Some Cute Pictures Of Marshal :)

[Number1Sticky]

I just wanted to share some cute pictures of Marshal. A few days ago I made him a new hay rack and got him a new feeder. And this is what I woke up to the morning after putting them in. Normally he sleeps in his box on the other side of his cage, but he needed to sleep by his food. He’s so funny. Last night he was begging for food right before I went to bed when I literally had just given him his veggies and he had just finished them. He wanted more. He would eat all day if he could. He is a true pig. I just love him so much.

Anyways here are the pictures. I hope someone else will enjoy them as much as me.

He was asleep. But I woke him up by opening his cage door.
(broken link removed)(broken link removed)He’s still sleeping in this one.
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And here he’s just enjoying chewing on his new feeder.
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And here are all the other picture I have of him if anyone is interested.
Marshal pictures by num1sticky - Photobucket

 

[bpatters]

Cute!

But I want to let you know that he does NOT need unlimited pellets. He needs unlimited long-strand grass hay to keep his teeth ground down and his gut moving. He needs a cup or so of veggies for his vitamin C. And he needs 1/8 to 1/4 cup of pellets, depending on his age, for his minerals.

Overfeeding pellets makes him less likely to eat his hay and veggies, and contributes to obesity.

 

[Number1Sticky]

Cute!

But I want to let you know that he does NOT need unlimited pellets. He needs unlimited long-strand grass hay to keep his teeth ground down and his gut moving. He needs a cup or so of veggies for his vitamin C. And he needs 1/8 to 1/4 cup of pellets, depending on his age, for his minerals.

Overfeeding pellets makes him less likely to eat his hay and veggies, and contributes to obesity.

I've always been told guinea pigs also need unlimited pellets. That's good to know they don't. I know about unlimited hay/veggies/vitamin C. He is about 4 years 4 months. Actually I just figured it out and I don't think he's actually overeating. I thought he was, but after figuring it out (with lots of help from the calculator ), I don’t think he is. He weights 2lb 3.9oz (about 1025 grams) and he's eating about 65 grams of food a day. So that's not that much more then what it recommended. And I know that some of the food goes on the floor. So I think he’s ok with food. He is still overweight. But I've cut out all of his sugary foods (I was eating him lots of carrots before). Also he is neutered (he was living with a female) and that’s doesn’t help with weigh. But I will keep an eye on that to make sure he's not eating too much. He does eat a LOT of hay, so I’m not worried about him eating too little hay.

 

[bpatters]

Pellets are actually the least important part of a guinea pig's diet. The pet stores would have you believe otherwise, because they're in the business of selling pellets. But they really need them mostly for their mineral content, and it's very possible to do without them at all. A number of people around do HAFF (hay and fresh food) diets with no pellets.

 

[cavycuddler91]

You should try scrubbing his cage. A clean cage is important to the health of a guinea pig. Try half vinegar and half water. Looks quite dirty.
He's SO cute. Looks JUST like my Hedwig. I love white guineas!

 

[Thumper27]

Silly question, but if you put the 1/4th cup pellets in, is there a time frame to take them out? I feed them every morning, but I come back and they're still pellets, so usually I dump it every morning, and clean the dish, they also get their veggies, and of course their hay...

 

[bpatters]

I just leave them there until they eat them. They're like dry dog or cat food, they're not going to go bad in one day unless they pee or poop on them.

I didn't leave them when I was teaching them to eat veggies and was putting chopped up food on the pellets. But then, I'd use smaller amounts of pellets when I put the food on, and then after their feeding, I'd put a few more clean pellets in.

 

[RubyRain]

You have a cute guinea pig but your cage looks quite small. Much too small for a pig to get proper exercise. I agree that it needs a good scrubbing too. Animals can become ill from ammonia build up.
Have you read about the C&C cages here?

And yes, 1/8 of a cup of pellets are all that is needed for each pig.

 

[Hhbean]

He is adorable! Thank you for all the pictures! You should check out all the cage designs in the photo section if you are able to add on to his cage.

 

[Number1Sticky]

I'm working on making him a bigger cage. But there are a lot of steps involved. First I have to clean my room (which I am currently working on) so I can rearrange it so the cage will fit in there. But once I get it set up he'll have over 11 square feet, possibly more.

 

[CavyMama]

In that second pic, he looks like he's being protected by green light sabers! LOL That's great that you are planning to expand the cage. Did you say you were planning to do a C&C cage?

 

[Number1Sticky]

I'm actually going to take apart his cage and use the sides and top of it. I'm just not going to put anything against the wall. It's not like anything needs to be there. And I'm hopefully going to find a coroplast bottom.