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Cage Questions for GP Babies and More

HelloAnna

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Mar 14, 2014
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Joined
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I'm getting 2 baby guinea pigs in a weeks/month's time. (My friend bought her guinea pigs and one was pregnant, we don't agree to breeding)
I have done a lot of research before and owned two grown guinea pigs and a few babies before, I gave them to a family friend because I was moving at the time and couldn't properly find the time to give them.


I'm thinking about getting a 2x6 Jumbo C&C Cage (Wide Loft) or Jumbo 2x6 C&C Cage or maybe the XL 2x5 C&C Cage
- Coroplast walls be 6"
- Planning to use fleece, with towels underneath or pads
- I think the preferred for two is like 2x4/5? But I still want to get 2x6 (Might adopt a third pig in the further future)
- Thinking about translucent coroplast from the store, but stains might get on them, what do you think? (Also looking at pink-exclusive?-, green, royal blue, silver, yellow)

Questions:
Is this enough space for 2 full grown guinea pigs? (For when they grow bigger):
Do you suggest two females or two males? (I heard female were a lot more skittish, and males are easier to get used to you?):
Can the babies fit through the squares/grids of the C&C Cage?:
Is it worth paying the extra money for a loft? (I don't like the narrow loft so I'm going for wide):
Is 2x6 big enough for 3 piggies?:
What color coroplast do you like?:
What veggies/fruits do you feed your guinea pigs?(I'm aware that this varies from different guinea pigs, I just want to see what I should try out):
I feed baby guinea pigs alfalfa hay until they are 6 months old+ right?:

Also looking for any tips of caring for a guinea pig:​
 

Starthecavy123

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I'm getting 2 baby guinea pigs in a weeks/month's time. (My friend bought her guinea pigs and one was pregnant, we don't agree to breeding)
I have done a lot of research before and owned two grown guinea pigs and a few babies before, I gave them to a family friend because I was moving at the time and couldn't properly find the time to give them.


I'm thinking about getting a 2x6 Jumbo C&C Cage (Wide Loft) or Jumbo 2x6 C&C Cage or maybe the XL 2x5 C&C Cage
- Coroplast walls be 6"
- Planning to use fleece, with towels underneath or pads
- I think the preferred for two is like 2x4/5? But I still want to get 2x6 (Might adopt a third pig in the further future)
- Thinking about translucent coroplast from the store, but stains might get on them, what do you think? (Also looking at pink-exclusive?-, green, royal blue, silver, yellow)

Questions:
Is this enough space for 2 full grown guinea pigs? (For when they grow bigger):
Do you suggest two females or two males? (I heard female were a lot more skittish, and males are easier to get used to you?):
Can the babies fit through the squares/grids of the C&C Cage?:
Is it worth paying the extra money for a loft? (I don't like the narrow loft so I'm going for wide):
Is 2x6 big enough for 3 piggies?:
What color coroplast do you like?:
What veggies/fruits do you feed your guinea pigs?(I'm aware that this varies from different guinea pigs, I just want to see what I should try out):
I feed baby guinea pigs alfalfa hay until they are 6 months old+ right?:

Also looking for any tips of caring for a guinea pig:​

Congrats, this forum also apposes breeding. For your questions here are my answers.

1. Yes that is exactly enough for 2 guinea pigs. But males are more territorial so if you find they keep fighting you will want to expand.

2. Its really a personal prefference. I had a girl or what I thought was a girl. Who after 5 years turned out to be a boy. Now after having him I can say he loved being held.

3. Yes you will have to wrap the grids in mesh or over lad extra grids to make the holes smaller. Baby guinea pigs can deffinetly fit through those small holes. So baby proofing is required.

4. Really its the main floor that you need to worry about being larg enough. People like lofts because they can use it as a kitchen. That way all the bedding stays off the fleece.

5. Yes a 2x6 is perfect for 3 pigs but like I said if you get males you will need to go bigger. Especially if you find that the males are fighting a lot. And never seem to figure out who will be the boss. Males are more territorial but I know bigger is always better anyway but even more so with males.

6. I like pink myself that is my favorite color, but my coroplast is white because the sign shop only had white. Its really a personal prefference, clear would probably show imperfections more.

7. There is a food chart that would be a good thing to look at. I would try all of those and see what they like.

8. Yes that is perfect.

Good luck with the babies, hope mommy has a smoothe delivery.
 

Princess_Piggie

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Females V Males: Males require more space, and usually fight (with each other) more, meaning a 2x6 may not be big enough for two when they reach puberty. It is perfectly adequate in size, but sometimes males just need even more room to avoid fighting. 2x6 is fine for any age pairing of females, and could fit 3 sows, but not 3 males.
Males also require anal sac cleanings, so if you want to avoid that, go with sows.

