Adopted 2 piggies

[boonana101]

I'm not exactly a new guinea pig owner seeing as though we've had five other guinea pigs previously tops 3 at one time. But I was much younger then, now that I am 19 these two cuties are mostly my responsibility, so I'm a little clueless/nervous about this whole thing.
So I adopted two guinea pigs in March from my local PetCo, I saw them there for two weeks I couldn't stand it anymore I had to take them home. Both I believe are American short hair gps ,Oreo(which we find out later is a girl) is a black and white patchy with the softest coat, the other ,Carrot, which was much bigger and more curious has a patchy white and two-toned grey coat which is so pretty but his coat isn't as soft but is shinier and a bit coarser in a way.The store had collected very little information about them, I knew their names (which I changed), their gender (they said both male but that wasn't true), and their previous owner said they were born in December (but that could have just been the month they were bought). The store also provided them with very little while they were under the stores care, I could tell they were using the cheapest bag of food they had, they had no veggies or Timothy hay, and I was almost sure their cage had not cleaned since they had been dropped off. They were being kept together in a regular sized Cage that you'd find in a pet store nothing too nice.
About a month or less after taking them home I became very nervous that I didn't know anything about them,(the last guinea pig I adopted had gall stones, which we were not informed about) so I made them a vet appointment to make sure everything with the two were ok. And that's when I found out the they were different genders!!! That had me worrying about little Oreo already being pregnant because my vet could not could give me a 100% answer on whether she was or wasn't. So then I had to separate them.
After separating them the little girl was so nervous and depressed so I would maybe once every week take them out together and let them play making sure nothing naughty was going on. But low and behold, Oreo is pregnant... She has doubled in size, originally she was the smaller one, but that is not true anymore.
Right now they are being kept in two separate cages, the type you'd find in a pet store, I'd like to improve on that but space is an issue seeing as though I'd have to make two separate ones because one is a girl and one is a boy. I use Care fresh complete odor control 10 day bedding, is like pappery/cottony bedding which I changed once or twice a week. I feed them the kaytee brand fiesta mix (which they love) lots of veggies like cucumber and celery, and fruits about once a week (usually a peice of apple), they also get Timothy hay. They have a lot of toys, both have an igloo, both have a salt lick, and a few chewy toys to keep them entertained and their teeth healthy.
I'm a very nervous owner I see something small and I immediately get nervous and scared but vet bills are so expensive. Plus the fact that I don't know about their history and one of them is pregnant, and I cannot house all those babies, I don't know if this is her first litter. I'm trying my best to show my babies how much I love them. Any advice would be great, I'm glad to have a place like this where I can talk about them and ask questions!

 

[SnickersRumbles]

Your doing great but take out the salt lick they DO NOT need them. I just give my piggies oxbow young guinea pig pellets and oxbow Timothy hay veggies every day and how many babies did Oreo have and are you selling any?

 

[boonana101]

thank you!! She hasn't actually given birth yet, so I'm not sure how many she is having yet. I am not trying to keep them so I will try to sell them and give them away to friends and coworkers if it comes to it I'll give them away to other people, I'm just worried they wont treat them right. I may keep one girl to keep Oreo company, Carrot seems to be fine on his own.

 

[SnickersRumbles]

Awww where do you live I will consider adopting one

 

[boonana101]

long island

 

[SnickersRumbles]

Awe man I live in Nashville TN I sure would have adopted your piggies babies

 

[Fantaziez]

Be careful about the birth! Piggies can easily get heavily injured from birth, so you'll have to keep surveying her and the babies. If you don't know how many litters, you should ask wherever you adopted from.

 

[bpatters]

You've discovered the hard way that PetCo pigs are often sold missexed. They also often sold sick and with parasites. The breeding mills that supply the big box pet stores are awful, and the pigs are often in awful conditions. It's the main reason why we're so pro-adoption and anti-purchase.

Throw the salt lick out immediately. Not only do they not need it, it will contribute to the formation of painful and expensive bladder stones.

Here's some reading material 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 more on pregnancy: https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...inea-pig-is-pregnant-And-how-far-along-is-she

 

[boonana101]

I actually adopted these two not bought, the previous owners gave them up for some reason. So the store has no idea where they were originally gotten from or their past history. Some of my past piggies were bought from a petco/petsmart, and at least two of those were misssexed but we're perfectly healthy. One of the other ones I adopted from there actually had gall stones.Thank you for the advice!!!