Introducing Me & My First Pig

daisymae12 · Dec 19, 2008

Hello all! My name is Olly and I am the brand new owner of my first guinea pig. She was my 18th birthday / christmas present-- I'm a November baby so my mom decided to tie both occasions together!

On December the 18th (since this was for my 18th birthday, hah!) my wonderful mother drove me to PetSmart and surprised me by saying I could have any small animal I wanted! I felt like I was five years old again. I held at least twenty hamsters, a smelly rat (I'm sorry but they stink!), and a gerbil who acted like it was on crack... But I decided on (in my completely no-biased opinion) the cutest small animal they had there, a female guinea pig. I named her Daisy and she's very nervous but I think with careful handling she'll get over that.

I'm a newbie "cavy" owner but I've researched as much as I can, and I'm planning on upgrading Daisy to a C&C cage pronto! Right now she's in a large small animal cage designed for rabbits, but now I know she needs even more room than that! She's very young and small, so I think she'll be okay until I can earn enough money to purchase her new abode.

I've been feeding her Mazuri Pellets (that was what the person who helped me at PetSmart said was the best), Timothy Hay, and fresh kale and carrots. I don't think I have the proper cage to buy her a roommate right now, but I do have plans to eventually purchase her one once I have my new cage.

Oh, her bedding is CareFresh Ultra (the white kind). I don't have a hay rack yet, so I've been feeding her hay just kind of leaned up against her hut. Is that okay? She doesn't seem to mind....

Any advice to keeping Daisy healthy and happy is always welcome!

Edit: Before I get slammed for buying from a pet store, I wasn't aware there was a huge movement to adopt. All my pets (even my horses) are rescues, so I will DEFINITELY be rescuing my next cavy. I'm already browsing Petfinder.com --- hehehe!

hueyeats · Dec 19, 2008

Hello & a welcome to GPC!

Hope you enjoy the site here as much as I... a ton of information out here to learn from.

Its great that you will be building a C&C for her, I can tell she would be a spoilt piggy pretty soon (do share some pics when you are done building the cage).

Just to add a tip on keeping Daisy healthy & happy... maybe adopt her a little buddy to play with??? She'd appreciate that quite a bit as they are very social & you'd be doing another piggy a great deed!

Have a wonderful holiday & a great new year with your new piggy!

daisymae12 · Dec 19, 2008

Thanks for the welcome! I didn't realize there was such a wealth of knowledge about these wonderful animals! It's fascinating to read through all the threads. I'm itching to go to Ukrops tomorrow and get all the ingredients for Miss Daisy's garden salad tomorrow. :]

I am definitely considering a second piggy but I don't think it would be healthy to get one until I have a new cage. I also want to figure out the ropes to taking care of Daisy properly before I add another one into the mix! I'm usually a "planner" so I was a wee bit overwhelmed when I had such a wide variety of pets to choose from! I think I made the right choice though. Hamsters just can't reciprocate in the way that it seems guinea pigs can.

Happy Holidays to you and your piggys as well from Daisy and I! :]

psmadden · Dec 19, 2008

Congrats on daisy!! be sure to post pictures! im a new cavy owner myself, after two days of having one, I just had to get my peanut a buddy. You will find yourself wanting more and more piggies! i finally have a total of three, two girls and a boy- the boy of course has his own cage until i adopt a friend for him or get him neutered.

Ly&Pigs · Dec 20, 2008

The Mazuri will be fine to feed her as long as it's Mazuri Formula 5664 and not other formula. I wouldn't put much stock in the advice you were given in the petstore, many employees aren't that educated on the proper care of animals.

I see you are already planning a better veggie menu. If you haven't already, please read over the Nutrition charts and sample menu's threads in the Diet and Nutrition forum.

Welcome to GPC. I'm sure you will learn more than you ever thought possible about our furry little friends.

rabbitsncavyluv · Dec 20, 2008

Ditto Ly. Kale and carrots aren't the best things to feed daily.

Make sure you do have a female guinea pig. They are often missexed and ill.

daisymae12 · Dec 23, 2008

A photograph of Driving Miss Daisy (her nickname) as requested. She is MOST DEFINITELY a girl. I looked at a boy guinea pig today and his anatomy was a wee bit different from Daisy's (he was up for adoption on Craigslist but we didn't click and I think I'd rather get a piggy closer to Daisy's age)! Sorry for the crappy quality of the picture, my camera on my phone sucks! The other side of her is black, which is pretty cool if you ask me!

Sorry to take so long to get back to you guys. I've changed Daisy's diet a little bit. I've been feeding her Romaine lettucce, chopped carrots, and one baby tomato. I alternate between adding a slice of apple and orange for the "fruit" section of her diet. I give her fresh hay whenever it appears she's low-- she loves the feathery seedy parts of it. She goes bananas over them, hahaha!

We've bonded a lot. She's sitting on my lap right now.

She hasn't taken very kindly to my boyfriend though. I didn't think piggys bite (and Daisy has never even tried to nip, bite or even "nibble" me) but he SWEARS she bit him. Not hard, just kind of "testing".

