Hi there! I have had my guinea pig for about a year now and want to introduce myself and ask some questions. The reason I am a "Cavy Slave" but just now posting an introduction is because I've been having a few forum problems. (Thank you bpatters and CavyMama for helping my out.)
I have two guinea pigs, Maple and Steve, but I've had Maple for a lot longer. I got Maple and his sister from a local pet store thinking that they were both girls. They weren't. Fortunately, we found out and separated them before Buttercup got pregnant. Also, I know now that you are not supposed to get guinea pigs from pet stores, but I didn't know that then. Also, I'm kind of glad that we got Maple out of that place. (Don't worry, it was a small business and they didn't come from a commercial breeder.)
I couldn't put Buttercup and Maple together, so Buttercup fell into the care of my eight year old brother. She got hardly any attention and lived in a small cage in a closet, so we decided it was best to find her a new home. We did find her a great new home, but we still had a problem. Maple had been living alone for about a year by then and I thought that it would be best to find him a cage mate, so we bought Steve from Petco. At this point I new that adoptions were better than pet stores, but driving three hour both ways to the nearest rescue with guinea pigs simply wasn't an option. Long story short, we put Maple and Steve together and found another issue. Maple didn't want a friend, and Steve was a bully. It started off with lettuce stealing, which led to hay stealing, which Maple tried to tolerate. But when the igloo stealing started, Steve crossed the line. There were two igloos. Maple would go into one, Steve would fight him and chase him out, and Maple would go into another. But Steve was never satisfied and would chase Maple in THAT igloo forcing him into the other one, where he would chase him again. Finally there was a big fight in an igloo and Steve came out with a tuft of Maple's hair. That's when I separated them. Now they are in a 2X6 C&C cage in my bedroom with a divider down the middle.
This arrangement makes Maple happy, but Steve is constantly chewing on the grid divider. There are literally brown spots were he chewed off the white plastic coating. To make matters worse, he is losing his hair. We took him and Maple to the vet, who said that Steve was having an allergic reaction to a flea bite. Maple also was having an allergic reaction, but he hadn't lost any hair yet. So the vet gave both Steve and Maple some medicine and gave Steve a shot to make his hair grow back.
After we brought them home, Steve decided not to eat pellets, barely eat hay, and only drink a little bit of water. He has improved, he now eats hay and drinks water but he hasn't eaten any pellets for about a week now. I feed my guineas lettuce every night, but I'm still a bit worried about Steve's vitamin C. So there are Steve's problems.
Maple also has a couple of problems. (1. His hair is always super oily. It looks shiny, and feels like human hair that hasn't been washed in three days. Is that normal? (2. He bites. He has had a biting problem for a long time. His bites are more like sometimes-but-not-always-painful nips, but he has been reported to draw blood. And it's not aggressive biting either! He bites when he's expecting food, he bites when he's being petted and obviously happy, and he bites pretty much whenever he can reach human skin. Why? If anyone has any answers or advice on Maple or Steve's problems, please help.
I have two guinea pigs, Maple and Steve, but I've had Maple for a lot longer. I got Maple and his sister from a local pet store thinking that they were both girls. They weren't. Fortunately, we found out and separated them before Buttercup got pregnant. Also, I know now that you are not supposed to get guinea pigs from pet stores, but I didn't know that then. Also, I'm kind of glad that we got Maple out of that place. (Don't worry, it was a small business and they didn't come from a commercial breeder.)
I couldn't put Buttercup and Maple together, so Buttercup fell into the care of my eight year old brother. She got hardly any attention and lived in a small cage in a closet, so we decided it was best to find her a new home. We did find her a great new home, but we still had a problem. Maple had been living alone for about a year by then and I thought that it would be best to find him a cage mate, so we bought Steve from Petco. At this point I new that adoptions were better than pet stores, but driving three hour both ways to the nearest rescue with guinea pigs simply wasn't an option. Long story short, we put Maple and Steve together and found another issue. Maple didn't want a friend, and Steve was a bully. It started off with lettuce stealing, which led to hay stealing, which Maple tried to tolerate. But when the igloo stealing started, Steve crossed the line. There were two igloos. Maple would go into one, Steve would fight him and chase him out, and Maple would go into another. But Steve was never satisfied and would chase Maple in THAT igloo forcing him into the other one, where he would chase him again. Finally there was a big fight in an igloo and Steve came out with a tuft of Maple's hair. That's when I separated them. Now they are in a 2X6 C&C cage in my bedroom with a divider down the middle.
This arrangement makes Maple happy, but Steve is constantly chewing on the grid divider. There are literally brown spots were he chewed off the white plastic coating. To make matters worse, he is losing his hair. We took him and Maple to the vet, who said that Steve was having an allergic reaction to a flea bite. Maple also was having an allergic reaction, but he hadn't lost any hair yet. So the vet gave both Steve and Maple some medicine and gave Steve a shot to make his hair grow back.
After we brought them home, Steve decided not to eat pellets, barely eat hay, and only drink a little bit of water. He has improved, he now eats hay and drinks water but he hasn't eaten any pellets for about a week now. I feed my guineas lettuce every night, but I'm still a bit worried about Steve's vitamin C. So there are Steve's problems.
Maple also has a couple of problems. (1. His hair is always super oily. It looks shiny, and feels like human hair that hasn't been washed in three days. Is that normal? (2. He bites. He has had a biting problem for a long time. His bites are more like sometimes-but-not-always-painful nips, but he has been reported to draw blood. And it's not aggressive biting either! He bites when he's expecting food, he bites when he's being petted and obviously happy, and he bites pretty much whenever he can reach human skin. Why? If anyone has any answers or advice on Maple or Steve's problems, please help.
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