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Aces High posted:I'm not sure if this is the right thread but if not someone could direct me to the correct one maybe? Hedgehogs make good pets for some people. They're nocturnal. They hate loud noises. They must be kept warm (over 70F year-round). They require at least 1.5 hours of your time every day, preferably at the same time every day, for socialization and maintenance. They're smart and opinionated creatures, and every one is different. If you have one, you will be washing poop-covered wheels for 4-5 years, most likely, and then your heart will break when it dies, most likely from cancer. They're not as easy to take care of as a lot of pets, and a lot of people do it wrong. There's tons of bad information in print and on the web that dates from the 1990s when they were relatively new and people were figuring out how to take care of them. This is a good link about what to expect from a hedgehog: http://hedgehogcentral.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=13 alucinor posted:We do have a resident hedgie expert who will chime in soon, in the meantime, some resources: The forums at hedgehogcentral.com and chins-n-hedgies.com are both good places to look for advice from long-time hedgehog owners, and the International Hedgehog Association is really dedicated to providing the best care for pet hedgies. That book, on the other hand, while having a lot of good information, contains a lot of outdated and outright dangerous care information, such as recommending pine and aspen as bedding, using water bottles, etc. It was, I believe, written by a teenager and relatively new owner, who apparently tried to not offend anyone in its writing, especially those breeders who still advocate these practices despite the injuries that have occured. w8wtf fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Mar 26, 2012 |
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Mar 26, 2012 14:58
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w8wtf posted:That book, on the other hand, while having a lot of good information, contains a lot of outdated and outright dangerous care information, such as recommending pine and aspen as bedding, using water bottles, etc. It was, I believe, written by a teenager and relatively new owner, who apparently tried to not offend anyone in its writing, especially those breeders who still advocate these practices despite the injuries that have occured. Good to know; it's a legacy recommendation in our adopter care guidelines which were written many years ago. I'll take it down. Thanks!!
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Mar 26, 2012 15:28
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:I still have Dexter's old SuperPet chinchilla cage, I just need to figure out where to put it. This guy is being fostered by himself in someone's house and has already been quarantined so I suppose the risk of him being sick is lower. I don't think I'm going to take Dex with me, especially since I don't have two pet carriers at the moment. We put Cinnamon in a spare bedroom. Wash your hands in between and don't let them share dust bowls! According to the board o chinchilla ladies, it's best of they have some quiet for the first couple days. Vincenza's pretty independent but we got her as a baby, so it's all she knows. A friend might help with your little guy. But yeah, I've read TV/Radio helps. I'm not sure if I'd do it during the day. Our gal is pretty sleepy during day time and active at night. But maybe talk radio like Radio 4 or NPR at night?
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Mar 26, 2012 23:17
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I don't normally post in the pets thread but I have a question maybe you guys could help me with. We have a teddy bear hamster who has been acting a bit differently and I'm not really sure why. Google didn't seem to help me much. His name is Parker and we have had him for almost 4 years. In the past couple months hes stopped running in his wheel and gotten pretty fat. Hes always been a crazy hyper active monster but now he just toodles slowly around the kitchen when we take him out. We haven't changed his diet or anything really. Once this month his eyes were stuck together, Google told me to just wipe them down with a warm face cloth for a bit, that did the trick and he can see fine again. Is he just getting old? Or is there some way to tell if he is sick or something.
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Mar 29, 2012 03:15
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That's pretty old for most types of hamsters, but it might be worth a non-emergency visit if you have a good exotics vet in the area. We had one growing up that followed the same kind of progression - eyes got a little gunky, and eyesight started to falter, energy level dropped, etc. and he eventually died in his sleep. He never seemed unhappy or in pain, though. Still curious about stuff, still enjoyed his little treats, still bit my sister occasionally for poking at him...
