and kitty can't get to them.
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Jun 17, 2011 14:48
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Sirotan posted:Get some plexiglass to put on the outside of the cage, they will cut it for you there too. Its probably cheaper and that way you can still see them and kitty can't get to them. How would I tie it to the cage? Drill a hole and ziptie it? Would a normal drill bit work? EDIT: And wouldn't that block the airflow too much? I don't want to hurt that.
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Jun 17, 2011 14:55
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Chin Strap posted:How would I tie it to the cage? Drill a hole and ziptie it? Would a normal drill bit work? Yeah just a normal drill and zipties. But yeah I guess if you are putting it on every side of the cage not against a wall airflow might be an issue. Maybe you should instead be finding a way to block the cat from getting on the cage?
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Jun 17, 2011 14:59
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Sirotan posted:Yeah just a normal drill and zipties. But yeah I guess if you are putting it on every side of the cage not against a wall airflow might be an issue. Maybe you should instead be finding a way to block the cat from getting on the cage? It is against a wall, in a corner in fact, so the plexi would only be on one short side and one long side. So would airflow still be an issue? As for trying to keep the cat off, I don't know what would work. She is able to jump far higher than I expect, and I don't want to put the pigs in a room with a door shut off because I want them to be part of the social part of the household. I suppose some sort of Ssscat thing could work eventually. Besides I don't necessarily mind her being on the cage, it will get her used to the pigs and vice versa. I just don't want her reaching in. I think trying to keep her away completely would be worse because nothing gets a cat more interested in something than if they aren't allowed to have that something.
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Jun 17, 2011 15:06
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I guess I'd probably go with the shelving instead of plexiglass in that situation.
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Jun 17, 2011 15:23
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Sirotan posted:I guess I'd probably go with the shelving instead of plexiglass in that situation. Yeah. I'm thinking of the following: Get rid of the cubes altogether, the coroplast is high enough on the sides that touch the wall. Get shelving for the other two sides. Hinge the lid from the wall. I then have it completely cat proofed and not super bulky. Just annoyed how much I've had to reconfigure things because of that dumb cat.
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Jun 17, 2011 15:26
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Ohai! Is this where I post pictures of my Hamsters? These are my two Robo Ham boys, Squirt and Mini. Squirt is very photogenic  Mini hates the camera, which is sad because he's got such a pretty Pied pattern: 
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Jun 17, 2011 18:16
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So cute! I've never been a hamster person, but I love my cousin's robos. They are just so soft and friendly. If she ever lost interest in them, I'd probably take them home...well, maybe not all eight.
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Jun 17, 2011 18:42
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One of my piggies is warm and cuddly. I am trying to get the other one to be a little friendlier. I want to try giving them a tiny little treat every time I pass by their cage, but I don't want to have to leave vegetables sitting out. What is a good, dried treat which is healthy to feed in small amounts many time a day?
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Jun 18, 2011 08:16
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As referenced in this post: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?goto=post&postid=379488797 The ground squirrel under my porch vanished for a few weeks. I believe that she? was pregnant but I had no idea. I thought she might have died or went somewhere else. Even with the food I was giving her. Well tonight while watching a movie... I saw a baby ground squirrel come out of the hole! Maybe not a baby, but very young. Maybe 3-4". I quickly put out some food (I give them some of my hamster food, which they seem to eat everything except the alfafa) I will try to get a photo, but today is overcast and they typically don't come out on overcast days for some reason.
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Jun 18, 2011 15:02
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Diogines posted:One of my piggies is warm and cuddly. A single pellet or two or a bit of unusual hay (like orchardgrass). Personally I'd go with a little potted plant of parsley or wheatgrass so I could give them something fresh. 
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Jun 18, 2011 18:32
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Cheerios. Whenever I have a bowl of it (I eat cereal dry because I am weird) I will leave some left over and then feed a couple to every pig. They love it and will perch on the bars and eat it right out of my hand.
