Fairly New Piggy Owner

[aliciakae]

Hi,

I am a partial stay at home mom to 3 boys, 2 dogs and now 3 recently added Guinea Pigs. I work in the afternoons to escape my children, don't get me wrong I love them but after staying home full time for 10 years this mom needs a break. We have had our guinea pigs for about a week now. My 5 year old had been wanting a hamster for close to a year now but not a fan of hamsters so I told him that guinea pigs were giant hamsters. At the pet store we asked if they would let him hold one because I figured it would freak out and that would be the end of the discussion but it curled right up into him and started cooing so we now are a guinea pig family. We have a very basic C&C cage right now since we were just worried about getting one set up that was big enough for the 3 girls. Slowly working on making it more pretty now that it's not a rush to just get them their space. I have been looking around at fleece and my newbie question is whether darker or lighter fleece is better as a liner for showing poopies (what my 3 year old calls them) ?

 

[CavyMama]

Well hello! And congrats on your entry into guinea pig slavedom!

Okay so...a C&C cage is a great start! Females don't need as much space as males but they definitely need enough to not feel crowded. How large is your cage? (i.e. how many grids long & wide). One of the best things about C&C cages is that they are super easy to adjust the size on simply by adding grids.

As for the fleece, light vs dark is really a preference thing but for spotting poops (or poopies! LOL) it's better to have a lighter fleece so you can make sure you are able to get them all.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you don't already, you need an absorbent layer under the fleece. The fleece will wick the moisture away from the surface and down to the absorbent layer so the top stays dry. Have you looked into how to prep the fleece so it does this?

Congrats again and we are piggy picture crazy here so please share pics asap!

 

[bpatters]

Also, be very careful with a five-year-old and guinea pigs. You need to be the one doing the catching. He needs to be sitting on the floor so there's no way the pig can jump and injure himself. The cage needs a locked lid so the kid can't open it and accidentally leave it open.

It sounds like a lot of protection, but it's devastating when a dog kills a guinea pig, especially if it's front of a kid. Also devastating when the kid drops the pig and it dies or is paralyzed.

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!

 

[aliciakae]

The cage that I have is 2x4 with a 1x2 loft but they don't do much with that portion yet. Initially the grid was directly on the floor but after 1 of my shitzhu-poodle mixes jumped in it we have moved it up a cube and put storage under it. My dogs weren't too sure what to think at first but so far my dogs when the boys do have them out just holding them on the couch for treats they come up and lick them like they are their puppies. All of the boys know that it's mom and dad that have to take them out and they either have to be sitting on the couch or on the floor to hold them. So far though for floor time the dogs go outside so that they can run and play without that concern.

We weren't quite prepared to get them yet because I thought that when my son was given one to hold that it would freak out but it the one he picked to hold just curled up into him and started cooing so I figured that I wasn't going to find one that tame again right off the bat. Sadly that was the truth about finding another one right off like that. They have told us that they do better in pairs but the others that day all freaked out when being handled. We wound up with 2 more very shortly even though they weren't as friendly right off the bat so that each boy had their own. It started with the 3 & 5 year old arguing over who got to hold Rosie when she was out and I was worried they would hurt her fighting so then came Piggle(Pickle) for the 3 year old but then our 12 year old was feeling left out because his brothers wouldn't let him hold either of them so that is what brought Pennie our Absyinnian one I believe that is her breed as she has the crazy all over hair.

The fleece I have read how to wick it and that I need a layer but right now I am trying to decide the color of it as I want to get a colored coroplast base as well instead of the white that the hardware store had. I live in the US and right now Joann's has their 3 yard fleece fabric online for less than $8 total which I really can't beat that price anywhere. I was planning on getting a little bit extra too for like pee pads for their heavy spots since I haven't convinced hubby into that we need like the cavy diner yet. He doesn't want to deal with the paper in it but I am the one that primarily cleans the cage anyway because I really don't want an odor issue so it is done twice a day right now.