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My preteen sister just adopted a guinea pig that one of her classmates was getting rid of. His name is Butterby, and we are insisting on referring to him as Sir Reginald Butterby. Apparently he had a tendency to bite his previous owner. He came with a big bag of bedding, a bag of pellets, a cage, a water bottle, and a single bell-on-a-rope toy that he doesn't seem very interested in. He seems like he probably wasn't being fed right or stimulated enough. We made a little tunnel out of an oatmeal box because the internet suggested it, and fed him a little bit of bell pepper and a baby carrot. He seems suspicious of the tunnel, as if he expects it to be full of secret enemies, and he snatched the peppers and ran to the other side of the cage to eat. He also bites the metal of his water bottle whenever he drinks. I have no idea if all this is normal. I'll run to the store tomorrow to get him hay, Vitamin C supplements, a wooden tunnel, a ball, and something to chew on. Am I missing anything? Any tips for helping him feel more comfortable, both in general and with people specifically? Is there an easy reference guide I can buy to help my sister feel more equipped for piggy parenthood? We don't actually have any idea what Butterby's sex is, but he looks exactly like the guinea pig from Cul-de-Sac and it's kind of freaking me out.
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Sep 9, 2013 02:08
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Zetsubou posted:
Some gerbs just are like that. Not much one can do about it in my experience. In my last pile I had one female gerb that was quite bitey for the first year or maybe year and a half and then at some point she didn't even nibble any more and was the tamest fluffball for the rest of her life. Just roll with it I guess.
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Sep 9, 2013 05:52
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The hamster I handle the most will sometimes fall asleep in my hand, while the rest will constantly crawl everywhere until they exhaust themselves. It might just be you need to handle it more, though I don't know if it's a similar situation with gerbils.
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Sep 9, 2013 07:02
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Dead Inside Darwin posted:Got the hay in yesterday That's the best thing about ordering hay in bulk. Pigs go bananas when they can burrow into an edible wonderland.
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Sep 9, 2013 13:05
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KentuckyFriedBonBon posted:My preteen sister just adopted a guinea pig that one of her classmates was getting rid of. His name is Butterby, and we are insisting on referring to him as Sir Reginald Butterby. Apparently he had a tendency to bite his previous owner. He came with a big bag of bedding, a bag of pellets, a cage, a water bottle, and a single bell-on-a-rope toy that he doesn't seem very interested in. He seems like he probably wasn't being fed right or stimulated enough. We made a little tunnel out of an oatmeal box because the internet suggested it, and fed him a little bit of bell pepper and a baby carrot. He seems suspicious of the tunnel, as if he expects it to be full of secret enemies, and he snatched the peppers and ran to the other side of the cage to eat. He also bites the metal of his water bottle whenever he drinks. I have no idea if all this is normal. I'll run to the store tomorrow to get him hay, Vitamin C supplements, a wooden tunnel, a ball, and something to chew on. Am I missing anything? Any tips for helping him feel more comfortable, both in general and with people specifically? Is there an easy reference guide I can buy to help my sister feel more equipped for piggy parenthood? Pigs kept alone generally aren't very happy, and if you don't spend a lot of time and effort playing with them they can get antisocial or needy. A solitary pig can bond with a human, but you're best off getting a cagemate, and that'll probably mean you need a bigger cage. Are you using an enclosed pet store cage? You can probably ditch the bell toy, I've never met a pig that liked any toy that made noise. Water bottle biting/rattling isn't uncommon, lots of pigs do it to get your attention, or it's just how they drink. As for vitamin C supplements, you're best off picking a pellet that has stabilized vitamin C in it (Oxbow is good if you can find it, make sure you get a timothy hay based pellet if he's more than a year old) and supplementing with veggies like dark leafy greens and bell peppers. By "ball", if you mean one of those giant hamster ball things -- skip it. Those are actually dangerous for guinea pigs, they can lead to back and foot injuries. If you mean a ball to put in the cage for him to push around, don't be surprised if he ignores it. Same with anything he's supposed to chew on. The best toy you can give a guinea pig is an empty toilet paper tube stuffed with hay. For references, you can't beat cavycages.com and guinealynx.info. The former has instructions on building easy, enormous cages to keep pigs happy and healthy, and the latter is a site populated mostly by guinea pig rescuers that has the best information you can possibly find on guinea pigs. The GL crew is very helpful especially when it comes to medical issues, but they really don't like it when people ignore good advice and they'll let you have it if they think you aren't taking guinea pig care seriously. As for making him more comfortable, he's going to be freaked out for a while because of the change of scenery. Also, the vast majority of guinea pigs will always react to you reaching into the cage to pick them up like you're a condor swooping in to eat them, it's just hard-coded in their DNA that they're prey animals and "the claw" is coming to get them. That being said, getting him out for lap time regularly is a good thing, and the way to a guinea pig's heart is through snacks. Get a bag of chopped romaine lettuce or spring mix and hand-feed bits during lap/playtime and he'll soon associate his new humans with treats and his opinion of you will drastically improve.