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Jun 18, 2011 18:56
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Would pellets work? I leave pellets in a bowl in their cage along with hay all the time, would it work as a treat? Cheerios are an excellent idea since I always keep some in the house. Are the honey nut Cheerios made for them, or the plain ones? I can't imagine that guinea pigs get any honey in nature.
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Jun 18, 2011 19:14
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Fort piggy completed:
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Jun 18, 2011 19:15
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Diogines posted:Would pellets work? I leave pellets in a bowl in their cage along with hay all the time, would it work as a treat? I wouldn't go with Cheerios - they really don't have any nutritional value for pigs, and while they won't actively hurt them, it's basically the equivalent of feeding a toddler potato chips. (Cheerios and rolled oats can be good for putting weight back on an ailing pig, however.) I keep a bag of spring mix in the fridge, and when I want to hand-feed the girls a treat I'll just grab a small handful of leaves. Freeze-dried fruits and veggies are another idea; Oxbow marketed a line of piggy treats including strawberries and bananas (as well as "veggie biscuits") and my girls went nuts for the lot. I'd steer clear of freeze-dried peas, though, as they look like a choking hazard to me. (If you've got a Whole Foods near you, they carry a ridiculously huge line of freeze-dried stuff.)
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Jun 18, 2011 19:39
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Diogines posted:Would pellets work? I leave pellets in a bowl in their cage along with hay all the time, would it work as a treat? Sure, pellets would work even if they already have some. My pigs will always drop whatever they're eating and run over to beg if I offer them some of the same thing (on the assumption that if someone else has it, it must be better, I guess). In addition to what Kaz said about Cheerios, you're right to be concerned about the honey ones - they evolved to eat a very low-sugar diet, so excess sugar upsets the balance of the gut flora, which could easily lead to stasis.
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Jun 18, 2011 20:42
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So my friend's girlfriend has three guinea pigs. Until today, when she came home and found a surprise fourth baby guinea pig. She's feeling pretty stupid right now for not getting them spayed/neutered, as well she should be. I've been trying to help her out some, which is hard to do over Twitter. Right now she's trying to figure out who's the mom and what the other two are, because we read on Guinea Lynx that a pig can get pregnant within two to five hours of giving birth. D: Everything I find on Guinea Lynx is the variety of "DON'T BREED THEM YOU GOD drat DUMBASS", which I know is what should have happened in the first place, but since the baby's here, is there any information out there regarding keeping mom/baby healthy, happy and alive? I'm a rabbit person, I know naught of these pigs of which you speak. She's sworn that she's calling vets tomorrow, and I've already told her that I know for a fact that my vet can handle pigs, so we should be good there. EDIT: She took them to a pet store (it's Sunday, don't know why she didn't chat up an e-vet but here we are) and got them sexed. Two girls and one boy, and the second girl is pregnant. Hooray. 
Bean fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Jun 19, 2011 |
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Jun 19, 2011 22:04
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When did she get these pigs, from where (a pet store, I'm assuming), and did she believe them all to be females? How old are they? What she needs to do immediately is read the GL page on sexing pigs, and see if she can figure out if she's got a male in the cage. If the pigs are relatively new, it's possible that they're all females and the pregnancy started before she brought them home, but if there's a male in the cage you can pretty much assume any females are pregnant and he should be removed to his own digs IMMEDIATELY. The pup is fine to stay with females for a couple of weeks, but if it's a boy I think three weeks is the cutoff to prevent backbreeding.
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Jun 19, 2011 23:00
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kazmeyer posted:When did she get these pigs, from where (a pet store, I'm assuming), and did she believe them all to be females? How old are they? She's had them a while, maybe a year. I don't know for sure, but I think she did get them from a pet store. She thought they were all dudes. I don't know how old they are. (Evidently old enough to reproduce!) I sent her a bunch of GL links, including the sexing article. I think she's got the dude out of the cage now, so maybe we're out of the woods. Unless the dude impregnated the new mom while she was freaking out?
