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It sounds like she has some sort of neurological problem - head wagging and disorientation are suggestive of that even without the vocalisations. Personally I'd take her in to see what the vet says, but they might only be able to offer to put her to sleep.
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Sep 15, 2012 17:02
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So, one of my pigs apparently had a poop-eating frenzy today and has a stained mouth. Can I wash their faces? We tried a damp paper towel and he just went on a chew frenzy. I've also noticed that he occasionally wipes his butt on the floor. He's an neutered male, is that a sign of infection or just him being gross?
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Sep 18, 2012 07:57
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I dunno if you know this, but guinea pigs are pretty gross, you guys. I had them for nearly 15 years, and they just don't give a eff about pooping or peeing everywhere, chewing on everything, or screaming in the middle of the night for absolutely no reason.
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Sep 18, 2012 12:06
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Even though he's neutered, he's still trying to scent mark. Intact males rub disgusting smells on everything with their asses. Once you neuter them, the smell goes down significantly, but they still want to be all manly and cover stuff with stink. They're gross because they're roaming herd animals. Like cattle and horses, they don't make nests, so there's no reason for them to devote any brain power to things like toilet hygiene.
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Sep 18, 2012 12:54
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What do you guys think of degus as pets?
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Sep 18, 2012 16:41
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notsoape posted:What do you guys think of degus as pets? I had two a few years back and they were wonderful. One of them, Dagget, we had for a while solo (before we knew any better), and he bonded strongly to me. Would squeal endlessly when I (only me! how did he know?) came home until I let him out to ride on my shoulder. I have chinchillas now, and would prefer degus over the chins any day because they are less aloof- they tend to be more social, like rats. They only benefit to the chins I guess is lifespan (and cuteness  ). Dagget lived for 8 years, and I was super sad when he went.They are smart little buggers, and should be kept in pairs, at least. They make great vocalizations, take dust baths. It does take effort to get them to bond with you, but not nearly as much as a chin, in my experience.
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Sep 18, 2012 17:18
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Wow.... so we brought one of my chinchillas in to the vet for a foot infection. The thing I'm posting about isn't that though. He weighs 664 grams! They put it on the printout as 1.46 pounds. loving fatty. I'll try to get a good picture to show off his rolls.
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Sep 19, 2012 00:22
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Rodent Mortician posted:Even though he's neutered, he's still trying to scent mark. Intact males rub disgusting smells on everything with their asses. Once you neuter them, the smell goes down significantly, but they still want to be all manly and cover stuff with stink. Ok, I'll just chalk it up to pigs being gross. He's probably trying to be mad pig at his intact cage-mate Carl.
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Sep 19, 2012 03:14
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Paume posted:Question for Guinea Pig owners: I have two pigs, both just under a year old and they don't drink any water. Any at all. I mean I have a water bottle for them, fresh water constantly, and I have seen one drink from it like, twice. My previous two pigs had no issue with drinking, but these two never ever drink. I have to give them their vit c through special pellets, chewables and some fruit. We do feed them fresh vegetables many times every day, so do they get enough water from that? It is mostly lettuce, carrots, kale, endives, and a bit of apple. When we do feed it to them, it is washed and still wet when handed over to the pigs. Is that really enough water for them over a day? That may be plenty of water for them, since you give veggies multiple times a day. I usually give my girls a big pile of veggies at night before bed, and they'll drink a fair amount during the day but not a lot overnight. You could also try switching water bottles, because the action might be stiff/too much of a vacuum for them to drink comfortably. Captain Invictus posted:I dunno if you know this, but guinea pigs are pretty gross, you guys. I had them for nearly 15 years, and they just don't give a eff about pooping or peeing everywhere, chewing on everything, or screaming in the middle of the night for absolutely no reason. Guinea pigs are only gross if you don't clean their cage, and they're generally only noisy if they're hormonal or kept by themselves. (Or they hear plastic rattling.)
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Sep 19, 2012 14:20
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The robo hamster I'm taking care of almost escaped today. I was cleaning his cage and he chewed through the temporary carrier (which was a bad idea in retrospect because it's thin cardboard) and I managed to catch him by the leg before he ran under the fridge. Is there any obvious signs I can look for to make sure he's alright? I'm hoping I didn't hurt him by the way I caught him. He's not limping or vocalizing so I'm pretty sure he's okay but if there's any other ways to tell let me know! I just feel really bad for grabbing his leg to catch him but at least he didn't escape. On another note, Petsmart (of course) said that Robos were bitey assholes when I went there and got him a silent spinner. In that really stressful situation he didn't bite, but was still pretty freaked out. He hasn't bitten me once despite my friend mentioning he bit her a few times. Wonder what's up with that.
