Guinea Pig Herd – Help!

[GPigLover72]

[FONT=Times New Roman]Hi everyone! This is my first post so I’m sorry if it’s a bit long. I’m a new guinea pig owner and am looking for some suggestions on how to keep them happy! [/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman] First some history: I travel around a lot and my son was begging for a pet of their own. I don’t have time to care for a dog or cat so I was trying to think of an animal that really could be left on its own and decided to get a guinea pig![/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman] The next day I went to Petco to look for some. They had a large selection, both male AND female! I know the Petsmart only has males. I read the info sheet they had there and saw that they like to be in groups so I decided to buy six (four male, two female) pigs to take home – my own herd! The manager in that section was REALLY happy that I was getting all of them, he said they were behind on a selling quota with their supplier and that I came at just the right time – he even gave me a discount! Hopefully my purchase will help their supplier will stay in business (more pigs for everyone!). Anyway, I got one of the little cages they had at the store for my “herd” and the manager was so happy he also gave me a free bag of cedar bedding – how nice! Needless to say, I strongly suggest Petco to everyone who wants to go out and buy some more guinea pigs![/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman] Anyhow – I brought them all home and they seem to be doing pretty well! They all get along in their cozy little cage. I was worried that the males might fight each other but they seem more interested in the lady pigs . I really have noticed that they live up to their name – pigs! They love to eat. I mainly feed them just the pellets I got from Petco. Sometimes I give them a pinch or two of alfalfa in the morning and they just eat it up! It’s so cute! I read on a sheet that they also need Vitamin C so each day I peel an orange and leave it in their cage. This seems to be a bit expensive though. Does any one else have any suggestions for what citrus fruits I can feed them?[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman]So pretty much I’m looking for general advice on how to keep them happy. I mainly let my son take care of them but I’m worried that he might get bored with them and then I’d have to deal with them all by myself. With all the food they’re eating any idea on how to keep them in shape? They don’t really have room to run around in their cage. I was thinking about buying one of those giant wheels or balls from Petco or Petsmart and then they could run around. That would be so cute! Is there a cheaper idea though? I read something about “floor time” but when I put them on the floor they just ran around pooping and two of them hid behind the wall unit with all the TV wires and stuff. I don’t want shocked piggies! [/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman] Anyway, I’m sorry this post has gotten really really long. If anyone has any tips on how to help my herd out that’d be great! I’m especially interested in the vitamin C stuff and exercise if people can answer that.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman] I LOVE GUINEA PIGS! [/FONT]

[heatherbunnie]

This forum is anti-pet store, pro-adoption, so it is a very bad idea to suggest Petco for anything. Guinea pigs can't just be left on their own. They need just as much love and attention as a dog or cat, and are a huge responsibility. If your son is young I don't think it's wise to leave them entirely in his care.

The males and females must be separated!! There will be pregnant pigs if they're not. Also since they're from the pet store they could likely have mites, have you brought them to the vet to be checked out? Do you have them all in a pet-store cage? Because it may not meet the minimum space requirements.

It also sounds like you aren't feeding them hay, which is essential to their diet and teeth care. And guinea pigs can't have exercise wheels! They can easily injure themselves!

PLEASE read through the threads on this forum right away. It is essential to the health of those guinea pigs.

[seagirl96]

Help!!! Moderator needed!

Well, so far everything you know from Petco is wrong wrong WRONG!

1.The females are pregnant or going to be very very soon. Probably back-bred to father or brothers.

2.Cedar bedding is VERY BAD for guinea pigs, you need kiln dried pine or aspen.

3.The cage you have is MUCH too SMALL for two pigs. Please read cage size requirements on the home page of this forum.

4.You need to separate the males from the females. If you have children you should be able to figure out why!

5. Piggies need as much timothy hay as they can eat, ALL THE TIME.

6.Guinea pigs need fresh veggies twice a day. Read the list under nutrition.

7.The giant wheels and balls are VERY BAD for guinea pigs. They can injure their spines.

8.Why in the world did you buy six? Why in the world did you put the males & females together?

9.If this thread is a joke I am going to be ANNOYED.

[masher]

Do I smell a troll?

[pignewton]

Please ignore this post and do not reply - it's from an obvious troll.

[Piggersrule]

I can't believe the manager sold you male and females to live to gether. He should be fired!!! Actually, I can believe it....thats pet stores for ya.

[FoolOnTheHill]

Urr it does sound like a joke! All the bad points are really over emphasised like cedar bedding, balls, TV wires, small cage, breeding, it's kind of odd they're all happening to one person.
Sorry if you're genuinely asking questions. I suggest reading the whole of this site:
Guinea Lynx :: A Medical and Care Guide for Your Guinea Pig

[GPigLover72]

Thanks for the link. I'll look it over.

I don't get what's so odd about my story, the piggies all seem pretty happy and petco was really really nice too. Maybe I should do more research?