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Jun 19, 2011 23:11
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Bean posted:She's had them a while, maybe a year. I don't know for sure, but I think she did get them from a pet store. She thought they were all dudes. I don't know how old they are. (Evidently old enough to reproduce!) Mom is probably already knocked up, they'll generally try to remount pretty much as soon as the baby falls out. Pigs are jerks.
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Jun 20, 2011 00:11
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How are the giant hairy balls on a 1yo old male pig not completely obvious. 
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Jun 20, 2011 00:16
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Bean posted:She's had them a while, maybe a year. I don't know for sure, but I think she did get them from a pet store. She thought they were all dudes. I don't know how old they are. (Evidently old enough to reproduce!) Guinea pigs can reproduce at a few weeks of age. Males are fertile at three weeks; I'm not 100% sure when females can conceive, but they breed ridiculously fast. quote:I sent her a bunch of GL links, including the sexing article. I think she's got the dude out of the cage now, so maybe we're out of the woods. Unless the dude impregnated the new mom while she was freaking out? The chances are really good that that is exactly what happened. At this point, all you can do is verify sexes as best you can and keep the boy away from the girls. Any further pregnancies can be dealt with as they occur. The crew at GL can give her really good advice about how to proceed, and what do to about the extra pigs she's about to end up with, but she should make an account there if and only if: A) She's willing to take a few lumps about buying pet store pigs. She didn't do it on purpose, and she's got ignorance as an excuse so they won't let her have it, but I can guarantee someone will most likely make a snarky remark about it at some point and B) She's willing to listen to advice and do what they tell her to do. The best way to get flayed alive there is to ask for advice and then not follow it, because they will be right and you will look stupid, and if you cop an attitude at them they will give you both barrels.
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Jun 20, 2011 03:54
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What is wrong with my guinea pigs? They do not seem to understand the concept of their bed. I have found them sleeping under it and next to it, but never IN it. I tried putting pellets in the middle to encourage them to get into it and see how awesomely comfortable it is. I have hung a towel over half the cage to provide a more cave-like atmosphere. Nothin' Any suggestions? Or are my pigs just destined to sleep on the "floor"? They have fleece, so I'm sure it's comfy there too. I guess I just get jealous of all the adorable pictures I see of guinea pigs in their beds.
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Jun 21, 2011 18:08
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INeedANewCrayon posted:What is wrong with my guinea pigs? They do not seem to understand the concept of their bed. Yeah I had one of those cuddle cups with the cute guinea pig fabric on it and my pigs were a lot more interested in eating it than they were sleeping in it. I think it just depends on the individual personality of the pig. My oldest pig loves to lay inside a towel and will sleep there for hours, my other pigs hate it. YMMV 
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Jun 21, 2011 18:13
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How much fighting is too much? My fiance and I bought a single guinea pig, Mr. Squeakers, from a family a few weeks ago. He's been super-quiet, but he's not skittish around us, he lets us hold him and he'll eat a few different foods out of our hand. Looking around online, we saw GPs should be paired up, bigger cage, etc. We made a bigger cage, it's a little over 30"x50", and then went to the animal shelter to find another. They had a pair about 2 years old that had come in together, so we ended up taking both of them home. At the shelter, the 3 pigs seemed to get along OK and the lady said they should be OK. All three were placed into the new cage at the same time. Other than a food dish, they're on neutral territory so to speak. It's been 4 days now, they've basically been fighting constantly. I know they have to establish dominance and whatnot, but it seems that the largest pig is fighting the second largest, who is fighting the smallest, and the smallest is fighting the largest. We didn't want to separate them unless they started biting each other, so we let them go at it, tried to keep an eye on them, etc. The largest chatters his teeth at the other two, does some scent thing (it's really quite bad, I don't know how much more I can handle) and all three have been rearing up and pushing the others around. They've been trying to climb on each other, maybe that's mounting, but they seem to try to stand on the other's head. Yesterday, the largest of the three started chattering at me when I went to keep the other two from biting. I separated all three of them for a few hours, we sprayed them with cologne and they are in the same cage again. That seemed to get them to calm down a small bit, they went back to squaring off rather than biting, but it's not a great improvement. How long is this supposed to go on? Things have gotten worse rather than better and today they had to be separated again as the two largest were biting or at least nipping at the other's neck. Mr. S, who has been nearly silent since we picked him up has started chattering at the others now too.