Veg only varies in pigs if they have medical issues. See https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List for what to feed and how often.

Gender plays no role in how easily a pig will bond with you, it depends on the individual pig. Lofts are the same, some pigs like them, some will never use them. It's a trial and error product really.

Until a guinea pig is 6 months, it needs extra calcium, yes. This can be done one of three ways; a supplement of alfalfa hay (not replacing the grass hay, they need unlimited quantities of that), providing alfalfa based pellets, or by supplementing extra parsley in to their veg. This stops when the pig is 6 months old, and only one is needed.
 

HelloAnna

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Mar 14, 2014
Posts
17
Joined
Mar 14, 2014
Messages
17
Congrats, this forum also apposes breeding. For your questions here are my answers.

1. Yes that is exactly enough for 2 guinea pigs. But males are more territorial so if you find they keep fighting you will want to expand.

2. Its really a personal prefference. I had a girl or what I thought was a girl. Who after 5 years turned out to be a boy. Now after having him I can say he loved being held.

3. Yes you will have to wrap the grids in mesh or over lad extra grids to make the holes smaller. Baby guinea pigs can deffinetly fit through those small holes. So baby proofing is required.

4. Really its the main floor that you need to worry about being larg enough. People like lofts because they can use it as a kitchen. That way all the bedding stays off the fleece.

5. Yes a 2x6 is perfect for 3 pigs but like I said if you get males you will need to go bigger. Especially if you find that the males are fighting a lot. And never seem to figure out who will be the boss. Males are more territorial but I know bigger is always better anyway but even more so with males.

6. I like pink myself that is my favorite color, but my coroplast is white because the sign shop only had white. Its really a personal prefference, clear would probably show imperfections more.

7. There is a food chart that would be a good thing to look at. I would try all of those and see what they like.

8. Yes that is perfect.

Good luck with the babies, hope mommy has a smoothe delivery.
Thank you for the reply! Definitely helpful, I'm going with pink for the coroplast color once they restock. :)
 

HelloAnna

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Mar 14, 2014
Posts
17
Joined
Mar 14, 2014
Messages
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Females V Males: Males require more space, and usually fight (with each other) more, meaning a 2x6 may not be big enough for two when they reach puberty. It is perfectly adequate in size, but sometimes males just need even more room to avoid fighting. 2x6 is fine for any age pairing of females, and could fit 3 sows, but not 3 males.
Males also require anal sac cleanings, so if you want to avoid that, go with sows.

Veg only varies in pigs if they have medical issues. See https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List for what to feed and how often.

Gender plays no role in how easily a pig will bond with you, it depends on the individual pig. Lofts are the same, some pigs like them, some will never use them. It's a trial and error product really.

Until a guinea pig is 6 months, it needs extra calcium, yes. This can be done one of three ways; a supplement of alfalfa hay (not replacing the grass hay, they need unlimited quantities of that), providing alfalfa based pellets, or by supplementing extra parsley in to their veg. This stops when the pig is 6 months old, and only one is needed.

Thank you for the feedback! :D I'm leaning more towards females, since males have some dominance issues. Thank you for clearing up things as well :)
 

Princess_Piggie

Cavy Star, Photo Contest Winner
Cavy Slave
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Messages
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I've had pairs of both, and found that each pair had equal pros and cons. My girls have much more...personality? Character? So are a little more diva-ish about being picked up, where as my boys where extremely docile, but had less of a spunky playful attitude. And other people could have found the opposite! But in my opinion, girls make better starter pigs because you're less likely to witness a full on fight. You'll still see dominance behaviour, but probably no fighting. Dominance behaviour can look like a fight, and be pretty scary to a first time owner (heck, it'd still scare me if I saw my girls doing it excessively now), but you mustn't separate unless you see blood, or them locking on to each other refusing to let go.

Dominance behaviour can last anywhere from a couple of days, to a few months. Again, it's an individual pig thing. You can expect to see, but shouldn't separate over;
1. Mounting, from all angles. From the side, from the back, from the front, and pretty much every other angle.
2. Nipping (it's a warning, and won't cause bleeding. You may hear a sharp squeak from the recipient, check for blood, if there's none, leave them to it)
3. Rumblestrutting (a slow walk, with a wiggling back end, paired with a 'drrrr' noise)
4. Nosing off (highest nose in the air wins)
5. Chasing
6. Rumbling on it's own, without the strut

Make sure you double, triple and then quadruple check the babies genders before putting them in a cage together. https://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm Compare each pig to these images, and to each other. They'll wiggle and not particularly like it, but it does need doing.

I'm sorry if I've included pointless info you already knew, I just wanted to cover all bases :)
 
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