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Small pets

There are lots of new piggies on Small Pets- Welcome :)

93 replies

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 07/05/2016 18:45

Of course we need/want to see Pigtures of the new arrivals ('tis The Law) Wink

And feel free to ask any questions and somewhere amongst the collective powers of Small Pets/ Super Furry Animals, there will be answers.

There are loads of food threads. What they can/cannot eat. How often.
Bedding- what's good/what isn't.

How to cut their pesky claws
How to bath them and tell the tale

Weird things about sows . They go into season. They can pee out the back Grin at a 90 degree angle. They can get various cysts and mammary ,ovarian or uterine growths.

Weird things about boars. They are space greedy. They can get impaction. They will dominance mount a male cagemate. Grease glands. Boar Glue.

Take time to get to know them.
Their noises. What do they mean?
What are they like when they're well, you'll pick up quicker when they're ill. They can do the Well-To-Dead very quickly Sad

What do they need in Winter? In Summer?

Do you know the nearest Guinea-Savvy vet? You hopefully will never need one, but in case you do.

Weigh them. Keep a note. Every week if you can. Often weight loss is one of the first signs of illness.

Feel their coars and bodies. My girl has a lump under her armpit, hasn't changed , we monitor it.

Love them. They are shy. They are prey.
They will pee you, but 99% of the time they'll let you know, you have to read the signs. Ours 'dance' backwards , that's our cue.

They are the most vunerable, easy going, good tempered animals. Even my piggie who is feisty (mine are all Rescues) isn't mean but she's like a spring.

They thrive on routine. If breakfast is 8am, it's 8am. They will happily wheek if the fridge door opens or you have a bag of crisps.

They are lucky to be with you. There are 10000s in Rescue but also 10000s on gumtree who are waiting to be "got rid of" because The Kids Lost Interest/I Want a Puppy/ I Haven't Got Time.
You though, are lucky to have the unending love of these little animals who WILL take over your life.
For the next few years , if you are lucky, 8-9 years.

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PippityPop · 09/06/2016 20:11

Thought this would be a good place to share a pic of my sleepy little man Smile

He's new to this thread but not a new piggy at home, I've had him and his husband for 5 years now Shock They're the craziest critters I have ever met!

There are lots of new piggies on Small Pets- Welcome :)
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EastMidsGPs · 09/06/2016 20:51

Grin Mollie stretches to double her length when yawning she looks like she is performing guinea pig yoga.
Had not thought to grow spinach, have just been out watering the mixed lettuce leaves I am growing for the girls 😄

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DownyEmerald · 09/06/2016 22:54

Thanks FernieB and EastMidsGPs - it went better than hoped.
They mostly hid during the day from me, but came out and enjoyed themselves feeding and drinking and playing when they thought I wasn't there!
DD spent 2 hours in there this evening and had a lovely time, talking to them, being approached, sniffed, run all round, and eventually we went in for a catch of each of them (I like the box method, they seem quite keen on heading for a box), and had a proper cuddle with each of them. So dd absolutely delighted and the gps even seemd to enjoy it a bit.
We all feel a bit better that we aren't traumatising the poor things, and not traumatising dd who has wanted pets to cuddle for years.

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 10/06/2016 09:16

frouby it seems like you have a boar/sow so in the hope that your female isn't pg (she might not be. Scuffling doesn't mean 100% that they are getting it on. Females are in season for a very short period of time , something like 1-2 days. I can tell by my sows temper (bad Grin ) and the way the boar reacts. They don't go in season together , but only a couple of days apart.

New piggies are notoriously difficult to sex (as you know ) so though you could keep boar piglets with the male, they mustn't smell of the sow or the boar will react.
You don't want to risk interbreeding (can lead to horrible defects)

I think your best bet at this moment in time is to keep them apart but chatting until you know 100% the sex of Trevor/Tracey.
Piglets take a good 9-10 weeks to gestate.
Being porky doesn't always mean pg. Guinea-pigs are good mums and very rarely discard or attack their piglets (unlike other animals who eat their young. But piggies are born furred and ready not bald and closed eyes).
They can * TMI ** actually absorb their foetuses, so not like a miscarriage that is expelled but a miscarriage that they absorb internally.
Usually if they are stressed and they can't safely go through pg. I have no idea how common this is, the number of pigs that are just chubby would make it difficult to know.

I got a very young already pg sow years ago. She had one piglet, a female, who was tiny but lived a good long life.

Might be worth getting some quotes and have Rubble checked regarding neutering.
Good Luck

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 10/06/2016 09:26

Downey your piggies are settling in still, they will take time to adjust to the new noises and goings on in your house.
Good to see they're responding to bribes (such a good sign)

Mine can still be uncatchable, it's a game to them.
I spoke to DD , she had caught the two new girls to go out but our group of three were being little gits monsters. Grin

They have a heavy wooden hidey box which we tip onto it's side (we don't want to risk dropping it on the Cavy Craniums. Grin

All our piggies lard about then when we put a pair of hands in, they turn into an Instant Benny Hill tribute Band, running round in single file........

