Should I foster guinea pigs?

[onlychildhamster]

I Iive in a 2 bed top floor flat which I own (so no issues with getting permission). I have a space in my spare room for a 140 cm Ferplast plaza so I was thinking of fostering guinea pigs. I have an elderly hamster (who I love) but I am tempted by guinea pigs though I have done a lot of research (and know how much work they can be and how surprisingly expensive esp if you only had a hamster before). So I was thinking of fostering to get my toe in the water and help out 2 lovely piggies in the process.

I am talking to a rescue and the lady was not put off my lack of garden (she said it's too cold anyway for them to go outside) and she OKed my hamster playpen (pop up playpen which measures 140 cm by 70 cm).

Is it a good idea or do I have too little space/resources for piggies? I wonder if she is only saying ok cos fostering is temporary.

@tipOver thank you for that detailed post. My thinking was that as piggies poop a lot, there needs to be constant cleaning which is easy to do if you are WFH. You can just sweep poops on a break. When I am tired after a commute, I may not clean as much!

Maybe after my hamster passes on, I will re-evaluate...

@onlychildhamster That is very true! I do work from home myself so it makes it a lot easier. Well, hopefully one day then :)

I think a pig could be happy indoors (with the correct diet) but I’m sorry, the size of the pen you mentioned isn’t big enough (you’re talking about pigs, plural? They’d need more space).

@MrsSkylerWhite how big should their playpen be? I really tried to find a large collapsible one and I wanted a pop up fabric type that is easy to erect. This was the largest I could find (I wanted a really big one for my hamster too). The panel type pens seem hard to erect & dismantle, I think that may mean you use it less cos it's a faff. My hamster does wander around my room but he is toilet trained unlike the pigs!

Our pigs do tend to go in one place so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that they could be trained (no idea how you’d go about it, though!)

Purely from observation, I’d say take what pet stores say are suitable and double it. Though ultimately, the more you can handle them and let them wander about, the better. They’re such responsive little souls. Ours watches the TV on the rug with the cats in the evening!

OP - I'm a small pet Fosterer for a local animal charity. I've fostered, Rats, Syrian Hamsters, Robovski Hamsters, Degus, Guinea Pigs and Gerbils. My least favourite was Degus. My favourite is Gerbils. I failed Fostered, ie permanently adopted my first set of Gerbils. I've now morphed into a Gerbil specialist (bonding, specialist advice etc). Guinea pigs aren't particularly clean, and as they will be indoors be prepared to clean out and change their cage lining twice a day, plus fresh vegetables prepared daily. Like all animals they will need socialising and time spent with them daily.

Any help and time you can spare will mean those animals will (most likely) be in far better circumstances than if left unfostered. Ie "free to a good home" means small pets will be often be taken as live reptile food. Other animals dinner or bait. Grim I know but its the reality people don't think about.

I've had some unwanted Gerbils dropped off to me this week by yet another person who thinks it's OK to not bother with them after 3 months, and I keep meaning to do a post about the highs and lows and reality of fostering for animal charities.

If you can foster, it's ultimately very rewarding when you are part of helping an animal find it's loving forever home

@Annabelle69 thanks so much! Thats really interesting that you love gerbils so much. I never had pets growing up as my parents dislike animals so I always wanted pets and that was a big motivator for me to save up to buy my own home so I could have pets. But as I didn't grow up with pets, I feel awkward around cats and dogs so I am more inclined towards the small animals.

I love my hamster but he spends a lot of his time in his burrow rearranging his larder and doing hamster thing though he does come out in the day and the night for food and water (particularly when he smells pepper). Which is why I am looking at getting other pets for companionship when he is busy doing his 'hamster business' I looked into gerbils and in many ways, it is more suitable for me as they are closer to hamsters. But I was put off the prospect they may declan and the split cage introduction seems quite difficult! Also they need glass tanks which would be hard to transport to holiday boarding (particularly as I don't have a car). I could call a Uber which I have done in the past for my hamster, but with the hamster, my pet boarder has spare cages so I have travelled to her on the bus when the weather was good (would take Uber on rainy/cold days). I am not quite comfortable with the idea of giving a stranger my keys for pet sitting so prefer to use home boarders.

