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Sirotan posted:Just gave all my pigs a bath, they were long overdue. Everyone mostly hated it, and one of them started out by screaming bloody murder, then when she realized this wasn't working, just went completely limp and gave up. Set her down in my little tub and she rolled on her side with all her legs sticking out, awaiting death. What a drama queen lmao It's amazing how pointedly they can give you an Annoyed Look when they're upset with the giant that pets and feeds them.
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Aug 10, 2020 04:08
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| # ? May 15, 2024 16:24 |
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Aug 10, 2020 20:42
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these are my favorite hamster gifs I always love the one where it's multiple hamsters on a horizontal wheel and one keeps running while the rest are taken along for the ride, before eventually one of the ones riding the wheel hits the one running and they all go tumbling
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Aug 10, 2020 21:17
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https://i.imgur.com/dYXYHhu.mp4
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Aug 11, 2020 18:51
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Them's some hungry fuzzies.
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Aug 12, 2020 13:40
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Adopted two pigs from the shelter this week. Two brothers that are enjoying the upgrade from their old cramped cage to the 12 square feet one they’re in now  They won’t eat any veggies though. Romaine lettuce or bell peppers. I know they tend to subsist on hay and pellets at the shelter, so is there a way to ease them on it? I tried putting some pepper slices in their pellets, and also replacing pellets outright with veggies. No dice. They did eventually eat some small banana slices I set out for them, the fatties. But the pepper alongside it was largely ignored. Should I give them Vitamin C supplements until they acclimate?
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Aug 13, 2020 22:16
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If you're buying a quality Timothy hay-based pellet (Oxbow, KMS Hayloft, etc), that is going to be their main source of vitamin c. I don't think I'd recommend completely removing pellets even from pigs that are open to eating fresh veggies. If you're looking for something on top of that my pigs really like these: https://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/our-products/supplements/natural-science-vitamin-c/ My vet recommends them especially for the older pigs and I try to give everybody once a day. Give them some time on the veggies, I'm sure they'll come around.
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Aug 13, 2020 22:58
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I actually bought those earlier today, so it’ll be a nice alternate for now.
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Aug 14, 2020 01:14
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Dipper had his first visit to the vet, his nails were not wearing down as they should be so I brought him in for a Mani-Pedi and a check up. The little guy was done with the whole ordeal long before the vet even showed up. Even when the vet picked up the carrier to take him to the back Dipper only lifted his head slightly, continuing his quiet protest. But he was declared healthy, his nails are a good length again and the vet said he was well behaved during the procedure. So all is good  His nails seemed to naturally curve to the side, so I'm guessing that I will need to bring him in every now and then for a trim. Anyone else have experience with their hamster's nails not wearing down?
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Aug 23, 2020 03:53
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so I'm having trouble with my two guinea pigs and just want to make sure i haven't done something wrong here. they're both males, both coming up on a year old (born Sep 9), and were littermates so they've lived together their entire lives. this past weekend i cleaned their cage and now the two are acting aggressively towards each other. they've chased each other well past the point of it being fun for either, have started lunging at each other, and tonight were chattering at each other for several minutes straight while i was watching them to break up any serious fighting that might happen. googling gives suspect answers at best so i'm turning to PI for help on this. is chattering, chasing, and lunging a normal part of establishing dominance, or did i gently caress up somehow? no blood's been shed yet, but i did freak out a bit earlier when one did a 4" vertical lunge at the other, i was not expecting that.
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Aug 29, 2020 02:14
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surfacelevelstudd posted:is chattering, chasing, and lunging a normal part of establishing dominance Yeah, it is, and yeah it really sucks to watch your pigs do this. I would probably leave them be as long as they're not drawing blood. Make sure all hidey homes have two entrances and there's no place one or the other could be cornered. If they don't work it out in a day or two I would suggest removing them from the cage, cleaning everything with a vinegar or diluted bleach solution, and putting them back. If it still continues after that, bathe them together and put them back in a clean tank. They can be little assholes at that age, even with their own litter mates. If none of the above works you may need to separate them for a while.