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Mar 29, 2012 04:17
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My roommate got two guinea pigs the other day and right now they're in a sort of temporary setup until we finish building their bigger setup since I convinced him that would be better than the cage they're in now. Anyway, how long do they take to start settling in? They're both eating and drinking a a tad skittish but not too bad. Just when you move stuff around in the cage they'll take off sometimes. Should I wait a few days before interacting with them directly? They're both rescues, also.  One of them looks like she has a mane and it's adorable. The other is short haired and reminds me a lot of Groucho Marx for some reason. They don't have names yet, though. Here's a crappy zoomed in picture of the longer haired one, I don't have a picture of the other yet. They're both bright and alert and seem pretty content so far.  
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Mar 29, 2012 13:10
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Bear Rape posted:Anyway, how long do they take to start settling in? They're both eating and drinking a a tad skittish but not too bad. Just when you move stuff around in the cage they'll take off sometimes. Should I wait a few days before interacting with them directly? I tell adopters 6-8 weeks before they start settling in. They look young, so they'll probably remain very skittish for a year or two. You can handle them immediately, but remember that they'll never get over the SWOOPING HANDS OF DEATH, so don't be surprised when they always run away. Making sure they have a hidy house to run into helps a bit. Bribe them every time you come near the cage with a sprig of parsley or cilantro, and they'll learn to associate you with food soon enough. Also http://guinealynx.info if you haven't already found it. Also also, here are a few of my adopter resource docs that may be useful references: http://allcreaturesrescue.org/documents/guinea_pigs_are_great.pdf http://www.allcreaturesrescue.org/documents/NC_Shopping_List-GuineaPigs.pdf http://www.allcreaturesrescue.org/documents/New_Guinea_Pig_Health_Doc.pdf http://www.allcreaturesrescue.org/documents/Common_Mistakes_in_Treating_Sick_Cavies.pdf Good luck!
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Mar 29, 2012 15:05
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Those documents are really useful, thank you! I sent them to my roommate as well. It looks like we've got just about everything they mentioned, except we'll need to trade out vitamin drops for fresh veggies but that's not a huge deal. They seem to calm down the instant that they're in your hand/lap on all fours. I am starting to understand them, such as the GIANT HAND OF DOOM thing. They're way different than the rats that I own, and my roommate keeps joking that the guinea pigs are totally mine since I'm being all obsessive about their care. I can't help it, they're too cute. I did manage to get a shot of the short haired one as I was typing.  Still have no idea about names, haha.
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Mar 29, 2012 16:25
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Now that Jasper passed on, we consolidated the two separate pigs into one cage. Luckily, they got along just fine with minimal fighting and seem to be enjoying each other's company. However, we've noticed after we moved the pigs in together, the pig who was living alone has been gradually losing weight, while the pig who was living with Jasper is now gaining weight. The pig who's losing weight was always a slow eater, and he never lived with another pig so he never had to compete for food. The other pig has definitely become the dominant one, so I'm not sure if the issue is he's just not eating fast enough, or if something else is wrong. He's eating and pooping and peeing and all that, and will eat food when we hand feed him, so it doesn't really seem like anything is wrong, but the weight loss (about 100 g in a month) is concerning. We're taking him to the vet tomorrow just to get checked out, but has anybody else had a similar experience, where one pig steals too much food from the other pig? Is it something to be majorly concerned about? Piggy in question: 
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Mar 29, 2012 22:45
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That's a very pretty piggy! I'd be surprised if they don't find tooth overgrowth, stones, or some other underlying problem. Unless the cage is getting picked bare of food in a day, competition almost never leads to that type of weight loss unless one pig is ill. If you add a second hay manger and make sure neither ever go empty, that should be sufficient to prevent competition-based weight loss in two healthy pigs. If he is sick and needs extra calories, it's hard to feed enough pellets without the healthy pig getting too fat, so you may need to feed him pellets separately at least 2x a day. Keep us posted what the vet says!
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Mar 30, 2012 11:29
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Rodney Chops posted:I don't normally post in the pets thread but I have a question maybe you guys could help me with. We have a teddy bear hamster who has been acting a bit differently and I'm not really sure why. Google didn't seem to help me much. 4 years is crazy old for a hamster. You're lucky you've had him this long. I noticed sudden weight gain in my last hamster accompanied by suddenly slowing down. He only made it about a month after that. I don't know if your experience will be the same but 4 years old is very very old.