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Jun 21, 2011 19:47
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Have you read this guide to piggy intros and tried bathing them together? If so, divide the cage (two on one side, one on the other) and let them alone, giving them time to interact through the bars. Swap which side the two are on every couple days so they don't get place possessive. Try another bath followed by a meeting on a big neutral blanket again in two to three weeks. I've had tremendous success with this much more hands off approach. Also be diligent about cleaning out your boars' anogenital sacs and they won't stank quite as bad when they scent mark.
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Jun 22, 2011 01:39
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We've given them all a bath, two times now. While they're actually sitting in the tub, they all huddle together. Once we get them out of the water, they're OK until we let them loose again. They were fighting again today, less biting than before, but even the first pig started chattering, which is the most noise I've heard him make. They stop chattering when they cannot see the others, but even having cage walls between them, they want to square off.
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Jun 22, 2011 04:59
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Let them chatter through the bars, that's a good thing. That helps them learn that chattering does not have to lead to escalation and reduces their impulse to chatter at all.
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Jun 22, 2011 14:46
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I think I just found a secret pig "off" button. This morning I lightly poked one of them in the shoulder and he just made a grunt, rolled over on his side with his legs out and eyes rolled back. Then he went to sleep. Attempts to replicate the event has failed so far.
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Jun 25, 2011 11:25
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I am watching my girlfriend's Guinea Pig this week and was wondering if putting it in a bathtub is a good idea. My tub is much larger than his cage and I figure it would give him some running around room.
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Jun 25, 2011 18:43
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Garnett posted:I am watching my girlfriend's Guinea Pig this week and was wondering if putting it in a bathtub is a good idea. My tub is much larger than his cage and I figure it would give him some running around room. I've done this before and while it worked, it was a huge pain to clean. His cage would probably be easier, and you can always let the little guy out for some exercise.
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Jun 26, 2011 05:38
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My two female piggies seem healthy, no weight change, they are eating and excreting normally. All seems normal, except that in the last week they have shed a LOT. The weather has not changed much and I know guinea pigs do not molt. They have no patches, they are not scratching or clawing at themselves, any idea why they are suddenly shedding so much? I would not be able to tell by looking at the pigs, but I noticed a ton of extra hair when I cleaned their enclosure and put in new towels and fleece.
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Jun 26, 2011 06:53
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Rant sad story ahead: Nightmare scenario happened. We are away on vacation to California, and hired our first pet sitter to come by and look at the pigs. She got really good recommendations from coworkers and everything. She was supposed to come Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday. I get a call yesterday from her saying that the key I gave her wasn't working for the door. I had tested it in front of her before giving it to her. She thinks she mixed it in with some other keys on accident so she was heading back to my place with more of her keys. I ask her if the key was working the past three days she went. She thought Sunday was supposed to be her first day The pigs didn't have anyone since we left Wednesday morning. They had overfull hay, lots of pellets, a full water bottle, and a lot of veggies when we left Wednesday morning, but that is a really long time to be left alone. She said they are moving around fine, eating fine, and pooping fine. I've been talking with the rescue lady about what to do, and they have been given orange slices and extra bell pepper for vitamin c. We don't get home until tonight so the sitter is going to stop by twice more today to make sure they are doing ok and no diarrhea is happening. Poor pigs I'm so upset at this sitter for screwing up so badly she almost killed our pets. But I think she feels horrible too, because when she finally made it in my place and checked on them for the first time, she called me crying her eyes out saying that they were all alive. She is stopping by multiple times yesterday and today. So it seems like this is something that has never happened to her before. But I don't care how amazing of a pet sitter she usually is, she will never have my business again. The rescue lady said that the next time we go on vacation, just bring her the pigs and she will pigsit. That will be exactly what we do.