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Aug 29, 2020 02:22
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So baby hamsters sleep in the dumbest way for anyone uninformed.   ColHannibal fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Sep 4, 2020 |
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Sep 4, 2020 16:22
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yeah it's great REALLY baby hamsters are essentially pillows for mom
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Sep 4, 2020 18:51
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Captain Invictus posted:yeah it's great Yea these are almost ready to go home, we try to keep them together (boys and girls split obviously) up until then end to help them learn to be hamsters better and it results in some weird Ham piles.
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Sep 4, 2020 20:19
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My hamster died a month or so ago of age, and I kinda miss him.  Finally took the cage down and put it in storage today. (It was all just sitting there cleaned)Decided I'm not gonna get another hamster, at least for a while, looking at the baby hams makes me want one though! rip boyo, he never bit me even once. 
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Sep 4, 2020 20:33
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Speaking of bites, do guinea pigs just not do curious nips? Our rats will only bite hard if they cannot see something or you do something to deserve it. Otherwise it’s gentle, curious nipping. My guinea pigs, however, will just chomp anything. They may do a cursory sniff, but they have already drawn blood once and they were not showing any signs of distress or aggression prior. Just an “I assume everything is food.” Or is this just a biological thing where the bigger pigs are just incapable of gentle nibbles?
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Sep 4, 2020 21:33
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Our pigs always tested things with a chomp. They have really terrible eyesight for detail and a thought process that goes "predator? food? sex?" on a loop so we just were careful not to leave fingers in nibbling distance.
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Sep 4, 2020 22:26
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I've found it really depends on the pig. I've had pigs in the past that will lick me everywhere, and some that will gently nibble you, and some who will chomp down and not let go. Of my current herd, three of the four will not nibble or lick me at all, the forth will always give me a pretty firm bite, realize "oh, this isn't food", and lose interest. 5min later she forgets what a finger is.
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Sep 4, 2020 23:54
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Nettle Soup posted:My hamster died a month or so ago of age, and I kinda miss him. What state are you in?
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Sep 5, 2020 05:01
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changed coco's bedding and she's not pleased, she made a nest but decided she wanted to just sleep out on the surface instead. "the gently caress you doin"   
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Sep 5, 2020 05:07
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ColHannibal posted:What state are you in? I'm in the UK.  I don't need more pets right now, they're just very cute!
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Sep 5, 2020 16:11
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First time nail clipping did not go well. One pig bit me and spend the whole time trying to escape, and the other squealed and squirmed making it difficult to get accurate clips. The latter also has what I think are spurs that I at least cleaned up a bit. All said I clipped three nails total  I’m going to try again tonight with a friend and also some carrots to see if that settles them down.
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Sep 7, 2020 19:17
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Pants Donkey posted:Speaking of bites, do guinea pigs just not do curious nips? Our rats will only bite hard if they cannot see something or you do something to deserve it. Otherwise it’s gentle, curious nipping. both my piggies do soft and hard nips depending on their mood. if they smell food it's a big CHOMP but if i just am pestering them it'll be a soft nip followed by disinterest. also, happily, the pigs are settling down again! they're still arguing a lot, i think the cleaning ended up just being at the right time to trigger a shake-up. crowley is the more chill of the two but is bigger so was dominant, but aziraphale/azzie is a lot more pushy and has been rumblestrutting all over the place and i think he's winning the war.