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Sep 9, 2013 13:18
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Is there any place I can buy more than 60 Liters of Carefresh at a time? One of those fills my pigs cage and I'm tired of buying individually.
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Sep 9, 2013 14:47
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I think those bricks are the largest size package you can get with Carefresh, unfortunately. You might be able to find a deal for multiple bags online, but the shipping cost might negate any savings.
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Sep 9, 2013 19:06
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kazmeyer posted:I think those bricks are the largest size package you can get with Carefresh, unfortunately. You might be able to find a deal for multiple bags online, but the shipping cost might negate any savings. Hm, drat. I get ~free shipping~ because I buy it from Amazon, so I guess stocking up on them is the way to go Then again ordering them individually isn't a problem since there's no shipping cost, it just means the pigs have to suffer a couple more days in a dirty cage until the stuff arrives.
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Sep 9, 2013 19:30
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It'll make them appreciate it more.  One time I let the cage go way too long because I was sick, and my girls made it abundantly clear how they felt about it by popcorning like crazy when the fresh bedding went in. Freyja also loves to kip on her side on fresh bedding, which always scares the hell out of me because as she's getting older she sleeps like a log. More than once I've poked her a few times before she's bolted upright and spent the next six hours glaring at me from the depths of a pigloo.
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Sep 10, 2013 01:07
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We made silly things on sticks for our wedding, so poor Dio had a little bit of a fashion shoot... We are terrible people :3 (edit: we get popcorn pigs too when the bedding's changed and the tube is full of hay...silliest creatures!)
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Sep 10, 2013 14:09
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Just got a new guinea pig, he's a cute little dude and surprisingly chill, unlike Jenna was. Within an hour of bringing him home, he was exploring his cage, checking things out and popcorning around. When you pick him up he just sits still and doesn't squirm or bite or anything. I'm really surprised how docile he is, it's pretty awesome. He won't sleep in his pigloo, instead he made a little cave in the corner of his cage with the corner of his blanket.  Pictures to come later on!
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Sep 12, 2013 14:38
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Got to love the exceptions. Every pig I've ever had feared the claw except Indira, who would actually stand up against the bars and wheek at me until I reached in to scratch behind her ears. The other pigs always reacted in terror and disbelief. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING MAN DON'T YOU KNOW THAT COULD BE A CONDOR"
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Sep 14, 2013 07:09
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kazmeyer posted:Got to love the exceptions. Every pig I've ever had feared the claw except Indira, who would actually stand up against the bars and wheek at me until I reached in to scratch behind her ears. The other pigs always reacted in terror and disbelief. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING MAN DON'T YOU KNOW THAT COULD BE A CONDOR" One of my pigs acts one way half of the time and the other the rest of the time. Seriously if I reach in and she doesn't freak out and run (no matter what she's against the bars talking to me) she wants to be scratched, otherwise she's terrified of my giant hand.