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Sep 21, 2012 22:51
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Sparkles went to the vet today and we talked about mousey seizures. Vet said she didn't have any signs of parasites (which can cause seizure-like distress, apparently), signs of infection, or any noticeable neurological/nerve symptoms (limping, drooping ear, walking in circles, anything that "looks unsymmetrical"). That basically leaves something neurological ("Anything with a brain can have neurological problems") or environmental. She suggested we try a new cage with more ventilation, instead of our glass aquarium, and that we try carefresh, paper, or fabric instead of aspen shavings. In the mean time she said she'd look into potential seizure medications, and that we should keep a journal of seizure episodes and symptoms. So it's still a mystery, but we ruled out some potential causes and the mice got a spiffy new cage. I'm hoping that the environmental changes will help!
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Sep 21, 2012 23:31
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Pew! Pew! posted:The robo hamster I'm taking care of almost escaped today. I was cleaning his cage and he chewed through the temporary carrier (which was a bad idea in retrospect because it's thin cardboard) and I managed to catch him by the leg before he ran under the fridge. Every single Robo I've owned has been a bitey rear end in a top hat. Most hamsters are bitey assholes really, once they actually wake up and get all hyper, they'll chew on basically anything.
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Sep 22, 2012 03:43
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Hey Captain, what happened with those hamster bubs? Are they all homed now?
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Sep 22, 2012 09:15
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Captain Invictus posted:Every single Robo I've owned has been a bitey rear end in a top hat. Most hamsters are bitey assholes really, once they actually wake up and get all hyper, they'll chew on basically anything. Maybe I just got lucky. This little guy is pretty relaxed! Then again, my friend did socialize him a bit before I started babysitting. And good news - looks like he's fine. He's running on his wheel and climbing ramps today so looks like I didn't injure his leg.
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Sep 22, 2012 21:15
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Is there any reason I shouldn't buy a bag of raw, unsalted sunflower seeds from the grocery store as treats for my gerbils? The food I'm giving them now doesn't have any in it.
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Sep 23, 2012 00:48
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MacGyvers_Mullet posted:Is there any reason I shouldn't buy a bag of raw, unsalted sunflower seeds from the grocery store as treats for my gerbils? The food I'm giving them now doesn't have any in it. I did the same thing for my gerbils. There should be no difference between unsalted sunflower seeds for humans and animals. There are sunflower seeds in their husks for birds and so. They work, too and it's cute to watch the gerbils husk them.
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Sep 23, 2012 10:10
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Fraction posted:Hey Captain, what happened with those hamster bubs? Are they all homed now? I really don't mind keeping them all, they're all adorable and sweethearts with each their own personality quirks, I just wish the cages didn't take up so much room. I know, I know, I never did the videos. They're still sitting in a big fat 14 gig pile on my hard drive.
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Sep 23, 2012 15:55
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I'm not surprised you had to separate them, though it sucks that they were getting along well before that. Five cages must take up a tonne of room, my mice are annoying enough in two  What kind of cages are they all in?
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Sep 24, 2012 00:13
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Fraction posted:I'm not surprised you had to separate them, though it sucks that they were getting along well before that. Five cages must take up a tonne of room, my mice are annoying enough in two I'll take pictures of the cages, they are bog standard aquariums with the water bottles attached to the centers of the mesh tops so that the hamsters can't bang them against the glass for hours on end. Also, the mom absolutely reeks. She seriously smells like she is rotting, but she is fine otherwise. None of the other hamsters smell like that and her cage is the most recently cleaned, what gives? Also, Chip, one of my male hamsters, drinks a third of his water a day and pees all the time. Is this an issue? Or just due to him being the most active of the bunch by far? Captain Invictus fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Sep 24, 2012 |
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Sep 24, 2012 00:30
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Pictures! Most of these were taken yesterday, the mom/baby pairing aside. I will so miss seeing the two of them like this.   The babies inherited their mom's tendency to sleep in terribly awkward and painful looking positions. First is mom sleeping like a corpse, while the little girl sleeps with her foot in her ear. Second one is Chip with his neck at a 90 degree angle, and the third is Honeydew and baby in an absolutely ridiculous sleeping position.    The normal male cream-colored hamsters don't have names, neither does the cream colored little girl. Here's a male goose-stepping while stretching(right) and the little girl noticing the camera and me on the left. Second image is of the other male. Both cream males are for the most part super chill.   what  Chip is so goddamn hard to get a good picture of because he's so energetic, but he's by far my favorite of the bunch. 
