New to the forum

Look at the C&C cages mentioned here, for about $20 @ K-mart you can get a box od 'storage cubes' the first 'C' and then search for corogated plastic signboard (Coroplast) and make a delux cage for about $40.

Have you looked at adopting a cavy from a rescue, that is the main thrust here on this website as often 'pet store' pigs are not all that healthy, possibly pregnant, possibly mis-sexed.

Glad you are here and welcome read all you can before you bring your furry friend home so you know what to expect, proper foods to feed, right bedding and all that.

When I adopted mine earlier this month I was appaled by the pellet mix and bag of cherios cerial I got with it.

Please don't buy a pig from a pet store. Not only does the pet store keep them in horrible conditions, but the places they're bred are beyond awful. Sows are kept continually pregnant, they get no medical care, they're shipped stuffed in huge plastic containers with no hay and no food. PETA has sued both Petsmart and Petco for the godawful way they treat their animals. If you want to know how they're really kept, see PetSmart Cruelty.

Pet store animals often are missexed and have diseases. There are a bunch of recent threads here about male guinea pigs being pregnant -- the pet stores couldn't tell the difference in the sexes. And there are a bunch more about people who got their pets home with serious illnesses that required vet treatment right off the bat.

If you'll post the name of the city you're closest to, we'll be happy to help you find a guinea pig at a rescue or a shelter. That way you won't be supporting those breeding mills. A good rescue will do its best to make sure you have a healthy, properly-sexed animal.

The pet store cage is too small. However large it is, it's too small. See the Home page of this website for lots of ideas about cage building, way cheaper than $87.

Welcome to the forum. We'd love to see pictures of your pig when you get one.

Thanks for replying to me so quickly! The pet store that I am purchasing it from is a local buisiness owner in whom I have known for about 20 years now. I have done extensive research on the diets of guinea pigs and I am amazed of how you can build their cages...so many different ways. Is it more feasible to use fleece instead of wood chips for the floor? Or does the wood chips help with their nails being trimmed down?

bpatters said:

Please don't buy a pig from a pet store. Not only does the pet store keep them in horrible conditions, but the places they're bred are beyond awful. Sows are kept continually pregnant, they get no medical care, they're shipped stuffed in huge plastic containers with no hay and no food. PETA has sued both Petsmart and Petco for the godawful way they treat their animals. If you want to know how they're really kept, see PetSmart Cruelty.

Pet store animals often are missexed and have diseases. There are a bunch of recent threads here about male guinea pigs being pregnant -- the pet stores couldn't tell the difference in the sexes. And there are a bunch more about people who got their pets home with serious illnesses that required vet treatment right off the bat.

If you'll post the name of the city you're closest to, we'll be happy to help you find a guinea pig at a rescue or a shelter. That way you won't be supporting those breeding mills. A good rescue will do its best to make sure you have a healthy, properly-sexed animal.

The pet store cage is too small. However large it is, it's too small. See the Home page of this website for lots of ideas about cage building, way cheaper than $87.

Welcome to the forum. We'd love to see pictures of your pig when you get one.

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The issue with that choice is that it directly supports the overpopulation of guinea pigs, where millions are abandoned, overfull shelters trying to save these little souls & the back to back breeding sows risking their lives to fill the place of the pigs you choose to purchase. Please don't support this endless cycle of abuse.

Babies in pet stores are cute yes, but they are also antisocial, skittish,
squirmy, hard to handle & demands a lot of time to socialize. There is also no way of knowing how they turn out in terms of aggression, or how they respond to human contact as adults.
With adopted pigs, you can adopt a well bonded pair, and know exactly what their personalities are like. And if you absolutely need babies, the thousands of abandoned pregnant sows in shelters need your help rescuing their babies.

