New Cavy Owner with lots of questions!!!

[theamazingbox]

Hi, I'm a big pet-lover, I'm a CAS and dog trainer at a PetCo(save the scolding about petstores for some other time, I work at PetCo instead of other pet stores for a reason).
Anyways, last week at work, someone called and said they had purchased a cavy from us in january, and their daughter could no longer keep him, what should they do? Well, rather than see poor Raymond(his name) end up in a shelter, I took him home, having a pretty good idea of what to do for him.
Raymond is about a year old, full grown, brown and white shorthair. He's VERY snuggly, but his previous owners didn't seem to give him much affection or anything else. He had about a 1/2 inch of soiled bedding in his little cage, and some supermarket brand food. I've been giving him some treats, lots of fresh fruits and veggies, got him a hay bar and more nice fluffy bedding. He's quite fond of my fiancee, so she gave him an old t-shirt that she wore to bed the night before. Every morning when I wake up he's popcorning around with delight, and squeals with delight when you open the cage for playtime, or even crinkle a plastic bag for mealtime! He spends an hour or more cuddling and exploring on our bed with us during TV time...he seems to like cartoons!
His cage is not large enough, but I am moving in the next few weeks, and I'm going to build him a C&C cage when I move.
I just have a few questions.
Is he supposed to have very prominent nads(testes?)...they're freakin huge like a rats!(sorry, that's kind of funny from like a elementary school level)
What about when I go on vacation, should I bring him with me-long car ride-or find a babysitter:eye-poppi ?
Can I get him a friend? I feel bad that he has no guinea pig buddy, but I'm hesitant to get him neutered!

Please feel free to add any comments or questions. Thank you!

 

[AnimalHouse36]

Whoa! So many questions!

I will save the petco cherdes but I am curious as to your reason for picking Petno instead of other places.

Is he supposed to have very prominent nads

Most boars do have large ones.

What about when I go on vacation, should I bring him with me-long car ride-or find a babysitter

How long is the car ride? Really its your call;. DO you have a reliable person who will feed and spot clean?
Will you be able to give the guinea pigs a spot of hid own and pack plenty of veggies and maybe even find a place to stay overnight with him?

Can I get him a friend? I feel bad that he has no guinea pig buddy, but I'm hesitant to get him neutered!

Guinea pigs are herd animals and become very depressed on their own. As long as you got him another male you shouldn't have to get him nuetered. Unlike dogs and rabbits fixing doesn't affect guinea pigs personalities. If you do get him a friednd make sure you adopt! www.petfinder.com has many adoptable guinea pigs.

 

[theamazingbox]

Actually, Petco is partners with Petfinder.com, as well as a lot of other adoption groups. Should the male I get be younger? When our guys come into the store, they're usually 2-3 months old, and rarely stay a month, so I'm estimating his age.

 

[Janelle]

I double the thought that it would be wonderful if you'd adopt one off of petfinder. Give a home to one who really needs it. It's great if you can pair an older pig with a younger pig. And no need to get him neutered. Just make sure you adopt another male.

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Petco supports pet milling. They lost a lawsuit for animal cruelty in CA.

They do all those things to look good and get foot traffic (see http://www.guineapighome.com/Pet_Trade/p2_articleid/3 http://www.cavyspirit.com/petstores.htm )

Meanwhile they still sell animals from mass breeders in poor conditions like Rainbow Exotics, one of the worst. They are often sick, missexed and pregnant. It doesn't suitably cancel it out. Don't be fooled.

 

[MotherofGambit]

The petco in my area seems like a nice enough place, the animals all appear healthy and well-fed. I prefer petsmart though as they handle the pets there and therefore are tamer. I got a rat from petco a while back. they said it was a boy, within a couple days it became obvious he was a she and within a week she had 4 babies (3 girls & a boy) Her babies were given to good homes (all friends of mine that I knew would take good care of them). I haven't had any other issue so I don't hate petco. They just mis-sex animals

Oh and congrats on your new cavy. I am sure he appreciates a new home over a shelter! Did you keep his name or change it?

And, please, post a pic of your baby! (I still need to do it myself...I need to find my cord first though...)

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

No, they don't just missex animals. They are often sick and they are from pet mills. It doesn't matter if the store looks clean. It's what you don't see that is the problem. Same thing with Petsmart.

Most of the time they are impulse buys and they are often dumped later.

 

[crazywiggy]

Hi there - welcome to the forum! I'm sure you'll find all the info you need on here, and everyone is always happy to help with advice.

It would be great to see some pigtures of your new boy! I would agree it would be best to get him another male as a companion, although I would wait until after you move and have a decent sized c+c built. (If you time it right you could make intro's easier - getting a new piggie and quarantining, then introducing both of them to their new c+c at the same time. This way you know for sure it is totally neutral territory.)

Males can be quite "large" but if you are concerned you can always get him checked out by a cavy-savvy vet.

Before this intro thread gets hijacked, I just wanted to say if anyone wants to look at the pet store issues and learn why many of us are so against them there are plenty of threads in the kitchen! I personally don't feel this is the place for it, but that's just me.