New baby!

[charliesmommy]

I am going to be adopting a baby pig next week. I've never had a baby (he was born Feb. 17) so I need some tips and advice! I have another pig, Charlie, that I adopted about a month ago... he's 5 months old. Can I house them together, and should it be a gradual thing or right away? I know he should have a different variation to his diet, but what exactly is best? I need all the info I can get, thanks!

 

[dagwellismypigy]

You need to quarintine him for two weeks. He needs alfalfa based food and alfalfa hay. I suggest (broken link removed) cavy performane pellets for you young one. Since he is so young you may want to baby proof your cage buy getting mesh grids or cable tyingtwo grids together to make smaller holes. You also need to make the coro higher up, you can use cardboard, personally I don't think both of them are necassary. You will want to make sure there are no open grids in the cage. After all this, I am assuming you have a c&c cage, if not, that is the first thing you need.

 

[Himino]

The baby and Charlie can eat the same alfafa based diet untill Charlie is about 10 months to a year old.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Actually quarantine is 3 weeks. Once quarantine is over follow the instructions here- www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm for introductions.

You can feed them both the same diet for a while. You can introduce a good grass hay like timothy, orchard grass, bermuda, bluegrass, etc. in addition to the alfalfa and in about 3 months cut way back on the alfalfa for a couple months then take it out completely and just use grass hay and also once your older boar gets about 1 year old switch to Cavy Cuisine pellets or a mix of about 1/3 Cavy performance and 2/3 Cavy cuisine until the younger boar gets to 1 year old.

Also feed lots of good veggies. See www.guinealynx.info/nutrition.html