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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:
NomDePlume · 05/01/2009 20:20

Perhaps we need to start a piggie appreciation thread in pets ? A bit conscious of that fact that piggie fanciers have rather overtaken Electra's thread with general guinea chat

Sorry electra!

whispywhisp · 05/01/2009 20:46

Yes, sorry Electra...but it has been good fun, very interesting and very helpful having this thread!!

I'd love more pigs...in fact I'd gladly swap my kids for more pigs!

sphil · 05/01/2009 21:42

Electra - DH lagged our hutch with loft lagging - velcroed it on to either end. He also made a cover out of plastic sheeting which is fixed taut across the cage front with two hooks and a bicycle bungee thingy. We only brought our gps in because they were pregnant (and I'm glad we did as the babies are quite skinny when they're born). Poor old Horris is still outside - but his nest box is stuffed with hay every night. Having said all this, they are housed in a passage way which goes down the side of our house. Sarah and Furball are normally opposite the kitchen door, so get a lot of human contact as well as a certain amount of referred heat (we have an Aga so our kitchen is HOT). Horris's hutch is against the house wall and under cover, so he gets protection from that.

We also bought some cottonwooly fleecy stuff from the petshop which is good for nesting in cold weather. Comes in shades of blue and pink though

whispywhisp · 05/01/2009 21:45

Hi sphil...how are your babies?

electra · 05/01/2009 21:52

Oh, don't worry about 'taking over' the thread - I have enjoyed reading it

Where did you get your pigs in the end NDP?

smurfgirl · 06/01/2009 00:39

Hugo is gorgeous gorgeous, my Milo is ginger and white and Bertie is black and ginger. When we went to chose them, she looked at the pigs, looked my (ginger) DH up and down and said 'oh so you like the gingers then?'

Chesters latest thing is moving the pigloo until the opening is where the foodbowl is and then he sits himself down in the pigloo with his head in the foodbowl!
i164.photobucket.com/albums/u15/applegrl7/Guinea%20piggles/n740025633_5372239_2091.jpg

How are the babies?

I am a right guinea pig looser aren't I!

Our cage showing the fleece and carefresh set up is here

NomDePlume · 06/01/2009 08:19

Morning piggy fans !

Electra, after all my chunnering on about breeders and reading the stuff on here I rather ingly bought them from an evil multibranch pet emporium (not PAH). I did make contact with a couple of breeders re available litters but no-one had any short haired sows, which was what we wanted, so I was going to wait until a suitable litter was born.

The thing was, DD and I had gone into the petshop in question to buy treats for the old cat and toys for the younger one. DD, as usual, went over to look at the hamsters/pigs/rabbits/rats etc and Hattie & moondust were on their own together (if that makes sense!) in the pen. DD basically fell in love there and then. The girl got them out and I gave them an amateur once over, they looked fine - eyes bright, fur good, ears and nose clean and discharge free, no obvious lesions, lumps or bumps. So we took them.

NomDePlume · 06/01/2009 08:22

lol @ chesters latest ruse !

whispywhisp · 06/01/2009 09:36

Hi!

smurfgirl - I see you've got willow sticks in your cage..do your pigs chew on them? I bought each of our cages some willow sticks and they're yet to take any interest in them apart from using them as a hurdle in their relay races!

Hi NDP....

Hope all us guinea pig owners are ok today?!

NomDePlume · 06/01/2009 09:46

I bought willow sticks for ours and they just jump over them like Whisps pigs. Hattie has had a half-hearted nibble.

whispywhisp · 06/01/2009 11:19

Yet when I looked in PAH the other day, in their rescue bit, there were three pigs all gnawing at them so off I went and bought five lots...at almost £2 per bundle and have they touched them? Have they heck! Yes excellent for their hurdle races but that's about it.

I've now moved Hugo upstairs - there's some lovely Winter sun streaming in thru DD2's room, where we keep the old retired couple (Cyril and Henry) and they're his mates so thought he'd like to be with them for a change. Hugo got a bit fed up with our choice of tv entertainment in the evenings...or was it that I got fed up with his squeaking at 'Cops with Cameras' and their sirens?

smurfgirl · 06/01/2009 12:14

Yes they chew them, they kind of blend in because the pigs stripped them bare. They managed to undo the bundle and then spread them all over the cage.

DH has found that if he props them up against the wall of the cage they knock them down with a little head butt! Cute!

They chew on the log tunnel thingy as well, but they don't chew their cage or anything so thats fine with me!

NomDePlume · 06/01/2009 12:14

I love the name Cyril for a piggie.