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Sep 14, 2013 08:17
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So life with Cecil the guinea pig is awesome except for one thing. He seems to have a knack for projectile peeing. In that I'll sometimes find little puddles of urine outside of his cage. On the hardwood floor of the place Im renting. So my two questions are: 1. Should I put some sort of edging around the bottom of the cage to help eliminate this? 2. What are good methods to help remove guinea pig urine stains from hardwood? I've tried diluted vinegar, hardwood cleaner, hardwood conditioner and for the most part lightened the stains a bit. What else can I try? It doesn't even have to be perfect I just don't want my landlord to think that I trashed the place.
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Sep 19, 2013 04:38
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A month to the day I had to put down my last pig, I learn that my youngest pig has a massive tumor and there's nothing to be done besides keep her comfortable until I deem it necessary to have her put down. I'm heartbroken and feel so bad for my third pig who will soon lose her best buddy in the whole world.
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Sep 19, 2013 22:45
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cuntvalet posted:So life with Cecil the guinea pig is awesome except for one thing. You can use puppy training pads around the cage. They're absorbent, but have plastic bottoms so they don't leak.
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Sep 19, 2013 23:38
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Okay, I need the expert advice of those who keep or have kept robo hamsters. I sort of impulse adopted a little robo hamster that came in from a local pet store into the vet clinic I work at. He came in missing a front leg, and I held him while the vet examined and cleaned him. I felt sorry for him and asked the people from the pet store if I could adopt him. I don't really even like hamsters. I read a little bit real fast before getting him, but I don't think I made the right decisions on all the stuff I got. What is the best cage set us and most importantly food for this little guy? I got the cage below which in retrospect, I think is just too involved for a tiny little three legged robo. I don't think he can even get up in those higher places. I thought about just removing the slide part up to that wheel and replacing it with just a normal wheel like this Silent Spinner or Flying Saucer. I think the water bottle from this sucks too and I'm not sure he is using it, so I put a small dish of water in with him too. I'm wondering if I should just replace the entire thing with an aquarium or something else? I just want to do right by this little guy. He's on some antibiotics right now, and I'm cleaning his little nub wound daily. I don't even know if it's a boy or a girl, but I've named him Walter. 
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Sep 23, 2013 18:07
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We has chinchillas! So, my wife and I are the proud new home to a trio of chinchillas. We got 3 from the person, 2 male Ebonies and 1 standard female. They came with a ferret nation cage(the previous owners said it was a critter nation, but it isn't, it is a ferret nation. Still works just fine for em though) along with their houses, food bowls and water bottles. The 2 males are living in the top and the female in the bottom. Since then we have put in Bass equipment metal pans instead of the plastic ones they were chewing up(just the main pans though, although I'd like to find something to replace the plastic pans for the shelves but no luck yet), lined them with fleece, given them some branches from safe woods to chew on as well as some toys that we had from our birds(just the toys that didn't have anything unsafe for chins). We also upgraded them from the kind of small container being used for dust baths that could barely hold an inch of dust to a good sized cat litter box with 2 inches of dust in it for them. Although given how much dust they managed to get around the bathroom I'm beginning to think we may need one with a top... We are steadily ordering more and more things for them as we have the money, on the list are wheels(probably flying saucer wheels), more perches for them, fleece tunnels, and some other stuff. Enough rambling, picture time! A few pics of our Ebonies:    One pic of the female, she is a lot shyer than the boys so it is harder to get pics of more than her head sticking out of her house: 
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Sep 23, 2013 21:29
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hhgtrillian posted:Okay, I need the expert advice of those who keep or have kept robo hamsters. I sort of impulse adopted a little robo hamster that came in from a local pet store into the vet clinic I work at. He came in missing a front leg, and I held him while the vet examined and cleaned him. I felt sorry for him and asked the people from the pet store if I could adopt him. I don't really even like hamsters. I read a little bit real fast before getting him, but I don't think I made the right decisions on all the stuff I got. What is the best cage set us and most importantly food for this little guy? I got the cage below which in retrospect, I think is just too involved for a tiny little three legged robo. I don't think he can even get up in those higher places. I thought about just removing the slide part up to that wheel and replacing it with just a normal wheel like this Silent Spinner or Flying Saucer. I think the water bottle from this sucks too and I'm not sure he is using it, so I put a small dish of water in with him too. I'm wondering if I should just replace the entire thing with an aquarium or something else? I just want to do right by this little guy. He's on some antibiotics right now, and I'm cleaning his little nub wound daily. I don't even know if it's a boy or a girl, but I've named him Walter. A rat cage will do, as long as the bedding is shallow enough so that the robos cant escape. Any tank will do, 20 g aquarium or big mouse cage. Silent spinner is a good wheel, and robos will spin off their wheel no matter what. Any wheel that is not a wire wheel is safe. Just change out the bedding weekly and make sure your not over feeding and piling up filth in the cage. Also dont get him a friend, he might loose another limb.
