Tigermoth
Member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2016
- Posts
- 3
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2016
- Messages
- 3
Wanted to drop in and say hello and thank you for your help in getting us on the right track.
We've been looking into getting piggies for a couple of months (well I have been secretly planting the idea in the children for a couple of years and so now they think it is their idea... but really, I'm getting GPs!!!) and everything I have googled seems to point straight to this forum, so I have lurked and read and lurked some more and we're now almost ready so I thought I'd say hello.
I have a 2x4 C&C cage set up after reading about them here, I'd never seen those before (I'm in the UK by the way, not sure if they are more common elsewhere) so should hopefully fit the 2 GPs we have coming nicely (more about them later).
I read about bedding and decided to go with fleece. I'm pretty confident that should be ok, I have two children, both of whom wore cloth nappies for years so it's the same principles. I did feel a bit scared chopping up the mattress protector I bought though, admittedly it was from TKMaxx and reduced but the words "luxury cotton" made it tricky to start snipping. I've got two pads made to fit the cage, I need to make some little pads to put where it turns out they need to be the most (guessing the corners/hay area) and I'll make some spare big pads once I'm happy that I don't need to make any alterations.
I still need to get a little bowl and some hidey holes for them, I have some scraps of fleece to make some little snuggle bags to be going along with until I work out if they like them.
Oh and food, I have sourced an initial place to get hay but I might find somewhere better/cheaper. I live in a part of the UK that thrives on horses, so the first cut of all the hay in this part of the country ends up in and around here so I might turn up really good quality hay at a better price than standard pet store stuff. I've printed off the forum pdf and learning about what to give when in terms of veg, oh and I have realised that there only really seems to be one brand of nugget in all the places I've looked so I shall pick up some shortly.
Today an outdoor run will be delivered. I was planning on making something with spare C&C grids I had but the place the GPs are coming from said that they will only approve us if we buy one of their particular approved runs (not theirs, just on a list, it isn't actual extortion), so that came as a surprise expense. They didn't like my plan as a cat paw can get through the grids apparently. Hey ho.
As for the piggies, I had spoken to a vet friend and he put me onto a client that has show pigs and told me how he has babies that don't make the grade. I had pictures of someone with half a dozen GPs in their front room. Turns out he has 200. I felt really uncomfortable about that and had a real crisis of conscience so looked into local rescues (I'd not thought of rescue until... guess what... I read on here...) and so a bit of googling turned up a well known rescue centre that I thought just had dogs and cats but turns out they have all kinds of small animals too. Well we fell for a right motley pair. They were rescued from a hoarding situation when an old lady died and they didn't know she had a shed full of guinea pigs. Lots were sick, lots were pregnant. They have had them at the rescue for a little while, initially quarantined etc and then making introductions for pairs to be rehomed. We have Jenny who was pregnant when they found her. She had a baby (cub?kitten? no idea...) but was otherwise well and the baby has gone elsewhere. Timmy, bless him, Timmy had had a broken leg at some point. It is healed and the vet is confident it will be fine, we just have to promise no ramps for him. He has been in a few scraps and so has raggedy ears that look like they have been through the mill. And to cap it all they chopped his bits off. (He got neutered, bless him). They are very cute, pretty confident and we are told they are fit and well and should hopefully live long and happy lives now. Estimates are they are about a year old I think, but I suppose it is a real guess. Jenny snuggled right into DS1's lap and nuzzled away, although she was a bit purry, Timmy initially was a bit purry but then quietened before starting to chirrup and chat.
So, that is our story. I feel like I have a lot to learn, actually communication is a big one, all this rumblethumping and popcorning is a foreign language to me, hopefully it will all become clear, if not I'll come and see what you guys think. We just have to arrange to collect them over the next week or so once we have had a home visit from the rescue to see our set up and been approved. (Should be fine, they were very impressed with the C&C with fleece photo we showed them)
Sorry, that got long! I do have a tendency to waffle a bit. Look forward to chatting.