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Mar 31, 2012 17:11
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Here's some (awful) pics of the guinea pigs: This is Bailey:  And here's Clover:  I took both to the vet for a standard checkup and the vet said Clover's a tad underweight, but with regular feeding should be fine. I'm getting scales today so I can make sure she gains some weight. I kind of suspected it since I thought she felt skinny at first, but thankfully there are no other problems (she has a healthy appetite, eliminates regularly and has no other issues health wise). Bailey is healthy. I've gotten questionable animals from the rescue before (basically because they make sure there's nothing contagious, but aside from that seem pretty unconcerned with health issues such as weight and respiratory issues with rodents). Also, is it just me or is the vet recommendation "feed a guinea pig" kind of like asking me to get a cat to be lazy? 
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Mar 31, 2012 18:56
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Guinea pig weights can vary widely (no pun intended). My Parvati topped out at about 1.6 kilograms, while my Athena never broke 950 grams in her life. As long as a pig is eating, pooping, and maintaining weight, I think you're fine.
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Apr 1, 2012 23:32
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Yeah, I'm not sure of the exact weight of Clover (waiting until bank opens tomorrow to get scales) but you can feel her spine and hips pretty prominently through her fur. She could probably stand to gain a few hundred grams (I think 200 was the vet recommendation) and she's eating fine, pooping and whatnot so I think she'll be okay with a regular diet. Most likely whoever had her before me just fed her hay and nothing else or something like that. On another note, I swear I've read everywhere that guinea pigs are active during the day, but mine seem to only want to run around in circles and chase each other at 2 am. Is it just a temporary "until they get used to the schedule" thing or will I have to get used to late night/early morning romps?
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Apr 2, 2012 00:51
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Nope, what you read was wrong. They're crepuscular - most active at dawn and dusk. They're more active in the day compared to, say, hamsters, I guess, but still not good companions for a bedroom if you're a light sleeper.
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Apr 2, 2012 11:29
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I don't mind it that much (if they do wake me up I tend to fall right back asleep) but that's good to know. I'm pretty sure I got that little "factoid" from a Petsmart brochure when I went to get timothy hay anyway.  Petsmart!Here's another picture of Clover, just for fun.  Later today I'm buying a pen so they can run around on the balcony a bit. It's screened in and there's no way for them to get out of it normally, but I just want to be super-safe.
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Apr 2, 2012 13:27
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Just my two cents but I'd make sure the pen has a roof. The pigs would be easy prey for a hawk without one.
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Apr 2, 2012 14:07
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SonicYooth posted:Just my two cents but I'd make sure the pen has a roof. The pigs would be easy prey for a hawk without one. Oh, the balcony itself has a roof over it. It's basically like an entire enclosed outdoor room.
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Apr 2, 2012 14:14
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So due to an asthma flare up that left me hospitalized over the weekend we had to remove all possible allergens from the house, including the timothy hay. I can't even go near the hay at the moment, let alone have it in the house. Any suggestions for a substitute fruit or veg with lots of fiber? edit: I should also mention that I have very particular piggies. They won't eat bell peppers, cucumber, and weaning them onto a new brand of food (Martens Little Friends to Oxbow Cavy Cuisine) took over a month. They do like:parsley, apples, carrots, cilantro, dandilions, clover, banana, strawberries in small amounts, lavender, and my shirts. The rabbit will eat anything that isn't nailed down. Bonus Video of my male, Pudge http://youtu.be/uFx4oHv3VZE PsychoMuffin fucked around with this message at 18:06 on Apr 2, 2012 |
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Apr 2, 2012 18:00
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Unfortunately, there's no substitute for either the pigs or the rabbit. They HAVE to have hay for their guts to function and for their molars to be worn down appropriately. You're looking at more than halving their livespans, without it. There's several people on GuineaLynx who have been through this and have found ways to work around it, you may check on there. In the short term, if it's like a week or less, they might be ok, but if it goes longer than that I would honestly recommend boarding them or rehoming them. Edit: this is assuming that fresh grass is also out of the question. That can be an acceptable substitute for dry hay.
