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I know guinea pigs will always wig out when you move to pick them up, but I've had my two guys for about 3 months, and I try to give them some kind of human contact every day or so. During this time, they won't sit still, they keep trying to run away, and one of them, Zeb, tries to nibble my fingers. Nothing that breaks the skin, just a little chomp if I'm not careful. Is this normal? I thought I was supposed to give them human contact frequently, but they seem to hate it. Otherwise, they seem to be normal, they squeek when I open the fridge, and go nuts when they eat bell peppers. Just wondering what's up with my pigs.
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Jun 5, 2016 21:43
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| # ? May 27, 2024 00:55 |
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Give it more time.
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Jun 6, 2016 00:46
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Sexual Aluminum posted:I know guinea pigs will always wig out when you move to pick them up, but I've had my two guys for about 3 months, and I try to give them some kind of human contact every day or so. During this time, they won't sit still, they keep trying to run away, and one of them, Zeb, tries to nibble my fingers. Nothing that breaks the skin, just a little chomp if I'm not careful. You might have pigs like ours were, we had them for 4 years and they were still 'eh, humans, you'd better be bringing food or I'm not coming near you'. We handled them daily and they still ran away until we'd picked them up, plonked them on our laps and starting dishing out the tasty treats...they never really got the hang of people.
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Jun 6, 2016 16:33
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I just came home to a very soggy clover. Looks like she was trying to do some sort of hamster lifehack by building her nest with her water bottle sticking into it... The entire bottle I filled last night was empty.  At least she doesn't seem to phased by me drying her off. I think she knows she screwed up.
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Jun 7, 2016 21:30
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-CHA posted:I just came home to a very soggy clover. Looks like she was trying to do some sort of hamster lifehack by building her nest with her water bottle sticking into it... My wife's gerbils do this pretty much on a weekly basis. They constantly try to build their nest right under the water bottle, and end up draining the whole thing into the bedding.
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Jun 7, 2016 21:38
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Once was more than enough. I can't imagine cleaning that up every week. I think if Clover does it again I'm going to make it so she can't build a nest under it.
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Jun 7, 2016 23:55
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 Can somebody tell me why Hamilton here suddenly became obsessed with eating wood? It's like he saw a documentary on beavers and now he thinks he is one. He has enough food, exercise, teeth aren't too long... I dunno.
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Jun 12, 2016 18:42
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 hams chew! It's recommended to have wood chews available for them, normally the problem is trying to get them to chew more so they keep their teeth in checkI have sterilised drift wood, some willow sticks and cute little wooden dinosaurs which get ignored  Also Hamilton is loving adorable, I love him
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Jun 12, 2016 19:32
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Hey guys, I just got a Syrian hamster a couple weeks ago, he's ~2 months old at this point, and for the last few days, his hips have gotten really greasy and wet looking. I've done a basic google, learned about scent glands etc, I was just wondering if it would benefit him at all to clean the areas? I'm at work so I can't post pics, but his sides are like, wet to the touch, not just a little gross looking. The smell I can handle, I just worry about his skin. I have a bunny, so my brain is hard-wired to avoid wet skin as much as possible I guess. Just looking for some general advice, thanks.
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Jun 14, 2016 17:38
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Is he scenting a lot? He could be over scenting if he still feels insecure where he is. Is he settled in in other ways? You're not changing his stuff around all the time or cleaning him out too often? You could just ring a vet if you can find one who handles exotics/small animals to see if they think it's worth you coming in. I do know of a couple of hams who ended up with infected scent glands so can't hurt to be too careful.
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Jun 14, 2016 18:19
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In the two weeks I've had him, I've cleaned out his cage twice, moved around his wheel/food, but I left his little tree stump house and litter in the same corner. He's really friendly, gives lots of licks, runs to my hand to be scooped up etc, so I assume he's settling alright. My sister works at a vet clinic so I might pop by after work today, get her to give him a once over just to be safe. Thanks :3
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Jun 14, 2016 18:58
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teenytinymouse posted:
Thanks. Yeah he's great. We adopted him from a friend who neglected him pretty badly (went on a holiday for 4 weeks and left him without care, never once picked him up...). It took a while before he started to trust us. And a couple of months ago he almost died when one of his cheek pouches got inflamed and came out of his mouth. It was and looked horrendous, but the vet managed to save him.