Captain Invictus fucked around with this message at 07:46 on Sep 24, 2012 |
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Sep 24, 2012 07:44
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Oh man I sometimes forget how cute hamsters are how come you haven't named those three creams? Just no inspiration to do so or something? Honeydew and that baby in the corner were ridiculously cute together!
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Sep 24, 2012 08:27
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I tried naming the little girl but I always wind up just calling her "little girl" or "baby" and the two cream-colored males "little dudes". I suppose I could just name them normal people names like I almost always do with my hamsters, and name them Bob, John, and Daphne. Doubt it'd stick, though.
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Sep 24, 2012 09:10
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I didn't mention itt but my two girl mice randomly died the other day. I fed them and gave them fresh water as normal one night, brought the cage out the next to clean them out and bam. One girl dead in the food bowl, the other dead in the bed. There was still food and water left. Wheatley, in his cage right next to them, was and is absolutely fine. There goes the last of my breeder mice though. In happier times, I went to my friend's house yesterday and got to take a bunch of photos of his adorable little mice  They are so cute. It's crazy how small they are compared to mine: my girls were all big, chunky beasts, and Wheatley is a little fatass. Not sure what colour my friend's mice technically are - maybe pied dove tan? :mystery:       They're called Medusa and Athena, though I'm not sure which is which.
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Sep 27, 2012 16:47
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So I was thinking about getting pigs again, I had two a while back; one lived to 2 and died from a stroke, the other lived to nearly 6 and died from a respiratory infection probably brought on from moving, I assume. I read the OP to really think about things and I see the note about annual checkups. I never brought my guys in for those, I didn't think they were really a thing that happened? I don't even remember any of the sites I checked mentioning it as a necessary thing. Did I do something really wrong to them by not taking them in every year?
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Sep 27, 2012 17:03
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Yeah, pig husbandry and knowledge about proper care has improved substantially in the last 5-10 years. Before that lots of vets didn't even see guinea pigs, but yes, yearly physicals are recommended now, especially as pigs get to middle age (3 years plus) - molar and bladder related problems being two of the most frequent killers and both easily fixable if found early enough by a good exotics vet. Pigs living 8-9 years old is quite common now. Read up on http://guinealynx.info for the latest, correct care information. Also here are some of my rescue's handouts that we provide for new adopters, which summarize the GL info, might be useful to you as quick references: http://www.allcreaturesrescue.org/documents/guinea_pigs_are_great.pdf http://www.allcreaturesrescue.org/documents/New_Guinea_Pig_Health_Doc.pdf http://www.allcreaturesrescue.org/documents/Common_Mistakes_in_Treating_Sick_Cavies.pdf http://www.allcreaturesrescue.org/documents/NC_Shopping_List-GuineaPigs.pdf http://www.allcreaturesrescue.org/documents/BasicPigSetup.pdf
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Sep 27, 2012 19:49
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alucinor posted:Yeah, pig husbandry and knowledge about proper care has improved substantially in the last 5-10 years. Before that lots of vets didn't even see guinea pigs, but yes, yearly physicals are recommended now, especially as pigs get to middle age (3 years plus) - molar and bladder related problems being two of the most frequent killers and both easily fixable if found early enough by a good exotics vet. Pigs living 8-9 years old is quite common now. Thanks, I'll check them out. I just really have to figure out where I can put them, the closed-top cage I have is way too small for 2 pigs, and I have the black wire things with plastic bottom you can turn into an open-top pen, but our cat is a small hunter.
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Sep 27, 2012 20:24
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Saint Darwin posted:Thanks, I'll check them out. I just really have to figure out where I can put them, the closed-top cage I have is way too small for 2 pigs, and I have the black wire things with plastic bottom you can turn into an open-top pen, but our cat is a small hunter. Closetmaid shelving makes a bitchin' cat proof cage, complete with lid. Get the 16" Superslide or even the Linen shelf, the bars are too close together for paws to fit through, and you can use carabiners or binder clips to keep kitty from pushing the lid up. 
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Sep 27, 2012 20:31
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alucinor posted:Closetmaid shelving makes a bitchin' cat proof cage, complete with lid. Get the 16" Superslide or even the Linen shelf, the bars are too close together for paws to fit through, and you can use carabiners or binder clips to keep kitty from pushing the lid up. That looks perfect, do you know the exact name of that unit? I'm looking around on Amazon.
