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New piggy not very active

Casper Poe

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Hi, I just recently got my first piggy, he is 7 weeks old and just a cutie, but he doesn't seem to be very active. He doesn't appear to be sick, looks very healthy. Could it be that he's just getting used to his new home? I would love any suggestions you might have as this is very new to me.

Thanks,
Kerri
 

JennG

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HOw long have you had him? He's probably getting used to you and his new surroundings. Is he in a C&C cage? He may not use to having all that space. Is he your only piggie? Its good to get your piggie a friend. They're very sociable animals and having two is just as easy as one. They can keep each other company when you can't be with them. Just give him time and I'm sure he'll come around. He'll be popcorning all over sooner than you think.
 

rabbitsncavyluv

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Did you get him from a pet store? He may be ill and hiding it. They do so because they are prey animals. Is he eating and pooping ok? Are you weighing him?

What are you feeding him?

What size cage do you have?

The best 'toy' you can get him is a friend. https://www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm
 

Casper Poe

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JennG said:
HOw long have you had him? He's probably getting used to you and his new surroundings. Is he in a C&C cage? He may not use to having all that space. Is he your only piggie? Its good to get your piggie a friend. They're very sociable animals and having two is just as easy as one. They can keep each other company when you can't be with them. Just give him time and I'm sure he'll come around. He'll be popcorning all over sooner than you think.


I've only has him 3 days and yes, my only piggie. I'm not sure what a C&C cage is, but he's in fairly large cage I bought st the pet store.
 

pennick

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Casper Poe said:
Hi, I just recently got my first piggy, he is 7 weeks old and just a cutie, but he doesn't seem to be very active. He doesn't appear to be sick, looks very healthy. Could it be that he's just getting used to his new home? I would love any suggestions you might have as this is very new to me.

Thanks,
Kerri

Don't worry, it's normal for your piggy not to be active in the beginning. It takes a few weeks for your piggy to get used to his new home and you. Be patient. Talk to him and make sure you are giving him fresh hay, a variety of veggies, some fruit, good quality pellets and of course fresh water.

Look through the different threads here and you will learn all about C&C cages, what to feed your piggy and anything else you may need.

Or just ask, we are happy to help you out.
 

Casper Poe

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rabbitsncavyluv said:
Did you get him from a pet store? He may be ill and hiding it. They do so because they are prey animals. Is he eating and pooping ok? Are you weighing him?

What are you feeding him?

What size cage do you have?

The best 'toy' you can get him is a friend. https://www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm

I did get him at a pet store, but I really don't think he is sick. He eats his timothy hay like crazy and kind of picks at his pellets. I feed him pellets and timothy hay and was told he was not to have anything else like fruits or veggies or treats until he was 4 months old, but I thought that was strange. Haven't weighed him, how much should he weigh? His cage is
24" X 18" and about 15" high. I want my piggie to have a long happy life so anything you can offer me is great. Now when I hold him he loves it sits very calmly and only fidgets when he has to go potty.
 

JennG

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Well, now that you've found this site, you'll learn that this site is very anti-pet stores and breeding. If you plan on getting him a friend, please consider resucing a piggie. Many pet store piggies come from breeders who are only in it for the money and don't care about the animals. Nine times out of ten there's something wrong with the pet store piggies. I understand buying a piggie, trust me, I do but I will get any new piggies from a rescue. And I hope you will too.

C&C cages are great and give the piggies alot more room to run and play and they are healthier and happier. Check out the home page of this site and you'll see how easy it is to build one and how inexpensive (compared to the store bought cage) it is.

I was lucky enough to find this site first and build one before buying a pet store cage. I do have a pet store cage that I got when I was given Callie but it's the equivalent of a 1 1/2 grid by 2 1/2 grids. I would only use it for quarantining a piggie.

Good luck. And please search out the different stickies in this forum to learn alot on piggies. As well as ask questions, that's the only way of learning.
 

pennick

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Casper Poe said:
I feed him pellets and timothy hay and was told he was not to have anything else like fruits or veggies or treats until he was 4 months old, but I thought that was strange.

A variety of veggies (romaine, endive, ridichio, red leaf, green leaf, etc. (kale and parsley twice a week), carrots 3 times a week, fruit 2 times a week) sweet peppers ( all colors, red are the best) are a very important factor in their diet. Those are just some. Make sure you are providing this each and every day (a cup a day) to your piggy. They need vitamin C which veggies and peppers contain, otherwise your piggy will become sick.
 

Salstar

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Please start giving him veggies right away. If you check out post 3 in this thread you will find a list of veggies and fruits grouped into categories of how often they should be fed to your piggie

https://guineapigcages.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11278

I am guessing that if the pet store recommended that you not feed veggies til 4 months then this could be why he is not very active.

