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Adopting 2 pigs next week.

Jencat

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Hi!

New here and too piggies. My sons preschool has 2 males we are going to adopt full time. We took them over the winter break + some, for 6 weeks total and now I'm addicted. My son named them Chester and Spaghetti, I about died since he usually names everything pretty blunt, like mama zebra & bear bear, but these 2 just came right out of his mouth and they stuck! They really were not getting proper care and enough TLC time at school, so they've agreed to give them to us with their existing cage, which is not the greatest to my understanding. I think its equivalent to this, (broken link removed)

They were not happy when they first got here, but I didn't know much about guinea pigs specifically until I started reading things, mostly on this site, and found out they were really pissed off most of the time and never made happy noises. The long haired one has terrible mats that needed to be cut out and his ears have evidence of past fights. I did see them come to blows more during the 2 weeks when I was trying to figure out what was wrong, lots of chattering chasing, mounting, some fur in the mouth, "yawning", and full on fisticuffs between them. I read as much as I could and tried to get them some relief quickly.

I gave them both a new hidey, one pigloo and 1 pbr box :) Lots of hay, tons of fresh veggies, toilet paper tubes, a wicker basket, and some floor time. Their cage also had a small shelf (upper level) that I took out b/c it was being peed on A LOT and it's plastic, it made Chesters fur really gross, so he also got a little hair cut and a bath.

There seemed to be some physical hierarchy issues involving the shelf and removing seems to have helped and made room for the pigloo. I also set up a floor time space for them so they could get away from each other for a while in a bigger space. They still were being little fuss butts so I took a few drops of lavender oil mixed with some jojoba oil and just put a 2 dabs each one with my finger tip. This seemed to help quite a bit, they are mostly being tolerant of each other now, not bf's by any means, but less angry and leave each other alone most of the time. I now have made a little spray bottle with 10 drop of lavender oil and about 1 cup of water, I give it a little shake and each one gets a spray, its very fine mist. I use one of the old spray deodorant bottles.

Whew, that is 6 weeks in a nutshell, then we took them back to the school after break and now it is breaking my heart too see them 3 days a week and know they are so miserable without the attention :( We are taking them home next Thursday after we have a bon voyage party for them for the kids. In the meantime, dont fret, the school is only around the corner, so I go check on them every day, feed them and love them :)

I am also working on a new cage situation. I have lots of lumber, rabbit fencing, power tools, fleece already and towels & moving blankets are next on the need to get list. This week is planning and building a new home for these little dudes and I imagine I will be back here with more questions. I think I have a photo on my phone of at least one of them I will try to add. I have lots of great ideas after looking at all the great photos on here.
 
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Threepigsnacuy

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Welcome and congrats on your soon-to-be new piggies!
They are probably fighting because of the lack of space in their cage, this might stop with a larger cage. Just wondering, why are you spraying them with lavender?
You could build a c and c cage, it is easier that using lumber and wire. I would also recommend taking them to the vet when you bring them home.
 

Jencat

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IMG_20140111_135055[1].jpgIMG_20140111_135103[1].jpgIMG_20140111_135133[1].jpg Found a few photos.
Chester is the longhair and more personable of the two.
Spaghetti is short hair, mostly black and hiding in his pigloo.
 

Jencat

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I do know that they went to the vet one month ago,checked out and treated for lice. Still think they should go again?
I was using the lavender for 2 reasons, supposed to be "calming" and to make them both smell neutral.

I'm pretty handy and have built lots of things. Plus, my toddler getting to help me build their cage with power tools will be super awesome for him.
And, I already have everything I need to build a good sized enclosure with a removable top, so I can save money there. Although I was eyeballing an old entertainment center I have, thinking about converting it into a hotel in the future. I have to restrain myself from going overboard on the first try :)
 

Dogsareking

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Wow! Welcome to the Forum. You know, it would be really super cool if you could actually make a c and c cage. You can use the power tools, but if you try to go overboard, you are going to end up with spoiled piggies, and lots of piggies. (Spoiled Piggies is isn't a bad thing. Just make sure that you remember to pay attention to your kid from time to time! That wasn't supposed to be rude, if you were offended at all.) And, you should remember to keep him away from the piggies too much, other wise you might end up with some hurt piggies, as sometimes small children might squeeze them!
 
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