Any other specific advice?

[cookie_gal]

Specific advice? sex and separate the piggies immeadiatly! Can you post your cage? For help: Guinea Lynx :: Sexing Guinea Pigs

I hope you are genuine and are not wasting our time, if so also forget about wheels and balls and for floortime fence of an area so they can't get anywhere they shouldn't.

[sarahj]

It has already been pointed out that this site is anti breeding and anti petshop.
Petshops sell animals as commodities, often to people who decide they want a pet on the spur of the moment. Some people then loose interest in their new pets resulting in neglect and abandonment. Therefore there is a huge over population problem and lots of homeless animals in shelters.
Petshops do not adequately care for their animals and give poor advice to customers regarding health, care and wellbeing.
Breeders also keep their animals in poor conditions and perpetuate bad advice to owners.

[Ly&Pigs]

I don't get what's so odd about my story

What is wrong here is that you have posted everything this forum stands against. I am wondering myself if you are just a bored person seeking attention on a forum by posting all this stuff.

Hopefully my purchase will help their supplier will stay in business (more pigs for everyone!).

Out of everything you posted, this upset me the most. Do you have a clue about guinea pig mills? They backbreed the sows until they die so the petstores can have cute widdle babies to sell. And here you are wanting to help the mill stay in business.

If this turns out to be some sort of sick joke, you will be banned faster than you can say cavy.

If you are here to genuinely get help, you better start doing some forum searches and some serious reading and separate the sows from the boars right away.

[GPigLover72]

I come for help and info and there is no need to be mean.

The herd is doing well so far - I'm just trying to learn!

I don't know about separating the pigs, I think little piggie babies would be the cutest! I saw someone else posting their pregnant pig on the same forum area I was at and it was adorable!

[FoolOnTheHill]

Your females are probably already pregnant, but you should separate anyway. If each has three pigs (supposing none die) you have six pigs which you will need to rehome. The people who adopt those six pigs could have gone to a rescue and adopted instead, so essentially you're depriving six pigs of a good home because you want some cute babies. I know they're cute and all, but we're completely against breeding here, simply because of the overpopulation of guinea pigs.
If you do breed (and you'll probably have more pigs soon, even if you decide to separate now) I sure hope you're making a bigger cage - a pet store cage isn't big enough for one pig, let alone six adults and extra babies. Plus, you'll need to remove the adult males before the birth to prevent the females becoming pregnant again (very dangerous) and male babies at 3 weeks for the same reason. It's more trouble than it's worth. There's a high risk of complications or death, and I do hope you wouldn't want to endanger your new pigs lives.

I really do hope you're genuine, if so I hope I helped.

[Ly&Pigs]

I come for help and info and there is no need to be mean.

Your first post on this forum is very suspicious. If you don't like hearing the truth or the facts, this isn't the forum for you.

This forum is ANTI-BREEDING. The threads you see with pregnant sows in them are from accidental matings.

Babies/pups are cute, we all know that, but why risk your sows lives by having them? If one wants cute little pups, shelters and rescues have them.

I've been through two accidental pregnancies with two of my sows. It didn't end great. I lost one entire litter of 2 pups. One was born dead and the other survived for one week. It was not a pleasant experience to go through. It was heartbreaking.

I can tell you now that your males will probably end up fighting and it won't be pretty. 4 males and 2 females in a tiny petstore cage in the end will probably mean death to someone. There are too many boars and they will end up fighting over the females.

If you really want what is best for your new herd, you will separate them and build them some decent sized C&C cages. The boars will need a 2x5 and the sows will need at least a 2x3.

Then you can learn about proper diet, the essential need for hay, about proper bedding types, etc.

[Terekins]

I thought this was a joke! Has to be. Ha ha, you got us going. Very nice.

[gpigluver14]

I don't know about separating the pigs, I think little piggie babies would be the cutest! I saw someone else posting their pregnant pig on the same forum area I was at and it was adorable!

No, no, no! Okay, don't start thinking about purposefully breeding your pigs, although I'm sure at least one of the sows is already pregnant. They do not come from the store "pre-neatured" or spayed. There is a high risk of complications in the birthing process, a 20% chance that it could die. (Correct me if I'm wrong somebody about the percentage.) You really need to do some more researching, on here, especially. Actually only on here, because this information is accurate.

Please seperate the males from the females! Or else all the females will be pregnant very soon, and you will end up with even more pigs! And you are supposed to quarentine any new guinea pigs you get before putting them in the cage, or together, this means putting each pig seperate to get them used to their new surroundings and see if they have any health problems.

And if this is the first time you are owning pigs, why oh why would you get six?! Guinea pigs are a lot of responsibility and they are hard to care for/require a lot of work. And no offense, but you are no expert with guinea pigs. I do not think you researched enough, and just impulse bought all those pigs.

Terekins, sadly, I think this person is serious. Crazy, but serious. Because April Fools day was a long time ago.