some tips needed 4 new piggie owner

[butterflymiss]

we are newish owners of two girl piggies! so i have a few questions...
How do i know how old they are? is there an easy way of telling? plus how do i do floor time- without my piggies making a mess??? and dont they run away (if ur talking about just paper on the floor type stuff)? as u can see i need a bit of help... thanks

 

[My Baby Mu]

If you get told how old they are, then you know. There really is no other way. See this page for floortime www.guineapigcages.com/floortime.htm

 

[VoodooJoint]

Welcome to the forums

we are newish owners of two girl piggies! so i have a few questions...
How do i know how old they are? is there an easy way of telling?

Not that I know of. Maybe someone else knows

plus how do i do floor time- without my piggies making a mess??? and dont they run away (if ur talking about just paper on the floor type stuff)? as u can see i need a bit of help... thanks

Make them a corral. You can use extra cubes, a critter corral, some people block off a hallway with boxes or gates. Place towels or fleece on the floor to protect it. After floortime is over just fold up the towels/fleece, take it outside and shake it off.

I have to inform you that chat speak is not allowed on this forum. No "u"="you" or "ur"="You are". You also need to capitalize your sentances. It makes it very hard to read a post when there is no capitalization and we have many people on this forum who do not use English as a first language. Here is a link about out posting rules. Please read it https://guineapigcages.com/forum/announcement.php?f=27&announcementid=7

 

[butterflymiss]

Oops! (About the "chat speak") I am so used to typing (using sms all the time) that way... I am sorry. I was told that the pigs are 5mths old (at time of purchase) but they seem quite big, compared to pics I have seen here! So was wondering also what age are they when fully grown?
I have read the pages here about floor time, and without going to such extent some have, I was hoping there would be an easy way to let my piggies have floor time, without them running away or baracading areas off etc!

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

How much do they weigh?

You can tell by getting an x-ray and looking at their bones, but that is kind of extreme. You can usually make a guess due to size, the thickness of their nails, their teeth and the edges of their eyes, like where the white meets the pupil.

 

[My Baby Mu]

rabbitsncavyluv-if you don't mind explaining how you can tell how old they are by the stuff you listed, please explain.

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Weight is a given, unless they were malnourished or sick.

They tend to lose bone density (like other species) as they grow older. If you look at their x rays you can tell better. Like someone adopted a sow that the shelter thought was 6 months old, but upon x rays b/c she was ill, she turned out to be much older. I think 4 or 5 years? I forget.

Their nails are usually thinner and sharp when they are babies. They grow thicker over time.

Sometimes the edges of teeth change color over time, or you can make a guess due to ware and tear. Kind of hard to explain.

You look at the eyes, where the white meets the pupil? Study the edges of the pupil. If it is not a solid line, and it is like discolored or frayed (dotted), this indicates that they are older.

 

[butterflymiss]

So there is NO real "easy" way to tell how old they are, even after reading your explanation rabbitsncavyluv, I am still a bit confussed. So when do you classify a cavy "fully grown"? As i said earlier, we were told that they are only 5mths old- that was only about a month ago, but they seem quite big (not necessarily fat) for what i would have thought of as still young! So yeah, sorry for the ongoing nature of this question, but i was just a bit confused. Is it possible they are in fact just big/fat? or maybe just older than we thought...
Thanks

 

[My Baby Mu]

About how long do you think they are and how much do they weigh?

Some pigs are just bigger then most.

 

[butterflymiss]

ok, so my white girl "Winter" is about 800grams and is about25cm long... what does that say? Thanks "My Baby Mu"

 

[butterflymiss]

oh and just another question - is it 'normal' for the piggies to be a bit jumpy when inside with us? After a bit they do settle and will just sit on my lap, but i dont really put them on my lap for long, too scared they will run away etc.

 

[My Baby Mu]

My pig Mu which was a year in May weighs 2 3/4 pounds or 1220g, Mo who I guessed was born in October of last year weighs 3 pounds or 1330g, and Teefal who weighs 2 11/16 pounds or 1210g. My pigs are a tiny bit over weight.

Last month Mo was 2 1/4 pounds and Teefal was 2 1/8 pounds and I have had them for a month. They may have been under-weight when I got them.

Some pigs are a bit jumpy Mo is jump because he isn't tame, Teef is jumpy when he has to go, Mu isn't jumpy when he has to go he nibbles and licks. Learn what your pig does when she has to go and what she normally does.

 

[butterflymiss]

I was just thinking that my girls are usually just jummpy when inside, and thought that was maybe cause they are not used to hearing all the usual 'household' noise. That plus Iam constantly telling the kids to keep it down when near the piggies ... and maybe i should bring them inside, with us, more oftern, to get them used to us! Would that work?

 

[My Baby Mu]

If you give them floortime for hours on some days (if not all) of a week then they should get used to you.

Some pigs run when you try and pick them up some aren't. Mu doesn't run when you pick him up in his cage (floortime is a different story). The other 2 run anytime.