New piggie owner :)

[BeautifulPoetO6]

My name is Monica, i'm 28 years old from WV... and me and my daughter bought ourselves a little black and white guinea pig today .... she named him Max, he is technically hers, an early christmas present but ... since she's only 3 i i say "we" cus i know most of the responsibility will fall to me LOL

so far so good he's in a temporary one level cage that's not the biggest but it's fairly large ... I'm going to see about getting my daughter's teacher's husband to build us a custom made cage for him

i put him in a towel and set him on her lap when we got home and he is SO sweet he just kind of settled down and lay there and let her pet him for over an hour....he nipped my fingers a couple of times but not hard enough to hurt, i think he was just seeing if it was food or not lol

i'm considering getting him a little friend as soon as we can get him into a larger cage...hopefully a few weeks wont make too much of a difference in him allowing another pig into his cage?

right now he's settling nicely into his new home and munching on some timothy hay

 

[Dichotomy83]

Congrats on your new guinea pig!! I think its great that you are planning on building a bigger cage for him. You'll see so much more personality once he has room to run laps!!

One ot two pigs will need a minimum of 7.5 square feet of interior space. More space is always better, if possible!! I have my two males in a 5x2 c&c cage. With males space is key to their getting along.

Please please be sure to browse this forum about quarantine for your potential new pig, and how to do proper introductions. If you just put the new pig into Max's cage, they will most likely fight. Intros should always be done on neutral ground and they should only be separated if there is bloodshed.

Will you be getting your new pig from a shelter?

Also, what type of diet are you planning on for Max? Hay, fresh veggies, and a high quality pellet are the staples for a healthy piggie!




Enjoy the forum and ask any questions you may have!

 

[akstrohm]

Welcome to the forum!

If you bought your pig from a pet store, I strongly recommend getting a vet check with an exotics vet. Pet stores often sell missexed, pregnant, and sick pigs. Watch for scratching and hair loss, which are symptoms of mites and lice. These are also common problems with pet store pigs. Please adopt your next pig from a rescue or shelter--you'll help a homeless pig and get one that is healthy and properly sexed. And regardless of where your pig is from, be sure to weigh him every week.

Guinea pigs need to be kept in same sex pairs or groups; they are social animals, and human companionship cannot replace having another guinea pig to interact with. Two pigs should have 10.5 square feet or more (more is better if you have males). Have you seen the C&C cages on this site yet? New pigs need a 3 week quarantine behind closed doors, and introductions need to be done on neutral ground.

I'm glad he has timothy hay. What else are you feeding him? Many of us get our hay from Kleenmama (online); they sell excellent hay, and buying in bulk keeps the price down. Definitely check out the diet and nutrition charts and sample menus--you will learn a lot! Also, you may want to consider fleece for bedding as it is a very popular choice.

You've come to the right place for good information!

 

[BeautifulPoetO6]

He has an appt for friday for a well animal visit ... he's very clean, no mites or lice, no scratching...i know the typical fiascos with pet shop animals, it's sad really .... but i got him in a petsmart near my home where i know the girl who works in the small animals section and she takes extremely good care of them, even working to socialize with them a little.

Right now he's on high quality piggy pellets, fresh veggies, and timothy hay... my best friend has a guinea pig and she only gives her pig the best, she gave me a lot of food to start out with, so i dont know the exact name of it but i trust her any suggestions on the brand of food i should buy?
OH, yeah ... and I'm also using care fresh for bedding

LOL - i tried so hard to sway my daughter into getting this really pretty white and light gray pig that was there instead of the black one ... i just thought he was so pretty ... he was in the same cage as the black and white one we have .... they seemed to be pretty good buddies cus they were curled up around each other sleeping when we got there. SO...after a little consideration last night and knowing he needs a buddy, and knowing i wanted THAT one ... since they were in the same cage and everything already ... i called PetSmart last night and asked them to hold the lil white one for me till i can get up there on Friday

I have checked out the c&c cages ... while i'm not sure how much room i can have to make one as large as yours LOL... I am going to attempt to make one of those, except with a lid and a lot of zip ties to keep my miniature schnauzer out lol

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

How sad.

What kind of pellets are you feeding? Hopefully not petsmart's nutriphase brand.