Advice: From thirds to a herd?

[Tessa Bea]

Nope. I've got the new pigs in the dining room, and I moved my older set into my room.

On another note- Parsley and Cilantro is gone! Progress!

[Sugar&Ellie]

Oh ok. I thought before you had said you had a spare room but I was mistaken.

I know what you mean about the alien veggies. I recently adopted Ellie from the humane society and she's a 2 year old black long haired X. When she was introduced with sugar, sugar immediatly purred and circled her, she then popcorned and began to run in laps. Ellie just sat there and watched. When I introduced veggies, Sugar at the majority and Ellie watched. She still isn't eating Veggies as much as I'd like her to. She's only eating a little bit of cilantro and 1 or 2 cherry tomatoes. She barely enjoys hay but she seems to like pellets.

I have a feeling that she was deprived of veggies and hay. She's getting used to it though, and with Sugar's aggressive appetite she should be joining in soon. I sure hope she does.

[Tessa Bea]

Hopefully Sugar does a good job of encouraging Ellie. Since all three of these dudees are living together and I won't be introducing them to my other pigs, they don't have a role model to take after veggies with. I'm just going to keep giving them and hoping that they bite sometime soon.

I still am in shock that someone would give their pigs nuts and oranges every single day! Even more shocked that these guys are considerably healthy. (When I got to the humane society, I found out that they didn't have mites, just itchy skin- but they treated them for mites anyway just in case)

[Sugar&Ellie]

Well they probably had dry skin from lack of nutrients.

Im not going to lie, I was giving Sugar a nuts and pellets mix that I bought from the pet store before I found this site. They were the most expensive so I thought that was the best choice. I had also read that they needs oils and amino acids from nuts so I thought the nuts would be a good treat and health choice.

Apparently not and they're now eating Kleenmama's (or soon will be once my order comes in). I was giving them an orange slice once every 2 weeks but got a list from another member of what to feed them so I went guinea pig shopping that afternoon and bought them all the proper veggies and now they're getting all the perfect measurements of food.

Sugar is obese and is getting 2 hours of floor time a night and Ellie is slowly learning from Sugar how to play and eat veggies.

I just feel so bad for giving her nuts, Im hoping she'll get back into shape and I'm letting all my friends with guinea pigs know about this site for the health of their piggies!

[Tessa Bea]

Judging by their reaction to their cage, I'm guessing that these guys had no floortime, or very little. I'm hoping once I get them on a proper diet and exercising more, that everyone will be even healthier.

EDIT_ Try not to feel bad, almost all of us made mistakes before we found this site and became enlightened. It does no good to beat yourself up about it, all we can do is move on, and treat our piggies with all the good care that they deserve.

[Sugar&Ellie]

Yeah. Ellie had no idea what to do during floor time. I think they'll get used to it as long as they're on a routine. Good luck!

[princesspoppy]

[quote=Tessa Bea;459036]And Princess Poppy- you must be a clairvoyant or something, I swear. As soon as I saw all three of them crammed into a tiny petstore cage, I couldn't leave them there. They're home with me now, very seperate from my pigs- QUOTE]


Luck of the Irish Tessa. I'm so happy to see everythings worked out.

[Tessa Bea]

Me too! They seem to be re-establishing their social hierarchy / dominance / whatever it's called in their new home, there has been a lot of teeth chattering, rumble strutting, and chasing going on.

[piggiecrazy]

Congratulations. I just saw your thread and wanted to say how adorable the three boys are. I am sure they are loving their new home.
I hope they resume their peaceful existence once they claim their dominance. It is so hard when they decide to duel things out again. I am sure they will be fine though.
Just a thought about the mite treatment. Were they treated before you left the shelter? You said you bathed them when you got them home. Do you know if that was too soon after application? I hope not, but just wanted to mention in case they need to be treated again.
Enjoy your new babies, they are so much fun and so worth it.

[Tessa Bea]

Ah crud! I totally forgot about the mite/bath issue. The vet on hand said that she didn't think that they had mites, but they treated them for it anyway as a precaution. They were dropped off on Oct. 30th. I have to say I agree with the vet, I didn't see any signs of mites either, no biting, scratching, missing fur, or whatnot. I'll be taking them into my vet soon for a general checkup relatively soon.

[piggiecrazy]

Hopefully you have nothing to worry about. You can always treat them again, although that would end up costing more. Wait and see what the vet says, maybe they dont have them. They are so adorable. I love the red ones face. I am partial to the reds. The coloring is so close to an Irish Setter.
Wishing you the best. Youre doing a great job. I would take in every piggy in need if I had the space and money. I think 12 is my limit though.LOL
We live in a very small 3 bedroom apartment also and our dining room is totally given over to the piggies. People think we are crazy, but they love the set up. I have to post some pics soon of the cage, just getting final touches on it. Slow going. Ugh!!!