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Sep 24, 2013 03:53
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So the house has been battling fruit flies and they've appeared near my guinea pig cage. I never see in any IN the cage, they're not messing with the pigs, and I just cleaned their cage and didn't see any small breeding lifeforms. The numbers seem to be thinning and I've ordered paper to try to help but is there any danger the pig mess might become a breeding groudn?
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Sep 24, 2013 20:19
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I would only expect fruit flies to take up residence if there is actual fruit in the guinea pig cages. Veggies probably count too. If you're only using dry food right now, then I wouldn't worry. House flies and other flies that like to eat feces will move in to messy guinea pig cages though. My friend recently found fly larva ON one of her guinea pigs, in its fur. No wounds of any kind - we suspect dirty fur might have attracted a fly to lay eggs on the guinea pig. 
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Sep 25, 2013 00:16
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BTW KentuckyFriedBonBon, if you guys decide to get a second guinea pig to keep the first company, make sure you know the sex of your current guinea pig and get the same as the second. You don't want to be breeding guinea pigs (without experience and care, much guinea pig breeding ends in tragedy and deceased guinea pigs). http://www.guinealynx.info/sexing.html This is a decent guide on how to tell the sex of your guinea pig. Buried in the instructions are these wise words: "...place your finger directly above the opening and push inward and slightly downward, gently but firmly. If absolutely nothing pops out then it is likely to be a female." Along these lines, if you press inward and slightly downward, gently but firmly, and a penis pops out, it's a male. If you have a female guinea pig, you can get most any other female to keep her company. Females generally get along with each other, though of course their are exceptions. I have a female piggie who hates all other piggies. If you have a male guinea pig, you should not pair him up with another adult male. Adult males tend to dislike each other unless one or both were introduced at an early age. So if you have a boy and want a second guinea pig, find a baby boy to pair him up with (make 110% sure the new piggie is also a boy). Good luck! ~Nerwign
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Sep 25, 2013 00:30
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I'm a little worried Princess Hamerella isn't getting enough stimulation during the week. I'm at school from Monday to Friday and my mom checks on her food and water, but I don't think she's been taking her out in her ball or anything. What kind of toys do you suggest that would keep her interested? I was thinking about getting some kind of puzzle-treat kit, something my mom could refill to keep her entertained. Right now she has a wheel, a bridge, paper towel tubes, and paper towels galore. I take her out and play with her on the weekends, too. Obligatory picture:  That is not dignified at all!
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Sep 27, 2013 20:42
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Rearrange her cage every change. Hamsters are usually very happy to just run continuously on their wheels so I wouldn't worry too much. A puzzle treat toy sounds good, a burrow box with treats hidden in it might be something to think about to.
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Sep 27, 2013 22:36
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My hamster loves these willow branch balls that Petsmart sells. They have peanuts or walnuts in them, though I usually put a pumpkin seed or some other treat in there for her, too, to get her more interested in it at first. She goes crazy trying to chew through the branches to get what's inside. I also like the burrow box idea and have something similar set up in my hamster's tank. She seems pretty content with those and the other stuff that's in there, though I think my hamster is weird because she hates coming out of her tank and will run towards it to try and get back in if I let her out on the floor.
