babies

[oldandthenew]

I am going to adopt two one month baby guinea pigs because they need to be evacuated, but I dont know if they need special care. Could somone please help me?

 

[Poohbear]

Why don't you ask.

 

[oldandthenew]

Who should I ask?

 

[Poohbear]

The person that is giving the pigs away.

 

[Piglet]

Hello. They need plenty of alfalfa hay up until the age of 6 months. You also need to baby proof the cage because they can slip through the holes in the grids.

 

[TheAlmightyMiko]

If you currently have a C&C cage, you will need to baby proof it (so that the pigs can't squeeze through the grids) by either:

1. changing grids from th 1.5 inch holes to the "child" ones that have tiny grid openings or mesh grids.
2. Overlapping 2 grids so that the openings are 1/2 their original size (securing them with zip ties; I believe Ly has a picture of how to do this in her gallery).
3. Raising the sides of your coroplast bin so that the grid openings are covered. You can use either extra coroplast or cardboard for this purpose.

Also, babies under 4-6 monts old require alfalfa hay over timothy. You will need to make sure that they are generally healthy, eating, and are getting their daily veggies, pellets, water, and unlimited hay. Other than that, I'm not sure since I've never had babies myself.
Good luck!

edit: Ack! Piglet answered before I hit "post reply". Always beating me to the chase, haha.

 

[Piglet]

Im pretty sure its 6 months...

 

[TheAlmightyMiko]

I've heard different numbers, but go six months to be safe. I'm sure you can verify the exact age on GL, oldandthenew.

 

[TheAlmightyMiko]

Oh I just noticed, the pics of how to combine normal grids aren't in Ly's gallery, they are in CavySpirit's gallery. Oops!

 

[Poohbear]

No problemo, Amanda.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

I was gonna say they aren't in my gallery. Alfalfa hay can be fed up to 6 months. Alfalfa based pellets can be fed up to 1 year.