Thanks again for all the advice that you didn't know you have been giving
We've been looking into getting piggies for a couple of months (well I have been secretly planting the idea in the children for a couple of years and so now they think it is their idea... but really, I'm getting GPs!!!) and everything I have googled seems to point straight to this forum, so I have lurked and read and lurked some more and we're now almost ready so I thought I'd say hello.
I have a 2x4 C&C cage set up after reading about them here, I'd never seen those before (I'm in the UK by the way, not sure if they are more common elsewhere) so should hopefully fit the 2 GPs we have coming nicely (more about them later).
I read about bedding and decided to go with fleece. I'm pretty confident that should be ok, I have two children, both of whom wore cloth nappies for years so it's the same principles. I did feel a bit scared chopping up the mattress protector I bought though, admittedly it was from TKMaxx and reduced but the words "luxury cotton" made it tricky to start snipping. I've got two pads made to fit the cage, I need to make some little pads to put where it turns out they need to be the most (guessing the corners/hay area) and I'll make some spare big pads once I'm happy that I don't need to make any alterations.
I still need to get a little bowl and some hidey holes for them, I have some scraps of fleece to make some little snuggle bags to be going along with until I work out if they like them.
Oh and food, I have sourced an initial place to get hay but I might find somewhere better/cheaper. I live in a part of the UK that thrives on horses, so the first cut of all the hay in this part of the country ends up in and around here so I might turn up really good quality hay at a better price than standard pet store stuff. I've printed off the forum pdf and learning about what to give when in terms of veg, oh and I have realised that there only really seems to be one brand of nugget in all the places I've looked so I shall pick up some shortly.
Today an outdoor run will be delivered. I was planning on making something with spare C&C grids I had but the place the GPs are coming from said that they will only approve us if we buy one of their particular approved runs (not theirs, just on a list, it isn't actual extortion), so that came as a surprise expense. They didn't like my plan as a cat paw can get through the grids apparently. Hey ho.
As for the piggies, I had spoken to a vet friend and he put me onto a client that has show pigs and told me how he has babies that don't make the grade. I had pictures of someone with half a dozen GPs in their front room. Turns out he has 200. I felt really uncomfortable about that and had a real crisis of conscience so looked into local rescues (I'd not thought of rescue until... guess what... I read on here...) and so a bit of googling turned up a well known rescue centre that I thought just had dogs and cats but turns out they have all kinds of small animals too. Well we fell for a right motley pair. They were rescued from a hoarding situation when an old lady died and they didn't know she had a shed full of guinea pigs. Lots were sick, lots were pregnant. They have had them at the rescue for a little while, initially quarantined etc and then making introductions for pairs to be rehomed. We have Jenny who was pregnant when they found her. She had a baby (cub?kitten? no idea...) but was otherwise well and the baby has gone elsewhere. Timmy, bless him, Timmy had had a broken leg at some point. It is healed and the vet is confident it will be fine, we just have to promise no ramps for him. He has been in a few scraps and so has raggedy ears that look like they have been through the mill. And to cap it all they chopped his bits off. (He got neutered, bless him). They are very cute, pretty confident and we are told they are fit and well and should hopefully live long and happy lives now. Estimates are they are about a year old I think, but I suppose it is a real guess. Jenny snuggled right into DS1's lap and nuzzled away, although she was a bit purry, Timmy initially was a bit purry but then quietened before starting to chirrup and chat.
So, that is our story. I feel like I have a lot to learn, actually communication is a big one, all this rumblethumping and popcorning is a foreign language to me, hopefully it will all become clear, if not I'll come and see what you guys think. We just have to arrange to collect them over the next week or so once we have had a home visit from the rescue to see our set up and been approved. (Should be fine, they were very impressed with the C&C with fleece photo we showed them)
Sorry, that got long! I do have a tendency to waffle a bit. Look forward to chatting.
Thanks again for all the advice that you didn't know you have been giving
