I?m An Accidental Cavy Mom!

[MammaGee]

Hi! I?m an animal lover who just adopted 3 piggies for the first time and they?re awesome...

I am totally new to guinea pig raising but they?re so cute I am hooked. I?m a grad student and I came to own my first GP over Christmas. A classmate had adopted a cavy from a Rescue without fully understanding the commitment it takes to own these cuties. After 1 month of owning a guinea pig who I have since renamed Tribbles, she gave him up at our local Petco! She was hesitant to say what she had done and once I found out I totally flipped out. I managed to adopt him and I went in search of finding him a sibling, since I heard that cavies are happier in groups. I found Oliver and Finley through a woman whose family could no longer keep the two and she wanted to make sure they went together. So now I have 3 fun piggies...I?m in the process of building them a huge cage extension area via C&C with a loft or two. Looking forward to all the great advice on this forum.

 

[bpatters]

Welcome to the wonderful world of piggies!

Here's some recommended reading 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!

But I have some warnings for you.

First, three boars together almost NEVER works, and we absolutely NEVER recommend it for new pig owners. They'll go through puberty, and it will be non-stop humping, if not actual non-stop fighting. So be sure you're prepared to separate one or them, and you may wind up with three that won't live together.

Second, from as much as I can see of that cage, they don't have nearly enough room. Three boars need at least 12 square feet at a minimum, and more is better.

Third, take out all hideys that only have one door, or cut another hole in them. A pigloo or other one-door hidey is just an invitation for one pig to trap another and get its face slashed. They need room to run around, so push all the furniture to the edges or ends of the cage.

Fourth, throw out the burlap tunnel -- they'll eat the threads and that can cause an intestinal blockage. Fleece is about the only thing you can put in a cage that won't ravel, and most pigs won't try to eat it. But you should cut the edges off the fleece that's in there, or take out the stitching around the edge.

Fifth, that looks like carpet padding you've got in there. They'll also eat that, and that's a pretty much guaranteed intestinal blockage that can quickly result in death. You don't need anything absorbent under the bedding you've got, you just need a deep enough layer of it so that their feet aren't getting wet.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of so much bad news, but those are some things that need to be fixed ASAP.

 

[MammaGee]

Thank you for taking the time to scrutinize my photo...unfortunately that photo was taken almost two months ago and sorry you took the time to respond to it since that was taken the day I took them home and it doesn't resemble that anymore, I only had that as an emergency setup to separate them in a room where they can be safe.

If you read my post I mentioned I am building a larger cage. That is what I have been doing today with the grids I got in the mail. I got on this forum to basically see what folks use for large cages and ideas.

My boars have their own room in my house so fortunately I can make a cage as large as I want. The reason why they are not going to free roam all over the place is that I have two dogs and I wouldn't want them to accidentally get hurt.

I am also so lucky that the boars get along fine, they popcorn all over the place, and I consulted my friends who had pigs and also pigsit for me when I've traveled, and they said the black one who was previously alone would do well with company. So I had given that a lot of thought before I chose to adopt them.

Have you let all the other folks with pictures of pigloos know that they should cut a hole in theirs?

My friends have said they are some of the luckiest guinea pigs to be rescued by a rich kid in graduate school. I think I'll go back to the Pinterest board.

 

[bpatters]

Well, you said cage extension, and sometimes people still attach very small cages to those and run into problems when all the pigs are in the cage.

We do let people know to cut holes in their pigloos. If I had my way, they wouldn't be sold. I've seen too many slashed noses when one pig trapped another.