General: Soon-to-be piggie owner with lots of questions

[jumbolaya]

Hi. I'm new to this forum and although I don't have a piggy yet, I'm trying to do tons of research beforehand so they'll have a gorgeous cage to come home to! This site has been FABULOUS for newbies like me! This site has great members with great advice and amazing cage setups!!!! I'm so glad you guys are here to help fellow guinea pig lovers and newbies

I'm going to adopt from my local pet shelter. Not all piggies come in pairs there, so most are kept in separate cages (unless they're surrendered in pairs). I want to get two for my (soon to be built 2x4 grid C&C) cage and was wondering a few things. These might seem really straightforward, but it's been years since my childhood piggy and I want to make sure I'll do things right when I get them! So thanks in advance for answering my crazy questions!


-Is it better for a newbie to get older or younger piggies? I wonder if older ones are easier to take care of and more cuddly? I want to *try* to potty train them to a litter box in their "kitchen" and was wondering if it made a difference. I hear it really has to do with if your piggy *wants* to use the litter box.

-Are females more cuddly than males? I've read that two boars will have a stinkier cage, fight more, and need more room (esp. if they're adolescents)

-I know males and females should be in separate cages. However, is it OK to put a neutered male in with a female, or will he get all crazy when she goes into heat?

-Since I'll be adopting two same sex piggies from the shelter, should I quarantine them? It seems sort of unnecessary...?

-I've researched pet carriers on this forum and there isn't much info. Since I'll be taking home 2 new piggies, is it OK if I buy a medium-large dog carrier and put both in them? Or, should they have their own, separate pet carriers?

-In the same vein, I was thinking it best to "introduce" the two piggies at the shelter, if they're not already together, to see how they get along. Is this a bad or a good idea? Is there a better way to go about this?

-How large should the "kitchen" area be? I want a larger one so they can roll around in the hay and urinate, since I hear they like to do that near the hay racks. However, I cannot seem to find large litter boxes...And the pix in the galleries seem to show normal size litterboxes - not as large as I was thinking.

-Regarding fresh hay...A lot of members here say to take out soiled hay since it can get moldy and to supply fresh hay at all times. I want to have a couple hay racks, mb 3, and if the hay is in the rack for >24hours is it considered "spoiled?" Urine-soaked hay will be cleaned daily, but how often does one change the hay racks themselves?

-I saw a great post on the Piggy Bed Spreads, and how some people have used Etsy to make one. How much should they cost if someone else makes them? The Piggy Bed Spreads seem a bit outrageous!

-I was thinking of putting a mattress pad under my flannel/towels. Most mattress pads leave a 1" gap or more with the coroplast. Has this been a problem for anyone with piggies chewing or trying to get under it? (Seems those are the 2 most common probs when you don't use bricks to weigh down corners)



So thank you for answering my myriad questions! I've been lurking through this wonderful forum, and these were some questions that I couldn't seem to find answers to. Thanks again!

[akstrohm]

Welcome to the forum! Adopting is definitely the right choice! In answer to your questions:

1. Either older or younger pigs are fine. If they are not living together, it is easiest to introduce a baby to an adult. Otherwise the most important thing is that you make sure that you will be able to care for them for their entire lives (up to 10 years). So if you can't commit that long, get older pigs. Babies are often adopted first, so it is nice to give an older pig a chance. On the other hand, some rescues won't adopt babies to homes with children. Older pigs can be calmer, but babies grow up pretty quickly, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. You can't litter train a pig--they either use it or they don't--so that's not too much of a factor either.

2. I hear that boars tend to be friendlier, but I've only had females. Mine are quite friendly. I think it depends more on the personality of the individual pigs than their genders. And of course how much you interact with them. Males do tend to smell more and need more space.

3. You can keep a neutered male with a female (or more than one female). But you cannot keep multiple males in with one or more females. Most pigs are not neutered/spayed though.

4. If the pigs are already in the same room in the same shelter, a quarantine does not seem necessary.

5. They can share a carrier, unless they haven't been introduced yet. In that case I would keep them apart and do introductions at home on neutral ground. You can use a cardboard box with lots of hay and bedding if it's just a short trip.

6. If you can introduce them on neutral ground and have lots of time and space, hay, etc. then you can do it at the shelter. Otherwise, do it at home. Be sure to read up on intros first.

7. I use a 1x2 grid hay loft. A litter box is part of that. It's not huge, but it's big enough. It was $2 at Walmart.

8. Hay in the racks is still fine.

9. The cheapest way is to do it yourself. It doesn't even have to be sewn.

10. It depends on your pigs. Mine don't try to get under it. If it is a problem, use a layer of towels or another mattress pad so the whole cage is covered.

You have excellent questions!

