New Guinea Pig owner ...Newport, Oregon

domesticflower · Jun 12, 2006

I raised Guinea Pigs for 15 yrs when my girls were little... has been quite afew yrs since I have had a Guinea Pig. I am a 54 yr old "Grandma" of 4 and have just about "everything" else so thought I should get a Guinea Pig.

I went to get Crickets & Mealworms last week at the Petstore & saw this little guy about 5 weeks old. He is White & Chocolate and med length hair. He is so cute & get to go get him tomorrow

I have named him "Archie" after my very best Freind who passed-away 5 yrs ago from Aids. I asked my 5 yr old Grandson what I should call him & of course he came up with all of these cute little names a 5 yr old would think of and then asked him to think of a little boy's name & he said "What about naming him Archie Grandma:heart:. I had not even mentioned that was what I had thought of naming him either" so tomorrow Archie gets to come home at 6 weeks old.

Living in a Tiny 1 bdrm Apt had to 1rst think of "somewhere" I could put his Cage. I have 12 Aquariums w/ Fish of various kinds, 8 Species of Aquatic Snails & 3 Species of Landsnails ( which all seems to breed alot...so always Trading at the Petstore & shipping Babies across the US & into Canada etc ) have a Purple Moon Crab "Sabastion", Hermit Crabs, a Ornate Box Turtle named "Morla" and a Bearded Dragon named "Spencer"....also have 5 "Indoor" Cats. Always had various Critters as the Girls were growing up & then for 3 yrs just had the cats.

Then my 7 yr old Grandson asked me to take "Gary" ( named after Sponge Bob's roommate ) his 3 yr old Cana Applesnail...so got a 20 gallon Tank, felt sorry for Gary being alone so got him a companion 3 days later & within 30 mins they "Hooked-Up"

so promptly re-named Gary "Garyetta" and named my new Snail "Randy".

That was 3 yrs ago & can see that I am going thru my "2nd Childhood ) I put a stand thing w/ shelfs in the kitchen for Archie's cage...underneath is the Cat's dishes & the 2nd shelf is going to be used for Archie's Food & other supplies. The top shelf will be for Archie's cage.

Did some shopping at the Petstore the other day & got His Cage ( a NICE big one ), a portable Playpen so can use it for Archie & Morla when they go outside...also have a Harness & leash for Spencer, Morla & Archie to take them for walks. Got him a cave for his cage & also a huge exercise-wheel I will use sometimes. Got a big box that has a Hay-Feeder, Water-Bottle, Dishes etc. Then stocked up on food for all my "Children" there so that was $175...

today went to Wal-mart & got some Rubbermaid containers to store food in, got some more Guinea Pig Special food & treats, Hay and various other supplies along with Fleese Blankets & Receiving Blankets ( 24 of them...) so there went another $175. Will put the cage together tonite & get it set-up for tomorrow morning.

I do "Private In-Home Care & Hospice" so make good $$$. Spend the majority of it on Pet-supplies etc & the rest on the Grandchildren. I am like a little child when I get a New "Baby"...as am just so excited and Archie loves to be held.

I belong to Hermit Crab Forums, Bearded Dragon Forums, Fish & Snail Forums, Turtle Forums and of course Marty Casey.org as am a true "Hammerhead" and have all 6 CD's of Marty Casey & The LoveHammers Plus DVD's of "every" Episode of "Rock Star:INXS" and was fortunate they played at the Casino here in January.

Thing I look forward to every year is the "Oregon Country Fair" outside of Veneta, Oregon...which was started 38 yrs ago by Jerry Garcia. Is held on 280 Acres and last yr we did the Weekend ( Thursday thru Monday...) long Camping thin & there was 800-1,200 people at our Campsite alone. Alot decorate & name their Campsites so this yr ( always 2nd weekend in July...) am doing "Fairytopia" and have $1,200-$1,500 worth of Fairies from "Faries by The Sea" and another $1,200-$1,500 of other decorations which include 12 Solar lites & little White Twinkle lites which will be strung thru the Flower Garlands around the Garden Arch...and 12 "Fairy-Houses" that will have little Tea-lites inside that run by batteries so they will lite-up at nite.

Have a Ford Explorer but had to buy a 4-8ft Utility Trailer so will have room to haul all of the Camping gear also. Well..."Sorry:melodrama " for such a long Post but wanted to introduce myself & what I do.

