Hi
I have come a cross pictures of teddy bear piggies and rexes and have fallen inlove with their look (I'm also pretty sure Moo gave birth to a teddy or rex x) I've also read that teddys are supposed to have softer coats and really nice temperaments. But besides this, I really havent been able to find much information about the two breeds, specificly what the differences are between the two.

I am looking to adopt either at teddy or a rex, but would like to know as much about them as possible, besides that they are hard to find!

If anyone could help me out when it comes to breed identification (particularly in pups) and anything eles that sets then apart, (I here they can be easy to confuse with texels as pups) that would be great.:)

I've had my guinea pig Fred for three months now and lately he has become very difficult to handle during floor time and especially during lap time. In the past he has squirmed a little as he was being picked up but settled down with a few easily stopped escape attempts during lap time. He's really geared it up this week though, causing me to nearly drop him several times (more accurately he's been taking flying leaps from my arms while being transported to and from his cage, all of which thankfully have been stopped). I was only able to have lap time with him for five minutes today, as I was unable to get him to sit still. He was constantly trying to get away, clawing at my arm, and being generally uncooperative.

I want to be able to continue lap time with him, but this is just getting to be too much to handle. A piggie elevator might help in transportation, and my only concern is if I use the tunnel I leave in his hidey, he'll relate that with being picked up and won't use it while he's in his cage. But I don't see that helping during lap time, and I'm not sure what I can do then to calm him down and keep him still. I've considered doing lap time in his floor time playpen, so that even if he does manage to get away he'll be safe, as the room he is kept in would be very difficult to pig-proof.

I know that the constant cycle of trying to have lap time with him, him trying to escape, and me adding extra stress to him by not really knowing how to handle it is just making this worse. Does anyone have tips for handling less than cuddly pigs during lap time?

Elliot has this kind of gormless/disgusted/confused look - wide eyes, mouth slightly open, front legs splayed.
Ollie's eyes are even wider and he looks constantly terrified.

:love:

I have 2 boars that are under a year old and going through their puberty right now, I think.

In the past couple days I've noticed a sudden increase in their teeth chattering and rumblestrutting (the older of the two is already in puberty, but I think my little guy just caught up). Its as if they're having a face-off and shaking their butts while chattering away. They never actually fight and one eventually gets bored or backs down. All pretty normal behavior, I think. Its more likely to happen when Im giving them "treats" so that makes sense, too.

However, my boyfriend swears that this behavior never happens when its only him around the pigs. Hes witnessed it happening when Im giving them "treats" and thinks it has something to do with the fact that Im a girl and that theyre getting slightly riled because of me.

Could this be possible?

I made a kitchen(the added on pet store cage) today for my girls. They were extremely excited after it was done. I got a video of them happily squeeking,playing and exploring the cage. And I know you guys said that the hay ball is bad, so after I took it out, wired the door on it shut so they cant get into it, it is safe now. I also put it a little high up for them so they dont get stuck under it. I take the sides off to fil it, just so you know. :D

Here it is...(sorry for the mess,I hadn't vacuumed up the shavings from cleaning the cage yet)




And after exploring and playing, It was time for a nap.

My sheltie makes such a fuss when it comes to nail clipping ... I've tried distracting him with veggies, holding him to make him feel safe, but he still kicks, wriggles and cries.
I am terrified that I'm going to cut the quick by accident, because he will not keep still. Also the fact that he has such long hair is a problem because it drapes between his toes.

Any advice? I'm at my wit's end! :eek:

One of the best things I have ever done with my life is rescue an animal.

Before I knew about this site, I bought 3 pigs from different pet stores... then when I wanted a 4th, I learned of the thousands of homeless guinea pigs out there (before I thought that shelters were only for cats and dogs). I decided that from then on, I would opt to adopt. This was a somewhat radical move in my family, because everyone in my family buys (dogs) from breeders. When I urged my parents to adopt a dog when I still lived with them, my parents were hesitant because they believed that the animals were dumped there for not being "good pets." They also are ignorant to the huge overpopulation that causes shelters to swell.

So when getting my 4th pig, I opted to adopt. I looked at petfinder.com all the time, looking for a male pig to pair with my females (after he was neutered of course). I kept coming back to the same picture over and over again. Here is the link I kept looking at: Adopted Guinea Pig: Bodie: Petfinder

He looked so sad... so I decided to meet him. When I got to the humane society, it was clear that I knew far more about guinea pigs than all the people there combined, and they were impressed with my knowledge about pigs as well. After filling out an adoption application, I was allowed to see him.

When his previous owners brought him in all they dropped off with him was hartz pellets and poor quality hay. They put him what seemed like stackable metal cages. There were rabbits in the cage above him (at least he wasn't housed with any!). He had this huge carrot he would chew on, and was curious of people, coming up to the bars of the cage to see what was going on.

