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Original poster

Dd2 wants some guinea pigs - good idea / any advice?

413 replies

ElectraInExcelsis · 23/12/2008 23:10

The only thing I know about them is that you should get two because they otherwise get very lonely...

Anyone have them? I had hamsters as a child but don't know about humane ways to keep guinea pigs, etc which is important to me. Dd2 is 5. I don't mind cleaning them out for her etc.

Any advice? TIA...

OP posts:
mablemurple · 07/01/2009 00:02

Thumbwitch, thank you for the info and the link to that site. Am glad the popcorning is a good sign. Will cut back on the lettuce, I think - I've been giving them the end bit of a romaine/cos lettuce several times a week, plus a few leaves as well. I don't think it's done them any harm so far, though.

whispywhisp · 07/01/2009 07:31

Hi! Hi to mablemurple...glad you find this thread helpful! We're all big guinea fans in here....

I love the popcorning thing they do. I do worry one of them will hurt themselves tho because they do go a bit crazy at times! Hugo has a broken toe due to it...took him to the vets when he did it - told me to leave it as it would mean knocking him out and as he uses the whole foot and the toe doesn't bother him it wasn't worth the risk of operating and removing the toe.

Lettuce...I've never given it to them - always understood it not to be good for them. Didn't know that grass had similar qualities tho?

smurfgirl · 07/01/2009 16:26

How did you know that Hugo had a broken toe? Milo jumped from DH's arms last night (from the height of the top of the cage) and he seems fine and v.chirpy and climbed into the hay rack afterwards but i worry!

whispywhisp · 07/01/2009 17:25

Because when I put him out into his run last Summer I noticed one of his toes - back foot - toe outermost - was at a right angle! I took him to the vet and they said its either broken or dislocated - at the time he was living in a hutch outside and the divide in the hutch was a hole and I think he must've run through and left his toe behind! Anyway the vet said the only solution was to amputate but because the toe wasn't bothering him and he was walking on it fine she suggested we leave it and see how it gets on. He's fine with it but if needed I would've had it amputated - one less claw to trim!

whispywhisp · 07/01/2009 18:51

Someone mentioned on here about pigs digging....I forgot to say at the time that yes, they can dig!

Sometime ago I had a male and female in a divided run, on the grass....the male was really quite..well, y'know...and I found him in with the female when I happened to look outside! He'd dug a hole and managed to get up underneath the wooden struts of the run! How did I know he was the culprit? Because he had about an inch of mud underneath his front claws! Fortunately no babies were produced!

NomDePlume · 08/01/2009 16:29

rofl @ your hornypig

whispywhisp · 08/01/2009 17:50

sphil...hows those babies doing?

sphil · 08/01/2009 18:05

They are all doing very well thanks - but I had no idea how much 11 guinea pigs would eat, even if 8 of them are tiny. It's real bunfight when the food goes in

whispywhisp · 08/01/2009 18:06

Hows Runty?

smurfgirl · 08/01/2009 18:34

They are v.terratorial over food aren't they. I can put a few pieces of fresh food in and they will fight over one piece, they steal it from each others mouths and then run off into the pigloo with it to hide!

I am writing this peering over Bertie who is nestled into my boobs. Hmmmmm.

whispywhisp · 08/01/2009 19:58

It's clean out day here tomorrow...a job I do actually quite enjoy..sad as that might sound! I do it whilst the kids are at school..start with the retired couple upstairs, then the girls and finally Hugo. Takes about half an hour to do all four cages but its great to watch them investigate their fresh hay and squeaking away! Then I leave the two full up bin bags of rubbish right in front of DH's workshop so he has to move them to go into his workshop and I casually say to him..'yknow you could always run them up to the dump'...and he does! A trip he makes for me about 2-3times a week just for the pigs! Ha ha!

