Any guinea pig owners/"experts"?

sdkitteh

I've just rescued three baby guinea pigs (don't ask)

Any "experts" in guinea pig care? I don't really trust pet shops as last time I got a rabbit from there I followed their advice and it died!

I've put them in the cage tonight and left them to it with the radio turned on low (to get them used to noise as they will be living in doors)

I've given them water and guinea pig nuggets just wondering if there is anything I need for them? Toys?? Do I need to feed them anything else?

I have wood shavings down for them- shall I buy them straw too?

Also does anyone know anywhere that sells inexpensive guinea pig hutches? The one I have is tiny and while it will suffice for now with them being tiny babies..it won't be suitable in a few months

Poppypig

Congratulations on your 3 baby piggies. It sounds like you already have very good instincts about how to look after them.

Most important advice is that they need to eat fresh hay every day (it is vital for their digestive system).

Also fresh veggies daily such as cucumber, lettuce (but not iceberg), dandelion leaves, peppers, broccoli, basil etc. (Never feed them potato peelings or the green leaves from tomatoes as these will poison them).

They don't need straw - they can't eat it, and it can cause eye injuries.

It would be wise to check whether you have boys or girls or both. Guinea Pigs can get pregnant at just 4 weeks old.

I would suggest making a cube cage - made from grids and corex. You can then use washable fleeces as bedding instead of buying shavings. you can make the cage to the size you want (I would suggest at least 48"). Then give them a hut each to hide in. I use cardboard boxes (with any staples and tape removed and a doorway cut out, plus no bottom) and the top part of a cat carrier.

You can see some examples of cages at a site called guinealynx. This site is full of good advice.

Good luck with them. Please post a picture when they are relaxed and settled in.

krlyr

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/ may be worth checking out

meritaten

main advice - sex them and separate the males ASAP! females will usually happily live together. and don't put males together.

Poppypig

That's not quite true. Male guinea pigs can live happily together. However they are likely to fall out and start fighting each other if they can smell or are aware of a female guinea pig in the vicinity.

purcy81

It sounds like you have most of it covered sdkitteh I hope you enjoy your new piggies. My 2 girls are in the largest cage they sell at pet at home and they seem to have more than enough room, I think it was about £60 or thereabouts but this was a number of years ago so its probably shot up in price like everything else!

As poppypig says get them some hay they absolutely adore it and its really good for them. I've bought toys for mine and to be honest they arent that bothered, what they do like are old kitchen and toilet roll tubes to barge around and they also enjoy those giant cardboard tubes you can get from pet shops.

If you want to get insurance for them the only place I could find was exotics direct they arent that expensive per piggy but the price mounts up when you have 2 or 3.

Also its good practice to give them a bath a few times a year as they can tend to get a little greasy so you may want to keep a few old towels to one side for them and invest in some small animal shampoo from the pet shop.

Other than that hope you have a lovely time getting to know your new critters, they are lovely funny animals!

zaksmum

I put fine sawdust down when we had guinea pigs and you can buy shredded paper for bedding from the pet shop.

They need a water bottle attached to the cage or hutch so they always have access to water. They don't need toys.

They will eat guinea pig food from the pet shop and for a treat they love dandelion leaves - they will get quite excited about them and whistle when they smell them.

We made the mistake of having one male in with his own babies...nightmare. He was at his daughters and his sons were at their sisters...ended up with 29 guinea pigs at one point.

Fortunately the local pet shop took the babies off us for £5 a time!

randm

Don't use sawdust, it gets up their nose and can cause respiratory problems, just line with newspaper and use shredded newspaper for bedding, you can use wood shavings if you want. Don't give too much basil it is high in calcium and an excess of which can lead to bladder stones. Excellent charity is the Cambridge cavy trust, it's for every body, details of the cct can be found on https://www.britishassociationofrodentologists.co.uk

meritaten

Poppypig wrote: »

That's not quite true. Male guinea pigs can live happily together. However they are likely to fall out and start fighting each other if they can smell or are aware of a female guinea pig in the vicinity.

Yes - Quite right! Apologies - my post sounded as if it was necessary to keep males apart - when I meant keep males away from females if you don't want them to fight! but, I was never sure just how far away you put them .........so only ever had females!

randm

When you have finished the nuggets get them some of the mixed variety food , even if you love chocolate, having it for every single meal day in day out , you would soon get fed up, so think how they feel.also when you let them out for running round indoors if you don't use an indoor play pen type thing remember that they love chewing on wires so block of the tv cables and such. When it's nice weather and you put them outside for their daily run check the grass for poisonous weeds, the main one is buttercup.if as you should you let them graze on grass and eat hay then they will need worming every 3 months, contact the cct for advice. Mine loved empty loo roll or kitchen roll tubes to chew on, I would push hay into the tube .
Editing to add: they need daily exercise outside of the cage, minimum of an hour best in two sessions, not just cuddles on your lap, they love to run and explore!

MissAqua

I know every pet owner has different ideas about how to keep their animals but thought I would add my advice.

As what others have said, sexing the little piggies is essential to make sure there is no unwanted pregnancies.
Fresh hay (not straw) should always be available.
I would NOT switch from nuggets to muesli as this may cause fussy eating and you cannot guarantee that they are receiving all the nutrients they need. Variety in the diet is received through vegetable treats.
Piggies do love to nibble on toilet rolls but make sure that if you have very young guinea pigs that you cut the roll length ways in case they try and squeeze through it and get stuck! Another great cheap toy is a paper bag full of hay
You mentioned a hutch, are you planning to keep them outside? If they are tiny babies you will need to keep them inside because of the temperature unless they will be in a draft free shed and you also take other precautions such as heaters or insulation.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/index.php is an excellent source of information for all things guinea pig. It will help with all the questions about living arrangements indoors and outdoors, exercise, food, health etc.
Most importantly, give them your love, its important for them to get used to being handled when young. Enjoy your new members of your family!