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Apr 2, 2012 18:41
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I think someone in this thread once said they had asthma/allergies and were good with using bluegrass instead of timothy? Of course I just checked and KMS is out of the bluegrass at the moment.
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Apr 2, 2012 19:27
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alucinor posted:Unfortunately, there's no substitute for either the pigs or the rabbit. They HAVE to have hay for their guts to function and for their molars to be worn down appropriately. You're looking at more than halving their livespans, without it. It's only going to be for a week, I just have to let the new steroid inhaler kick in properly. I'm going to check out the bluegrass option in the meantime.
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Apr 2, 2012 20:21
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Oh good! Yes, try bluegrass or even orchardgrass - both are kinder on allergens than timothy. If you can't get those, try stemmy herbs - parsley, basil, cilantro; the leggier and harder the stem, the better. Clover is ok for a week as long as your pigs aren't prone to stones. You can try wheatgrass too, if you can get it. Sirotan, that's terrible news about KM's bluegrass! I was just ready to put my quarterly order in, too. I may have to become a grass hoarder and buy a truckload at the beginning of the season!
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Apr 2, 2012 21:15
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It was probably me talking about the bluegrass. I've got incredibly bad allergies, and constant exposure to timothy hay is one thing that will set them off. Bluegrass, on the other hand, I've never had any issues with. Unfortunately, yeah, KM's out of bluegrass at the moment; she does her big harvests in late summer/early fall, so stock up then. In the meantime, you can try orchard grass, or try a better quality of timothy if you can find it -- pet store stuff tends to be dry and dusty and causes me more problems than fresher timothy (like the stuff KM sells) does. I got caught out too -- since my herd has shrunk, and shipping prices spiked, I've gotten in the habit of ordering smaller boxes more frequently. Wasn't thinking about supply issues, and when I went to place an order last month I had to buy a box of timothy. Luckily, her stuff isn't too bad on my allergies, and my meds are enough to compensate, but I'll be glad when the first bluegrass harvest happens.
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Apr 2, 2012 22:54
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Picked up what seems like a metric fuckton of curly parsley, flat parsley, cilantro AND as a treat, a bunch of dandelion greens. Also grabbed two small bales of oat grass and orchard grass. I'm going to see if I can find a good local supplier of bluegrass hay, the KMS shipping to Canada is kinda steep. I live in the Niagara Greenbelt, there ought to be some farmer out here who sows it.
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Apr 3, 2012 00:34
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I just got a dwarf hamster a few days ago and I have questions. First, I noticed there is still tons of water in his water bottle - it looks like he hasn't even touched it but I've watched him go at it for, like, 5 minutes at a time. I thought that maybe the bottle wasn't working but it dispenses water at the slightest touch. Then I put a plastic bottle cap full of water in there, to see the exact amount he drank at a time, and it wasn't much. So am I right to believe that dwarf hamsters just drink very little or should I try buying another bottle? (Before anyone asks, the bottle is made specifically for dwarf hamsters but a lot of customer reviews said that it quite subpar.) Second, I'm trying to bond with him. I've been doing a lot of reading and I've heard it can take a few weeks. So far I just let him sniff me some and I pet his back a little. I've tried holding him but he nipped me and the last time I tried touching him (when he started to climb out of his cage), he let go of the bars and let himself fall back rather than let me touch him. Which freaked me out, to say the least, because I was terrified he'd hurt himself (he didn't, thank God.) So my question is: am I going about this the right way? He's not as terrified of me as he was when I first got him and he'll sniff me and look at me when I call out to him. But he won't let me really touch him. Should I just give it time?