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Sep 28, 2013 16:25
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My cheap vacuum can't handle picking up all the stray hay that goes around the pig cages, so I get out a broom and try to sweep it up. The pigs don't squeak while I do this but every sweep, or something about the sound of the broom, sends a few of them into uncontrollable popcorning.
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Sep 29, 2013 05:23
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Hi PI rodent thread, I just found this little fucker being scared in my house:   Is this a regular rear end mouse that I can ditch in the park or should I inquire if any neighbor's pet had babies and lost them?
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Sep 30, 2013 17:31
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Looks like a pretty young house mouse, which is probably the most common mouse around. They can be either wild or domesticated. Most likely it is a wild one.
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Sep 30, 2013 17:39
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Ok, out it goes, hope it doesn't die from shock before I get there.
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Sep 30, 2013 17:48
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Zetsubou posted:Here's a somewhat quick question. One of my female gerbils has always been a little bit on the bitey side, but now that she's reached about a year old, her biting is getting kind of worse. About 50% of the time with skin contact she will give me a nip. These nips never really hurt before but now she is putting a little more pressure with these ones, and she has started acting this way for about a month now. And now here is the thing that confuses me; why is she doing this? I know she is not scared of me because she basically leaps at me when playtime starts, and always looks around for me for some sort of assistance getting up to high places and is just generally very sociable towards people. I don't believe she is sick or hurt because she is one of the most energetic gerbils i've seen and can basically climb anything vertically. She has also proven herself to be really gentle when she wants to be, like licking water off my fingers without even scraping me with her teeth. Really the best way I can describe this is kind of what teenage angst would look like in a gerbil, kind of like a "gently caress you man, you don't own me" in a gerbil perspective. Maybe she is gerbil angry at me or frustrated for some reason? My tank is a little small but I literally let them out everyday to run around my pretty big room for about 20-30 minutes a day, and also give them treats and alfalfa hay every once in a while. Is there anything that can be done about this or is she just a small fluffy loveable rear end in a top hat? Try this: Wear a thick gardening glove and lay your hand flat in her tank with some sunflower seeds in your palm. If she bites your hand, just ignore it. This will help her learn hand = treats = good! Do this for a couple of times a day for a week or two. When you notice she is not biting your hand anymore then try it without wearing a glove. Also, how are you taking her out of her tank? If you are picking her up by hand, try using a glass jar instead. But do not force her into the jar, let her climb in on her own. Just remember some gerbils have bad temperaments and that she may never stop nipping your hands altogether.
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Oct 4, 2013 02:14
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 Goodbye Frida. Only 2 1/2 years old. And now within a month and a half, I've gone from three pigs to one.
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Oct 4, 2013 14:00
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Ug, I'm so sorry to hear that. Same thing happened to me - lost 2 of my 3 in the last 2 weeks. Both to cancer, we think (one ovarian, one osteosarcoma). My last one is a 3.5 yo spayed female. I am SO hesitant to get another pig - I wanted to be done after this group - but I expected them to keep each other company a little longer and I can't bear leaving her alone that long.
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Oct 4, 2013 14:44
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alucinor posted:Ug, I'm so sorry to hear that. Same thing happened to me - lost 2 of my 3 in the last 2 weeks. Both to cancer, we think (one ovarian, one osteosarcoma). That really sucks. And I know exactly how you feel. I got into the office late and now I'm watching my sole pig via webcam running around looking for her friends. Breaks my heart.
