About Me: Still doing homework, Help & advice needed!

[AmandaErlandson]

My Name is Amanda & I live in Sissonville, WV. I am the type of person that has to know everything about something before I purchase it. I know that I want a couple of piggies. But I am still trying to figure out the rest. I have a bunch of questions and would love some advice from some of you veteran owners.

1. Which cage lining is best? I have seen people using both fabric and mulch. Is this just a personal preference type thing? What are the pro's & cons of both? I fear my kids will enjoy playing in the mulch as much as they would enjoy playing with the piggies.

2. I have 4 kids and fear the argument of who’s pet is who’s, as well as the argument over holding them. I am thinking about getting 4 so all are happy. How much more work is it to have 4 vs only having 2? How much more often is cage clean out, feeding ect?

3. I have a friend that works in the produce department at a local grocery store, and he said he would give me veggies that are being thrown out. Is this safe? The stuff will be probably wilting and turning color. Could this harm them?

4. How much do you feed them? What all do they eat? I know they sell food in stores. Can/do you feed them just that or can/do you just feed them veggies, or a mix of the two? How often do they eat?

5. I have seen some pics of cages with a "litter box" looking thing in it...do they work? Do they only use those?

6. What are the "must haves" in the cage? I know they need something to hide in. What else? Chewies? Sleeping pillows? Toys? If so what kind?

That is all I can think of for now. Any other additional insight or advice is welcomed. Please be nice to me... I have been on forums before where it just seems like everybody is just out to criticize each other. Thanks for everything in advance!!!!

[Ly&Pigs]

1. Read the bedding forum. It's not "mulch" that is used but safe wood shavings such as kiln dried pine or aspen. There are also recycled paper products such as Carefresh or Yesterday's News and there is fleece.

2. If you've never had pigs before, I suggest you start with 2 and go from there. You can always adopt more later. Please don't purchase pigs in petstores or from breeders, find a rescue and adopt please. It's very important as there are thousands of homeless pigs out there that need homes. If you buy from a petstore you aren't helping to break the vicious cycle, only contributing to it.

3. You can't feed wilted or spoiled produce to pigs. It can make them sick.

4. They need a high quality plain pellet such as Oxbow or Kleenmama's pellets. They need unlimited grass hay and the minimum of 1 cup of veggies per day, primarily made up of leafy greens. Please read over all the sticky threads in the Diet and Nutrition forum.

5. Again, I will refer you to the bedding forum where there are tons of threads on litter training.

6. Must haves would be hidey's, food dish, water bottle, unlimited hay (either in a rack or in piles on the cage floor). Cozies, toys, pillows, etc. are all just extras. Most pigs won't play with toys.

[AmandaErlandson]

I have looked & looked for guinea pigs in my area (or even my state) to adopt. I have checked the local animal shelter and they treated me like I was crazy for calling about something other than a dog or cat. The closest rescue is 5 hours away, I did email them a week ago, however, and still have not heard back. I posted a "wanted" ad on two of my local freecycle and did not get and did not get any responses. Any other ideas? I really want to adopt (We have adopted & fostered children for almost 4 years) because I know the need exsists but I am having trouble finding any to adopt. Any ideas are welcomed! Thanks!!

[pigsforlife]

I have a few tips that will hopefully help you out.
1) Have a look through the stickies. They are located at the top of every section of this forum and contain important and useful information.
2) Read the care guide that can be found on this site - http://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.html
3) As a rule of thumb with veggies - don't give them anything you wouldn't eat yourself. This applies to the quality of the produce.

The best thing is to read, read, read.

[CavyMama]

1. The fabric you saw in the cages is probably fleece. I would check out The Fleece Project here in the forums for more information about what that is and how to use it.
http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...ect-study.html

Other common substrata:
Carefresh - recycled paper pulp. Works well but can be expensive

Yesterdays News -I wouldnt use this as cage bedding (more for litter box) because it's hard pellets and can be hard for the pigs to walk on.

There are a few wood-based shavings: aspen, cedar, pine. Avoid cedar at all costs. It contains aeromatic oils that can cause respiratory problems for pigs. Avoid pine too unless it is kiln-dried. Aspen is fine

2. How many pigs? Since you are new to piggies, I would start with 2 and once you get the hang of it, maybe move up to 4. As kids go, the initial novelty of having pigs is exciting and they may all want to take part but as they lose interest and it won't matter if you have 1 for everyone. So I would go with 2 for now.

3. Never give wilted veggies to pigs. Just like people, wilted veggies can make them sick. They need fresh veggies.

4. For diet information check out the diet threads on the forum. It gives lot of good info about which veggies are great, which ones to avoid, how much to give and how often.

5. As for what they need
- definitely somewhere to hide. If you get more than one, they each should have at least one place to hide.
-Water bottle,
-food dish,
-unlimited hay, pellet food.

As for must NOT haves:
-excercise balls/wheels. They can damage spines and toes.
-Yogurt treats - as much as pet shops market these for guineas, guinea pigs are strictly vegan and cannot digest dairy.
-pet store cages - as large as they might SEEM, they aren't big enough for daily living.
-Vit C drops in the water - they dilute quickly in sunlight and do almost nothing except make the water taste funny.

Just one last thought, you said you need to know everything about it before "purchasing", please consider adoption rather than buying from pet stores.

There are so many reasons that adoption is the best way to go. You will be saving the lives of guinea pigs. Buying is adding to the overpopulation problem because it opens room for more pigs from breeding mills.