any guinea pig money saving tips?

Bunnie1982

I kept two females together with no problems, they used to play with each and other and chase each other round the cage.

I found it really interesting though that sometimes when the guinea pigs were on heat they would chirp in the middle of the night. It kinda sounded like a baby bird and when you went to see what was going on the guinea pigs were sitting in the middle of the cage holding their heads up in the air like a wolf howling at the moon. I think there are some videos on Youtube showing this.

I guess the noise aspect would be something to bear in mind if you were keeping them inside.

dora37

We bought 2 Guinea Pigs yesterday, they are about 12 weeks though the seller was quite vague and are both girls.

They were fine yesterday, just timid and a bit twitchy. Today they seem not to be getting on - when one goes near to the other/the food/hidey hole the first one is forcing it away. ie being dominant

Is this usual? Are they just settling in or should I be worried?

Thanks

Barneysmom

What's a GP, is it a puppy? If so, then yes, there is always a more dominant one. Dogs have a pecking order with you as pack leader. Once leadership and pecking order is established everything calms down. Put you do have to make sure that you are a strong leader, else the more dominant female will walk all over you, as mine does Tuna on toast for breakfast

dora37

Sorry I meant Guinea Pig - will edit post!;)

Notsosharp

Hi,

I wouldn't worry too much about them fighting, so long as they are doing no damage to each other it should be OK. Guinea pigs need to establish a pecking order so thats probably what they are doing atm, my three (used to be four) fight all the time despite the fact they have been together since they were born (mother and two sisters). They can be quite noisy about it too and they do fall out from time to time but end up snuggled together anyway!

Good luck with them!

Davidboy

Guinea Pigs are quite hardy little creatures and the more you handle them the more friendly they become.

Just a couple of things though, they needs lots of vitmin C so give them plenty of dark green veg and you can also get Vit C drops to put in their water, change their water everyday. Buy a good quality GP food. Keep them out of draughts and extreme cold in the winter. Put plently of bedding (straw or hay only) in their sleep compartment for them to snuggle into. To suppliment their diet they also need hay to chew on (used for bedding).

Lastly - Giunea pigs as I said are quite hardy however they do suffer from a mite that buries under their skin near to a gland near to their back end. You will notice a problem when they start to scratch alot and you will see flakes of skin and going a bit bald. If this happens take them immediately to the vet as they will need a course of injections to get rid of those mites. To reduce the risk of this happening, clean their cage once every fews months with a good mite spray.

To give them the best life possible if you can get a longer run, they will be much happier with some exercise but by nature they are very lazy and quite happy sit all day not doing alot, but will enjoy being handled and stoked gently, make sure the run is covered in chicken wire as large birds and cats can attach them.

Enjoy them.

HTH.

D

bev_t

dora37 wrote: »

We bought 2 Guinea Pigs yesterday, they are about 12 weeks though the seller was quite vague and are both girls.

They were fine yesterday, just timid and a bit twitchy. Today they seem not to be getting on - when one goes near to the other/the food/hidey hole the first one is forcing it away. ie being dominant

Is this usual? Are they just settling in or should I be worried?

Thanks

I also have 2 guinea pigs which we purchased nearly 2 yrs ago. We were sure to buy 2 from the same litter.
I wouldn't worry about them fighting ours do it all the time they are just seeing who is boss..
The only time I would worry is if you notice any bites or cuts on either of them. They tend to show dominance just by nudging each other with their heads and it can seem quite forceful. They will even do this with you when sitting on your lap and you are stroking them they will nudge your hand out of the way, this is them telling you that they are the boss.

dora37

Thanks for all your replies - they seem a little friendlier towards each other today - though they are not best buddies! So hopefully over the next few days they will sort themselves out.

I am feeding them pellets, though am not sure whether I should be leaving them in the cage or taking them out after an hour or two - I have been taking the bowls out but ensuring there is hay in the cage.

For Vit C, so far have tried pepper, banana and carrot and they have only liked carrot so far!

MarkyMarkD

We always left the food for ours to eat when they feel like it. Ours loved carrot and dandelion leaves but weren't too keen on fruit.

You don't need to vitamin C enrich the water if you use vitamin C enriched food pellets. Don't ever buy rabbit pellets because they don't contain vitamin C.

dora37

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

We always left the food for ours to eat when they feel like it. Ours loved carrot and dandelion leaves but weren't too keen on fruit.

You don't need to vitamin C enrich the water if you use vitamin C enriched food pellets. Don't ever buy rabbit pellets because they don't contain vitamin C.

Will put the bowls back in then!

I have also booked them for a check up at the vets as where they came from didn't look the best of condition - in their hutch alone there must have been at least 10 guinea pigs and 'as they were still young' the owner had not separated male/female!

One looks like she has possibly had her ear chewed and the other has a possible mite patch. :mad: