Our first piggies!

RoxieJo · Nov 30, 2010

Hello! My husband and I are first time owners of 2 female piggies (Roxie and Josie). We love tham dearly and have had them for 3 months. We got them from a friend who had them in a 22X14" cage. Befor finding this site we bought them a 36X24" cage from petsmart and connected it to the smaller cage. We are now working on a huge C&C and can't wait to get them in it... in the meantime they get lots of floor time...they popcorned like crazy over the 36X24 so I know this new C&C will really blow their minds. Before we got them they had never eaten anything other than pellet (no hay, no veggies, EVER in their lives)... and their former owner works at Petsmart (imagine that >(). We are trying to be the best parents to them, so they've each been getting a large daily salad, unlimited hay, and rabbit grass for the last 2 months (since we got educated by this site). But I've noticed since they get good food now, Roxie (our dominant) chases Josie away from all food except the hay. We take Roxie out for lap time so that Josie can eat in peace. And they will no longer sleep or cuddle together... Roxie claims every bed and hidey in the cage so Josie is too afraid to use any of them. Roxie is about a half pound bigger than Josie. They have never actually fought, but they used to cuddle and don't seem to be friends anymore either. Will this be helped once they are in their bigger C&C cage? And can guinea pigs overeat? They eat an unbelievable amount of hay... and grass... and veggies... is that normal and ok? And after posting this I noticed that my profile pic of Roxie and Josie isn't showing up with my username... did I do something wrong?

Nicolene · Nov 30, 2010

Welcome to the world of piggers! They are so much fun! I will say that my pigs act like they don't like each other, but the minute you take one out the other will run up and down the cage squeaking for his buddy. They used to sleep together when the baby was still a baby, but they definitely prefer to sleep alone now. In fact, our older pig will sometimes drag his pigloo away from the other one's. So we now place the pigloo openings to face away from each other.

The older one will sometimes block the other one from getting into the hay bin and though it seems mean, I swear, I think they are like kids, going "neener, neener, you can't get to the hay!"

They like to chase each other and play "train" during floor time and snatch veggies from each other, but other than that they kind of co-exist. However, we have to take them to vet visits together, because I think our younger one will die mourning his buddy if they were ever separated too long, he cries and cries if we take his buddy out, so we have to take them both out every time.

They are going to LOVE the c&c, my piggers went nuts and to this day they can't wait to get back in after I've cleaned. They love change btw, so move their tunnels and pigloos around to see happy popcorning after cage cleanings.

Good luck and have fun!

P.S. They do eat A LOT. They are "pigs" after all.

Toadies · Nov 30, 2010

Piggies' main purpose is to steal our hearts. Their main job is to eat and poop. My boys were frequently disputing who was boss and never cuddled BUT they ate the bars that I used to seperate them after surgeries. They also always went to the doc together. Do you have two of everything - at opposite ends of the cage? As long as they don't draw blood, they will probably be just fine. It helps to leave something of each of theirs not soap and water clean when you clean the cage. I used to clean their hidies with hot water and elbow grease, unless someone was ill, just to leave their smell. That cut down on the dominance dance some as there wasn't as much need to re-mark territory. They should have unlimited hay and, yes, they can overeat. Keep the sweet things to a minimum and check out Ly's diet info. Welcome, thank you for caring and enjoy the babies.

LauraBean · Nov 30, 2010

Welcome, and congrats on the new piggies!
It's always fun to see people here so close to me!

Shurrim · Nov 30, 2010

For your pic as avatar, should be no more than 100x100 pixels or 64kb
My boys can munch on hay all day long. Since I got fresh hay from horse place, they eat even more! They need to eat a lot to always keep their intestinal tract working. else they might have problems, from what I've read.
I know for boars they recommend 2 or more (number of piggies +1) of each item.
Your girls are probable very excited about that much space and working on dominance. It will settle in a while. My boys used to fight a lot, not they peacefully eat side by side but they sleep each in their hideys (which are side by side.. ) My dominant at first also tried to push the other one away from veggies or pellets. Eventually the other one fought back for his right to share. Now they share. Give them time. Might also fight once in the bigger cage, then settle down.
And welcome to the site!

RoxieJo · Nov 30, 2010

Thank you so much, mine were actually chasing eachother this morning, I woke up to their antics

Glad to know that their behavior is normal and they are not enemies!

cam767 · Nov 30, 2010

Welcome! Pigs do love to eat. My 2 will blow through the morning salad in about 10 minutes. At night they blow through the dinner salad in about 10-15 and then go straight for the pellets and eat those all gone too. By the time we go to bed they are looking for more. lol
How old are your pigs? Maybe the bickering is something like teenage harmones? Hopefully with a bigger cage they won't bicker so much since there will be more room. When you move them in make sure you have 2 or 3 of everything to help cut down on the spats. You can also feed veggies off of 2 plates and see if that helps.

Good luck!

Nicolene · Nov 30, 2010

RoxieJo said:
Thank you so much, mine were actually chasing eachother this morning, I woke up to their antics Glad to know that their behavior is normal and they are not enemies!

Ours can be so darn loud at night, we actually have to sleep with our door closed..

RoxieJo · Nov 30, 2010

I'm still learning on how to reply to posts, but thank you to each of you for all the helpful info! I'm trying to figure out how to rank you all as helpful and tactful

I am truly having a blast with my girls, I've never had small pets and these are so much fun. My husband and I crack up at their popcorning! I always want to interfere when I see dominance going on, but it sounds like my husband is right when he says to let the piggies sort it out for themselves. Just a few days ago I saw Roxie rumblestrut for the first time, and have seen it several times since then. But Josie just wimpers a lil' and keeps her distance and Roxie settles down. No actual fighting. My husband and I do get some satisfaction when we see Josie get away with snatching food from Roxie... it appeals to our nature to pull for the "underdog"... or "underpig" I guess! Thanks again to all of you

Where People & Piggies Thrive

Newbie or Guinea Guru? Popcorn in!

Our first piggies!

RoxieJo

Well-known Member

Nicolene

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Toadies

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LauraBean

Well-known Member

Shurrim

Well-known Member

RoxieJo

Well-known Member

cam767

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Nicolene

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RoxieJo

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