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Sep 10, 2020 00:53
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Pants Donkey posted:All said I clipped three nails total Did you make a pig burrito? I always felt it easier to do with two people, and an open ended pig burrito. If the pigs still struggle too much even with help, it's worth asking your local vet to trim em. I've always had to take my hamsters to the vet for nail trims, but it's like 5 bux. So worth it if your critters struggle, though! Their little digits make me nervous. el fikus fucked around with this message at 06:22 on Sep 10, 2020 |
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Sep 10, 2020 06:19
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I would get lucky trimming piggie nails by holding said pig, letting a foot between my fingers, and having a second person clip. Of course my mom and I clip a lot of cat nails so a piggie is a bit more of a size/squirming issue. I have now had my rescue hedgehog Urchin a full year plus a few days. He is a fat ball of spikes, loves cooked chicken, will sleep in his pouch when I'm at my computer for about an hour before he wakes and pokes me to get him to his litter box, and HATES BATHS and his nails being done. One of the few times he actually bit me, hard, didn't break the skin but left something like a blood blister, was when I was trying to finish a paw and he was done with the clippers. We ended up finishing the next day after a short bath. He doesn't preen/nuzzle/cover himself with his spit after playing with my hair much these days but then if I don't wash my hair for a week, he goes loving bananas and I have to be sure to cover my ears, otherwise in his "everything gets preened" frenzy, he will try to pierce the top of my ear for me.
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Sep 12, 2020 20:20
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My partner and I signed up for fostering at the local animal rescue charity. We primarily said we'd like to home cats/kittens but that we'd consider anything since the rescue provides all the equipment and food. So our first fostering project is kinda the opposite of cats - seven female mice! They arrived today and are busy scurrying around exploring their new cage and toys, and being hard to photograph:     
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Sep 17, 2020 15:07
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Is there any way to keep my pigs from getting their hay everywhere, or should I resign to their bedding being 10% ha? I’ve tried three different ways to store their hay in the cage, and they always manage to get it everywhere, the slobs.
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Sep 17, 2020 22:21
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Pants Donkey posted:Is there any way to keep my pigs from getting their hay everywhere no Pants Donkey posted:or should I resign to their bedding being 10% ha? yes I've got a box that I put shredded paper bedding in and stick the hay on top of that, they will get in the box and eat it but will also drag it around everywhere. I've got a tiny rake to try and clean it up in the mornings.
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Sep 18, 2020 00:58
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It gets everywhere, it's unavoidable. My cage right now is propably 30% covered with hay, it's closing to cleaning time.
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Sep 20, 2020 21:45
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It's truly incredible how well guinea pigs can hide their health issues. I can spot a lot of behavior changes, I weigh weekly, I work 2ft from my pig cage and interact with my herd constantly. And yet here I am, sitting in the emergency vet parking lot, waiting to get an estimate on what it will cost me to hospitalize my pig overnight with what could be cancer? an enlarged heart? pneumonia? and terrible arthritis. Even though she was acting totally fine 12 hours ago. She had a great appetite on the way over so I'm going to try to not expect the worst but gently caress.
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Sep 25, 2020 22:39
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Well old miss Mavis is still hanging in there, though today she has decided she'd rather not eat anything. At least she's feisty while I'm having to shove a syringe down her throat. :/
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Sep 28, 2020 16:44
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Sirotan posted:Well old miss Mavis is still hanging in there, though today she has decided she'd rather not eat anything. At least she's feisty while I'm having to shove a syringe down her throat. :/ If Mavis can have a hissy fit about taking her medicine, then she can't be that sick  
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Sep 28, 2020 17:12
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A wild rodent. https://twitter.com/dickkingsmith/status/1311588448260808704?s=21
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Oct 1, 2020 23:32
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Urchin likely has hedgehog wobbly leg syndrome. There's no medicine, there's no cure. At best we have a year, at worst a week or two. He's still eating like mad, but no longer uses his wheel and has problems moving around okay. I've had him barely over a year. No idea on his age. drat he's been cool little huffy mad spikeball.