sphil · 08/01/2009 20:12

Runty is fine! He is right in there with the others and although he's still small, he's not skinny any more. He's hard to handle though - runs very fast and seems quite nervous. It's difficult with all of them in fact - you can't scoop them up with two hands like you can the adults. And I hate to think what they feel when they see an enormous hand coming towards them.

smurfgirl · 08/01/2009 23:21

We gave Chester a haircut tonight. He didn't want that at all! White long fur is a pain though and even though we comb/brush him daily it gets knotty round his bum. Feel so bad about it though, he looks awful.

whispywhisp · 09/01/2009 09:37

smurf - Cyril has a hairy backside too...it can grow up to a couple of inches longer than the rest of him. I regularly trim it otherwise he gets fur balls caused by woodflakes and hay. The rest of him is quite long too so he looks really odd with a short backside but it has to be done otherwise he gets a bit honky!

NomDePlume · 09/01/2009 10:10

I popped into the petplace where I bought the girls today to pick up some more straw and a couple of other bits. I made the mistake of peering into the guinea pig enclosure and there were 2 boys in seperate (dirty and too small) cages, obviously dumped there by someone who didn't want them anymore . Stripes and justin, they were called. Both around 15 months and both himmys. Poor little things, I wanted to bring them home but I think DH would go spare as I'd have to buy another extortionate cage and double our piggy bills....

They looked so sad

whispywhisp · 09/01/2009 10:45

NDP...where? I'll go get them! Sod what my DH thinks...he can always go live in a hutch outside instead!

NomDePlume · 09/01/2009 10:48

In worcester, whisp. I've never seen unwanted/returned/abandoned pets in there before.

whispywhisp · 09/01/2009 10:54

If they're in a cage too small and its grubby I'd ring the RSPCA cos that just isn't good enough. Only 15mths old too. Shame its not closer cos I'd take them - I'd find room somehow. What did they want for them?

NomDePlume · 09/01/2009 11:00

LOL whisp

The cage was a 100 (1m), which I would say was too small for a adult piggy (Mine are in a 120 and get lots of time out in a big playpen/run thing). Although they sell the same cages quite happily so I doubt that there's a welfare problem as far as the RSPCA are concerned for cage size. They did need a clean out though, poor boys.

NomDePlume · 09/01/2009 11:01

£15 each but I suspect they'd have taken less (I guess the cage and whatnot would come with them, not that you'd want it)

whispywhisp · 09/01/2009 11:04

Do you know the address of the place? Name? I'm guessing its too far and I'm not sure DH would be keen to go up there esp as he drives all week with his work but doesn't stop me from going! £15 each for 15mth old pigs is a bit steep but I'd make an offer. If the cage they're in is a temporary measure then that's fair enough but there's no excuse for them being in dirty cages especially if the shop sells the bedding etc. Just pure laziness.

NomDePlume · 09/01/2009 11:07

It's called JustForPets and is in

Shrub Hill Retail Park,
Tallow Hill,
Worcester,
Worcestershire
WR5 1HE
Tel: 01905 731047

Thge other animals in there are kept clean and tidy so I find it a bit odd that these little chaps weren't. I don't know how long they'd been in, they weren't there 4 days ago and when I went this morning the store manager had to let me in as they were 'short staffed' and he was waiting for cover. It could just be that they've not got around to sorting the boys out yet ? I hope so.

whispywhisp · 09/01/2009 11:17

I'll multimap the address and see how far it is first. I could always go and buy them and get them rehomed myself.

Zebraa · 09/01/2009 11:48

My niece is 4 and has two and one died, so my sister bought another one to replace him but she was smarter than that and wanted to know what happened to Wally and then came the tears and nightmares. She wanted to sleep with the remaining guinea pig to look after him for a while after that.

Hard work plus my sister said they're such hard work to look after as you have to clean their toilet area daily and clean their hutch a twice a week and they need daily supplies of fresh hay.

NomDePlume · 10/01/2009 10:47

Cleaning takes 15 mins tops for mine (indoor cage). I don't find them hard work at all.