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Oct 4, 2013 16:12
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Both of my guinea pigs passed away 2 weeks ago. No idea what happened. Left them in the care of someone else for a week and a half or so and when I came back one had died and the other had dropped 2-3 pounds and died shortly after. I'm kind of pissed because I've never seen any animal/s decline so rapidly in that short of a span. They both had food and water (hay, fruits & veggies, filtered water) so the only thing I can think of is a sudden illness. Still  at my ex-roommate not noticing a five pound animal dropping half its weight in a week. I just needed to rant a little about that because I can't afford a necropsy right now. Here's an old picture of them, Cocoa and Boo Berry: 
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Oct 5, 2013 00:47
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Pew! Pew! posted:Both of my guinea pigs passed away 2 weeks ago. No idea what happened. Left them in the care of someone else for a week and a half or so and when I came back one had died and the other had dropped 2-3 pounds and died shortly after. I'm sorry for your loss. They were beautiful piggies. And I completely understand your frustration. Two years ago, I lost my pair of gerbils in similar circumstances. I had left them the care of my then-boyfriend for a week, and returned home to find them both dead and cold. These gerbils were not the same age, not even related - but somehow both died at around the same time with no evidence as to why. My then-BF swore up and down that they had fresh food and water all week, and that they were alive when he left for work that morning. The kind posters in this thread made many suggestions as to what could have caused their deaths, but I opted against a necropsy. I regret that now, because it nags at my thoughts every time I leave pets in someone else's care. The guy is my best friend now, and still swears that he took proper care of the gerbils, but there's always a small part of me that wonders if he's lying and resents him for it. This sort of thing is the very worst part of owning a small animal.
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Oct 5, 2013 02:10
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Hello PI, I just started working at a Mom and Pop type pet shop (mostly stocking shelves, cleaning cages, etc...). They have a gerbil in their back room that they can't sell because he is too old, I feel sorry for him because he is by himself and doesn't get any attention other than cage cleanings and feedings. I'm thinking about offering to take him since it won't cost me much as I can pretty much feed the same food, treats, wooden chew toys as my rats. But....big BUT, the cage I have is rather on the small side. So I'm asking what would be better. 1)Leaving him in a rather large cage alone getting almost no attention. or 2)Taking him home and putting him in a small cage and getting quite a bit more attention. I could afford to attach some sort of minor tube extension to the cage and I have a ball laying around somewhere so he can run around on the floor (no idea where I got it). (The reason I have the cage is because when I moved from one city to another it was for transporting my rats in the car with me.) nunsexmonkrock fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Oct 14, 2013 |
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Oct 14, 2013 03:45
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nunsexmonkrock posted:Hello PI, While attention is always good and all, that cage is really, really small. It would actually be against the law to house a gerbil in that in Finland. That is pretty bad if you consider how small the cage sizes according to law are to begin with The gerbil will most likely get bored in it and when that happens, they have a habit of starting to chew the bars, which is both hard for your ears (especially at night) and detrimental to the gerbs health. Personally I'd leave him if that was the only option. If you had an old aquarium or something, that would make an optimal home as you could also get a thick layer of bedding in it. Gerbs love to dig around.
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Oct 14, 2013 06:02
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Thanks for the info. Unfortunately my only option is leaving him then. I don't have the room for much else even if I could get it free on craigslist. I'll just continue to use the tiny cage to hold my rats when cleaning their main cage/moving.
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Oct 14, 2013 06:33
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My girlfriend adopted a bonded pair of guinea pigs about a year ago from a family who kinda neglected them. One of them passed away a few days ago and now the other one isn't really eating or drinking water and is very visibly depressed. We try to take him out and give him lots of attention and try to offer him food he likes but he's really not into it. Is there anything we can do or is he just going to die of sad?
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Oct 28, 2013 23:17
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Cyra posted:My girlfriend adopted a bonded pair of guinea pigs about a year ago from a family who kinda neglected them. One of them passed away a few days ago and now the other one isn't really eating or drinking water and is very visibly depressed. We try to take him out and give him lots of attention and try to offer him food he likes but he's really not into it. Is there anything we can do or is he just going to die of sad? Get him another friend, ASAP. He'll probably perk right up.
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Oct 28, 2013 23:35
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