[Tessa Bea]

My sister-in-law will be visiting during the last week of quarantine, so things will be getting REALLY crowded. You have a dozen pigs?! I think I'm at my limit with six, ha. ;P

And I love Hugo's face too, he looks like he has a handlebar mustache almost. He also almost always looks surprised. So cute!

EDIT-

Forgot to mention, all veggies were gone this morning. Looks like they're warming up to the idea! They devoured their romaine that I gave them after I got up. I'll have to try zucchini... my guys hate it, which sucks because it's a good veggie for near daily consumption.

[piggiecrazy]

My husband said we were at our limit 5 piggies ago. He always says he isnt going to build more cages for me. Well, needless to say he always gives in. He actually loves the piggies just as much as my children and I do. He is in the middle of trying to squeeze in more cage space now. I am definetly at our limit now due to my hubby has 5 herniated discs in his lower back and is out on disability till next year. Thankfully we had purchased a disability policy, but it is beans compared to what he had been making. We have a great vet also that is willing to work with us. Thank God for that!
Our 2 boars decided to start to kill each other all of a sudden. So sad, they had been laying in the same bed, eating together and playing together with no problems. I dont know where this came from. Will try to reintroduce with a bigger cage. They were in a 2x4 so we are going to try a 3x4. Hopefully that will do the trick!
Thank you for your sweet comment about Hugo. He is the sweetest guy around. So lovable and scared at the same time. Yes, he does look like he has a handlebar mustache. I look at him sometimes and think he has hay stuck to his mouth. LOL
Hope you get things figured out before your sister-in-law comes. She obviously needs the dog so no way around that. It might take comfort to know that seeing eye dogs are trained to be less easily aroused. Hopefully the natural instinct is supressed by that training.
Glad to hear all veggies were gone. It doesnt take them long to figure out how good it tastes. Even our 3 day old baby is eating its veggies. So cute to see.

[Tessa Bea]

Originally Posted by piggiecrazy

Thank you for your sweet comment about Hugo. He is the sweetest guy around. So lovable and scared at the same time. Yes, he does look like he has a handlebar mustache. I look at him sometimes and think he has hay stuck to his mouth. LOL

Ummm... I take it you have a Hugo too? I was talking about my Hugo. The red piggie formerly known as Teddy Bear. I'll go look for pigtures of yours though, he sounds adorable!

[foggycreekcavy]

Did you mention how the shelter treated them for mites? I kind of skimmed through the posts.

I used to try to work with that shelter in Tacoma, offering to take hay and sex pigs, and take them in to my rescue if needed. They never called me! I'm so glad that you adopted them.

[Tessa Bea]

She said that they treated them with their "Standard Mite Treatment" just in case, but that she saw "no signs of mites".

I didn't see any signs of mites either, just nasty hair. They're much better now that they've had a bath.

They could use your help over there, they have absolutely no idea what they're doing. Seeing how clueless their staff is though, I can see why you have never gotten a call back... when I called them the woman on the phone told me that she didn't even know that they had received guinea pigs! I got there yesterday to find out that they were literally right in front of the help desk. Oblivious, I guess... but an animal is an animal, no matter how small. When I was adopting them, she told me all about how she just thought they were rodents, other people (like me) thought of them as pets. It broke my faith in mankind a little bit. As for nutrition, they just continued giving the pigs whatever their owner had left them with... which was nuts and junk food pellets. Poor pigs. They had hay though, so that was good.

Going there further instilled in me the difference between rescues and humane societies/shelters. They had me fill out an application, but it really seemed to just be a formality. I could have had absolutely no experience with guinea pigs and still have probably walked out with these guys. Scary and kind of heartbreaking- I'm glad that they came with me and not some random Joe. At $5 each, someone easily could have bought them for snake food.

[piggiecrazy]

OOps. Sorry, I thought you were talking about my Hugo. Not a common name so it didnt register in my old brain.
How are the new guys doing so far? Is all back to peace and quiet with them? They had an exciting and trying day also.
So glad you brought them into your home. Poor little guys had such a rough start.

[Tessa Bea]

It's all good. Hugo is a good name. I didn't think that there'd be another one on here, I looked at your pigtures and he's super adorable.

As for my guys... There's still a small amount of teeth chattering, mounting, and chase going on- but nothing unusual or potentially harmful. They've chilled out a lot since last night. And- Snidely eats zucchini!

[piggiecrazy]

It will take them a bit to get use to their new environment. Now that their lives have been changed they will have to sort out their dominance issues.
They are all so handsome, best to you for steppin up for these little guys.

[Tessa Bea]

I figured as much, there isn't a lot of room for dominance when you live in a litter box.

Now they can rough and tumble all they want! Heh. ;P

Thanks again- like I've said before, once I saw them I was hooked. I couldn't leave them!