Guinea pug advice for newbie please...

[clippityclop]

Thanks again for your responses to my earlier post about her not drinking much! Now madam has decided to ignore anything but red pepper and hay! Kale, broccoli, carrots apart from the odd nibble, mixed greens has received the turned up snout treatment. She has pellets and muesli which she picks at. Should I remove red pepper from the menu? Is there anything else we could try? Plenty of poo and wee though and generally seems content . She's quite chatty when we bring her out for cuddles, we've had fun with jenga blocks, and she was poking her head out of her doorway ready for breakfast this morning. Any suggestions welcome!

I want a guinea pug!

Oh goodness...nobody will take me seriously now, just trying to do the right thing!

Have you only got the one?

You could try her with some fruit, mine like apple slices, oranges, bananas and grapes. They also like spinach.

ther thread clip you said you were looking into getting a cagemate for her.
It certainly makes them eat more, they have to fend the other ones off

Careful with fruit, my boar took ill earlier this year and the only thing I can think of that we did differently was to give them too much apple.
Possibly fermenting in his belly, apart from the fact it's very high in sugar.

At the moment our girls are enjoying watermelon rind (DD leaves a bit of the flesh on it, generous girl) or a grape or a slice of babana in skin.

Herbs- guinea pig crack cocaine .

Ours love parsley (curly and flat)mint, coriander (though coriander made our boars fighty)
Don't like basil or dill.

Only a couple of sprigs though.

try lots of different veg, salads.
My girls love carrots with leaves , not regular carrots
red topped lettuce
romaine
chicory (not pak choi though)
red/yellow/orange peppers but not green
cucumber
sweetcorn (mini,cobs,cobs-in-leaves)
kale

don't like cauli
don't like parsnip or turnip

GP2 loved beetroot

those watercress/rocket/spinach bags (again only a few)
peashoots

salad bags without iceberg (but the lambs lettuce is only a last resort to stop their bums closing up)

guinea pug sounds like one of those designer breeds
mine dont like too much of anything - variety is what they appreciate most. hay plus small amounts of pellets are the most important part of their diet
she really needs gpig company though - that will cheer her up

The drawback of muesli is it allows guineas to pick out their favourite bits and leave the rest meaning some nutrients are left out of the diet.

You could try a pellet to get round this problem such as Burgess Excel, my pigs have the one that is mint flavoured. Although my eldest human daughter can testify that they don't taste of very much, that's a whole other thread to read up on

I agree with others who have said got your girlie a friend. They learn from each other what is good to eat and if you get an adult rescue pig hopefully they will come with a sophisticated range of food likes. My rescue girls showed my bereaved sow how good strawberries, peppers and tomatoes were, she wouldn't touch them before they arrived.

Thank you so much, she's such a cutie and we just want to give her the happiest life. I'd intended to model my friend's experience of having just one, they have a lovely contented boy who interacts with the family a lot and seems fine on his own, but he's lived that way all his life as he came to them from a relative when he was very young.
Our next move will be to contact our local shelter and see if they have another young female to keep her company. We have a double decker cage,(p@h special, biggest they do) which I hope will be sufficient. Or would a dwarf rabbit be a suitable alternative companion?
With regard to the food issue, parsley, spinach, cauli, apple have all been snubbed! Thank you for the suggestions, we'll keep trying. Hadn't thought of melon and strawberries! Really grateful for your interest and real-life experiences!

Not a rabbit. The piggies need another piggy to chat too. Rabbits can hurt guineas too with their stampy feet.

I'm glad you're going to get another pig (Defo not a rabbit) GPigs are such social little beings it's cruel to keep them on their own :)

Your friends pig may seem fulfilled and happy but imagine if you only spoke English and someone who fed you, cuddled you, looked after you only spoke Mandarin,
You long to chat, to laugh, play squabble and bicker but you can't.

Now imagine you are put in a room with someone who speaks Hungarian. But that person doesn't chat or play. They kick you. Bully you. Give you a respiratory virus, and try to bonk you.

That's how living alone and living with a rabbit is for a guinea.

I've had two instances where my boars (GP1 then GP3) were alone for less than a week when they were bereaved and we waited to get them a match up. Even though the guineas slept in my DD room , I was very aware when they went to the Pighouse alone, that's how they spent their day . Alone.
Each time was only six days. six days.

Definitely not a rabbit. I have 2 pigs and a housebun and I would never house them together for all the reasons 70 gave.

Mine do sometimes interact but only under strict supervision for short periods.

You are all so lovely, thank you for taking the time to respond. No females at P@H today, off to shelter later. To add to my confusion, friend of a friend is expecting baby piggies. Ours is eight months old. Would it be a good idea to introduce a young friend or stick to someone her own age?

Ask the shelter to allow you to take your piggy along so she can choose her own friend. Many rescues are happy to set up piggy dating. It's how 70 successfully found a friend for her bereaved GP2, a boar piglet in the shape of GP3. And when my Naughty Girl lost her friend she chose Millie Pig and Coco the same way. We didn't intend to get 2 rescues Coco had take me home eyes but do consider a trio of sows. We've found its more the merrier with girl guineas.

Gorgeous!Does, but oh goodness, what have I started?! Anyone got an opinion about introducing a little pig?