The volunteer opened the cage, and he ran away. I waited patiently for him to comes towards me, and I offered him my hand, he let me pick him up. He was noticeably larger than my girls (who were still growing), but about the same weight as my largest. He barbered his back quite badly, and his nails were still pretty long (even though they clipped his nails when he arrived since they were growing into the pads of his feet). He wad dirty and grimy, I almost cried. I said I wanted him, but they told me there was a 24 hour waiting period. When they called me the next day saying I was approved, I left immediately to go pick him up.

I took him to the vet within a few days, he was underweight (about 12 ounces lighter than he is now), scared, and still barbering. At least by then his nails were cut even shorter and was given a bath.

It took 6 to 8 months to nurse him back to health mentally and physically. He started out as a people pig, because that was all he knew, but now he can't stand to be away from the girls, I think he was an only pig before coming to me.

Here is Bodie now:


Happy and Healthy.

So all you people out there thinking of buying from a store, don't. Bodie will forever hold a place in my heart, he's the first animal I ever saved, and I believe that when you save an animal, they really do appreciate what you have done for them, and are forever grateful.

I've been finding that I'm waking up with a very dry mouth, a sore throat and a dry, stuffed nose. So I've concluded that it's because my Bedroom is in our renovated basement and the air is very dry and colder than upstairs.

So I was thinking of getting a Humidifier to sleep with, so I'm wondering, will this effect my Guinea pigs at all? Anything with their breathing?

So for those of your with Guinea pigs and Humidifiers in the same room, will it make a difference in my Guinea pigs' health?

Hey all,

I'm moving across country in a few weeks and I'm working on my plan to take my pigs. A friend has been very very kind to offer to fly them for me. It's a private direct flight so airports and regulations are not an issue. They will be in the cabin. The downside is I'm not flying with them, however my mom who knows them very well will meet them at the other airport. I'll be there once I can drive all that way (most spoiled pets ever).

My lists:
Already there: Clean beds, hay, pellets and cage are all ready on the other side of the country.

On the flight: water bottle, hay to hide in, bag of lettuce, more beds will travel with them. They will be in a cat carrier.

Should I have the water bottle on the carrier the entire time or should I figure they'll be too nervous to drink anyway? Should I leave the water bottle on until take off? Should I ask them to add lettuce partway through the flight?

What am I forgetting?
Thanks! I'm so nervous but this is better for them than 6 days in the car in Dec.

FINALLY got the first of three videos of my new boys getting baths uploaded. This one is of Boris. I'll upload the other ones shortly.

YouTube - Boris' Bath

I just got a guinea pig last weekend, his name is Apollo. I made a C&C cage and plan on getting him a friend at the end of the month.

I was just wondering if this behavior was normal or to be expected of guinea pigs. He hides in his pigloo a lot. He runs around the cage when I try to pick him up and give him floor time. Even when I move my head from looking at him in his cage to my laptop, he runs like lightning back into his pigloo.

I'm a new piggie mom, so I'm not too knowledgeable on their behavior.

This is a video of the piggies and there new cage set up.(I rearranged the inside of there cage and added a few things)


Here is Blackberry looking adorable as always, she looks like she is smiling!


Razzberri: "Look no hands!"




More to come...
below.

After a bit of debate between the greater powers of the home that I live in, the alpha male of this apartment made his decision...we were adopting another piggy!

This little piggy comes from a local accidental litter. I'm not too sure if that constitutes as a real 'adoption', but...I wasn't sure how to phrase it! He's a healthy, perky little guy who loves running as fast as a bullet and following his new friends. Since my boyfriend was the one who made this all possible, he got to name the little guy, and alas...meet Ronon! (Stargate Atlantis reference.)

We've had him for quite a while, but when I reformatted my computer for Windows 7 I forgot to add this site to my bookmarks again, and embarrassingly enough I just now remembered it. I'm sorry!




He's adjusting in perfectly. The introductions were short and sweet, and less than an hour or two of rumblestrutting and dominance-asserting behavior they all relaxed. We expanded the cage to 2x5 status, and updated the kitchen so they could all fit comfortably during food and treat time.

Yay!

I recently babysat my BF's unneutered male piggy for a weekend and housed him in a side-by-side cube enclosure with my two unneutered male GP. I also let them have some floor time together to see how it was going. They did ok, no fighting, some chattering and stuff but also some chumble muttering and relax time as well. My problem now is that during the get-to-know-you parts they both sprayed and/or peed on the carpet in a couple areas -- so strongly that *I* can smell it, and I know if I can smell it then they can smell it. What is the best way to remove the smell out of carpet? I know vinegar works on cages, but I don't know if it would work on carpet or how you'd apply it when they had the full run of my living room.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

I've noticed that for the last 2 days, every so often Tasha (who tends to protect Carley), will walk around her and make this low toned "laughing" sound. They don't fight or compete for food or toys and I've seen no signs of aggression from either one.

