Newbie in PA

**flower's mommy** · #1 04-12-07, 11:29 am

We just bought our children a Guinea Pig. My Guinea Pig is named FLOWER. My children named her. My sister also has one. Her pig is in the same cage as ours, we only got them on Tuesday April 10,2007. We have questions about our new babies.

**crazywiggy** · #2 04-12-07, 12:12 pm

Hi there, welcome to the forum. What a sweet name for your piggie, look forward to seeing some pictures!

I'm sure you'll find everything you ever needed to know about guinea pigs here, check out the "sticky threads" for some of the most commonly asked stuff, such as nutrition.
If you can't find the answers you're looking for feel free to ask, everybody is happy to help.

**Tulia&Susie** · #3 04-12-07, 01:58 pm

Hey there and welcome to the forums. If have questions go ahead and ask but there are if you do a little research good info. that it posted as well.

**gpigluver14** · #4 04-12-07, 03:30 pm

Hello and welcome! What kind of cage do you have?? Is it a C and C? (Cubes and Choroplast.) Congrats on your new baby too! What kind of piggy is she?

**flower's mommy** · #5 04-12-07, 04:12 pm

Well it is a store bougth cage. We bought it from PetSmart, it is a large cage. It isn't C and C. This is something we just did. As for what kind of piggy she is.. well I don't really know. She does have short hair. I will try and get pictures.

**gpigluver14** · #6 04-12-07, 05:04 pm

Your piggy is probably an american shorthair. I hope your cage is big enough for your pig, usually pet store cages aren't. Not saying you should go out and buy grids right now, but you should think about switching to a grid cage later on, I think they are so much better for you and your pig in the long run. Here are the size requirements: http://www.guineapigcages.com/index.htm

**flower's mommy** · #7 04-12-07, 05:35 pm

Our cage is 30"long X 14"high X 14" wide My husband wants to make a playpen for them. So they have floor time play.

**rabbitsncavyluv** · #8 04-13-07, 01:09 am

Pet store cages are too small. That's like one by two feet. It's usually best if they have at least 2 of everything and you can barely fit one hidey, one food dish and one hay pile in there and let them move comfortably.

They should have more space. Unless they are out for several hours a day, a playpen isn't that effective though floor time is nice. They need to be able to run laps on their own time.

What are you feeding them? Are you absolutely both pigs are females? Pet stores often missex them. They are usually sold sick with mites or URI too. This is why we recommend adopting from a shelter or rescue. It saves a life too.

**crazywiggy** · #9 04-13-07, 04:36 am

Flowers mommy-

I just want to clarify, please don't think people are trying to find fault with you or be mean with all these questions. We assume that the people who come to this forum care about their piggies and want to be educated as to how to best care for them.
When we tell you things like "pet store cages are too small" it is because we want you to do whats best for your pets, not because we want to get at you.

Like I said, I'm sure you'll find all the infoprmation you need on here.

**flower's mommy** · #10 04-13-07, 06:29 am

I guess we aren't 100% positive that they are both females. We are just going by what the pet store told us. As for the food we bought a product call Nutriphase® Gold Guinea Pig Diet. I did come here for help. This is the first time I have ever had a Guinea pig. I have had dogs before. Infact we have one now. We have a big hidey house in the cage right now and they both go and stay in there. Do they both need their own food dish?

**Getting.cavys** · #11 04-13-07, 06:55 am

Hiya flowers mummy, welcome to the forum. Just to confirm did you buy or adopt your piggie?

**flower's mommy** · #12 04-13-07, 07:08 am

We bought them from PetSmart. It was sort of a spur of the moment thing. My little girl fell in love with them and we bought it.

**flower's mommy** · #13 04-13-07, 11:31 am

here is Flower and Pandora.

Flower is the one with the black face and Pandora has the white face with brown.

**Getting.cavys** · #14 04-13-07, 11:50 am

Very cute piggies aww, you do relieze we are a non breeding/petshop buying forum. Are they healthy?

**flower's mommy** · #15 04-13-07, 11:57 am

Actually I didn't know that until you just said something. I did a search on line for Guinea Pigs and this one came up. I saw the forum and joined. They seem healthy. There isn't any bald spots on them,they seemed to be eating well and pooping good. Their poop isn't runny or anything like that.

**Getting.cavys** · #16 04-13-07, 12:03 pm

Oh good job there ok did you notice when you went in there cages wernt clean or somthing worse. Breeder sell their pigs to petstore's some piggies die because they have been breed so many times. Its ok that you did not know I would of done the exact same thing if i did not find this site. I did not know about it all. I adopted then. It's a mistake most people on here have done without relising but hey they still love their pigs its just it makes room for more piggies to be put in the place of the one that are bought. ITS A VICOUS CIRCLE.
congrats though on you piggies they ae indead VERY cute.

Hope all go's well.
Getting.cavys

**flower's mommy** · #17 04-13-07, 12:19 pm

Getting.cavys,

If fact they were cleaning the cages when we first saw the piggies. THen we went later on that night and looked at them again. The cage was clean and they were all snuggling together. We had them take out he piggies so we could play with them. That is how we picked out the ones we watned. It is taking a while for my sister's pig Pandora to get used to her. Our Pig Flower is eating out of our hands.

Should we get another bowl for the Timothy hay or just put it in the cage. Right now it is just laying in the cage and I have noticed they love that stuff.

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