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Apr 3, 2012 07:14
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Lintwhite posted:I just got a dwarf hamster a few days ago and I have questions. It took me forever to get my hamster to like me... it's still a bit tenuous even, I think he'd be just as happy if I left him alone, most of the time. (Aside from when he wants out of his cage, of course.) He never bites me anymore, though, and he climbs onto my hand all of the time and will sometimes come out of his den when I talk to him... so they do come around, with time. I think I've heard that generally the trick is lots of handfeeding; it's fun to see what variety of treats they like, anyways. (Mine loves cilantro, especially) It really does just take time, though. He's the first hamster I've ever had, though, so I'm far from an expert.
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Apr 3, 2012 11:00
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As an update, we took Milo to the vet last week and they said his teeth needed to be ground, and are doing it tomorrow. He's still eating some things, but he doesn't like to eat Carrots or other hard things right now. We noticed he was still losing a bit of weight, so we went ahead and started syringe feeding him, which appears to have helped him stabilize. It's just so scary since this just happened with our other pig to a not good end, but luckily, I think we caught it early enough this time.Bear Rape posted:Later today I'm buying a pen so they can run around on the balcony a bit. It's screened in and there's no way for them to get out of it normally, but I just want to be super-safe.  . They're very sensitive to heat, so just be very careful!
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Apr 3, 2012 20:22
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PsychoMuffin posted:So due to an asthma flare up that left me hospitalized over the weekend we had to remove all possible allergens from the house, including the timothy hay. I can't even go near the hay at the moment, let alone have it in the house. Any suggestions for a substitute fruit or veg with lots of fiber?
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Apr 3, 2012 20:24
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Imaduck posted:One warning about this: a friend of mine set his pigs out on his balcony with a concrete floor. It wasn't super warm out, but the concrete floor itself got very, very hot, as it had been exposed to the sun earlier, and they got dehydrated / heat stroke, and one even died Alright, I'll be sure to keep an eye out. The balcony we have is wooden, but the slats are too tiny for even a rat to get through. Maaaybe a mouse, though. I appreciate all the advice, everyone. I'll try to get a picture of said balcony for better advice/ideas later on. Right now I'm debating covering the area they'll be in with flat cardboard so there's no chance of splinters/nail snagging.
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Apr 3, 2012 21:25
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Bear Rape posted:Alright, I'll be sure to keep an eye out. The balcony we have is wooden, but the slats are too tiny for even a rat to get through. Maaaybe a mouse, though. I appreciate all the advice, everyone. I'll try to get a picture of said balcony for better advice/ideas later on. Right now I'm debating covering the area they'll be in with flat cardboard so there's no chance of splinters/nail snagging. I'd suggest putting the cardboard down for sure. Splinters or snags will suck for you and the piggies, plus if they decide to pee it's easier cleanup and no ammonia stains on your deck. Plus who knows what kind of wood it is/what it's been treated with, and we all know how much the little bastards love to gnaw on things they shouldn't.
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Apr 3, 2012 23:50
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thexerox123 posted:It took me forever to get my hamster to like me... it's still a bit tenuous even, I think he'd be just as happy if I left him alone, most of the time. (Aside from when he wants out of his cage, of course.) He never bites me anymore, though, and he climbs onto my hand all of the time and will sometimes come out of his den when I talk to him... so they do come around, with time. I think I've heard that generally the trick is lots of handfeeding; it's fun to see what variety of treats they like, anyways. (Mine loves cilantro, especially) It really does just take time, though. I'll try doing some hand-feeding then. The last time I tried, he slapped the food out of my hand and ran. But I think he'll be more receptive now because he's less scared of me than he was when I first brought him home.
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Apr 4, 2012 03:13
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Hi! So I recently got a trio of Roborovski Hamsters and it is mostly going really good. They run like crazy all night long but I'm learning to deal with it. One thing I'm noticing is that they run around a lot with with their cheeks full of food, and just generally have their cheeks full at all times. This is different from the other hamster I had, a Syrian, who would mostly just fill her cheeks up to move the food to a better location. I guess I'm just asking an "is this normal" type question. Also! Hamster images:  This is right after I got them. Tandem Wheel Running is pretty common. Tri Wheeling remains a distant dream  All three getting their grub on  My old hamster, Chubby-Wubby, showing off her crazy cheek abilities.
