cat with hands posted:

Stands on his hind legs like a Meerkat when begging for a snack

Reis posted:

Well, you have to hand it to the hamster for being determined, although not the brightest of rodents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvTnVI9s4PM

Sirotan posted:

I heard the most god damned retarded thing to come from the mouth of someone working at a pet store today.

I had to make a quick stop at a Petco during my lunch hour to buy hay. I really hate to even walk inside that place but my bale of hay has run out and I can't make the drive to buy another one until Saturday. Ran inside to just grab the smallest bag of Timothy that they had, and while checking out the cashier told me:

: "Our rabbits really love that stuff!"

No poo poo man, maybe it's because THAT'S WHAT THEY EAT. Might as well tell me your family is really fond of water while I'm buying a bottle of Evian.

I mean I guess this rant is a bit pedantic, but working in a pet store that sells rabbits shouldn't you at least know the one main food that they eat? How could you not learn that even by osmosis while working there?

cat with hands posted:

Can a guinea pig who is really freaked out by water get used to bathing or is it better to just avoid the stress and a use a wet towel?

CompactFanny posted:

Nobody said they hated you! It's just a bad idea to get it as a surprise, that's all, and so your boyfriend should know about it before it comes home. It's really not fair to him to get him a living, breathing, eating, pissing and making GBS threads responsibility for his birthday. ^^

came to post this

alucinor posted:

Towels/fleece are cheaper, better for the environment (less waste/packaging), safer for the pigs (impaction, ingestion), and easier to deal with (less dust, no shopping trips) - if you don't mind doing more laundry, (increased water/power use) and doing daily spot-cleans.

Personally I hate laundry, so I still use shavings/carefresh. But I'm down to two cages so I really should suck it up and switch to fleece.

Sirotan posted:

Its a bit of an old picture as I now have that box smack dab in the middle of the second story, but this is about how it looks:


Click here for the full 1600x1200 image.

Also I zip-tied thin strips of wood to both sides of the edges of the hay box so they aren't chewing on the plastic of the box. It works pretty well for me.

Sirotan posted:

Nope, just two levels. I cleaned their cage today so I took some newer pictures:





Two levels with ramps on both sides. I have thin pieces of untreated pine zip tied to the top level clorosplast because one of my last pigs loved to stand up there and look out the cage and chew on the plastic. The hay box has it as well though as you could see in my other post, it used to be on the bottom level in the left corner, so since I moved it I never got around to putting wood on that one exposed side. You can see how much they've chewed it down.

Also that isn't carefresh in the hay box because at a local pet expo recently a new company was selling this recycled shredded paper as bedding and I bought a bundle of it. They charged me $7.50 for 12 cubic feet. I've been using it for three months now and have barely made a dent in the bale. Add that to the hay I buy in bales from local farmers for $5 and fleece sewed to towels as bedding and I think I've got this whole owning guinea pigs on the cheap thing down to a science.

cat with hands posted:

I've noticed no excessive scratching or biting, nor is the dry patches sensitive to touch. Will try to get some pictures soon.

EDIT: Updated with pictures. Camera is lovely and doesn't have any real ISO or shutter settings, better pictures have to wait until daylight.


Click here for the full 1024x777 image.


Click here for the full 1024x758 image.

Boy Named Sue posted:

Our male guinea pig, Roscoe, is ready to wield Mjolnir and slay some Frost Giants in the name of Odin!

Sirotan posted:

Edit: Like so

Sirotan posted:

This thread has been around long enough that this is now my third post celebrating the birthday of my bestest ever pig, Fuji. She 'turned' 7 on Friday! (It's more like the anniversary of the day I got her, so she's probably more like 7yrs 2mo at this point.) I've had guinea pigs for close to 20 years now and despite my best efforts, I'm lucky to keep most around for 5 years, let alone 7. Fuji is a trooper and I hope to have her around long enough to make another post like this next May.





The next day, I let the whole herd share the leftovers:




Full album: http://imgur.com/a/UQrYc

redmercer posted:

kazmeyer posted:

Guinea Pig DEFCON guide:

DEFCON 5 - WILL YOU STOP TOUCHING ME Squeal, rising in pitch and volume. "You're invading my personal space." Not necessarily a cause for alarm, but if you hear it a lot someone's being an rear end in a top hat in the cage.

DEFCON 4 - THEY SEE ME ROLLIN Rumblestrutting. Guinea pig purrs, waggles his butt low to the ground. In pig language, "Look at me I'm the boss." If other pigs submit, may lead to chasing and humping, even among same-sex groups. If another pig rumbles back, it becomes Jets vs. Sharks.

DEFCON 3 - YOU TALKIN TO ME Face off. Guinea pigs get into close proximity and raise their heads. Dominance display, the submissive pig lowers his head first. If neither one backs off, could be a problem.

DEFCON 2 - SAY WHAT AGAIN MOTHER FUCKER SAY WHAT ONE MORE GOD drat TIME Chattering teeth. Universal sign of "if you don't stop whatever you're doing, I'm going to gently caress you up." Pay attention if you hear this. Precursor to bad poo poo.

DEFCON 1 - STITCH THIS JIMMY Furball. Guinea pigs launch at each other and become whirling dervishes of teeth. Will surprise the gently caress out of anybody who's never seen it because you just don't think of guinea pigs being able to do this. Separate immediately. Do not use bare hands, or you may end up needing stitches.