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Sep 27, 2012 22:57
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Saint Darwin posted:That looks perfect, do you know the exact name of that unit? I'm looking around on Amazon. Make sure you get the kind with the narrower spacing. There is also wider spaced kind (I think it might be pantry instead of linen?) that cats can still get their paws through. Learned this the hard way by having to build the whole thing twice.
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Sep 28, 2012 11:19
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Saint Darwin posted:That looks perfect, do you know the exact name of that unit? I'm looking around on Amazon. I don't see it on Amazon but here it is on Home Depot. 4'x16" Superslide Linen Shelf. Get 5 pieces of the 4' shelf. Have them cut 1 piece exactly in half (the cut will be halfway between two back-to-front bars, they always want to cut against one of the bars but don't let them do that). That gives you the 2 short ends, then the other four make the 2 long ends and the lid. You want to place the L-shaped bits of the shelves at the bottom and kinda interlock them, so that when they're ziptied together they hold the coro in securely. Also, the top actually leans in a tiny bit, that's what allows the lid to sit on top without falling inside. Set up the cage and take exact measurements BEFORE you cut your coroplast, because the inside dimensions end up slightly smaller, something like 22.75"x47.5", I don't recall exactly. Remember to leave .25" on each side for the width of the folded coro, so you're trying to score your coro so it gives you an actual floor footprint of more like 22.25"x47". Good luck!
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Sep 28, 2012 12:47
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Yesterday I found Charlie cuddling up to Oscar's lifeless body at the bottom of their cage. I don't know what happened. He was being treated for a foot infection and seemed to be doing so much better. I was devastated. I wish I could have been there to comfort him and I feel so guilty that I haven't been giving them much attention lately (I just had a baby). Now I'm worried about Charlie. He wouldn't leave Oscar's side up until my husband took him out. What do I do for Charlie? Should I plan on getting him another companion in the future? I need time to mourn but I want to do what is best for Charlie now. I don't want him to become depressed. My mother is coming to help with the baby this weekend, so it is a good opportunity to give him lots of attention and I'm thankful for that at least. I still can't really believe he is gone. He was my fat grumpy fuzz butt. I hope I can get over this soon, because I need to be emotionally better for my son.  
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Sep 28, 2012 14:08
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Oh no, I'm so sorry I use a little stuffed chinchilla for companionship for my single chin. When I got him he was a terrible beast and would try to murder anything alive. I think I got mine from Quality Mutation Chinchillas. The first day he raped it (EYEROLL) but now we call it his baby cause he will put it in the bed, or bring it a toy and food. Maybe yours would like a cuddle buddy (since you'd have to quarantine any new animals anyways).
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Sep 28, 2012 16:42
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Sep 28, 2012 23:23
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I was expecting it to come launching out like a cannon
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Sep 28, 2012 23:58
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Sorry about your fat grumpy fuzz butt  How do chins generally deal with being alone? Assuming Charlie had something like 5 to 10 years left in him, could he for example happily live out the rest of his years without another chin?
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Oct 1, 2012 05:53
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Yeah when I saw that post I went and looked up average Chin lifespans. 22-25 years? Man, that is insane for a rodent. My condolences, I was heartbroken when Junior, my Methusula-esque Chinese Dwarf Hamster died at the age of 7.5 years, can't imagine what losing an(I'm assuming) relatively young Chin would be like.
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Oct 1, 2012 06:56
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Oscar was about 4 or 5 and Charlie is 3 I think. I adopted them from Craigslist. Charlie I got first, then I got Oscar shortly after from a bad home and got him back to full health until his foot problem started. He started out so grumpy and would bite pretty hard. He was raised in a home with a small child who was allowed to play with him. Eventually he ended up being more social than Charlie and had so much personality. I'm going to continue to try and give Charlie more attention, but I still don't know what to do about whether or not he needs a companion for the future.
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Oct 1, 2012 09:57
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Captain Invictus posted:Yeah when I saw that post I went and looked up average Chin lifespans. 22-25 years? Man, that is insane for a rodent. 22-25?! I was told 15 and I thought that was an absurdly long life span for a rodent. Dex is 4 and Smokey is a little over a year old, they're gonna be with me for a loooong time (I hope). I'll be 41 when Dex finally kicks it if he lives to be 22 (I'm 23 now). That's just insane.
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Oct 1, 2012 23:51
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I think it's closer to the lifespan of dogs.
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Oct 2, 2012 00:38
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Couple articles on chincare say 10 in the wild, 15-20 not uncommon. Oldest documented individual in captivity was apparently 28 at death.
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Oct 2, 2012 13:07
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