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Jun 27, 2011 14:49
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Chin Strap posted:The pigs didn't have anyone since we left Wednesday morning. Oh my goddd I am so sorry to hear about this and so glad to hear that they are ok! Was this woman a professional pet sitter?
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Jun 27, 2011 15:37
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Sirotan posted:Oh my goddd I am so sorry to hear about this and so glad to hear that they are ok! Was this woman a professional pet sitter? Yes. Like I said multiple extremely positive recommendations from people, and she seemed very capable when she did the initial visit. I really think this was a one time mistake she has never made before and probably never will again, but I still would never feel comfortable using her again.
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Jun 27, 2011 15:55
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So I'm totally panicked right now and could use reassurance that I've done all I can. My Syrian hamster escaped (from a chicken wire lid, how the gently caress she managed that, I don't even) and I think she's in the heating vents of my townhouse now. Evidence: one of the heating vent grills had been jimmied up, just enough to pass a small hamster head, and there was urine in a small puddle around there. I don't have any other pets so there's nothing else that could have done that. I've placed towels in all the heating vents of my main floor (so she can more easily clamber up), apples smothered in peanut butter, carrots and some of her regular food just inside the vents. There are four vents on the main floor, and I've done this to all of them, on top of making a trail of food that leads to her bin cage (the old 'climb up here and NEVER GET OUT' bucket-style trick). I've placed one of her little hidey places at each vent, in case she feels like climbing out and chilling in something familiar. I have no idea how I didn't hear her a) thump out of the bin tank that's literally a wall away from me, c) scratch her way underneath the closed door of the room she's kept in, d) thump down two small flights of stairs, and then e) jimmy open the metallic vent covering all without my hearing it. It's morning here, and she usually isn't very active from about 7:30-8 onwards. I've been shaking about her food (a sound that usually has her emerge from her kleenex box hidey place to investigate) near the vents. I thought I heard something once or twice in the vents (the pitter-patter of very small feet?) but haven't for a while. She's probably sleeping...I hope so, at least, there are worse reasons for her silence. Sorry if this is incoherent, but any advice/consolation would be appreciated. She's my Odette, my boo, and I'm worried sick.
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Jun 27, 2011 16:13
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Don't forget to offer water - place a very small, shallow dish with a little water in it near where you think she's at. She'll be able to smell it from quite a distance and it may attract her as much or more than the food. Also, dust the floors around where you think she is with flour. That will show you little footprints and you'll have a better sense where she is and where she's going, which will better help you trap her. Good luck!
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Jun 27, 2011 16:32
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alucinor posted:Don't forget to offer water - place a very small, shallow dish with a little water in it near where you think she's at. She'll be able to smell it from quite a distance and it may attract her as much or more than the food. She'll be able to smell water? Seriously? Badass. (I swapped the apples for cucumbers a couple of minutes ago because of the liquid content but a dedicated water dish is probably aces.) I have no idea where she is, besides 'heating vents, probably on the main floor'. Like, dust the areas around each vent? Sorry if that's blindingly obvious but I'm kind of blanking on how to deal with a hamster that's technically beneath a room, not in it.
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Jun 27, 2011 16:49
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artless barbarian posted:She'll be able to smell water? Seriously? Badass. (I swapped the apples for cucumbers a couple of minutes ago because of the liquid content but a dedicated water dish is probably aces.) Yep, animals can smell water. If she's inside the ducts, just dust inside the ducts around the bowls/piles of food you're leaving out. If you think she can get back into the room, dust in front of the vents and around whatever food/cages you've put out in the room itself. Here's a blog with some pics showing the dusting and the little footprints around the cage. You're just trying to get an idea of if and where she's running around so that you can concentrate your rescue efforts.
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Jun 27, 2011 18:53
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