She even does this during floor time. So I'm not sure if she's protecting Carley or starting to get PMS (so to speak). LOL

Any ideas?

My three boars used to live together. Dumboom is the dominant one, while Pixie is the least dominant. I bought three of them altogether, and since the first day, even Dumboom is the dominant, but he doesn't mind sharing with the others.

About 1 month ago, I recognized that three of them infected by fungus and I had to separate and quarantine all of them. Two days ago, Dumboom and Pixie recovered, and I put them back together in their home. That's when it all started, Dumboom started acted strangely, he guards everything in the cage (hay, and the water bottle). Whenever Pixie get near to the hay or the water bottle, he chase him. They already have 2 for everything, two hay racks, two water bottles.

I'm afraid Pixie stressed (he already look stressed now). I ever lap Dumboom after he chase Pixie (just to make sure Pixie had chances to eat his hay, veggie and drink the water). And Pixie popcorning like crazy, he seems happier if Dumboom is not around. What should I do now?

I recently adopted two guinea pigs from the MSPCA - 6 weeks apart. We got Carmello first and then adopted Fluffy - both girls as far as we know...

We did the quarantine thing, and then had them in separate cages, side-by-side, for a week. We have started to put them together, first in a neutral area and now together in one cage. There is no fighting, just a lot of squealing from Fluffy, we think in fear, whenever Carmello comes anywhere near her. Carmello does chase Fluffy a bit, but it looks like Carmello is just coming to sniff at Fluffy. Even if Carmello is just going to drink water and happens to come near Fluffy, Fluffy squeals.

Is this normal? Will Fluffy calm down? What should we do?

Hey everyone!

I have two boars that are about the same age and I try and give them a lot of floor time when I can because everyone in the household is busy and even though they run laps and exercise when they like in their 2x4 C&C cage I try to give them the whole length of my hallway to have floor time in.

We put down fleece, veggies, a bit of pellets and their water bottles down and use a small exercise pen fence to keep them on their spread out blankets (so they have about a 9ft by 3.5ft to play in). But lately I've been noticing that when we put them down for floor time they hardly move. They might chase each other for a little bit and munch on veggies but other than that they stay in one spot and just talk to each other for a little bit or just lay there completely still. When we put them back in their cages they start running laps and popcorning...Confusion?

At first they used to popcorn during floor time when we would put down newspaper instead of fleece...but that wasn't so great for our carpet so we switched to fleece for floor time and now they just kind of chill on there...any suggestions as to why? Or am I doing something wrong? Thanks and sorry it's so long.

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking around here for the last few weeks, enjoying all the wonderful info that is provided here. This is a great site, and I've finally decided to jump in with an intro & more importantly, a couple questions.

I am a stay-at-home mom to three beautiful little girls (human, not piggy, :)). We had a guinea pig, Linny, but sadly he passed away about a year ago. In the last few weeks, my husband and I decided that we would really like to get another piggy, but since I started researching, I have realized that we knew next to nothing before, and I'm so terribly saddened that our little Linny, although given much love, attention, and care, probably did not have the best quality of life that he could have.

For starters, we bought him from the pet store, which I now understand was a terrible mistake. We also had him in a store bought cage, and we believed we were doing the right things by him, simply based off what our pet store told us. We had the best intentions, and did what we thought was the best for him...but now I realize that it just wasn't good enough.

So, this time we are bound & determined to do it right. We are taking our time and doing tons of research, which has led to our current course. We are in the process of building a 2x4 c&c cage (with fleece bedding), to house a pair of guinea pigs that we plan on adopting from our local guinea pig shelter, OC Cavy Haven.

So my questions are these: Has anyone ever adopted from this shelter before? What was your experience? What are some general adoption procedures that we can expect to go through?

Also, I've heard that some shelters will not let families with little children adopt guinea pigs. Is this true? My girls are 6, 4, and 18 months. We fully plan on childproofing our cage (securing it to the wall, etc). My older girls are very good with animals, they've been taught to handle them gently, and they will NEVER hold the guinea pig or be on the floor with them without our direct supervision...and I won't have our 18 month old get her hands on them at all. They are not overly loud or rambunctious, but they are kids...

In any case, I will be the primary caretaker...we are not getting these piggies for the kids, but for me. So would the shelter deny us that privledge because of the age of my girls?

Anyway, so sorry for the super long-winded post, but we want these little piggies so badly, and frankly the process is a little intimidating (although I fully understand why they screen everyone so carefully). :o

Thanks so much in advance for any and all advice you can give me!

~~Brenda