@Annabelle69 piggies on the other hand are fairly easy to transport to holiday boarding, i think as they would usually provide the accommodation. But as you say, its a lot of work which is why i thought of fostering to see whether I could handle it before actually buying. I think if i got gerbils, I would probably be confident of adopting some straight away as the difficult part of gerbil care- split cage introductions- is not something that you would learn from fostering.

@Annabelle69 Oh and are gerbils easy to handle? My hamster is very easy to handle and cuddle. I don't actually think he is that different from a guinea pig tbh in terms of cuddle-ability. I read that gerbils were fast and not as easy to handle as a syrian hamster...

Guinea pigs are amazing! We find ours pretty clean - they do nearly all their poos in the corner, so we have a tray lined with newspaper in each corner. They are very friendly, love being held, watching tv and eating. Although you can’t cuddle them as such they are big and heavy enough to snuggle if that makes any sort of sense!

Sorry I haven’t read the whole thread, OP. Just wanted to add that we’ve had guinea pigs, boars, for the last four years and they’ve always lived indoors with us. We have a large C&C cage in the living room, so they’re in there when we’re at work & school. Then in the evening, I clean the cage and they have a little run around the living room, hallway and dining room. They won’t go into the kitchen because they hate the feel of the linoleum and only like carpets!

We have a garden, but choose to have them indoors because it’s so cold (Wales), our neighbours’ cats may take a fancy to them and we just want them to be part of our family. They sit on the sofa with us and watch telly and they LOVE fluffy blankets! They’ll tell you when they want to go back to their cage to do their business, usually by wriggling and turning around, so we put them back. They poo lots but it doesn’t smell; for us, it’s the hay that smells most. I used to put saw dust or straw in their cages, but I found it hard to keep up with the waste, so now they have large blankets, and I’ll wash them in a laundry bag from Amazon that catches hairs when in the washing machine.

Ours have hay morning and afternoon, if I’ve not fed them by 4pm they’ll become noisy. They put their paws on their feeding bowls and stare at me.
They have nuggets once a day and then a mixture of carrots, berries, picked grass, broccoli. Every time I open the fridge or cupboard, they’ll begin squeaking, so I make sure I’ve some cucumbers to chop up.

I don’t buy expensive hideouts because they love cardboard boxes best, so I make dens for them out of a box.

One of ours loves cuddles, he snuggles into my neck and likes little kisses and head rubs, if I stop he puts his lips on my cheek... I love guinea pigs so much!

So please don’t worry about lack of garden, pigs just want to feel safe and being in company. You can pick grass, like we do, for them to eat. And you can buy a little folding pen for them to have an hour or two outside in the summer whilst you’re sitting with them.

@onlychildhamster Yes Gerbils need a large glass tank, my personal rescue Gerbils are in an Ikea Detolf, which I realise not everyone has space for. My fosters are in a 120cm x 30cm glass tank with a topper (top floor constructed using the wire top of an old cage). To holiday / transport them we use a Savic XL, which is typical Pets at Home rubbish, as what they call an XL, is so small I ONLY use it for holidays (and feel bad!). Its easy to transport.

Gerbils are extremely clean, and don't smell (desert animals). Proper sized tanks will only need daily spot cleaning, sand baths seived clean, fresh food and water. A full clean is every 4-6 weeks. Aside from daily socialising (they're running around in the bathroom now!) they are low maintenence.

Handling: My Gerbils are insanely tame. My current fosters barely come out and are skittish due to being young, a previous home with cats and children incorrectly picking them up by their tails. It may take months but they are forgiving and will become tame.

Yes, their huge flaw is their ability to declan, although its not happened to me yet (I had my boys nuetered). I've bonded and advised on it with a 70% success rate using the split cage method.

Sorry to derail the guinea pig chat as there's some great advice been given and you need to find a pet that works with your lifestyle, which is why fostering is perfect

And not forgetting... Gerbils are great fun, highly rewarding, amazing to watch (landscaping their tank) and play with, full of character and generally always happy (they wink at you).

My concern is that they poo and wee A LOT - I get away with less cleaning out as I put mine out on the grass a lot and move the outside run around. The area they're in will need cleaning out lots. Mine takes 30 mins if I'm doing it quickly. Where will you keep all the straw/hay stuff etc (they get through lots)? Plus the dirty bedding is bulky - it takes up lots of him space and I minimise this by putting lots on my compost heap. I think they take up more space than you'd think.