Here's one more cute picture of her. After this I cleaned her cage... Don't judge me!

Oh and even happier news! My boyfriend is gettig me a C&C cage for christmas. I'm buying one ready-made because neither of us are great engineers or builders. So once I get my new cage I can find Daisy the perfect partner.

Last thing, I promise, this forum made me a little nervous about Daisy's health because pet stores are apparently really lacking in proper care. So I made her a vet appointment with a small animal vet in my area whose supposed to be GREAT. She's going to meet the Good Doctor on January 18th, one month exactly after I got her! :]

5guinea5pig5 · Dec 23, 2008

Aww she's so cute!!

breezy2 · Dec 23, 2008

Welcome a bit late. I too bought my first piggy from a pet store. She was pregnant (a little surprise for us, 2 babies about 2 months after we brought her home). After that I came on to do some research and I have learned so much on this site and one other that I visit daily. Sounds like you are going to be a great piggy caregiver and Daisy is adorable.

BubuCandyBlue · Dec 23, 2008

Welcome to the forum, wish you lots of time to read it hehe, and get you going with Daisy, that way being able to adopt her a friend A.S.A.P.

daisymae12 · Dec 23, 2008

Thank you muchly for all the welcomes! It's been great to find such a knowledgable community. Not only am I better owner, but Daisy is going to lead a much happier and healthier life thanks to this website. ;]

Oh and Daisy thanks you too. She's chomping away at a bit of lettuce and the rapture on her face is too adorable for words. I'm going to pick up red and green pepper tomorrow in honor christmas!

Happy holidays to everyone! Hope Santa visits everyone's pigs this year. ;] He's bringing Daisy a special surprise but ... shhhh! Don't spill the beans about her new cage!

AnimalHouse36 · Dec 23, 2008

Haha, you'll find yourself adding on to her cage for every holiday! And some in between. It's actually quite pathetic. I think I'm up to four remodles. Maybe five.

Who's couting!

Dasiy's VERY cute btw!

5guinea5pig5 · Dec 23, 2008

I'm not making fun of you AnimalHouse but couting is a funny word.

Tserisa · Dec 23, 2008

Sometimes that nibbling (rather than an all out CHOMP) is tasting, because someone tastes good. So maybe she doesn't dislike him, really, he just smells good. Does she chatter her teeth or otherwise act anxious around him?

Welcome to the forum! I'm new too. Glad to hear about the diet changes, and getting the C&C cage! I'm sure Daisy is very grateful, and you sound like you're committed to her welfare.

AnimalHouse36 · Dec 24, 2008

I'm not making fun of you AnimalHouse but couting is a funny word.

Haha just noticed that. S'all good! No harm done!

Peggysu · Dec 24, 2008

Congrats on the newest member of you family! Welcome to GPC.

daisymae12 · Dec 29, 2008

I didn't want to jinx it but its now official! I found the perfect piggy for my family on Craigslist and after a nail-biting adoption screening, she'll be mine tomorrow! She's a six week old (her mother was adopted from a rescue with the owners aware of her being pregnant - right before I took her home today, the owners were told that the babies had to be returned to the rescue, and I had to go through them... and it was very complicated and I had to fill out forms and take pictures of my cage and general set up but well worth it) short-haired sow. I'll post some pictures of her after she arrives tomorrow.

Hopefully she and Daisy will get on swimmingly! I will post pictures of "Paisley" tomorrow. She's very tiny. I almost think she's younger than six weeks...

breezy2 · Dec 30, 2008

That is so great that Daisy will soon have a buddy. You think the rescue would have told her before she adopted, if they were aware of her pregnancy, that the babies had to go back to them. I do think it is a great thing though that the rescues want to be sure the babies go to proper homes and not people who will be rehoming them once they get tired of them.

I filled out a long adoption form for Ella and gave all kinds of details at the SPCA. They took the form and entered a little bit of info and I told them something about one of the questions, can't remember exactly which. They basically said it isn't important for a small animal only the dogs and cats, as if the small animals were just disposable. I thought it was sort of sad. Then the person entering the information went on to tell me about all the small animals her son "got tired of" and rehomed with a friend. Not a pleasant experience at all.

daisymae12 · Dec 30, 2008

No, the rescue is mainly centered around Rabbits but they took this particular sow in because she was a.) pregnant and b.) on death row at the Henrico Animal County shelter.

So they weren't exactly keeping tabs on her. But when the former owners called to say they found a home for Paisley, the rescue flipped. It was kind of funny because the forms I had to sign kept saying "your rabbit" so we had to cross them out and write in "your guinea pig"... hahaha!

Anyway she's home now. I'm so happy. She's living in Daisy's old cage (we got a 41 x 21 cage today for Daisy to live in until we move - C&C cage is not very "house on the market" friendly) and she's super friendly but also scared of her own shadow! I tried to trim Daisy's nails today but she squirmed and squealed and acted like her life was ending so I'll just have to suck it up and make monthly vet visits.

breezy2 · Dec 31, 2008

LOL, my piggies all hate having their nails trimmed. Best of luck with her.

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Introducing Me & My First Pig

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