Introducing Myself (new to the group and having piggies)

peachyteen said:

also, you shouldn't do play time with all 4of them. guinea pigs aren't wired the same way we are, they don't need to have friends outside their bonded herd. While they may seem to like it, it will just cause stress. It could potentially break the bond between the pairs as well, I believe.

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Thanks for the advice, but they are fine when they play together....they all do their own thing.

bpatters said:

The cage isn't big enough for two pigs, either. See the Main tab at the top of this page for recommended cage sizes. The measurements are in grids, which are 14 inches square. Those are minimums -- bigger is always better, and lessens the chance for aggression as they grow older.

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That was the biggest cage they had there.

Welcome! your pigs are very cute.

Pet stores don't actually sell cages cages big enough. You would have to fine one online or build your own, which most people on this website have done. I think you will find it to be very rewarding, and all four pigs can live together.

I don't want all 4 piggies living together. I want to keep them in pairs of 2.

lvmypiggies said:

I don't want all 4 piggies living together. I want to keep them in pairs of 2.

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Either way your cage is just a bit too small. They recommend 7.5 square feet for 1 piggy and 10.5 for 2. I calculated yours at right around 6 square feet.

I should have never even stated what my cage size was. I see that I am going to get several posts about needing a bigger cage.

Yes, you will get posts about needing a bigger cage. You came to this forum, which is dedicated to educating owners about the best care that can possibly be given to guinea pigs.

You said you had a lot of questions, but if you're going to respond to every suggestion in a defensive manner, you may not be receptive to the information you need for the best care of your guinea pigs.

Play time is not recommended for guinea pigs that are not housed together. Guinea pig are wired to establish a dominance order whenever they meet another guinea pig. Putting them together with a pig they don't live with triggers that dominance behavior, and is stressful for the guinea pigs. They don't play together like kittens and puppies do, so play time serves no useful purpose.

Yes I have some questions, but they do not pertain to cage size.

Ok, I cannot take this anymore! Come on guys. Another great example of people jumping all over a new person and nit-picking everything they say. You too @bpatters. She is here asking, so she must be open to advice. But she probably doesn't want a load of negativity shoved down her throat right off the bat. Give her a chance to read and learn. Why can't people simply answer her questions? Why do you all have to immediately start pointing out every little thing you think she is doing wrong? I appreciate that many people are saying it in a polite and friendly way. But just give the woman a chance!

Thank You @CavyChrissy The funny part about all of these posts are....I did not ask even one question....everyone just started telling me that my cage size was the wrong size, if they don't live together don't let them play together, they all 4 should be together etc.....if this keeps up I guess I will just leave the forum and go elsewhere for advice.

I don't really see how people are nit-picking. No one is saying the OP is a bad owner or being rude, they're simply being blunt and stating the facts.

I don't know about you, but when I join a forum looking for advice on a new pet, I want to soak up as much information as I can. And if I'm doing something wrong, I want people to tell me. I want to be the best owner I can be, and getting friendly reminders on things like proper cage size, diet, and so on, are all apart of that.

I'm not normally one to play the "people are being too sensitive card" as it's rarely true, but in this case, it feels like a lot of newbies are being far too defensive. Why bother joining a forum if you're not willing to learn? No pet owner is perfect, especially not right off the bat. Which is exactly why you need to be open to constructive criticism, else you'll never grow and your pets will suffer for it.

Welcome to the forums

I have to second Nazgul, people are sharing this information with you because they know from experience that petstore cages are too small and that constantly reintroducing pigs is stressful for them and they don't get anything out of it. That's nothing to do with you personally that's just sharing information that might help you give your pigs the best care possible.

I don't see the point of going to another place for advice if you aren't willing to take on board the advice people give you. If you close yourself off to all recommendations unless they fit with what you want you're not going to really get advice but rather just an echo of your own thoughts. When I first came here I was surprised by how much I was wrong about but I took what was said on board and did my own research and found it to be accurate. I hope you will do the same.

You don't have to take anything we say for gospel without doing research but at least try to understand that we're not attacking you, we're trying to help your pigs by helping you gain new information to improve their quality of life.

@Fay I'm not saying that. Giving advice is certainly the point of this forum. And I agree there is very good advice here and I have also learned a lot. But when a person makes their first post just to introduce themselves and gets a ton of unsolicited advice, it can be very off-putting. In the past month, I would say this is the 3rd new poster I have read that has reacted in the same way as this one. If new people are so turned off that they don't return, then they don't learn anything from here.

Also, would people talk to each other this way if we were all face-to-face? If we all met in a Panera and introduced ourselves, would people say "Nice to meet you lvmypiggies. Your cage is too small. Why don't you put them all together? 4 females can live together. Did you check their private parts, pet stores can be wrong? You shouldn't do play dates." NO! You would say "Nice to meet you" and that's it! You would get to know her and understand her pig situation and THEN offer suggestions.

And, what happened to this:

[h=3]"Please Be VERY Considerate![/h]Hello CavyChrissy,

You are seeing this message because you are a Cavy Slave member of this forum, that is, you've been online for a while and have been active. And you are seeing this message because you are in the INTRODUCTIONS forum, where usually Newbies post (new to the forum).

We want to ENCOURAGE new people to participate and stick around. Yet, frequently, a new person will post about wanting to breed, buy a pig from a pet store, show, etc., and they are immediately CAUTIONED that a) it's not a good thing to do and b) we frown upon it on this forum.

Yes, we do frown upon it, BUT, we need to give our new members a chance to explore the forum without being put into a defensive or offended frame of mind.