Baby guinea pigs are the most wonderful little things.. I'm quit envious! We have introduced baby females to adult females before without any trouble. . Girl pigs are usually quite chilled out.

Guinea pigs natural way of living is in herds. As Methe says sows are quite accepting of others. You shouldn't have any problem introducing a baby to an adult. Just bear in mind with an age gap you could find that you end up in a continual cycle of guinea pigs to match up with a bereaved one.

Answer, get two babies to befriend your lone piggie

Hi clippity - the piglets your friend is expecting won't be ready for at least 5-6 weeks after they're born (boars can be seperated about 4 weeks before they start eyeing up their mums/sisters) .
We got GP3 from a Rescue at 6 weeks - there were younger ones (still with their mums) but it is difficult to be 100% sure that they are the sex you want.

With a Rescue they'll have various ages, they'll have some sows that have been brought in pg so may have some piglets. Or some young pigs (typically the ones that are brought in because children get bored or have allergies)

With Rescue you have the back up that if need be, you have a lifetime "return" guarentee.
And you'll be offering a home to a piggie who needs one.

You could have a match up piggie friend long before those piglets are born.

Thank you so much for your replies. I'm pleased to report that some progress has been made! There was only a pair of older boys at my local rescue, so on advice of an independent pet shop I visited a lady who runs a piggy hotel just down the road from us. Lovely lady, superb set up, and (drum roll) the choice of three lovely girlies from the last litter her own mummy pig gave birth to 12 weeks ago. We met both parents and grandparents, all fine healthy piggies with lovely characters. We're going back going on Friday. The owner is going to check that ours really is a lady pig (apparently our local P@H have got it wrong on occasion with interesting results) and then she can mix and mingle a little. In readiness for new arrival I've taken delivery of an indoor/outdoor pen which ours hasn't seen yet to provide a neutral territory for them to meet in. Any further advice welcome. Meanwhile our little piggy has developed a liking for cauli greens, and sitting on the back of my neck while I Mumsnet!

Marvellous, your girlie piggy will be so happy

Piggies love shoe box houses. Cut 2 doors so they have an escape route. Nobody wants their friend in their face all the time and a box is a nice retreat and chewable too.

My other tip is don't wear earrings with a guinea on your shoulder. They may think "Can I eat it?" I'm looking at Naughty Girl, my black crested sow

P.S. we will want to see pictures

Also don't wear anything with buttons! My Scruffypig loves to chew a good button as he climbs up onto a shoulder.

Shoeboxes and wine boxes are brilliant piggie dens. If you cut out the bottom of them, then they last for a while. If you leave the bottom in it gets wee soaked . If you have a few you can connect them to make a tunnel - hours of fun .

Guinea pigs can be really opinionated about who they will happily share a cage with.

We've had mixed results:
Introducing adult neutered boar to adult sow resulted in humbly hen-pecked boar following her round in hopeless adoration.
Adult female to adult female (tryout at rehoming centre) was very nearly a bloodbath.
Adult female to baby female was love at first sight.
Two adult females to new baby female was not a good idea -- love from one sow, loathing from the other presumably jealous one...

Oooh, lovely idea about the shoebox. I'm hoping they will share the main house bit of the accommodation of the piggy palace and was wondering about something else that's not just a tunnel that would fit in, shoebox would be perfect and we have a pile of them to play with. Thank you so much. How on earth do I add a photo on here please?

Make sure anything you give them to play with (and chew. They will chew) has no staples, plastic or sticky tape.
Any of those will cause damage or blockage to their insides.

I bought Hop Inn tunnels for our guineas in their run.They have toggles to fasten to another tunnel or cube which thankfully they haven't chewed off.

Cardboard boxes have the advantage that you can just throw them out when they get manky.

Primark paper bags cut the handles off are good. Our lardy boar got stuck in the handle and was well judgey.

The guineas I had as a child would sneak up on shoes and take the laces - chewed off at the eyelet. I have a No Shoes House Ha guineas, denied.

GP1 was sitting on the table , looking up at me, I lifted him onto my shoulder and the little bugger got my earring (silver with a cz stud) out of my ear.Luckily, I got a hold of the post, still in his mouth , and called for DD to grab him while I removed it. This was in the week after GP2 died, I thought "No, I cannot lose another piggie "
He lost another of his 9 Lives, didn't faze him.

When you have things in place, we'll give you some Bonding Tips.

i used a paddling pool, brand new and neutral.
wash them with the same shampoo (if you get a mini-pig you need to be careful what you use.)
food - space between the bowls too so they don't invade each others space
the cage/hutch will need to be deep cleaned to make it smell neutral so you aren't putting the new one into the other ones domain.

I'll think of some more and come back

Thank you 70! Just had a lovely cuddle with ours while she sat on my lap nibbling a grape or two. She is becoming more chatty. According to one book the best way is to rub the new piggy with some of the other's bedding so they smell the same before introductions are made, someone else said to use a little lavender water on both. As mentioned earlier I have a new indoor/outdoor run thing whch ours hasn't seen or should I do as book suggests and put them in the same cage together right away? I much prefer the cautious approach. I love your paddling pool idea, do have a hard sided one in the garage. Any advice on getting this first meeting right would be welcome!