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ElleTrixieB13

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Hello, I'm Trixie and I have wanted guinea pigs for a long time. As there are many available on free classified sites and in our local shelter, that was the route I planned to go to acquire my new friends. My plan was two piggies so they had company and building a C&C cage. I've done much research on diet, bedding, etc.

However, when I went last night to look at a couple older piggies advertised as "snake food", I encountered a situation I wasn't expecting. I found eight guinea pigs in a smaller sized pet store cage. A few are urine stained, they are all quite skittish. The cage was horribly dirty with cedar shavings, water bowl caked in poop. So after much convincing to let me take them, I now am the owner/foster for eight guinea pigs. I am quickly working to get them set-up and into appropriate cages in pairs and separated by gender.

My hope is to find good homes for six of the piggies and keep two for myself once they are in better shape and hopefully I win them over with my offerings of veggies over time.

Wish me luck as my guinea pig journey started with a bit more than I had planned!
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Bless you for taking them all in from what sounds like an absolutely abhorrent situation.

If they aren't all girls, you likely have every female in the bunch pregnant already. You'll need to be ready for that!
 

ElleTrixieB13

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They are not all girls. I came to that realization about half way through the negotiations, so I've been googling gestation, etc. I will set myself up on the expectation of pregnancy assuming that's what the future will bring. There are 5 females and 3 males. I have the males separated out now in the largest cage I have (still not big enough), but hopefully they will keep the peace until I get it better accommodations for everyone. I'm also calling around for a vet familiar with neutering guinea pigs to see if that is an option (I'm new enough to not know whether this is possible).
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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You will probably find that 3 males in a cage will not go well. 3 seems to be a kryptonite number, and I just wanted you to be aware of it BEFORE it becomes an issue.

Spaying and neutering IS an option for guinea pigs, but you really need to find a cavy savvy vet to do it and preferably one with lots of experience. Small animal vet means dog and cat, and most know little to nothing about guinea pigs. Look for an exotic vet.

Very much wishing you the best of luck and if you have questions don't be afraid to ask.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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I just have to say Bless you, too! I'm so so glad you saved them and it's so wonderful to hear ❤️

This forum is amazing, as well as the link bpatters already gave you. One other site that helped me a lot as a new guinea pig owner is www.guineapigmanual.com Since you've already done lots of research, you probably know most of what it has to say, but it has some other really handy things like audio of guinea pig sounds and meanings, etc.

Absolute best of luck to you and your eight lucky piggies!!!
 

ElleTrixieB13

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Thank you all! And thank you for the links and information!

Good to know about three males being a bad number. I will get them split out, though I feel bad putting one by himself and I also don't want any more pregnancies. Will have to think this through!
 

ElleTrixieB13

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This is the cage size all eight were in :( I grabbed this one off Kijiji for one male and have set him up beside the cage with the other two males. The girls are currently in groups of 3 & 2 until my C&C supplies arrive. I think the cage will take up most of basement! Slowly we are settling into a routine, I'm trying not to handle them except for moving to floor time for cage cleaning until they are settled, but a few are getting a bit braver and all seem to be eating and drinking after all the changes!
IMG_20191204_190049.jpg
 

ElleTrixieB13

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Here are some pictures of four of my new adventure into guinea pigs! The brown one on the pink blanket has some urine scald on his back end and feet, I'm treating it based on advice from this forum, so thank you!
IMG_20191203_180931.jpgIMG_20191205_213438~2.jpg
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Thank you so much for the updates, and looking forward to more good news. They're so adorable.
 

bpatters

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Oh, cute piggies! Thank you so much for taking them in!
 

MerryFriarTuck

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Oh my gosh, they're adorable!! All beautiful Abbys...the poor guy with the hurting feet looks so much like my piggy Friar Tuck ❤️
Screenshot_20191206-172832.jpg
How wonderful you saved them. Thanks for the updates; they're very much welcomed! :)
 

SSLee

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I would also like to add my appreciation for what you're doing for taking on the entire group of 8. They are so lucky to have found you and you are doing a wonderful job with them. So glad you have the extra space to house so many cages. Looking forward to reading more updates.
 

ElleTrixieB13

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MerryFriarTuck - Friar Tuck is adorable!!!

SSLee - yes, the cages sure take up alot of room! I have taken over my whole kitchen at this point, but having them all in one room makes my life easier with all the cage cleaning and feeding! I'll get a picture of my set-up to share, it's a bit overwhelming LOL

I did not realize how much hay they ate! So much hay!!!

I'm getting everyone down for floor time as much as possible, but as I have cats I have to rotate them with the kitties as my floor time set-up is open top. I'm getting those in the smaller cages down daily, but the larger caged ones are every couple days. I feel awful grabbing them to move them down, so I'm going to work on training them to get in a tube so I can lift them in and out without having to grab.

Here is a picture with names of six of them. Two more are to come, but they are very skittish so I didn't take the time to get their pictures yet.78699759_10156345896920566_1016723268402413568_n.jpg
 

MerryFriarTuck

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I LOVE their names!! You matched their looks to their namesakes perfectly! I once had a rat we named Harry Potter--- he was black and white and much like a rat version of Bellatrix, but his blaze down his nose looked like a lightning bolt :D Have you named the skittish two yet?

You're doing awesome, they're the luckiest piggies!
 

ElleTrixieB13

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Well we have been working hard to keep everyone healthy and happy! Urine burns are pretty much healed, boys were neutered last week and are healing well, coats are looking lovely. They are all getting so much braver and all are wheeking at me when I get home from work for their greens and 7/8 are waiting at the side of their cage to take it from my hand. I have to say I am just smitten with these little guys and gals.

Most exciting for me is I built a C&C cage and have all six girls (so far) happily living together. It's 6x4 with two kitchens. I'm trying out fleece bedding to see how it goes. The boys are living in a split cage on the "shelf" by the girls until they are all healed and "empty" ;)

P_20200112_174724_vHDR_On.jpgP_20200112_174710_vHDR_On.jpg
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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SOOO nice to see them progressing !
 

MerryFriarTuck

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You're a hero to have given them all such a fairy tale ending!!! :D Everything is wonderful news. I can just see them all lined up and wheeking...it must be quite the sight and (loud!) music to your ears lol I would be smitten, too!
 

ElleTrixieB13

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It is unbelievably adorable and so loud :) , I made a facebook page for my friends to follow along and I like to post a "WHEEK of the week" so everyone can enjoy with me!
 

SSLee

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Thank you for the update and what a great job you've done with the piggies! Your C&C cage looks great and looks way better than what I've done with my C&C cage. It was my first time making a C&C cage and I accidentally cut through the coroplast in multiple places. But thanks to helpful posts from @spy9doc, I filled in the cracks with hot glue. If you would like some white report cover spines for the top of your coroplast, let me know and I will send them to you. For reasons I can no longer remember, I bought a box of 100 and now have lots of extras to share.

How are the piggies doing with going into a tube so you can pick them up? I use a fleece tunnel and both of my piggies willingly go in there to be transported to my lap or to the temporary cage (kiddie pool) when I'm cleaning their cage. My new one has been with me only since Nov and she adapted very quickly to being picked up in the tunnel.
 
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