Thanks for all of your help, but I have a couple more questions.
Here are my questions: 1) How can you tell when a guinea pig is sleeping? Do they just lay there forever or what? 2) Why do guinea pigs need to be with another guinea pig? 3) Do guinea pigs go to sleep when their owners are asleep? 4) When do guinea pigs need to be taken to the vet and how often do they need to be taken there? 5) Are guinea pigs as social as they seem to be? 6) Do guinea pigs need to have someone sit by their cage? 7) Would guinea pigs be prey, to say; a ferret? (I may or may not get a ferret too). 8) Are guinea pigs scared of certain animals? 9) What animals are guinea pigs scared of? 10) Do guinea pigs have natural abilities, if so what kind of natural abilities do guinea pigs have? 11) Are guinea pigs climbers? 12) Can guinea pigs climb? 13) Will a guinea pig ever try to escape from its cage? 13) Should I get a difficult access cage so that if I get a ferret, the ferret doesn't get in it? 14) What should I be on a lookout for with guinea pigs?
I will have more questions posted later. Please reply.
1: From what other members told you, I deducted that they either close their eyes or don't react when you approach them even if their eyes are open.
I'd imagine a very bored, unhealthy pig would lay around a lot, seeing as how it feels unwell and has nothing to do.
2:
"Here's what I know about guinea pigs: they are social, ... they need friends to keep them happy,"
3: As was already answered, Guinea Pigs sleep for some minutes at a time. They probably sleep some while you are asleep, but they won't sleep for 8 hours at a time like you would normally do.
4: For regular checkups, I'd say about twice a year, plus everytime you notice something wrong, i.e. unusual symtoms such as: different breathing noises, hair loss, excessive scratching, weight loss (that's why you have to weight them every day), crusty eyes, discharge from nose, salivation or trouble while eating food, etc.
5: Depends on personality and confidence with their handlers. My two boys are extremely lovable and they'll eat from my hand and not run too much when I try to pick them up, while my girls are very shy and prefer to be left alone while they eat. But they certainly do play a lot amongst themselves, following each other around and having races. That's why you need at least one other pig, so they can keep each other entertained and active.
6:
"...they need LOTS of attention, somebody needs to sit by their cage daily,..."
You answered that youself!
7: Yes, Guinea Pigs would most certainly be prey to ferrets! Ferrets are carnivores! In fact, some people even give them live baby chickens to eat
.You should be researching on ferrets before considering them as a pet. Like any other animal, they too have special requiremets.
8 & 9: I've found Guinea Pigs to be cowards. Really. They're afraid of everything, including people. Maybe some will get along with cats or dogs, or just tolerate having them, but remember they are PREY animals. Just in case you don't understand what "prey" means, here is the definition according to
Online Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus. Free access.:
prey:
n. 1. An animal hunted or caught for food; quarry.
10: Natural abilities? I'd say being poop machines. That's an ability that comes naturally to them. They also have the ability to be extremely fragile, high-maintenance animals which sicken easily.
11 & 12 & 13: I remember asking this to someone in a previous post. It seems that most Guinea Pigs won't bother climbing, say, up the grids. However, some posts mention Guinea Pigs escaping inexplicably, or male pigs that have managed to find a way out of their cages to get to a female in heat. Mine like to climb on top of their fiddlestick tunnels, but I haven't seen them scaling or ven attempting to escape the cages.
2nd 13: Most definitely. You can make a C&C cage and further protect it with chicken wire or mesh grids. Remember that if you let your ferret out for some playtime, he NEEDS to be supervised. They are little troublemakers, so you have to watch out for them.
14: Lookout as in signs of disease? Check out this forum and the previous posts. Also check the Guinea Lynx forum.
Now, a few things I'd like to point out about ferrets. They are MUCH more expensive than a Guinea Pig. I believe they are upwards of $100? In fact, in here they cost $600, but that's only because they're ilegal here and these ones have some sort of special amnesty, at least according to the guy who sells them. They NEED a LOT of time, preferably 2 hours a day, especially if you cannot provide them with a playmate and ADEQUATE housing space. They are extremely active and playful.
They SMELL. They have this weird musk, and males drop scent-bombs, kind of like what skunks do. If you don't want to deal with this scent, you should descent them and/or neuter them, but this won't mean they'll smell like roses. There will always be some scent involved.
They NEED a high quality ferret or kitten food. A low quality food will mean a less healthy ferret.
They need regular checkups plus rabies and distemper vaccines each year. Even if they don't go outside, you STILL need to get the vaccines. They can get heartwork from mosquitos or from your own clothes and shoes if they have come in contact with a sick animal. You HAVE to ferret proof your house. Not just the room it's going to be in unless you are POSITIVE the ferret will NEVER escape from there (which is not likely). Proofing involves setting up gates that cannot be scaled at the entrance of areas the ferret shouldn't go to. They CAN and WILL scale any baby gate or pet gate. You'd probably have to get a piece of plexiglass or a flat sheet of wood about 3 ft high so they can't scale over it. You also CANNOT leave around stuff they can choke on, such as pen caps, your school erasers, coins, jewelry, etc. They can swallow this and they will need surgery to remove these objects from their stomach, which I can assure you will NOT be cheap. You have to make sure that any house cleaning products or common medicines are out of reach. Even a tylenol can be deadly. There's many other things to do to ferret proof a place. Please research further into this subject.
Ferrets have sharp nails which should NOT be removed. You can't declaw them. They also have sharp teeth. These things mean that eventually you'll get scratched or bit. Keep this in mind.
Check out this thread for some information and links:
https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...ring-ferret.html?highlight=coopdog#post250729
Please reconsider the whole ferret idea also. If you can't make time or afford having one Guinea Pig then you can't definitely keep up with a ferret.
And another thing I wanted to point out: Having a pet just to cheer you when you are depressed isn't a good idea. I'm manic-depressive (bipolar) and I am on severe depression pretty much my whole life. I have a really hard time taking care of myself. Sometimes I can't even get out of bed in the mornings and put on clothes, so I head off to college and just go with my PJs and slippers and all messed up. However, this doesn't bother or harm anyone. But if you get pets, remember they are going to DEPEND ON YOU to clean up their cages, take the time to interact with them, prepare their meals, etc. They need you to survive; they can't do those things by themselves. Occasionaly I'll be so depressed that I need help and verbal encouragement from my mom to finish out cleaning everyone. I have 8 pets. All completely mine. Even though I don't support them financially (and it takes a LOT of money to pay for veggies for five herbivores, two omnivores and one messed-up dog plus hay and pellets/dog food/hamster food), they do get most of the interaction from me, and I'm the only one who cleans out their cages and prepares their meals according to their needs.
In a way they are teaching me responsability because they'll die if I don't care for them, and a life is a big thing to have on your shoulders, but really, a Guinea Pig is a very poopy animal which requires a lot of attention and cleaning (if you don't want their cages to stink like heck). I suggest you get on some sort of antidepressant to help you with your depression. I used to drink Zoloft, Depakote and some other mood stabilizers. You don't need an animal to make you happy. Nor a sibling. In fact, my brother is one of the reasons my life is so miserable.