[Smudge & Monkey]

1. Get a baby and an adult! a baby will be submissive to the older pig so you shouldn't have problems with bonding.

2. I can only speak of my experience but my boar (now neutered) is so much smoochier than my girl! He's only 7 mths old but he comes over to the side of the cage just to greet me (even when I don't have food!), he wheeks when he hears a plastic bag (expecting fresh grass), he loves a cuddle & he's really won my heart over!!! I don't think he smells at all! In saying that, Cookie who is the 4wk old daughter of Smudge & Monkey, is much less shy than her mother, she will accept food from my hand which is something her mother has only just started to do, but this may be because I've had her since birth and handled and fed her from day 1, eventually I guess they will all come around

3. Yes you can keep a neutered male in with females, but Monkey doesn't realise he is neutered and he still shows interest in the girls (even his daughter).

5. I would just use large shoeboxes or similar to transport them - no need to purchase carriers especially unless you're expecting to use them a lot

[fieryone]

Welcome to GPC! Your questions have already been answered, but I will weigh in with my thoughts on a few things.

I have 3 one year old +/- females and recently rescued a 2½ year old male and had him neutered. He isn't with the girls yet, but his neuter is now safe so we'll be introducing soon. However I have heard from others that they will "go through the motions" but the females just can't get pregnant.

Ultimately it depends on personality, but I will say that my male is much more cuddly than my three females. Don't get me wrong, my females are friendly, all at varying degrees of friendliness. They seem to like lap time but also seem to be on alert all the time while the male just chills and goes with the flow. He's very inquisitive and he's like a little dog. He was also ready to be our buddy from the second we brought him home. The girls took a lot longer to warm up to their humans.

He is smellier than my girls. Every once in a while he will smell like a tuna sandwich but thankfully I've only caught a whiff of that twice in the past 5 weeks that we've had him. Once pre-neuter and once post-neuter so I guess I won't be dodging that smell completely. Also his urine is a bit smellier as well. But I wouldn't let that be the deciding factor between getting males or females. He's not so much more smelly that it's a deal breaker. You'd probably just have to clean the cage a day or two sooner than you would with females. Also if you leave something in the cage that you never clean (sounds gross, I know) then they supposedly won't re-scent mark their cage.

And finally, I made a litter box for under the hay rack out of coroplast. The kitchen - Guinea Pig Cage Photos That way you can decide for yourself what size it is. I like it because the walls are higher than any commercial litter box so Carefresh doesn't get all over my fleece. I also have a large rabbit litter pan in my boy's cage since he was quite overweight when we got him and he needed a lower side just to get in there. He does track some Carefresh around his cage with this, but it's another option. Small Pet Litter Pans: Marshall Ferret or Rabbit High Back Litter Pan

[phoenixstar17]

If your getting an older piggie, try getting it a younger companion. They respect their elders just like Smudge & Monkey said.
Of course i haven't tried that out with my guinea pigs, but in the past i've had some rabbits. Introducing the younger one to the older one always worked then. So i'd say the same goes for guinea pigs.

About the male and female...umm...
When i had all 3 of my male pigs, they were very stinky and very messy. Only Smudge and Torres fought because well....Smudge was quite sexually active. But other than that, all 3 of them were fine. Just depends which age you put them together.
Males can still be aggresive though. I find my female pig Amy much more friendlier.

edit// oh yes, best adopt a guinea pig.
If your going for a female be careful. I adopted my female from the RSPCA. 1 month later, she has 3 furballs in her cage xD

[jumbolaya]

Hi all. Thanks for all the quick responses!!

If they are *not* being kept in the same cages at the shelter, I'll bring two carriers. But should I do the quarantine or just introduce at home? Since I don't plan on adopting until after my cages are made and everything set up (probably a month from now) I'll see if the shelter has a bonded pair.

If not, I'll def. get 2 girls - older and younger. I only have room for a 2x4 cage, and I've read somewhere on this forum that males need more space (for dominance issues and such), plus larger cages dissipate smells better.

One question I still have is regarding hay. How long do you leave it in the hay rack for? GPs need constant access to hay, so hopefully they'll eat all the old hay as I put in new hay, but if the hay sits at the bottom (I've read stories here that most piggies like to eat from the top!) how often should I discard it? Weekly when I do cage cleanings or daily with the poop scoopings? Same question for the pellets. If the 1/8 or 1/4C of pellets aren't eaten, should I discard every 24 hrs to keep the pellets fresh? I know these seem like basic questions, but I'd rather ask now than do it wrong later.

Thanks so much for the great responses

[Wednesday_12]

Sorry I can't answer your hay question.

I adopted 2 males, and they are both lovely. They were introduced at the rescue I got them from,and so I adopted them together. When I brought them home, they started to fight a lot, so I had to put them into separate cages. They are now next door neighbours, and get free range time together

They both smell. But I don't mind, because their chattering and cuddles definitely makes up for it.