Hi, I'm new!

Aw Ruby we have many from Scotland and I am sure you will hear from them soon.
Welcome.

Ruby77 said:

Hi everyone, just thought I would say 'hello' to you all.
I have 12 guinea pigs of my own, 8 girls and 4 boys.
I am just trying to work my way through the site and love all the cages.
I am from bonnie Scotland, anyone else??

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My goodness! That's alot of piggies. How do you do it? Where do you get the time for all of them? I'm quite impressed and I just know they're all happy! Do you have any pointers for a newbie piggie enthusiast?

Gadgetgirl the piggie lover

Hi Gadgetgirl, what would you like to know?? I actually have 5 more on foster too and 4 chinchillas and 3 ponies a cat and two goldfish!!!
I think the most important thing that I learned when I first started out was not to use woodshavings for the piggies as it can dry the oils out in their coats and doesn't do much for their insides! If it drys the oils out they are then more prone to fungal and other skin conditions!
Anyway, give us a shout if there is anything else you would like to know.

Hi Ruby

Im from near Falkirk. Nice to meet you. What area do you hail from.

Soo x

Welcome to the site. Are you doing rescue work? I'm curious too on how you do it. I had eight girls at one time (I now have 6 due to deaths) but I thought eight was alot. You must have alot of space for that many piggies. I hope you have your boys and girls separate. I assume you know that they should be. Anyways, welcome and we'd like to see pigtures.

Yip I know what I am doing, I have 8 girls together and then 2 sets of 2 boys. I do some forstering when need be but not alot.
IT isn't that hard work to look after all the piggies when you love animals, cleaning out isn't work it's fun and means they have lovely clean beds to snuggle in!!

Well, I am most certainly impressed thus far. I demand to see piggy pictures. :silly:

As much as I love my girls, cleaning is not fun. But I'm lucky to have two older kids that are coaxed into helping. I know that 8 girls can get along, been there and I've read about some boys not getting along well. But are there cages as big as the CC recommendations? Just curious cause when I had 8, their cage took up alot of room.

When my girls are inside for the winter they are all in pairs in seperate cages. But, now that it is summer they are in the garden and in a HUGE hutch with different levels and hidey holes. They all get on fine, although I know that I am lucky with that!

Ruby77
Welcome to the forum. I feel that I should make certain that you understand that this site does not condone outdoor houseing or breeding of any sort. You are very likely to be heavily questioned about your care methods for your GPs. Just remember that we are interested in what is best for the animals.

The welfare of my animals is the most important thing to me and I don't believe that guinea pigs should be kept in a stuffy house all year round. There is nothing wrong with piggies being outside in the summer months when the weather is dry and sunny and they can get the lovely fresh air and green grass that they love. People can question me all they want, I know my guinea pigs are looked after and are very happy.
I do not breed guinea pigs, the only reason I have one that is pregnant is because I rescued her and a few more from a place they weren't being looked after properly.

Why are your pigs kept in pairs when inside and not when outside? What is the difference?

I don't have a big enough house to accomodate a cage big enough for all eight girls on the floor!