New Guinea Pigs - couple of questions

[grumpypug]

Yesterday we got our two little boy piggies. My DCs had talked about getting GPs for a while and the house was a bit quiet after our house rabbit died earlier in the year. Having never had GPs before, I'm feeling a bit - lost!

They're in a ferplast 100 cage at the minute. When they're a bit more confident I intend on putting the cage inside a large run at the back of the living room. They're spending a lot of time inside the little house that's under the shelf thing (will they ever climb up there? The ramp is very steep and I'm contemplating putting a little igloo house in instead). They seem quite happy to wander out and have found their food bowl and water bottle. They've both eaten veg (baby spinach - a couple of leaves, red pepper, carrot and cucumber).

Do they need 2 of everything? Bowl, water bottle, house? I don't want them to start fighting - enough of that with the DCs!

They're really quite noisy. Little squeaks, then a rumbling noise from one of them. We took them out for a cuddle earlier - only for about 10 mins. Does this seem about right or should I aim for longer or more frequent. Don't want to scare them but want them to get used to being handled.

I think Sherbet (the multi coloured one) seems to be more dominant as he has pushed Jeff out of the tunnel a couple of times.

Here they are - Sherbet on the left and Jeff on the right.

Sounds like you're doing well. I'd definitely get two igloos for boys - they can need their own space. No need for two bowls or bottles. I'd put igloos in instead of the ramp and definitely go for a run as the size of your cage sounds quite small. Keep handling them, they'll be fine. The rumbling is normal - they're sorting out their pecking order.

In a few months they may go through the terrible teens and be a bit aggressive with each other. If this happens, come back here and those of us who've survived it will help.

They're very cute

I think you are doing ok right now. Definitely two houses will be better imo, as they need some space initially. Once they are more comfortable with each other, they will be fine.

PS: cuteness!

Oh my! I LOVE them!! They are taking food from our hands now and will tolerate being stroked in their cage. They still don't really like being caught but aren't dashing away from our hands as much as they were yesterday. I have done the 'catch them in a tunnel trick' which seems to be working and they have been on our laps for a few more cuddles.

One of them (Jeff) is very inquisitive! He's always popping his head out of the hidey hole to see if any more food is in his cage. They are eating plenty of hay and the fresh food is going down well but we've stuck to what I know they like (carrot and spinach). I put a bit of strawberry in but they didn't seem to like it.

I've attached another photo because they're so cute!!

Try them with a few different things. Mine love celery leaves and parsley. They also love apple and melon rind but only give small amounts of fruit as its sugary. My boys also turn up their noses at strawberries - according to them it's 'foreign muck'

Try them with a few different things. Mine love celery leaves and parsley. They also love apple and melon rind but only give small amounts of fruit as its sugary. My boys also turn up their noses at strawberries - according to them it's 'foreign muck'

Melon rind? Not the actual melon? I'll try it :-) Thanks

My girls would kill their granny for parsley. We grow it for them as they eat so much!
They also like green grapes - but not the red ones kale.
Sadie eats blueberries Mollie doesn't. They both like celery and celery leaves. Also love melon and cucumber but hate strawberries.
Oddly enough my biggest extravagance is buying them carrots with leaves from the farm shop ... they love the leaves and stalks as much as the carrots. We do grow carrot tops but the leaves and stalks are not so lush.
Love the photos, they are real cuties

Awwww Welcome Sherbet and Jeff , join the MN Super Furry Animal Family.

Yes to food, you can get round a guinea-pig through its greed, and it is one of the first things you'll notice if your piggie is under the weather,m they stop eating.

(My DD has brought one of our hogs up from the Pighouse and I have to guess which one................ ooh it's two, the two new ladies.

so now i'm onto one-hand-typing because i have gp8 in my cardi

give them little bits of different foods, there are lots of food threads on here, i'll bump some.

my two sows don't like sweetcorn but my trio will skin and marmalize a leafy sweetcorn .
we give some fruits but they can make your piggie loose bowelled and fat with the increased risk of diabetes.
a watermelon rind with a bit of flesh- that dd leaves them, or a strawberry top, tiny pieces of apple or a slice of banana in skin.
some pigs like oranges mine don't

keep a close eye when they reach pig puberty - we'll be here to give advice .

start saving newspaper, boxes and big paper bags -take out staples,sticky tape and handles for pig safety.

Thanks for all the advice - great help.

Well, after a bit of scouting around the Internet and YouTube Guinea pig videos we decided to order some of those grids and transfer them to a much bigger cage - it's so much better and they love the space. Both are so nosey and greedy. They only need to hear the hay bag being brought in and run to the front if their cage. I ate a bag of quavers earlier and Jeff ran over, whistling!! DCs thought it was hilarious!

Question about the rumbling. Do they do it all the time or is it only until top pig is sorted? Sherbet kind of walks around slowly, making this rumbling noise, especially when he's in the tunnel or hidey places.

The grids are good you can adapt the shape of your piggies cage (I bought some grids from Costco, in the same style as the C&C, about 14" across) You di need to make sure the holes aren't too big , piggies can get stuck/injured in the bigger square holes.

I use some as a barrier between our 3+2 groups, I did a double layer slightly overlapped , secured with those cableties . (I bought some in The Range in the car bit, or you can get from Amazon) Pull them tight and clip off the loose ends.

You'll need to line it, thin plastic or lino.

The rumbling , its just an expression of "Hey I'm here" , our Alpha sow does it to throw her weight about.
Our neutered boar does it when he's trying to impress the sows but unless they're on season, they give him a look and he just pootles off , denied

they'll soon suss that :
Fridge Door Opens= Food
Chopping= Food
You Eating a Bag of Crisps= Food

and wheek for Britain. We're always gobsmacked how such vunerable prey animals will choose to make their prescence known by squeaking so loud, instead of going hushly quiet.

Guinea-pigs are lovely but not the sharpest knives in the drawer.