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Oct 9, 2020 04:07
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Update: Urchin went downhill pretty quick. He couldn't unball all the way, was having issues getting around his cage, and while ravenous for food, he couldn't right himself if on his side. I spent a lot of time this past week watching vids on Youtube of people whose hogs had this, and how long they could survive for, but were clearly in pain. Exotic vets were booked, and the emergency vet said it'd be a good amount to even see him. So I had a tossup: let him stay like this for a few more days, or follow this: http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/ I went with the latter. I figured, since he was under two pounds, it would not be bad to try. I did a few test runs, even found a feeder mouse who had a tumor to do another run on. Everything went smooth. So I got Urchin up, gave him a kiss on his snuffly mad head (I did see he ate the chicken I put in earlier), and my mind was made up more when he couldn't right himself when set down. Into the container with some bedding, and the entire process took just a few minutes. gently caress, it's taken longer to write this because I keep running out of Kleenex. Part of me kept thinking nah, I can wait, I can do this next week, he'll be fine. But do I really want to wait until he's dragging his back legs, or can't get a drink of water, or can't enjoy his wheel? He hasn't been on his wheel in two weeks, and he used to run nonstop, even during the day if the room was dark. He was comfy in his pouch, that I'd wear when at the computer, but sooner or later he wouldn't be able to unball from it. You were a good little hoggie, Urchin.
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Oct 11, 2020 21:02
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So sorry to hear about Urchin, but thank you for posting that euthanasia site. Part of me wishes I could have done this for my a previous piggie, since my last image of her is being carried to the back room at the vet's office looking at me and chirping away. I wish I had been there with her. I realize that I did not give a follow-up on Mavis. After a touch-and-go week where she wasn't eating for a few days, she seemed to perk up and is now doing fabulously. Still not sure if this was just due to arthritis pain, or if she did in fact have some kind of infection going on, but she's running up and down the ramp like it's no thing at all. She will be on pain meds daily now for the rest of her life. I've got an electric heating pad in the cage now that Mavis loves to lay on, I was only going to have it in there while she was convalescing but it might become a permanent fixture. All the pigs love it and I'm sure it's feels good for her poor joints. It was nice and warm this weekend so the herd got to spend one more day outside in the grass: 
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Oct 12, 2020 17:16
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Cowslips Warren posted:So I had a tossup: let him stay like this for a few more days, or follow this: http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/
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Oct 12, 2020 19:36
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Captain Invictus posted:thanks for this. My last hamster had a severe tumor on his neck and having the vet put him down was like $120. It feels weird having a "DIY kill your pet" guide, but it looks to be basically the same as taking him to the vet and having them stick him with a needle, so it's better to have this option. I weighed the options on that: one hand, take him to the vet and stress him out horribly (he's never left my house since I brought him home a year ago), or two, do this at home. I would agree with the site to do a trial run or two, make sure the lid is on safe (I used a gallon ice cream container with a hole cut in, and taped heavily), and to make sure you can control the vinegar in the cup; move too fast and you spill too much and liquid can get in the container. I don't know why he said over 2 pounds doesn't work. Maybe you need a larger setup for that?
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Oct 12, 2020 19:44
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So, weigh-in this month has both of my pigs gaining about a quarter of a pound. I give them about a 1/4 cup of pellets, and m/w/f they get a red bell pepper and t/r they get a carrot. I’m still getting them to eat other veggies (they won’t touch lettuce of any kind). They get bananas as a treat, but not for about two weeks. The only food they get is hay of course (although this month it has been a hay/grass mix from Oxbox I bought by mistake) and a whole vitamin c cracker each (as per the packaging). Am I overfeeding, do they just need more floor time, or is going from 2.5 lbs to about 2.8 nothing to worry about just yet?
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Oct 13, 2020 02:31
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| # ? May 15, 2024 16:24 |
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I don't think there's anything to worry about. That is still well within normal weight range, especially for males. It does not sound like you are overfeeding them at all to me. Do you have any idea how old they are? They'll probably continue gaining weight until they're 12-18 months old, and then level off.
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Oct 13, 2020 03:22
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