We have two new family members

[Justusemyname]

Two boys, four month old gorgeous guinea pigs .

One is black with crazy hair, the double of our last piggy. The other is caramel and white coloured and very cute. They are settled in an indoor cage, biggest they had and we have had a couple of strokes but leaving them now to chill. Currently hiding under a plastic cover thing with stairs. Going to re read my guinea pig book now.

I'm allergic to them!

Awww lovely new guinea-pigs

They'll most likely hide a while and sneak out for food when the coast is clear.

When they do make their Guest Appearance, Pigtures are compulsary (And MN NickNames to protect their identities)

I've taken lots of a few photos already. I took them on my phone so not sure how to upload to here?

DH and I have had a long cuddle with one each and I'm so upset I'm allergic but hope it will pass.

I'm thinking they should sleep in our bedroom tonight. They are babies compared to our last pair and I'm worried abort them. I'm also wondering if I have to do anything different given they are so much younger than the last two we had?

Just heard them talking to each other .

try washing them, helps me loads with allergies. if its not the hay you are allergic to??
gorgeous guineas online do great gpig shampoos

We already have some petal cleanser stuff as dd was allergic to our cats so I'll try that tomorrow. Thank you.

Aw, 4 months old -they're babies! Please put a picture up!

I don't know how too!

My DD was allergic to our Rex boar ( fine with the Abby and Smooths though) .
Rex fur is coarse, we found huge hay seeds embedded in his coat so goodness knows what else he was hiding. (Lord Lucan and Shergar could've been in there)

She got a red rash on her face but it didn't stop her cuddling him ( it would've been different if it was a respiratory reaction though. I'd have had to rehome her)

They haven't set my asthma off, I'm just sneezing and having a runny nose and my arm is blotchy though has stopped itching now.

Here they are

Gorgeous! I've just got a couple of boars too but they're 18 months so they're big old lumps! Still very cute though.

They were not very cooperative at posing.

They are gorgeous (and it isn't in their job description to co-operate y'know )

One of our boars was jet black (and very judgey having his claws cut) the other boar had one golden claw, the rest black.

The little black one (Abby like your boy) used to lard about in the run, airing his 'nads

The white and tan one is a complete poser now!

DH and I are knackered. They had us up most of the night, tonight they are moving into their own room!

We have given them nuggets for the first time but I'm not sure how many to feed. The packet give 30-50g for adult piggies but these are babies. Can anyone advise please?

The White and tan piggie stuck his face straight into eat, the black one got completely in the bowl....DS2 is beside himself with happiness as he hand fed one a piece of nugget.

Am I on the right topic for guinea pigs? It feels quieter than normal or am I boring you all?

Can anyone advise how much we should pick them up? They are quite skitty and hide a lot?

I think it's quieter at the moment Just because of the holidays . (I was away last week, no regular T'Interweb so I've missed nearly a full week and you've all been getting guinea-pigs behind my back )

They will be skittery , they're prey animals, you won't change that but they are ruled by their bellies, so they'll come round.

Maybe give them a couple of days to get used to your household and all the noises that are new to them?

We cuddle ours in the evening for 40 minutes or so (that's how long their bladders will last ) and DD will chat to them when she gets home from school and cuddle them, they get checked over by me breakfast/supper.

Our ladies are very flighty though even though we've had them 6 months (all my pigs are Rescues but the boars were lardier)

They love to hide. Tunnels, boxes, Primark paper bags without handles. It keeps them active, and especially with boars , they have their own territory. We bought a wicker hedgehog house from Lakeland Limited which was GP1s domain ( narrow tunnel doorway, he guarded it against GP3 )

Just had lovely cuddles with both and hand fed one. They are so calm when being held. I can't feel their hearts pounding.

Told day 1 - hay
Day 2 - nuggets
Day - start fresh food

Does that sound right? I'm a bit nervous about the feeding as my other piggies were older and ate loads - muesli for breakfast and fresh fruit and veg for tea with hay always there but my new ones are babies.

Did you like the pictures?

24/7 hay ( mine have fresh hay at night , loose hay outside, hay cookies when they were inside) As a rule of thumb , the same amount of hay as the guinea-pig weight ( but I use as bedding too, so I just fill the haybox)

Mune don't drink, but they have fresh veg breakfast and supper (they are most active dusk and dawn , allegedly )

I give fresh pellets at night, there should always be a few left over, to avoid squabbling. But the Vit C is lost over time, so they need replaced.

We give 4-5 different veg and try to give variety am/pm. Careful with fruits,carrots,parsnips, quite high in sugar.

There's loads of Guinea-Food Threads, I think we might need a new one, but I'll find one and bump it.

When we got GP3 he was 6 weeks old, he just got wired into the same food as our older boar though we did give him Alfafa Hay for the first few days (and told GP1 to leave it alone. Not for lardy adults )

When we got the ladies, we knew the food vanished and the droppings appeared (and the pee ) but we didn't see them eat for a good few days.

Some fresh cut grass will win you friends ....... (my little Himalayan doesn't like the sun but she did appreciate the handful of grass I gave them)

And the pictures are gorgeous, but I'd steer away from shavings for piggies. Dries their coats and paws and can be too 'scented' for them ( and as for the Lavender or Lemon Shavings in certain Petstores Pets@Home

Ggrrrrr why give them a 'smell' - guineas aren't smelly if they're cleaned. The hay is.

Mine drink lots. They were up all night drinking .

What instead of shavings? I haven't bought any scented shavings.

You can use plain newspaper, + fleece if you want a soft bedding (though the fleece needs to be washed in a pillowcase and I personally find it to be a huge pain in the tonsils to get the hay off it)

Some owners use VetBed (but it's ££ outlay)

Megazorb is a fine equine bedding , very absorbant and popular with lots of small furry owners not just piggies.
There's a hemp bedding Aubiose, (though you need to make sure it's not the Citronella one) , I haven't tried that but I need to make another trip to the saddlery so I might give it a go.

In my winter cage (which they had in the small bedroom for night time) we put Rodent safe cat litter ( yellow bag from The Range, suitable for small animals) with newspaper and hay on top.

I've tried loads of beddings when we got the boars, once I gave them a folded fleece in a cardboard box in their sleeping box, and a big 40 litre rubber trug (with a door cut in it) lined with newspaper and full of hay to eat.
When I went to see them, they ignored the fleece and crammed themselves into the trug
"Oh look at the poor guinea-pigs in a bucket" they said.
So I went back to hay.

I used paper and fleece with our last piggies and like you found it a nightmare to get clean. At the moment I'm using newspaper and shavings with hay. This morning they fed together and were so cute. I'm going to clean them out shortly.

The only pet supplier we have is pets at home though Asda do bits but nothing for beds and cages other than hay and shavings.

Why are shavings sold and recommended if not good for them?.

DH has bought carrot and curly kale to start them off. Does that sound okay and when shoukd hey have it? You'd never believe I'd had piggies before would you? I'm just nervous with them being so young. Our others were about 12-18 months and had already had a home albeit not a good one.

We have a climber. Will have to watch him. Just had cuddles after a clean out and they are snacking now. They are drinking a lot and have weed in the two corners. One bit me twice but I don't think he meant any harm. I love them already.