any guinea pig money saving tips?

Turtle

:TBring on the baby piggy pics! (and baby bunnies too if anyone has any of those) or adults for that matter, I love them all....

tiamai_d

Just for Turtle..

Spike, the first baby bunny. Had no idea that 'it' had happened till I went to put washing out and I saw what I thought was an escaped hamster...



Then the little hussy escaped a week later and we saw the arrival of a litter of 9!! (there was 10, but one was tiny and vanished by the next day)



and lined up to attention



She is now 'fixed'. I needed a large dog bowl to feed them all, twice a day!!!

BaileyB

God they are massive for only a few days old (some weeks)

tiamai_d

Spike was 3-4 weeks, the others I think were 2-3 weeks.

But yes, the large litter were HUGE! But she is one of the largest Dwarf Lop I've seen (worked in a pet shop). The white one, 3rd from left, we called tiny, it's eyes opened 4 days late and was the smallest, but also the one that would chase the others round!

Fun having them, but I won't repeat it. The feeding and cleaning were horrific! And Mum was fed up with them too. She got the run of the garden and they were put in a run, but the mess afterwards was unbelievable. And the hutch was ruined with all the wee!

Turtle

Oh thank you they are so gorgeous! I have a beautiful lop eared bunny called Bobby. He's a house rabbit and lives the life of riley! We also have a house piggy (of the guinea variety) which I'm not sure I'd recommend but they both have such funny little personalities that I'm sure would not have developed if they'd lived in a hutch.

sallyrsm

if you google you find it...
Has anyone bought it and is it worth buying ?
I am getting two piggies this week and the book certainly SOUNDS good, tips to keep the piggies in optimal health etc..

Anyone ?

cluuuuur

To be honest, I wouldn't go for it. By far the best (free!) resource I have ever found is GuineaLynx:http://www.guinealynx.info - and if you have any other questions that aren't answered on there they also have a forum that's a fantastic resource. I've kept pigs for 4 years now and there's never been something I've needed to know that hasn't been on there (and I have a couple of pigs with serious medical conditions)

pether2907

theguineapigforum.co.uk is great

sallyrsm

do I leave them well alone for a couple of days til they get used to their new home, or do I try and play with them /stroke them from the off....
A girl at work who has loads says play with them 20 minutes a night and they'll stop being timid by the end of the week but I am sure I read somewhere to leave them be until they settle in.

I want happy, confident and playful pigs, after all !

what would you do?

shelley_crow

Leave them to settle in. Gradually spend time near them, moving closer as they get more confident. Eventually they'll be confident enough to come up to you. If you try to play with them now you might scare them, they aren't used to you or the environment. They need enough time to figure out that you're a friend, in my experience thats equivalent to putting food down for them for a few days, lol. x