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Apr 4, 2012 07:23
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PsychoMuffin posted:Picked up what seems like a metric fuckton of curly parsley, flat parsley, cilantro AND as a treat, a bunch of dandelion greens. Also grabbed two small bales of oat grass and orchard grass. I'm going to see if I can find a good local supplier of bluegrass hay, the KMS shipping to Canada is kinda steep. I live in the Niagara Greenbelt, there ought to be some farmer out here who sows it. Locally produced hay can save you a ton of money, but you should always be careful when handing it out to your pigs. KM does a fairly good job of screening her hay for dead rodents, potentially dangerous weeds, and other assorted nastiness that shouldn't be there; a local farmer baling hay for livestock might not be quite so careful. If you do find a local source, I'd recommend taking a moment to vet each handful of hay before you toss it into the cage, just to be safe.
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Apr 4, 2012 16:49
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kazmeyer posted:Locally produced hay can save you a ton of money, but you should always be careful when handing it out to your pigs. KM does a fairly good job of screening her hay for dead rodents, potentially dangerous weeds, and other assorted nastiness that shouldn't be there; a local farmer baling hay for livestock might not be quite so careful. If you do find a local source, I'd recommend taking a moment to vet each handful of hay before you toss it into the cage, just to be safe. That and make sure you know what you are buying. This might not be as huge of a concern to some people, but after I had a pig with a bladder stone and became super paranoid about calcium content in their diet(s), I had to stop buying locally produced hay at the cheap as hell price of ~$5 a bale (which would last me 8-10mos) because almost everything had at least a part of the mix being alfalfa. I now pay 8x that price for KMS but at least I know what I'm getting, and its still a lot cheaper than buying it in tiny bags from the pet store.
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Apr 4, 2012 17:52
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Sirotan posted:That and make sure you know what you are buying. This might not be as huge of a concern to some people, but after I had a pig with a bladder stone and became super paranoid about calcium content in their diet(s), I had to stop buying locally produced hay at the cheap as hell price of ~$5 a bale (which would last me 8-10mos) because almost everything had at least a part of the mix being alfalfa. I now pay 8x that price for KMS but at least I know what I'm getting, and its still a lot cheaper than buying it in tiny bags from the pet store. I'll definitely do this before deciding on a regular supplier. I might just suck it up and buy a box from KMs when bluegrass is back in stock.
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Apr 4, 2012 21:41
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PsychoMuffin posted:I'll definitely do this before deciding on a regular supplier. I might just suck it up and buy a box from KMs when bluegrass is back in stock. One thing, the quality of Oxbow I've been getting on Amazon is awful. American Pet Diner is pretty awesome though. My chinchillas love the Timothy Gold
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Apr 5, 2012 23:20
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SmellsOfFriendship posted:One thing, the quality of Oxbow I've been getting on Amazon is awful. American Pet Diner is pretty awesome though. My chinchillas love the Timothy Gold Oxbow's in Nebraska, and are unfortunately subject to the frequent drought conditions there. I still go to them for pellets from time to time, but when it comes to hay, I've never been disappointed with KM.
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Apr 6, 2012 10:43
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kazmeyer posted:Oxbow's in Nebraska, and are unfortunately subject to the frequent drought conditions there. I still go to them for pellets from time to time, but when it comes to hay, I've never been disappointed with KM. That explains a lot! I think American Pet Diner is somewhere in the north west but their site doesn't say. The chinchillas go nuts for it though.
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Apr 6, 2012 17:33
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SmellsOfFriendship posted:That explains a lot! I think American Pet Diner is somewhere in the north west but their site doesn't say. I actually lived about six miles from Oxbow Farms for several years. Always wanted to go visit and bring the pigs along.
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Apr 6, 2012 20:01
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