@Annabelle69 As in you can hold them and pick them up easily? Sorry i didn't want to derail the thread either, but its very hard to get good gerbil advice. Also how do you get a new companion for a bereaved gerbil?

With piggies, you can get a new piggy from a rescue. But with gerbils, you seem to have to get pups from a breeder because an established group i.e. pet shop gerbils would kill a strange gerbil. And trios are more unstable. I am rubbish at DIY and it might seem silly but the split cage divider seems hard to make! I read that there is a cage within a tank method that you can use i.e. put a hamster wire cage topper in the tank and have them interact through it, before swapping; but apparently its not the same as the split cage method which is more effective. I think it is this aspect of gerbil care (not really the holiday care) which made me consider guinea pigs which seemed easier regarding introductions i.e. just introduce in a neutral area with veggies and even if it doesn't work out, they wouldn't kill each other!

@PrincessesRUs I have a very large storage cupboard outside my flat. Its true- they do take up a lot of space which is why i wanted to try fostering to see how it would work out. And the poo and wee is concerning. My flat has quite a few of those giant bins as we have 36 flats so i never run out of bin space so i don't know if the waste from 2 piggies would make a different.

In which case you'll probably be better off than me! I'm always worried about filling up our green bin too quickly!

@PrincessesRUs yes i read on posts on the guinea pig forum where people had to drive to the tip with bags of their guinea pig waste. I couldn't have guinea pigs if i had to do that; i can't drive now but the likelihood of me having a car in the future is quite small because I live in a ULEZ zone (which nearly ended up in the congestion zone but TFL backtracked in the last minute) so I think the chance of it ever being practical for me to have my own car is quite small. Also I would never have my own parking (as most houses in my area don't have parking unless they are the £2 million type) so I am not sure if I can even get electric car. Not complaining but this means I need to get a pet which doesn't need me to drive to the tip to drop off waste.

I probably generate more waste than lots of people as I have newspaper to line the cage with straw on top - reading up thread it sounds like fleece would be easier! My dad reads lots of newspapers daily so he passes them all on to me for the piggies. I don't find they smell but I can smell them if that makes sense! When they're indoors I have to clean them out ever other day or you can smell their wee. I had hamsters growing up and I actually quite like the smell of a clean hamster/guinea pig cage!

Guinea pigs tend to poo and wee where they eat so I also find if I keep cardboard boxes that things are delivered in and put hay in there with a little door then I can change that more often than doing the whole cage.

I do also find them relatively expensive- definitely much much more than hamsters- it's the cost of hay as they can get through lots! Pet shop hay it expensive!

@onlychildhamster

Gerbil Handling: my Gerbils are very easy to pick up and will walk into my hand, sit on my head, use me as climbing frame etc but I've had them since pups Gerbils will never be as docile and easy to handle as Hamsters, as they are far more free spirited. Gerbils that haven't been socialised may never be fully tame. My first adopted rescue Gerbils ignored me for about 6 months until suddenly deciding to trust me (I.e vaguely let me hold them with lots of wriggling, but would sit ON me ok). While immensely rewarding, they are not a cuddle pet.

To avoid declanning males are easier than females. Pairs are best. In the event of a solo Gerbil either rescues can help or look at Gumtree / Preloved etc for singles. I would never ever advise using pup(s) to bond with an adult. It's a very easy bond anyone can do, but 6 months down the line, when the pup matures, and hormones kick in, this is when the power shift and fights (can) start. I know of older Gerbils being killed this way. Adult to adult only. I only use the split tank method.

Guinea Pigs are much more daily maintenence but undoubtedly easier to pair up in the event of a fight / bereavement.

@PrincessesRUs how much does it cost you? I estimated £40 per month at least- £10 for hay, £10 for bedding (i have a sack of auboise), £20 for veggies.

@Annabelle69 is it cruel to not pair up a bereaved gerbil? I know for guinea pigs, it is considered cruel, but i think its a lot easier to find single guinea pigs compared to single gerbils as gerbils are much more uncommon pets.

@onlychildhamster I think it's actually illegal in Switzerland to not keep Guinea Pigs in pairs as they're highly social. Gerbils are no different and have highly complex social structures in the wild, which is why I don't think they should be captive pets at all, I'm simply doing the very best I can for them in their circumstances. Yes, it's cruel to keep Gerbils as singles.