The issue is again that the pigs come from a breeder, not the pet store. Most breeding sows are living in horrible conditions, and the mortality rate is extremely high & especially as they rarely get any vet care. Every action has a reaction, where the result of supporting the over population will lead to other guinea pigs death in a shelter, and the breeding sow will have to have yet another litter to fill the place of the one's purchased in the store. By purchasing pigs, you put your money into continuing this. There is no reason what so ever that you can't rescue two of the millions of pigs needing homes, instead of supporting the over population, breeding & abuse.

No hard feelings about it...but I am going to purchase this pig. This to me is not a debate forum on "where" I get the guinea pig. I can't wait to see my daughter's face when she sees her.

I hope you realize what you are supporting. I don't see why you with this information would knowingly support it. This forum is pro-adopting for the above reasons you are ignoring, which is why the abuse & results are mentioned to all members in the same place.

I urge you to ask where the pigs come from, & possibly visit the breeder to see the conditions. Most pet stores will not give this information however as seeing how the sows are kept will keep them from purchasing. Also visit a shelter & listen to what will happen when you do purchase before deciding.

Regardless, guinea pigs are highly social herd animals and should be kept in pairs. Keep that in mind when building an adequately large cage. cage buiding isn't that hard at all & will be a fun project for you and your daughter. Good luck.

OK guys Nobody has answered her questions! Have any of you read the notice at the top of the page? LET IT GO! now help her create a great environment for her Piggy. it's not fair to rain on someone's parade and tarnishing the Joy of getting a new pet. You have said your piece in the first Response post.

In my experience Fleece is the best thing to use for Bedding, I made a kitchen area for my Babies and use Yesterdays news as litter in that area. I find They potty there the most.
Wood shavings will not help keep the nails trimmed down at all, If you start trimming her nails from day 1 on a regular basis she will become accostomed to it and won't fight so much. You can Wrap her in a towel at first is she struggles too much while you are trying to cut her nails.

Pet store Cages SUCK. I have 2 sitting in my basement and they were 120 each. ouch. They are much too small, so much wasted space and you have to deal with the shape it comes as.
it cost me about 40 dollars to build a nice 2x3 C&C cage with a second story kitchen. C&C cages you can make any shape and size you would like. the bigger the better! it is so fun watching them run around and popcorn when they have lots of room. It is better for them mentally and physically. I am glad you are looking into Building her one.

If you decide in the future to get her a friend to live with (piggies do well in pairs or groups either Same sex or with neutered males) there are so many being listed to give away free on your local bargain finder ads or Rescue is an even better way to go as you can bring your Piggy with you to find her someone SHE likes.

Because you are getting her from a pet store and you don't know the conditions of the place she originally came from, you should watch for crusty eyes, any balding patches, excess scratching, You can visually see Lice but not Mites. you can look up the symtpoms of Mites on the home page or do a search on the forums. Sneezing, weight loss or drastic Gain. (you can pick up a scale fairly cheap in any dept store. Weighing her weekly will help you monitor her health better.

Thank you SOOO MUCH, magikof7! You have really helped me more than anybody! I will look her over thouroughly before purchasing her.

And to the post above hers...umm I have visitted this pet store (locally owned..remind you) for more than 20 years and personally know the owner longer! You do not "know" me so don't go "judging".

Thanks for your time and did not know this site was pro-adopting. Sorry for the intrusion.

melissaferrell said:

Thank you SOOO MUCH, magikof7! You have really helped me more than anybody! I will look her over thouroughly before purchasing her.

And to the post above hers...umm I have visitted this pet store (locally owned..remind you) for more than 20 years and personally know the owner longer! You do not "know" me so don't go "judging".

Thanks for your time and did not know this site was pro-adopting. Sorry for the intrusion.

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Please re-read my messages, I'm not talking about this certain pet store, it's owner, or you personally.
But the breeder where the pigs come from. The money you directly pay them to continue to harshly breed this race with heavy overpopulation with homeless pigs, and the sows who are risking their lives in less than humane conditions to bring you these pigs, and the ones replacing them at the store. It's important you are aware of this to make that choice.

