Where People & Piggies Thrive

Newbie or Guinea Guru? Popcorn in!

Register for free to enjoy the full benefits.
Find out more about the NEW, drastically improved site and forum!

Register

new here

Rosie D

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Posts
9
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Messages
9
hi iam new here
my oldest son has left his guinea pig in my care. he has moved to colorado a few weeks ago.well i went and got some bedding today at walmart for the little miss piggy and it says cedar bedding on it its made by hartz. well it tells me its for guinea pigs. but after reading here NO TO USE cedar i am afraid i might have hurt the piggy. helpppppppppppppppp
 

fourbwabbys

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Posts
4,022
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
4,022
Just replace the bedding with carefresh, cell-sorb or fleece. You don't want him on it too long or it can cause respitory infections.
 

TipiDancer

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 3, 2006
Posts
637
Joined
May 3, 2006
Messages
637
Do not trust anything that comes from Hartz. They are the most careless pet company on the face of earth. They know nothing about the health of an animal. My mom made the mistake of buying me some hartz food filled with corn and sunflower seeds. I refused to use it. She got mad at me, but it was worth it.
 

Rosie D

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Posts
9
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Messages
9
thanks so much i will go in the morning and get some different bedding, the little piggy is real cute, she is a long haired guinea pig.my son got her before x-mas 05 here at petco.it came with the cage and things to start her off.she loves her carots,apples and sometimes a raw potato. i feed her dry guinea food.and i put vitamin c drops in her water.the cage is large.she also loves to hide out . i put a upside down shoebox inside cut an opening for her like a tunnel.need to find something more sturdy.she loves to cuddle.our 3 cats love her she does cuddle up to them. and they love eachother. our dog thinks its a puppy.we used to have 2 guineas when my boys where little.1 short haired and one long haired.they both have passed away since.
 

Rosie D

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Posts
9
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Messages
9
oh oh thats what i got for the piggy was hartz gourmet guinea pig food.she seems to like it.i also got her alfalfa hay and thimothy hay.what do you guys recomend?
 

TipiDancer

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 3, 2006
Posts
637
Joined
May 3, 2006
Messages
637
You must really love your guinea! Since he is a long haired like mine, the fur may tend to catch some bedding. That causes the fur to matt. So if you make an alternarive like Carefresh, Yesterdays News, or fleece this should not be a problem. Or if you REALLY love your piggy, you could comb the matts out of his fur every day :)
 

TipiDancer

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 3, 2006
Posts
637
Joined
May 3, 2006
Messages
637
If your pig is under 5 months old alfalfa will be great. Any older than that you should feed him timothy. Since you have hartz pellets you may stick to them if you want. But I don't reccommend it, especially if it has anything other than pellets in the mix.
 

Rosie D

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Posts
9
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Messages
9
oh yes i love the little critter.she oinks when she hears me come in the room in the morning, she knows she gets her food.according to my son ben iam this guineas granny lol.
 

fourbwabbys

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Posts
4,022
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
4,022
I'm glad you came here. You will learn a lot! What is her name? She sounds adorable.
she loves her carots,apples and sometimes a raw potato.
Guinea pigs should have a variety of fruits and vegetables daily. They are limited to one baby carrot a day and apples to twice per week. They should not have raw potaoes. The spores can be poisonous.
Guinea pigs must have at least one cup of fresh vegetables each day each. Good veggies to offer daily include:

Lettuces - all types but iceberg (contains mostly water and very little nutritional value), Good lettuces are Romaine, Green/Red leaf, butterhead/boston, curly or belgian endive, raddichio and others.
Cilantro (coriander)
Peppers - all colours, no seeds
Baby carrots - one small/medium per pig or same equivalent of regular carrot.
Chard, Red or Swiss is most commonly preferred
Zucchini (Courgette)
Corn husks and silks
Cherry/grape tomatoes (no more than 1-2 per pig)

Good every other day foods:

Parsley
Celery - chopped up small plus leaves
Cucumber
Broccoli leaves
Dandelion greens
Green beans
Summer and Winter squash (all varieties)
Chicory Greens

Some fresh foods should be limited to twice per week:

Fruits - apple, plum, apricot, melon, cucumber, peach, grapes and a few others.
Cabbage
Broccoli
Herbs such as Dill, Chives, Basil, Mint, Thyme
Collard Greens/Turnip Greens/Mustard Greens
Kale
Spinach (in small amounts)
Asparagus
Beets
Brussel Sprouts
Cauliflower
Sweetcorn on the cob
Pumpkin
Turnips

Other foods, such as radishes, banana, sweet potato and beet greens should only be given as occasional treats, say once or twice a month.

Vegetables are important to provide essential vitamins, and if provided with a good variety of fresh foods daily, there is rarely a reason for supplements of any kind to be given.

feed her dry guinea food.and i put vitamin c drops in her water
Try oxbow or kleenmama's pellets. They are the best. (broken link removed) and (broken link removed) Also, please stop putting the drops in the water. They only distort the taste and keep them from drinking. They are useless since they quickly dissolve and lose their vitamins once hitting sunlight.

the cage is large
What are the dimensions of the cage? You can build a C&C cage, it's cheap and easy to build and she will absolutely love all the extra room.


See this thread about common misconceptions: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11278.

