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Behavior Newbie with a pair of piggies-grossly unprepared!

Silverwind

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Hi I bought 2 adorable girls at the pet store "for my children" When I got them home and set up in their new starter kit cage :( Right away I realized this expensive little cage is much too small for even one guinea, with their litter box, food dish and little hidey igloo thing, there is scarcely room for them to move about. I feel terrible! Fortunately I found this site right away, so Im hoping to be able to find the materials for a simple one level 2*4 cage today. I had read that guinea pigs were daytime creatures, but yesterday they hid in their igloo until night and did all their eating and pooping overnight...so is this going to be thie pattern or are they still scared? Should we hustleave them alone until they come out on their own, or should we handle them for short periods throughout the day, which is what weve been doing?
 

mufasa

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Congrats on your new piggies, and I'm so happy you found this site and are preparing a great cage for them. I've read that they're actually active at all different times of the day or night, although I don't know if that's true. I know that my two are active throughout the day, so I suspect that yours are still getting used to their new home. They often hide until they settle in, then they'll come out more to see what's doing on and do their cute little piggy activities. Just wait till they learn that good things come from fridges and crinkling bags. There will be plenty of piggies peeking out the grids and daytime wheeking then!

Handling is good after giving them a couple days to adjust. The more you gently handle them, the more they get used to it and eventually learn to enjoy it.
 

Crystalkate

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Welcome to the group. I am happy to hear you are going to build a bigger cage for them! They will be very happy and thankful. They will be frightened until they get use to you...which takes time and patience. Try introducing veggies to their diet. Get them to eat out of your hand. Talk to them often so they get use to your voice. Take it easy on them for awhile until they settle and get use to you and their surroundings.
 

loveskittles

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welcome... I am a newbie to.. I only have one piggie. I agree to the over priced small cages are way to small for one piggie. IT has been two week's since I got skittles and he is just know coming out to start to see us. but if we go to open the door he will then run and hide. but when being handled he is starting to warm up.
 

galeadenise

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Hello silverwind. I'm new here too although I don't have my piggies yet. I bought a book that got very good reviews on amazon. It's called guinea piglopedia. I'm waiting for it in the mail right now and I'm glad I bought it before I got my piggies so that I can be well prepared for them. I am also planning to get the supplies before I get the piggies so that they'll have everything ready when we get them. I am researching where i can find the materials to buid them a nice big cage but I'm afraid there aren't readily available in my country. Well, good luck with your new bundles of joy.
 

Frapplove

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When I first had my two adoptees, and they were in their quarantine cage, they would only creep out at night also. At first I was worried, but they came around eventually :) Favorite foods definitely help! As far as I can tell, they are both day and night creatures, just resting whenever they feel like it. I'm sure yours will come around too!
Also, Miss Jean, I simply love your avatar :cheerful:
 

CritterLuvva

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Hello silverwind. I'm new here too although I don't have my piggies yet. I bought a book that got very good reviews on amazon. It's called guinea piglopedia. I'm waiting for it in the mail right now and I'm glad I bought it before I got my piggies so that I can be well prepared for them. I am also planning to get the supplies before I get the piggies so that they'll have everything ready when we get them. I am researching where i can find the materials to buid them a nice big cage but I'm afraid there aren't readily available in my country. Well, good luck with your new bundles of joy.

Oh yay! I thought I was the only one who was here before getting a piggy. An excellent place to start is research- how come I have felt like I'm the only one here getting an education before I get piggies? LOL. Of course, my husband thinks I'm jumping the gun on the education thing too, as it might be a few months before we can get them. I dare say it will be time well spent, though.

As far as books are concerned, I haven't found one yet that I actually like. Oh, there's some good books out there, but then they start talking about things I don't believe in (ie:eek:utdoor housing, wire bottoms on store bought cages making cleaning easier, etc- yuck!) and I just haven't found any thing yet that matches the excellence of quality that I'm looking for. So just be aware that not every thing you read is something you should be doing. This site is an excellent resource and is the only place I feel safe gathering information so far. (And they say the information on the internet's not all that reliable. LOL. Just have to know where to look...)

As far as your question about your shy guinea pigs are concerned, I would- of course- say what every one else is saying. Guinea pigs are prey animals, and as such naturally hide from predators- which is you until they realize you're safe. I'm glad you're getting them a bigger cage. Guinea pigs need all the room you can give them. Once they start trusting you more, as I'm sure you'll learn, they also love outdoor time, floor time and lap time. I'm also impressed you started out with two and not one. Many people don't realize the importance of guinea pig buddies.

There's a lot to learn about cavies for one small post. Congratulations on your new arrivals and I hope you learn every thing you need to know very quickly!
 

Silverwind

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MissJean Thank you for the link :)
CritterLuvva, I used to keep a bunny. His companion had died before we got him and weconsidered getting him a guinea friend. unfortunately I.developed a severe allergy and we. had to rehome him. So basically All I know about piggies is they are social animals who get along with rabbits :) Thats why only one was never an option.
I was really excited to see the section here about using fleece as bedding! We are reusable enthusiast family, using cloth diapers and other reusable personal items so reusable guinea pig bedding is very appealing! Do any of you do this?
 

Crystalkate

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I use two bottom layers of Uhaul padding and a top layer of fleece. It is wonderful!!
 

