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Popcorn and Caramel

Popcorn&Caramel

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Hi I have two boars Popcorn and Caramel they are both about 3 years old i have had them between 2.5 years and 3 years they started out living in a petstore cage they now live in a 2x4 C&C cage with a 1x2 upper level (hayloft). They have fleece bedding and the entire cage is 1 grid above the ground, I store hay/food etc. under it.I got Popcorn first and Caramel about 3 months later they are both from Petsmart I didn't know about guinea pig shelters back then. I used to use pine bedding before I got fleece. I put towels and newspapers under the fleece as underbedding. I feed them meadow hay and Nutriphase Gold pellet food i put vita-drops in their water they drink fine (and my vet recommended that). In my avatar Caramel is the skittish Abyssinian pale yellow one and Popcorn is the brown/black/white english/american one. Popcorn is not skittish at all but hates being picked up. Caramel is very skittish but doesn't mind once he is outside of the cage. Popcorn is more friendly but he bites other people if they try to pet him (but not me because I know what he doesn't like). They don't actually get along very well since they werent raised together but they never really hurt each other. Caramel's favourite food is Cucumber Popcorn's is Carrots. Their all time favourite is grass. They have two Igloos one big one small normally the small one isn't in the cage though. I made the a carboard version of one of those "timber something house" i think they're called.. and they have a wooden house in the middle. The wooden and timber house have carpet on top. the Wooden one has a rap attached to the top of it to get to the top level. They jump on top of there houses, They can both jump pretty high.
 

Ziggy&Herald

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Welcome to GPC. Your cage sounds great. I would get rid of the drops though. As long as your pigs gets the fresh veggies they needs, the drops are a waste, not to mention they break down very quickly in water. So you've really been doing it for nothing. Your pigs are very cute.
 

PixieStix

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Welcome. Cute pigs, cage sounds nice.

Ditch the drops. Not only do they change the taste of the water and disintegrate, they actually usually have added sugar, dyes, and/or other vitamins (vitamin C is the only vitamin pigs need).

You should really consider switching to a higher quality pellet, Nutriphase is like junk food to them. KM's is available online at (broken link removed). Oxbow is available in some stores and vets offices as well as online (broken link removed). Both of these are high quality pellets and also have hay. Alfalfa based pellets are for pigs under six months, timothy for those who are older.

If you can find neither of those, Mazuri 5664 (only that formula) is available in some feed stores in large bags. It's alfalfa based, so since your pigs are older, it would have to be limited to 1/8 cup per pig, daily.

Again, welcome.
 

Popcorn&Caramel

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whats wrong with meadow hay? and whats wrong with nutriphase? they've been eating it ever sincei've had them and they like it. It cant be too much of a junk food because their not overweight or anything. And whats wrong with vita drops they drink alot of water and the only thing that has lots of vitamin C I've been able to get is peppers and they don't like those, and my vet recommended vita-drops them anyway.
I started putting carefresh in the top level to make the cage smell better.
 

rabbitsncavyluv

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Adding vitamins to the water is pretty useless and a waste of money. They degrade rapidly and you cannot tell how much they are getting, if any if the pigs don't drink it. You should only be supplementing with vit C and you only need to do that if the pig is sick, unless you don't feed a quality diet.

Nutriphase is alfalfa based, usually has colored bits, uses corn as a filler and contains other low grade ingredients. Petsmart makes Nutriphase.

Perhaps you should read Guinea Lynx :: Diet
 

Popcorn&Caramel

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Does KM hay and pellets ship to canada?
 

rabbitsncavyluv

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She can ship pellets to Canada but not hay I believe. You can probably find Oxbow locally (broken link removed)
 

PixieStix

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Nothing is wrong with the hay specifically, just saying that those sell hay too if you wanted to get some in bulk if you choose to order pellets. Both are good quality hays too (especially KM's). But there ARE things wrong with the pellets and drops. Both are unhealthy. Of course your pigs like the pellets, as I said above, they are like junk food. Not good for them, but tasty. Many pigs will like/learn to like healthy pellets too.

Since you're in Canada, you may want to look for Martin's or Prophase guinea pig pellets if you don't want to get KM's or Oxbow. They are both of comparable quality to the Mazuri 5664, but again, they are alfalfa based so must be limited.
 
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