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Jun 14, 2016 20:38
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Hope that person isn't your friend anymore!!  good job saving the little guy, rescue hams best hams!!
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Jun 14, 2016 21:15
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Yeah I was gonna say he looks like he's got irritated skin and hair loss.
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Jun 14, 2016 21:19
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Congrats mrfart for rescuing hamilton  He is adorable.I finally caught a video of Runty moving food into her dish. She has a system where all food/ treats found will be placed into the dish, she then moves a daily stash into her nest. Over the next several days, that millet will slowly become just a twig that she will discard into the corner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXIISd8L1a8
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Jun 15, 2016 04:35
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I love Runty  do you think is she happily humming "whistle while you work" while she tidies or is it "why can't this human fucker stop throwing food round my house" 
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Jun 15, 2016 07:49
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It's more than likely the latter. After all, food belongs in the food dish. No exceptions.
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Jun 15, 2016 13:13
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Spent the weekend upgrading the cavy condo, into a pig palace: http://imgur.com/a/pQ7Ub Flora and Mavis are going to need another friend or 3 now to fill the space. 
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Jun 20, 2016 14:51
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That pig palace is awesome. It's proof that you don't need to spend out on a store bought deluxe cage (that is usually too small anyway) when it's just as easy to make something better.
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Jun 22, 2016 20:36
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Those spoiled piggies!!!  that's a beautiful pig palace
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Jun 22, 2016 21:44
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Very nice palace. The towel in place of bedding is a nice touch.
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Jun 24, 2016 16:08
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Crossposting from PYF. http://i.imgur.com/VwMkkCN.mp4
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Jun 24, 2016 17:27
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Cythereal posted:Crossposting from PYF. Chinchilla bathing is one of the most adorable things ever.
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Jun 24, 2016 21:52
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I would argue dwarf hams could make that a good competition
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Jun 24, 2016 22:05
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Got proper bit by aforementioned dwarf ham, apparently bf hasn't been feeding him from his hand like I thought he was and like I was, he's been tipping food into his bowl... because he bites  Feeding privileges revoked!
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Jun 24, 2016 22:57
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I'm worrying a little about Buffy. The fur on her chin and jaw has gone dark and looks like its matting. Is this a sign of me not having her care down or some kind of illness? 
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Jul 4, 2016 21:31
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What are her teeth like? Maybe try and see if they're too long, that's a fairly common problem. Or is she chewing on bars or anything that could be irritating her mouth? Any other behavioural changes?
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Jul 4, 2016 21:37
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teenytinymouse posted:What are her teeth like? Maybe try and see if they're too long, that's a fairly common problem. Or is she chewing on bars or anything that could be irritating her mouth? Any other behavioural changes? She chews on the bars of her cage and the end of her water bottle but she's always done that. She also doesn't seem to be as active when in her ball as she used to be, which is quite concerning. There's a little bump between my bedroom and bathroom she's been able to cross with ease but now she's getting stuck on it. She did have 7-10 days of being confined in her cage due to needing a new ball (she escaped from the old one, one evening I spotted her scurrying across my bedroom floor ) so lack of exercise might be involved?
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Jul 4, 2016 21:43
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Chewing bars can damage their teeth pretty easily, they can start to grow crooked or snap so you defs need to check they're OK. You can take her to a vet and they can remove a broken tooth or clip them if they need it. Maybe try and feed her some soft food like baby food (no onions, garlic, added salt etc), scrambled egg or oatmeal in case she's having trouble eating? If she was chewing more on the bars because she wasn't getting as much exercise then that makes a damaged tooth more likely I guess but I know when mine don't get out for a while they go mental once they do rather than being more lethargic.
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Jul 4, 2016 21:49
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teenytinymouse posted:Chewing bars can damage their teeth pretty easily, they can start to grow crooked or snap so you defs need to check they're OK. You can take her to a vet and they can remove a broken tooth or clip them if they need it. Maybe try and feed her some soft food like baby food (no onions, garlic, added salt etc), scrambled egg or oatmeal in case she's having trouble eating? Well I just checked her again and her fur looks fine so now I'm thinking I'm getting newbie hamster mummy paranoia 
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Jul 4, 2016 22:22
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Just did my monthly weigh in with my 3 gerbils. One of them has rather skyrocketed in weight over the last month. She gained about 28 grams. Her new name is Chubby McChubscout.