If you go to the home page there is a heading "C&C cages" on your left hand side. View the links to find out about C&C cages. You can also check out the photo galleries to see other peoples cages to get ideas. Your cage needs to be 30"x 36" for one guinea pig to have enough room to run around in.
 

Ly&Pigs

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I feed him pellets and timothy hay and was told he was not to have anything else like fruits or veggies or treats until he was 4 months old, but I thought that was strange.
Pet store is telling you totally wrong information. What other info did they tell you?

His cage is 24" X 18" and about 15" high. I want my piggie to have a long happy life so anything you can offer me is great.
The cage you have is way too small, he needs a C&C cage and he needs a buddy. Feed him veggies and unlimited hay everyday and get him good quality plain pellets like oxbow's cavy performance or KM's Alfalfa Complete.
 

rabbitsncavyluv

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Ditto what Ly said.

How can you expect him to be active in that tiny cage?

Please look over the main page: www.guineapigcages.com and adopt him a buddy from a shelter or rescue. If he is a baby, then he needs alfalfa hay.

What brand of pellets are you feeding? If they are alfalfa based, then that is fine.

He needs veggies to get vit c or he can get scurvy.

Please go to www.guinealynx.info and look over the care info. Pet stores give out bad info all the time.
 

Chloë-Jasmine

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Pet stores stink. Yeah, they have your food and supplies but they know very little about the pets. The do what their boss tells them and half the time the boss isn't there. The only good thing a Pet Store ever did for me is give me 5 guineas for the price of one. Don't ever ask them for information... always come here! Everybody knows at least something that you can use.
 

cavy-cool-crazy

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The 'Common Misconceptions' thread will tell you a lot of what you need to know. Pet stores are notorious for giving out bad information.
 

Casper Poe

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Thank you all so much for your help. I will defintely look into getting Casper a bigger cage. This is my first piggie so I am very naive about them. I'm going out tonight to get him some veggies and fruits so I can start spoiling him:). I will certainly be here often for information.

Also, I love resucing animals from shelters, but most of the shelter in my area don't even adopt them out and usually won't even take them. When I worked at a shelter 2 piggies came in and I took them becasue they were going to put them to sleep. I had very bad luck with them that's why I don't really count them into how many I've had. I didn't keep them long as they were very mean and bit all the time. I got a baby because of my 5 yr old I want this piggie to grow with her from a baby so he gets really attached to her.

I was also told he was a peruvian and I didn't know exactly what that was until I read a book that showed very long hair. How long will their hair get? I saw several different lengths, his right now is very twirly and about 2 inches long, will his hair get longer as he gets older?

Sorry so many questions, I want to do this right. :)
 

Ly&Pigs

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Yes his hair will grow around the rate of one inch per month. Keeping his bum area trimmed will help from his bottom being continually wet or get tangled when he goes potty. If his hair starts to get really long then you can trim it all over so it doesn't end up too long. He will need daily grooming to keep him tangle free.

I didn't keep them long as they were very mean and bit all the time.
I bet they had mites and thus is why they bit all the time. Imagine if you had parasites that were making you itch so violently, it would make you not want to be touched and if you were, you would want to somehow retaliate.
 

Piglet

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I was just going to say that - the pigs probably had some sort of skin irritation so the moment you petted them, you were actually hurting them. Guinea pigs are not biters (well, except Ascot. He bit me on the nose the other day).

Anyway, congrats on your new pig. Pictures would be great!
 

piggygirl13

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I don't know if it applys to cavys but I once brought a new gerbil home and it didn't move for 3 days.It just froze there completely still.I think it was in shock because it was in a new place.It eventually started playing and it acting like nothing happened.I think maby you should take your cavy to the vet just to make sure that it dosen't have internal injureys.That may be a reason why it's not active or it might just be like my gerbil and have new home syndrom.
 

Access

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Other than what others have already mentioned (buddy, larger cage, vegetables), give him pleanty of floor time and loving care. The larger cage and the buddy go together as if you get him a buddy with a cage that small they will probably fight. 2 males are fine as long as you have the space, generally.
 

Gonzo

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cavy-cool-crazy said:
The 'Common Misconceptions' thread will tell you a lot of what you need to know. Pet stores are notorious for giving out bad information.

I can vouch for that! My two male piggies turned out to be a male and a female, so now I have 4 piggies! Wrong info is just the half of it. ;)

I found this site after I got my piggies, so I made a lot of mistakes, but I have since rectified most of them.
 

Mummy

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I didn't keep them long as they were very mean and bit all the time.

So what did you do with them?
 
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