I look forward to seeing you around the forums. If yo have any pictures of her, please show us! :)
 
Last edited:

Rosie D

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Posts
9
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Messages
9
her name is miss piggy.
oh sorry i did not know about the potato.will stop giving her that. and will also stop the drops in the water.boy i have a lot to learn :)
i feed her hartz gourmet guinea pig food. it has pellets, and also some other things like dry sunflowerseeds,and such in with it.she seems to like it.
 

fourbwabbys

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Posts
4,022
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
4,022
I highly advise switching the pellets. Hartz has ethoxyquin, which is a cancer causing preservative. The seeds and colored pieces pose a high choking hazard and promote selective eating. I though my pigs liked their Hartz until I got them oxbow. They go crazy for it.

By the way, cute name!
 

janetangel

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Apr 18, 2006
Posts
987
Joined
Apr 18, 2006
Messages
987
Welcome to the forum. Glad you found this site. I find this site a lot of fun. Okay so our lives get limited to thread talk. ;)
We love to see pigtures.
There are a lot of threads here on diet, bedding, cages etc. They are very helpful.
I am in process of building my cage and I am having a good time. Right now it is a 2 x 5 ft. I am working on the top level. I use fleece for the bottom, I lay it over newspaper which is on top of a shower curtain, which is on top of cardboard. I find it easy to take out the fleece every evening and dump the bullet poops.
I also change the paper as needed and clean below.
My son and I have only had our piggies for nearly 2 weeks and we have a great time taking care of them.
Piggies really enjoy their play time too. We play every night and sometimes 2x per day. They have a tunnel to play in and a few hideys.
Look forward to seeing you on the threads. You will definitely learn A LOT everytime you visit.
Look forward to pigtures too.
 

nonamian_girl

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Nov 7, 2005
Posts
1,788
Joined
Nov 7, 2005
Messages
1,788
Check out the post at the top of the Introduction forum, it's just for newbies and is a great index of where you can find all the information you need. Maybe you could pass it on to your son when he comes back?
 

Rosie D

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Posts
9
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Messages
9
thanks to all of you for the warm welcome and the help given :)
the piggy is with me from now on , my son has left it with us to care for from now on.i posted a picture of her in the gallery section
 

VoodooJoint

Cavy Champion, Previous Forum Moderator!
Cavy Slave
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Posts
8,865
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Messages
8,865
Please stop using the Hartz food. It is a very poor quality pellet and the seeds, dehydrated vegetable and colored bits in it are not only unhealthy and too fatty for your pet but are also a serious choking risk. I have heard too many reports of GPs choking to death on seeds and nuts.

From a GuineaLynx thread "[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]8 in 1, Hartz, Vitakraft, Hagen, and L/M are not listed on the internet (as far as ingredients) with my searches. I know several of them use ethoxyquin, BHA, BHT, colorings, and animal fat. Must be a reason they're not published on the web." https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?p=76701#76701[/FONT]


You may not have had a chance to read the forum rules yet. Please do take the time to read over all of our policies and guidelines. We want you to get the maximum enjoyment and value from our forum. Proper posting is a firm requirement here and helps us keep a high standard of readability. We require posters to use proper capitalization, punctuation and avoid chat speak. We ask this in part because this is an international forum and we have many members that do not use English as a first language. Improper writing can be difficult for them to read.

Thank you very much for your attention to these details. We look forward to your continued participation.
 
Last edited:

VoodooJoint

Cavy Champion, Previous Forum Moderator!
Cavy Slave
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Posts
8,865
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Messages
8,865
I also had to delete your picture from the photo gallery. We do not allow pet pictures in the gallery. The gallery is for approriate C&C or C&C type cage photos only. As cute as your GP is I couldn't l;eave her picture up.

You are welcome to post here photo here in a post. Here is a "how to" link to help you figure out how to do that if you need help. https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11476
 

jdomans

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 24, 2005
Posts
3,105
Joined
Aug 24, 2005
Messages
3,105
Rosie,
Welcome to the group. The top 3 pellets are:
Oxbow and Kleenmama
Mazuri 5664

I would go to all of their webpages and do a search for a local dealer first. You may luck out and be able to buy locally.
 

cavy-cool-crazy

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Mar 16, 2005
Posts
3,857
Joined
Mar 16, 2005
Messages
3,857
Welcome to the forum Rosie! You have received some very valuable information already. Hope to see you around some more!
 

suzilovespiggie

Cavy Champion, Previous Forum Moderator
Cavy Slave
Joined
Mar 7, 2005
Posts
2,752
Joined
Mar 7, 2005
Messages
2,752
Welcome Rosie and Miss Piggy. This is the best place in the whole of the internet for the care of Guinea Pigs. Those of us on the forum love our GP's and we share all the time. I, myself, have learned so very much and my Guinea Pigs are so happy because of it. Take some time and read, read, read. There is hours of info on this site. You won't regret it. Again, welcome!
 

My Baby Mu

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 4, 2004
Posts
2,095
Joined
Aug 4, 2004
Messages
2,095
Welcome to the forum.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.

Similar threads

A
Replies
0
Views
163
Asura91
A
4Piggies&US
Replies
2
Views
415
Guinea Pig Papa
Guinea Pig Papa
oreo lake
Replies
3
Views
484
C
Top