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 10/06/2016 09:30

Pippity Gorgeous photo Grin

I'm always amazed at the size of guinea pigs teeth , and the fact that though they are very vunerable animals who have no defences, they don't use these sharp teeth . They could easily, and if you've ever been unluckly enough to get a proper bite , you know just how sharp they are.
My GP5 gnaws. She gives me a "You know I'm just playing. I could sever your carotid artery if I saw fit " with a ruby eyed glare Grin

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EastMidsGPs · 10/06/2016 11:28

Ah yes guinea pig teeth Smile
Squeak our first piggie was more than happy to sink her teeth into you. She had perfect 'zoning in like an Exocet' skills especially at the vets .. and was known to extract an expletive from him. In her defence he just needed to react far quicker GrinGrin
DH used to wear motorcycle gloves to catch her! Hmm
No other pig has been as err feisty... and we think her behaviour was related to her past before we rescued her.
Other than her desire to draw blood, she was a lovely piggie but always number one in the EastMids pairs.

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froubylou · 10/06/2016 11:39

Thanks 70. I assume she is already pg because of the amount of time they have been together. I don't particularly want to separate them yet as the are very happy together and rubble won't be able to be cut for another couple of months.

Plan will be to separate in about a month. Don't want her to give birth and get caught again straight away. Then leave girl babies with Trevor and take boy babies inside in an indoor hutch until they are ready for rehoming.

Will take babies to vets for sexing though. And rubble can have his nuts off. And once he has done the 6 weeks reintroduce Trevor and rubble.

They were funny yesterday. Had a very mad half an hour. Bombing up and down the ramp and galloping around shouting at each other. No malice in it just playing and being giddy pigs.

Trevor is very vocal too. She shouts an awful lot. Especially when she thinks she should have been given her salad/veg already.

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EastMidsGPs · 10/06/2016 14:31

I do hope that Trevor remains 'Trevor' even tho he is now a she ... it seems a more fitting name Smile

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froubylou · 10/06/2016 19:04

Yes she is staying a Trevor. It suits her much better than tracey lol.

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FernieB · 10/06/2016 20:11

Been enjoying this thread. Is it just me or is Trevor starting to sound like a nice name for a girl?Grin

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MsMermaid · 19/06/2016 17:23

Trevor is a brilliant name for a girl. Have you taken them to be sexed yet? Is she definitely a she?

Ginger and Ninja are completely settled in here now, the wheek loudly whenever anyone opens the fridge or the back door so we don't forget to bring them a treat. We found a brilliant patch of long luscious grass that I've been cutting a bag of every day for them, they do love it.

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EastMidsGPs · 19/06/2016 17:41

GrinGrinGrin
Another piggie slave recruited Smile

I wonder where put all the grass they eat

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MsMermaid · 19/06/2016 18:37

All that grass comes straight back out in the form of poo. I really do believe they poo in larger quantities than they eat, and they like their food. The poo mountain I have to clean every day seems excessive for such small animals.

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 19/06/2016 19:48

I'm amzed they manage to get so porky on vegetable matter Shock

We move their run, there's a rectangle of razed to the ground grass with Calling Cards / pooh liberally scattered.
Within days, it is lush green grass again.

Our GP6 Bert says it's The Circle of Life (I think he watches too much Lion King myself) Grin

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Woodhill · 19/06/2016 20:03

Our girl go needs a friend as ds is off to uni. I look at gumtree and it makes me so sad to see the piggies on gumtree. How could people abandon them.

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FernieB · 19/06/2016 20:23

They poo a lot because they need to make room in their systems for more food. I'm convinced they have a conveyor belt system going on inside and the food just goes along the conveyor, is quickly packaged into poo and then pops out the other endBlush. The whole process seems to take no longer than a couple of seconds.

Since becoming a Guinea slave a few years ago, I am now convinced that vegetables are fatteningGrin

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 19/06/2016 21:23

Ah, but Fernie you have to admit, you get admiring appreciative nods from the checkout staff when you buy your trolley full of veg.
I'm going to a stall in the local market too, big bag of fresh veg (leafed carrots, spinach, leafed sweetcorn, chinese leaf) for £4-£5.

Wood step away from Gumtree if you want your blood pressure to stay in check. So many sellers there just want to make a profit or get their money back from these animals they peddle.

If you want a match, best to get a Rescue to d it on neutral ground (I am having non-matching issues with my new girls and my resident girls. They are all lovely, my new sows have settled in well..................just not with the herd)

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