DFG

jdomans · Jun 12, 2006

I don't know if you realize it or not, but this group is against buying animals when there are many homeless ones in shelters and that in turn leads to that fact that we are also against breeding. We also promote C&C cages (hence Cavy Cages) which gives a cavy room that they will never have in a pet store cage. My store cages are for evacuation proposes and my tiny one is for going to the vet.
I suggest that you spend some time back on the home page guineapigcages.com and read all about us. You may decide we are not the group for you. I hope you decide to stay and learn and give a better life to your new Archie. I am a 51 yr. old Granny and things have changed immensely since our children had guinea pigs. I have 8 pigs in about a 28 sq.ft. cage and I wish it was larger! Please look through the gallery and see the cages we all have.

Susan9608 · Jun 12, 2006

Um ... yeah.

Please cut down on your use of smilies as well. You should use a smiley only once in about every 10 posts, not 5 in 1 post. Please refer to all of the rules found at this link: https://guineapigcages.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17032.

Please also break your posts up into readable paragraphs.

After you give the rules a good read, please be cognizant of the fact that this is a PRO-RESCUE forum. That means we are against purchasing animals at pet stores. We are also highly against breeding of any animal.

Susan9608 · Jun 13, 2006

also a huge exercise-wheel I will use sometimes

Also, please read up on cavies. Exercise wheels are not safe for them.

Percy's Mom · Jun 13, 2006

Susan9608 said:
Also, please read up on cavies. Exercise wheels are not safe for them.

Neither are the leashes you said you got for them. Either of those items or the balls for them to run around in could cause injuries to guineas, up to and including breaking their backs.

Any food you're getting for them at WalMart is going to be junk especially if it has any of the little bits and pieces and seeds in it. The extra stuff is high in fat, low in nutrition, and easily choked on. Most packaged treats are just as bad. Guinea pigs need a good quality plain pellet, unlimited grass hay, and at least 1 cup of vegetables per day.

You said that you have Archie's cage on a shelf? Unless those shelves are the garage shelves that are about 2-3' deep and 4-5' long, I feel pretty certain that your cage is smaller than the minimum sizes we recommend. Even the largest store bought cages are usually too small. If you go to the top of the page and click HOME, you will see a chart of the sizes we recommend as well as easy instructions to build a huge piggy palace for probably less than half of what you would page for the largest regular cage on the market.

Who are Spencer and Morla? Other guinea pigs? If you have 3 pigs, that's great, but I hope they are all the same gender or you have had them neutered or spayed to avoid breeding them.

Off topic of your guinea pigs, snails (to the best of my knowledge) are hermaphrodites, so anytime you have any two snails, you're going to have baby snails. I found this out my junior year in high school when my biology partner and I had to "build" a lake and we decided that a couple of snails would be a nice touch. Those 2 snails turned into hundreds over the course of the semester, and I vowed I would never deal with snails again.

jdomans · Jun 13, 2006

PM Morla and Spencer are a turtle and a bearded dragon.

DFG,
Yes wheels, balls, and harnesses are very dangerous to cavies. Many of the items that are sold for our pets are not good for our pets. I have a chinchilla and not knowing I got him a ball. As soon as I got it, I found out how dangerous it was for them (overheating and back injury is they run into a wall of chair leg). I took the from and back caps off of it and have it hanging in his cage as a hidey house.
You will find that your cavy won't get on the wheel anyway and if you put it in a ball it will most likely not move. They are smarter than we are.

Percy's Mom · Jun 13, 2006

Thanks Judy. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, I lost all of the names.

Ly&Pigs · Jun 13, 2006

I raised Guinea Pigs for 15 yrs when my girls were little

Guinea pig care has changed drastically in the last several years. No longer are the old ways acceptable. There are so many new ways of doing things now.

The cage standards have changed, no longer is the old standard of 2 sq. ft. acceptable. 1-2 pigs need 7.5 sq. ft. at a minimum, more pigs require more space. Only a majority breeders and crappy petstores still use the old standards. Diets have changed dramatically as well. Hay is an absolute must and needs to be unlimited, pellets need to be plain and of good quality and piggies need 1 cup of fresh veggies per day.

I'm going to give you a link to a guide that we put up for newbies here. It has many great links in it so you can read up about all the changes in piggie care. https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17032

Where People & Piggies Thrive

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New Guinea Pig owner ...Newport, Oregon

domesticflower

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jdomans

Well-known Member

Susan9608

Well-known Member

Susan9608

Well-known Member

Percy's Mom

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jdomans

Well-known Member

Percy's Mom

Well-known Member

Ly&Pigs

Cavy Champion, Previous Forum Moderator

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