So, LET IT GO. Back off. Encourage them in positive way, but don't dig for dirt. Do NOT ask them where they got their guinea pig(s) so that we can start to get them to see the light right away! You certainly don't need to encourage practices we don't support either, but let them get comfortable on the forum, first.

Your support in making the forum a friendlier place to participate is GREATLY appreciated!"

CavyChrissy said:

@Fay I'm not saying that. Giving advice is certainly the point of this forum. And I agree there is very good advice here and I have also learned a lot. But when a person makes their first post just to introduce themselves and gets a ton of unsolicited advice, it can be very off-putting. In the past month, I would say this is the 3rd new poster I have read that has reacted in the same way as this one. If new people are so turned off that they don't return, then they don't learn anything from here.

Also, would people talk to each other this way if we were all face-to-face? If we all met in a Panera and introduced ourselves, would people say "Nice to meet you lvmypiggies. Your cage is too small. Why don't you put them all together? 4 females can live together. Did you check their private parts, pet stores can be wrong? You shouldn't do play dates." NO! You would say "Nice to meet you" and that's it! You would get to know her and understand her pig situation and THEN offer suggestions.

And, what happened to this:

"Please Be VERY Considerate!

Hello CavyChrissy,

You are seeing this message because you are a Cavy Slave member of this forum, that is, you've been online for a while and have been active. And you are seeing this message because you are in the INTRODUCTIONS forum, where usually Newbies post (new to the forum).

We want to ENCOURAGE new people to participate and stick around. Yet, frequently, a new person will post about wanting to breed, buy a pig from a pet store, show, etc., and they are immediately CAUTIONED that a) it's not a good thing to do and b) we frown upon it on this forum.

Yes, we do frown upon it, BUT, we need to give our new members a chance to explore the forum without being put into a defensive or offended frame of mind.

So, LET IT GO. Back off. Encourage them in positive way, but don't dig for dirt. Do NOT ask them where they got their guinea pig(s) so that we can start to get them to see the light right away! You certainly don't need to encourage practices we don't support either, but let them get comfortable on the forum, first.

Your support in making the forum a friendlier place to participate is GREATLY appreciated!"

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Thank You SO Much for posting this @CavyChrissy.....The thing that upset me was that I have not even asked a question yet and I am getting pretty much smacked around in this thread for something I never even asked about. I am a member of SEVERAL Guinea Pig groups on Facebook, and have yet had someone treat me like this. Makes me wish I would have never introduced myself, but I wanted to show off my girls.

Your girls are gorgeous and pose so well for their pictures!

Hello Everyone! I am new to this site, not a new piggie owner but new to here.. I have 1 skinny pig named Todd, and two American guinea pigs named daisy and Simon! I love my piggies! But if you guys have any cool information on cages and or anything let me know!

oops I though this was the new people thread.. proves how much I know about this site currently lol

I wan't trying to be negative, and I wasn't saying you have to put all your pigs together. I just meant that it would be possible to have all four together in a bigger cage. I'm sorry you feel attacked, but like others have said, we are just trying to offer you the best advice to keep your pigs as happy as possible.

I came to the forum knowing very little, and I have seen the positive effects of putting my guinea pigs in a larger cage. Every once in a while I have no choice but to put my pigs in a pet store cage for the night, and I can tell that they get along much much better in the larger cage.

However, no one on this forum can or is going to force you to do anything. I hope we can be more helpful to you in the future.

If I went to someone's house and saw their pigs were in a too small a cage I would actually bring it up if I could find a good moment to do so in the conversation, in fact I have done so twice in the past (I haven't had many opportunities to be honest). Of course I did so politely and didn't just say 'Your cage is too small' I weaseled it in there in subtle ways when discussing the subject of guinea pigs. I wouldn't just drop it on them the second I walked in the door in a blunt matter but I think it would be hypocritical to sit here on this website telling people how to improve their pigs lives and not do so in real life. One big difference in that comparison though is that people come here specifically to learn more about guinea pigs so you should expect to be given advice unlike your average social setting. It's like going to puppy training and getting angry because the trainer is telling you how to train your dog or that you should do so differently when they see you making big errors.

Either way, I wasn't the one to bring it up right away on this topic. I just spoke up because it's just frustrating when people get defensive when others are just trying to help (even if they put it too bluntly). I'm hoping that by me coming in from a different angle that they will take a step back and try to see that it's not an attack and we're trying to help for the guinea pigs sake. Don't get me wrong, I can completely see where they are coming from but at the same time plenty of us just want to help guinea pigs so badly that sometimes you become too focused on the end goal when in reality people like to be gradually warmed up to new ideas and being blunt isn't always the best course of action. I'm generally very welcoming and I'm genuinely happy to see new people on here no matter what mistakes they are making provided they're willing to learn and I wouldn't want them to leave somewhere else where they get bad advice. It worries me when I see that, imagining they will go to some pet store cleric who has no knowledge of pigs or an inaccurate pig care book knowing how those pigs might suffer from that. It's really frustrating when people put up barriers to knowledge, if that makes sense?

Regardless, if you are new and join a guinea pig care forum you should expect to be given advice, knowledge etc. when people see areas they could help them with. It's just common sense and you'd expect people to join this forum to be excited to learn new things. If you just want to share cute guinea pig pictures or stories there are plenty of places to do that like Instragram or Tumblr.

Oh my gosh they are precious! Feel free to ask any questions and we will all help you out as best we can. Also just make 100% sure that they are all females. The pet store can mess that up. I know from experience. I started off with two guinea pigs then eventually I ended up with 12.