Quarantine new guinea pig owner, need help in regards to new piggie meeting first piggie

hhherbivore · Nov 30, 2017

Hey guys my name is Teee

i just recently adopted my best friend's stepbrothers' piggie, whose name is Cutie Patoots (my 6 year old named her) and i've had her for quite some time now and we are definitely jelling. i started reading bits and pieces about how social they are so i decided to get her a pal. i went to petco and saw another loveball whom ive named sunshine, well my son says her full name is Happy Sunshine and shes about 7 months old. She's super fast and springy omygoodness and terrified of us, which i expect. I didnt know that I needed to adopt and everything in regards to that until AFTER i purchased her so please be kind here. Pretty please.

Now i know for the future. I also didn't know I should NOT have put them together and I did to play and I've been reading more and more and I am scared that I made a mistake due to her being from a pet store. (They were in a neutral setting i followed advice about their meeting point and all) I love them both so much but, I want them safe. And when they did play I noticed a lot of butt sniffing and they both did scratch their own faces a bit. Cutie is about 3 to 4 years old and had it rough in her prior family. Sunshine was alone when I got her but, I learned petco is the freaking WORST! I called a couple of vets but, they either don't help piggies or theyre super pricey! I just don't where to begin and I am so sorry about this long rant. I am reading so much and trying to honestly just be a great guinea pig mommy. If you could point me in any direction that would be great! It took me days to even find out how to post! lol

I know I was pretty ignorant prior to all this and I don't want anyone to throw any negativity. I just need to make sure that I am making proper choices after their first meeting a little while ago. theyre both chilling but im paranoid because I know now that i should have quarantined them longer after the fact.

Thank you so much

I hope to hear from anyone soon. I will be adding pictures very soon.

Peanut_Butter2 · Nov 30, 2017

hhherbivore said:
Hey guys my name is Teee i just recently adopted my best friend's stepbrothers' piggie, whose name is Cutie Patoots (my 6 year old named her) and i've had her for quite some time now and we are definitely jelling. i started reading bits and pieces about how social they are so i decided to get her a pal. i went to petco and saw another loveball whom ive named sunshine, well my son says her full name is Happy Sunshine and shes about 7 months old. She's super fast and springy omygoodness and terrified of us, which i expect. I didnt know that I needed to adopt and everything in regards to that until AFTER i purchased her so please be kind here. Pretty please.

Now i know for the future. I also didn't know I should NOT have put them together and I did to play and I've been reading more and more and I am scared that I made a mistake due to her being from a pet store. (They were in a neutral setting i followed advice about their meeting point and all) I love them both so much but, I want them safe. And when they did play I noticed a lot of butt sniffing and they both did scratch their own faces a bit. Cutie is about 3 to 4 years old and had it rough in her prior family. Sunshine was alone when I got her but, I learned petco is the freaking WORST! I called a couple of vets but, they either don't help piggies or theyre super pricey! I just don't where to begin and I am so sorry about this long rant. I am reading so much and trying to honestly just be a great guinea pig mommy. If you could point me in any direction that would be great! It took me days to even find out how to post! lol

I know I was pretty ignorant prior to all this and I don't want anyone to throw any negativity. I just need to make sure that I am making proper choices after their first meeting a little while ago. theyre both chilling but im paranoid because I know i should have quarantined them longer after the fact. Thank you so much

I hope to hear from anyone soon. I will be adding pictures very soon.

I am a little confused on the question what exactly are you asking?

Sent from my Moto G Play using Tapatalk

hhherbivore · Nov 30, 2017

i introduced my petstore pig with my adopted pig and im reading all the posts here and im scared if i should take them to the vet. will she get cutie sick by giving her mites? i messed up by not adopting so i dont know what to do from here now theyve been introduced.

Peanut_Butter2 · Nov 30, 2017

hhherbivore said:
i introduced my petstore pig with my adopted pig and im reading all the posts here and im scared if i should take them to the vet. will she get cutie sick by giving her mites? i messed up by not adopting so i dont know what to do from here now theyve been introduced.

What are the symtoms your piggie is showing?

Sent from my Moto G Play using Tapatalk

hhherbivore · Nov 30, 2017

well, she is laying down in her house right now. she has been scratching her face a bit. but i dont know if its anymore than usual. shes in her house. my boyfriend thinks maybe its a nervous thing. they both have their own cages and everything. i just read these posts about how i shouldve quarantined them for 3 weeks so im nervous is really all. they both kind of itch their faces the same way but, it doesn't seem to be extreme discomfort.

bpatters · Nov 30, 2017

There's no need to take them to the vet unless they're showing signs of illness. The danger in not quarantining them is that the new pig may infest your older pig with parasites or some sort of illness. But they've been introduced now, and there's no undoing it.

If I understand your post, you've just been putting them together to play and haven't done formal introductions. You might as well go ahead and do that, since they've both been exposed to any possible illness. Here's the bible on introductions: https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html

But if you got a cage from the pet store, it's not large enough for two pigs. See the main page of this site for cage sizes, and remember that those are minimums.

Here's some recommended reading for new pig owners:

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/113176-Information-for-new-guinea-pig-owners
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/107827-What-NOT-to-do-for-your-guinea-pigs!

And just a suggestion for next time... Things generally go better with pets if you do your research BEFORE you acquire the animal. Just sayin'.

hhherbivore · Nov 30, 2017

I've had my pigs for 2 weeks.. in seperate cages and I did do my research. I posted this because I was scared and I hadn't read anything about adoption versus pet store options. That could be just the basic sites I found.. No need to belittle me because I'm worried and wanted help. I do appreciate your input very much, though. Next time save that type of energy elsewhere please. They only met eachother for fifteen minutes once, like an hour ago lol!

bpatters · Nov 30, 2017

It doesn't matter how long they were together. They've both been exposed to whatever the other one may have, so you might as well go ahead and do the introductions.

hhherbivore · Nov 30, 2017

your advice really helped. im sorry for being snappy. im just embarassed as a parent, fur baby or not i wasn't prepared. ill know for next time.

CavyMama · Dec 1, 2017

Okay...so first things first...take a deep breath. It's okay. New guinea pig owners sometimes make mistakes. We've all been there. Lord knows I did just about everything wrong with my pigs when I got them before I found this site and learned from my mistakes. The important thing is that you are aware of the mistakes and are asking questions to learn from them.

Welcome to the forum! Here you will find experienced guinea pig owners...and other new owners like yourself who might be asking the same questions you are so no worries. You are definitely not alone.

So make yourself at home. Read through some threads, ask questions and in the end, both you & your pigs will benefit from the information. I would start with the links that @bpatters posted.

Again welcome! It's nice to have you here

hhherbivore · Dec 1, 2017

Thank you so much. I was definitely panicking last night. It was a lot of information to take in. Thank you so much I am excited to be around so many piggie lovers! your words have made me smile and im going to take them with me during my day! Have a great a weekend lovely !!

Where People & Piggies Thrive

Newbie or Guinea Guru? Popcorn in!

Quarantine new guinea pig owner, need help in regards to new piggie meeting first piggie

hhherbivore

Member

Peanut_Butter2

Well-known Member

hhherbivore

Member

Peanut_Butter2

Well-known Member

hhherbivore

Member

bpatters

Moderator

hhherbivore

Member

bpatters

Moderator

hhherbivore

Member

CavyMama

Well-known Member

hhherbivore

Member

Similar threads

Share this Page

Newest members

Online statistics

Key Resources

Members online