A GP N00b Has Been Born!

Hello! I suppose I should introduce myself before I delve right into this. I'm a 17 year old guy from Massachusetts and I'm a junior in high school. I'm pretty knowledgable with computers and as you can tell, I'm a stickler for grammar and spelling. I'm sensitive and I like to have a good time. I'm not even remotely macho - I think being here proves that. I don't know any guys who would even think about getting a guinea pig, much less consider them cute. Anyhow, now that that's through, let's dive into this!

I have been trolling these forums for quite awhile now. About a year ago, I started thinking about getting my own little pet of some sort like a hamster or a rabbit. I had looked into chinchillas and snakes and tons of other sorts of animals, but the one that I really found to be my favorite was the guinea pig. It seemed to be the one that was the most lovable, although I must admit, requires a lot of attention and such while the other animals really don't need too much. I think the trade-off is definately in my favor, though.

Anyway, I came here to tell you all exactly what I'm planning so that you can tell me if I know what I'm doing, if I'm all suited up to get my new pets, and to suggest to me any changes if they're needed. I might have a few other questions along the way, too. This has been a long time in the making, too - like a year of reading and researching, so just warning you: this post is going to be a damn long one. I hope you brought your coffee.

First of all, I have to think about the location of these little rascals. The favored area, according to most people, would be where the most action is. Well, our family doesn't exactly hang out in one specific area. When dad comes out every night around 6, there's action in the kitchen and dining room for about 2 to 3 hours and then everyone goes to their rooms. Mom goes to her office, dad to his office, me and my brother to our rooms. So that's no good. The next obvious choice is my own bedroom, since they will be my own pets. I do spend a substantial amount of time in my room, too! I go to school from 7 to 2 mon-fri but other than that, I'm generally in my room and I am up at all hours, too. So that seems to be a good idea. I'll usually be near them. I can hear their every squeal and tend to their every need. Besides, I think I need them more than they need me. I tend to get lonely very easily and I always need someone near by. We have a dog (and that issue will be spoken about later on) and though I love her dearly and I cuddle with her and play with her every chance I get, she's not really mine and she goes to bed with my parents at 9 (Must excuse the time; they're old ). Like I said, I'm up at all hours of the night and some companionship would be good. From what I've read, piggies don't seem to care if the sun is up or down. They're awake or sleepin' from hour to hour.

So with my room, I gotta work out the place where the piggies would stay. Well, it looks like I have some space there that is going unused except for some crap that I don't really need, so that seems to be perfect. Here is a picture of my room. At the foot of my bed, against the wall, is where I'm planning to put the cage. Just outside of the picture to the right is another window and just to the left is my door. The place where the picture is being taken from is where I am always at - right in front of my computer at my desk. The area to work with is about 4'x8' keeping in mind that some room to walk between the bed and the cage would be ideal. I'm planning on two piggies (since they're so social) so I'm thinking a grid cage of 2x4 would be perfect. Unfortunately, I have nothing to place this on. I've seen some pictures of people who use the grids to make a stand for the cage and that seems to be good because I do want the pigs to be a bit lower so I can get a good overhead view and easily see them and clean things out. But I don't want to intimidate them either by appearing so much larger than them and I don't want my dog to be able to get into it. I'm thinking that I'll put the cage up under legs that are 2 grids tall. Would I need to make a U-shape of these grids underneath the 4x2 cage in order to support it? I'm not sure exactly what I'd need to do to accomplish this. Also, this sounds expensive. I'd need a lot of connectors and a lot of grids, but I'm not too worried. Mom's willing to give me quite a bit of money for this project and I have more than enough myself. I don't want to put a top on the cage because I don't like have that boundary between me and pigs. It just seems to me that I'd feel much closer to my pigs if there wasn't a boundary inbetween us. If I could, I'd let them walk around my house on their own at all times, but that's a definate no-no. This house is most certainly not piggy-proof.

I found a place to get coroplast and I suppose I'll visit petsmart for food supplies. Timothy hay for fiber and whatnot. Aspen shavings on the bottom for bedding with a thin layer of carefresh on top. The bedding will be replaced weekly. Some sort of pellets that contain calcium, too. I need a water bottle (or should I get 2, one for each pig?) and a food bowl for pellets. Then I'll get some igloos and I'll prolly buy a cozy just because they're so friggin' cute. Vegies about once a day from a list I got online. There's no way I'll memorize exactly what's good and bad for piggies - so much stuff. I'll just reference the site, hah. I heard oranges are very good for calcium, though, and they like kale.

I believe that's it. If I'm totally forgetting something here, let me know. I want to make sure I get this all right. By the way, I'm definately not getting my piggies from Petsmart. I'm going to be checking out the local humane societies and have been searching around for anyone in the Massachusetts area who would be adopting out any GPs. It's hard to find 2 female ones, though, so damn picky, aren't I? Ugh! This search is going to be exhausting. It's one thing to get the materials - it's another to get the damn pig!

Ciao,
-D