Petlovr

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Many here use fleece, and I do, too. I love it. It washes up very easily, although I do take it to the laundromat. There is a proper way to prepare and layer the fleece; you can use the search function on the top right of the page to find the posts. Also, just a friendly FYI, bunnies and pigs should not be housed together inthe same cage, and books are worthless-every one I ever read on pigs was totally wrong. It made me very angry, it was like being lied to-and paying for it! My poor Daisy had to put up with a lot. (Off my soapbox now) Really, just enjoy the site, there is such great info here.
 

CritterLuvva

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MissJean Thank you for the link :)
CritterLuvva, I used to keep a bunny. His companion had died before we got him and weconsidered getting him a guinea friend. unfortunately I.developed a severe allergy and we. had to rehome him. So basically All I know about piggies is they are social animals who get along with rabbits :) Thats why only one was never an option.
I was really excited to see the section here about using fleece as bedding! We are reusable enthusiast family, using cloth diapers and other reusable personal items so reusable guinea pig bedding is very appealing! Do any of you do this?

Actually, guinea pigs and rabbits don't mix well. If the rabbit gets annoyed with the guinea pig, it can deliver one swift kick and cause serious damage to a guinea pig. ;)

As far as fleece is concerned, I don't have guinea pigs yet (researching phase), but I do plan on purchasing fleece and making liners. I'm excited about them myself. :D
 

englishdaffodil

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Welcome, Silverwind! So glad you found us.

Just want to echo what others have already said: there is SO MUCH misinformation out there about piggies. I've generally found that I can trust what I read here, if it's been posted by the more experienced members and particularly our moderators. *Everything* else I double-check first.

Also, I know you don't have your bunny anymore, but guinea pigs shouldn't be housed with rabbits. Each carries diseases that are bad for the other, and rabbits have very powerful back legs that could easily injure a pig if the rabbit were startled and kicked out. There's lots more info here.

We'd love to see pigtures of your critters when you have time! :)
 

CritterLuvva

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LOL [MENTION=21341]Petlovr[/MENTION] Which one of us do you think can type faster? ;)

Since you asked for advice, I'd like to add another don't if you don't mind, Silverwind. I've been looking through ads and I keep finding ridiculous ads for exercise balls for guinea pigs. Please, please ignore balls and leashes. Guinea pigs have weak backs and should never be any where near these ridiculous pieces of sales ploys. Even leashes geared toward guinea pigs are bad for them.
 

Silverwind

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That is interesting information about guineas and bunnies. i have seen (dwarf)rabbits and guinea pigs paired together in real life with no issues, but I can see where a larger rabbit might be a concern. Anyways I can never haveanother bunny, so my little piggies are safe. and I will never suggest they be housed together now thqt I know :) The ball and leash info are very helpful, We were looking at a ball at the pet store and I thought it seemed weird. Now i have some solid info to back up my gut reaction :)
 

englishdaffodil

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Yeah, and unfortunately pet store employees are generally clueless about pigs. And will often just repeat what they've heard elsewhere, even if it's wrong! That's so frustrating. Even if they have the best intentions, their bad information can be sooooo dangerous to our cavies.
 

Buggie_00

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It took our piggies a little while to warm up to us too. If they came from a pet store it might be all that much more scary for them since they were already around a lot of loud noises and being moved around some. Give them a few days and just speak gently and kindly to them and handle them gently and lovingly and before long they'll be happy to see you and snuggling into your lap when you hold them.

This site is wonderful for any kind of info on taking care of guinea pigs and I'm so glad you found it. It will be a treasure trove of information and we all love to share our love of our cute little buddies with everyone so there are always cute piggie pictures to look at too.

We have one of the store bought cages too, the ferret sized Super Pet ones, but we use it for travel or quarentine and not their permanent cage. If you have the room to store it I'd suggest keeping that cage so that if you go on a trip and have to take them with you, or if you have to board them somewhere or have someone watch them for you while you're gone for a few days you have a short term place for them that is mobile. It's also great if one is sick and has to be separated from the others for a day or two. Otherwise it's great to go with a larger C&C cage.

Congrats on your new additions, hope you find all the information you need here and can't wait to see pictures of them.
 

CritterLuvva

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@Silverwind Oh! Then I guess I spoke up then. :)

I would also second what(broken link removed) Buggie_00 is saying. If you already have a store bought cage, it's good to use for temporary housing such as when they stay with a friend or for isolation of a piggy who is ill... or new. New guinea pigs are normally isolated as well to ensure that they are not ill before introducing them to their new piggy buddies. (There's also ways of introducing piggies, slowly, over a period of time, so they don't hurt each other. :) )
 

Silverwind

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Oh I do plan on keeping the little cage :) unfortuately we cant get all the materials or the neew cage-I ha to order some storage cubes, so the piggies are stuck in the tiny cage until Tuesday :( On the plus side, we hwd to take them out of their cage so i could clean it-it has to be cleaned daily or its gross! They uddled on the kids laps and ate carrot nibbles out of our hands an have been coming out more an vocalizing a bit already :)
 

CritterLuvva

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You could extend their space with an exercise pen. ^.^

You know, something's been worrying me about your situation. You said you were allergic to rabbits. Are you sure it's rabbits you're allergic to and not hay? I'm worried you could wnd up having the same problem with the guinea pigs as you had with the rabbits...
 
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