If you do choose to purchase, pay very much attention to the pigs not only at the store, but when you've brought them home. You will also need to make sure to sex the pig properly. Put pictures up here if you are uncertain, or visit a cavy savvy exotics vet.

Read through guinea lynx when you have the time, for all information you need in illnesses, signs & treatment.
https://www.guinealynx.info/index.html

Some of you need to read the note at the top of this page!

My two girls came from a pet store. Although I will look for rescues next time, my girls are both happy and healthy I started off using woodshavings but I'm looking to change to fleece as it's meant to be alot more economical and better allround for the piggies!

Make sure you check out the threads on here about what to feed and how much. But well done at taking the first step towards learning more about how to look after your furry friend. I only got my girls nearly 2 months ago and have found this forum so helpful! There is so much great information on here. Good luck!

Your Welcome Melissaferrell.
Everyone here really loves Guinea Pigs and it is hard to keep in mind that strong opinions with New comers is very off putting, I Hope you stay and make use of the wealth of information and experienced people here. Everyone that posted are great people just very hard wired when it comes to pet store pigs versus rescue and we can't blame anyone for that.
I agree Rescue is the way to go but it is not a perfect world.

I highly recommend when you get your piggy to take her for a Vet check up with an experienced Exotic vet or a Vet that treats Guinea pigs.

Welcome to the forum! You find LOTS of really helpful information here (and, yes, you will find some very strong opinions too-it's what makes this forum unique! You don't just get information, you get people with information that truly love and care about pigs ). That being said, I hope you will adopt or rescue (check your local Craigslist) a friend for your new pig in the future (my first pig came from a pet store and her friend was a rescue). I totally agree with taking her to the vet first thing. Luckily, she is being purchased from someone that you know and trust but see if you can get any information about where they got her from. An intial vet visit is always a good idea regardless of where the animal comes from.

Now, onto the good stuff! A C&C cage is truly the way to go and much cheaper than any store bought cage. If you can't get the coroplast right away, a shower curtain or any heavy plastic would work as long as she can't get to it to chew on. With one box of cubes you can make her some pretty nice digs. I would definatly go with fleece on top of either 2 layers of towels or 2 layers of Uhaul furniture pads (the recycled denim). I also have a kitchen area that I use carefresh in and I find it controls a lot of the mess (and trying to get hay off fleece can be a pain). I also have a "pillow" in their sleeping area which is basically one layer of fleece, 2 layers of towel, and another layer of fleece all sewn together. My girls don't like igloos so I made a special "bedroom" for them where they sleep. From what I understand, guinea pigs poop and pee where they eat and sleep, so a little extra protection in those areas are always a good idea.

I change out the carefresh and the pillow twice a week and do a complet cage change every Sunday. The nice thing about being able to quickly and easily clean the kitchen and bedroom is that, in the event I can't do a complete cage change every Sunday, I know the most soiled areas are clean. I would def look at all the pictures of cages posted here for inspiration, but if you're like most of us, you will be constantly changing the configuration of the cage anyways!

I hope your daughter loves her new friend! We would love to see pictures when you get them!

and Melissa I have 4 pet store Pigs and 4 pet store Chinchillas. Here Rescue was not an option for me.

yeah I went to look for a rescue "just to see" and there is none listed around my area either. I haven't tried Craigslist though. Thank you so much!

Try Pet adoption: Want a dog or cat? Adopt a pet on Petfinder, put in "small and furry" as the animal and "guinea pig" as the breed. There are nearly a dozen guinea pigs within a hour's drive of you.

THANKS bpatters! I will let you know if I find one...

Well the closest one was in Roanoke, VA and that's about an hour and a half...not worth the drive. When I can get this one for 36 dollars and it would cost me about 40-60 bucks for the gas to get to Roanoke, VA. I will post pics of our Reese Cup when we get her!

Can sombody help me figure out how to put my picture on the profile? I uploaded a pic but I didn't see where I could put it into my profile pic.....Thanks