I use people names for animals too (DD chose Moondust )

whispywhisp · 06/01/2009 12:42

I like human names for animals too...especially pigs. Huge is happily squeaking at Cyril and Henry now - I've put him in between the two old men so he has a choice as to which one he wants to annoy!

thumbwitch · 06/01/2009 15:02

love that Freudian speller, whispy - is Hugo particularly large?

whispywhisp · 06/01/2009 17:19

Ooops! Should've read HUGO!!!! And, yes, as you mention it he is quite big! I've now had to bring him back downstairs - he kept chewing the bars to his cage when he was upstairs with the old retired couple and I know he'll do it thru the night and keep the kids awake so he is now in the kitchen, next to the girls, and he can chew all night if he wants cos no-one will hear him...apart from the cat and the dog! Blooming guinea pigs...up, down, up, down....they've even cleared me out of greens now so that's a trip to Tescos for me tomorrow!

smurfgirl · 06/01/2009 21:36

Does anyone else's guinea pigs go mental when their cage is cleaned out? Ours popcorn like crazy.

Also I found Milo IN the hayrack before.
Its a wire one like this.
www.toppetshop.co.uk/acatalog/ShawsHayrack.jpg

Is it safe for him to be climbing in it?

thumbwitch · 06/01/2009 21:39

Can he get himself out again? if he can, then he's probably ok. If not, then probably better to try and discourage it! (No clue how...)

I always let my g'pigs either run free or put them in the cage lid with paper down while I was cleaning out the tray part - they were quite calm about it, iirc.

smurfgirl · 06/01/2009 21:48

Sorry I meant when they get back in the clean cage.

He got himself out yes, was just v when I saw him in there eating the hay from the top of the rack! Obviously the good stuff was in that bit.

thumbwitch · 06/01/2009 22:04

Wouldn't worry then! Unless he gets too fat to climb out or is actively preventing others from accessing it!

sphil · 06/01/2009 22:04

Yes Smurfgirl - mine do. The babies go absolutely wild - squeaking and scurrying and snuffling in the fresh sawdust. (Kicking it all out of the cage in the process

They are growing up so quickly. Now sitting in the foodbowl eating the dry food and trying to steal bits of celery out of their mothers' mouths. DS1 took photos in for Show and Tell today and we now have a queue of kids wanting to come and see them. His best friend came tonight and was busy choosing her piggies. I am edging her firmly towards the two white ones (which is what she originally wanted) but she was definitely drawn towards the Abys (which are the ones I want to keep). I sense an unseemly scuffle with an eight year old girl brewing . She was brilliant at handling them despite being the tiniest eight year old I've ever met - seems to have a real way with animals as even jumpy old Horris was calm when she held him.

Good job she likes gps as DS1 is apparently going to marry her

electra · 06/01/2009 22:41

NDP - I held a gp in PAH and thought he looked very healthy. I don't really mind where we get them and think it might be pot luck tbh, as to how long the animals live etc. I also looked at a local breeder and dd really liked those ones - I think they are her preference but although they are lovely animals, she only has boars and they do grow very big indeed.

Last week I spoke to a friend of mine who has had loads of guinea pigs over the years. Her advice was to get two girls if possible. She also said that the St Peters garden centre is a place that she has found consistently very good to get them from.

smurfgirl · 06/01/2009 23:13

In our PAH the pigs seem so sad and scared and the staff v.indifferent, but I suppose it depends on the management etc.

mablemurple · 06/01/2009 23:38

Can I add my name to the list of gp fans? We've had our two since October and I can't believe how much I love them - possibly more so than dd does! I love the way they continually talk to you and the variety of noises they make. There are some lovely photos of gps here, especially the babies - so sweet.
Some people have mentioned that their gps 'popcorn' - is that when they do that bucking bronco thing? Is it a good thing - I thought it meant they had fleas and was going to get some treatment for them (couldn't see any sign of fleas, though). Also, what is the problem with lettuce? The only thing I know is not too give them too much as it doesn't contain very much nutrition, but is there anything else I should know?

thumbwitch · 06/01/2009 23:46

popcorning is that sudden leap into the air thing, yes. It is fine - indicative of excitement.

Lettuce has been reported to contain laudanum, a sleep-inducing drug but according to this website, it doesn't contain laudanum, but another sedative chemical. Lettuce is poor in nutrients generally but can cause bloating and gas in quantity, so best kept as an occasional "treat" rather than a daily staple.

Actually, fresh grass, if they aren't used to it, can do the same thing as lettuce - my lsat g'pig got quite bad diarrhoea as a result of too much fresh grass [guilty emoticon]

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