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Jul 5, 2016 08:08
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From PYF.
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Jul 5, 2016 13:45
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One of our chinchillas, who happens to be my favorite of them, we named Keck because of the fact she likes to make complaining noises at us so much, which we call "kecking", because that is what it sounds like. This weekend she had 2 babies, which was quite a bit of a surprise as she has never had more than one. Because she had 2 they weren't quite as developed as her usual clones(I call them clones because she is a white mosaic and despite being paired with a dark tan always has female white mosaic babies), so I got them out to check on them to make sure they were healthy. It turns out that they are a clone in more than just appearance, because the first time I picked each one up to weigh it and check it out, it started squeak-kecking at me. It was absolutely adorable. Sadly they refused to do it again so I could record it 
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Jul 5, 2016 15:20
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One of my ~2.5 year old rescue guinea pigs started intermittently pissing blood. Hmm I wonder what the issue could be.  The vet that did the x rays for me gave him some baytril and metacam and a surgery quote of $1400. I contacted the rescue he came from and they suggested I call their vet who has much more exotic experience and is in a price range I can actually afford so as long as I can keep George going he's got surgery scheduled for Tuesday morning. He's in a lot of discomfort even on the max dose of metacam and not eating super well right now Just one more day little buddy, I swear you'll feel better soon. 
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Jul 10, 2016 21:22
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Instant Jellyfish posted:One of my ~2.5 year old rescue guinea pigs started intermittently pissing blood. Hmm I wonder what the issue could be. Poor George. Hope he's getting offered lots of fruit and treats until his surgery. .
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Jul 11, 2016 08:24
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George made it through surgery just fine and is feeling so much better. The stone had shifted to the neck of the urethra so they were worried they wouldn't be able to get it out and thought they might have to just put him down, but they pried that sucker out of there. He is now a very expensive pig but I'm so glad I was able to get him treated. The techs didn't want to give him back because he's such a good and fine pig  They gave me his stone to keep. They were my kind of people. 
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Jul 14, 2016 02:59
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Instant Jellyfish posted:George made it through surgery just fine and is feeling so much better. The stone had shifted to the neck of the urethra so they were worried they wouldn't be able to get it out and thought they might have to just put him down, but they pried that sucker out of there. He is now a very expensive pig but I'm so glad I was able to get him treated. The techs didn't want to give him back because he's such a good and fine pig Yay George! You'll be amazed how quick they bounce back from these bladder stone surgeries. Fingers crossed this is his first and last stone.
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Jul 14, 2016 03:05
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Wow, nice to know George's alright. Is this something that is a common problem with Guinea pigs? That thing looks big.
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Jul 14, 2016 06:22
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Instant Jellyfish posted:George made it through surgery just fine and is feeling so much better. The stone had shifted to the neck of the urethra so they were worried they wouldn't be able to get it out and thought they might have to just put him down, but they pried that sucker out of there. He is now a very expensive pig but I'm so glad I was able to get him treated. The techs didn't want to give him back because he's such a good and fine pig Well I hoped you hugged him, and petted him, and...
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Jul 14, 2016 18:12
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| # ? May 27, 2024 00:55 |
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Sirotan posted:Yay George! You'll be amazed how quick they bounce back from these bladder stone surgeries. Fingers crossed this is his first and last stone. It really has been amazing! He had gone from 1250-ish grams to around 890 g the day of his surgery and he's already gained back more than 50. He's wolfing down hay and yelling for veggies like he had forgotten how great they are. mrfart posted:Wow, nice to know George's alright. It was a big one. The vet said if it was much bigger there is no way they could have gotten it out of the area it was stuck in and it probably would have blocked things and killed him before he even got to surgery. Stones can be an issue of too much calcium/the wrong calcium ratios but it can also just be a genetic issue. I've got a plan to prevent more stones but there's a good chance he's just going to make them again anyway. I'll deal with it when it comes up though, I'm just glad I could help him this time. Neddy Seagoon posted:Well I hoped you hugged him, and petted him, and... All the vet's offices have laughed when I say I'm making an appointment for George the guinea pig. They're all named after presidents though, ever since my first two, Quincy and Calvin, in high school. George (Washington) and Ike, and Martin and Chester are the current batch. I've also had hamster named Grover and Teddy.
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Jul 15, 2016 04:16
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