1 full week of being a Guinea Pig Daddo

Banksy

Junior Guinea Pig
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So, its been a full week and here is my take so far for anyone wanting to make the dive.

Guinea pigs are adorable.

Does anyone need soil fertilised with poop? because we've got a full black bag of it already.

They are still very skittish and nervous around us and HATE being picked up.

Fred is easily the most confident piggy we have, Gino is very shy which is the opposite way to what we felt originally. Fred now adventures while we are present, albeit I think its after he smells the array of veg and treats we bring in and decides he can't hide away much longer and must come out to receive some. Gino is far more reserved and his stomach doesn't seem to lead him to this style of bonding yet.

They are both VERY VERY VERY active when we are not there, the tapo cam is forever sending us "movement detected" as soon as we leave the room, my god its like you're playing a video thats been sped up 10x over the way they run round there cage.

Peppers are a hit - Broccoli is a no (very surprised by this) most other veg are also good but only Pepper, Lettuce (romaine) and Kale are hoovered up before we visit again.

They prefer meadow and sweet green hay from natures own over timothy hay (I haven't quite figured out what one is meadow and what one is sweet green since they sent the bags completely unlabelled, it does however smell amazing). They don't care too much for pellets but will snack away at them over the course of the day.

The cheap timothy/meadow blend that pets at home sell sets off my allergies (I have severe dust allergies and you can see the dust going while pulling a handful out) while the far fresher and nicer hay from natures own sets of my partners allergies, but the piggies (and me) love the fresh healthy stuff, so I've started looking for rescue centres for my partner 🤣 so if anyone is looking to adopt a "well" trained adult female with hay allergies then feel free to pm for further details (dark humour and jokes aside, please don't take that seriously)

Don't join Facebook groups for piggie lovers, they are filled with seriously incorrect and frankly harmful advice that is often spread to new comers like ourselves, luckily we had this place to fact check and ensure that we were providing the best and safest space for our little piggies. From people saying that solitary piggies are perfectly alright and 2x2 cages are more than enough space for a pair of boars, I have swiftly left them before I end up in a rather toxic environment and have disagreements with people.

We are still venturing out of our comfort zone and looking in to other peoples posts, the meme thread is particularly amusing and holds a few memes that have already hit the nail on the head.

We will continue to venture some more and start our own bonding within the group, in many ways we are like our own piggies just gaining confidence to pop out and say hello to others in here and join in the conversations!

now that you've read my essay of a post, here is your reward, some pictures of the floofers and their cuteness. Our particular favourite is Fred trying to hide under a rather undersized wooden bridge with his entire and rather large badonkadonk hanging out, as you can see, Fred dominates the photo scene being the more comfortable and confident model.

For reference - Fred has a black eye. ginger ears and big booty - Gino has Ginger eyes and black ears and slightly more petite booty

we look forward to venturing out of our own hides more in the coming weeks and saying hello to everyone more formally!
 

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PS: The dominance stage hasn't seem to taken hold yet? they both seem very very content being around each other and sharing from bowls etc, is this normal? can two boars get along without ever displaying dominance or am I being hasty and expecting it sooner than it should be
 
PS: The dominance stage hasn't seem to taken hold yet? they both seem very very content being around each other and sharing from bowls etc, is this normal? can two boars get along without ever displaying dominance or am I being hasty and expecting it sooner than it should be
I'll let an expert reply, but I've experience well bonded boar pairs where there was a definite boss who frequently made sure the under pig knew, but the underpig didn't mind at all and other bonded pairs where there was still a boss, but he didn't need to make a lot of fuss about it, just a bit of rumbling now and then. I have a strongly dominant boar and my pair fell out after 2 years as a well bonded pair from babies. They enjoy life side by side and interact/ communicate all the time through the bars.
 
PS: The dominance stage hasn't seem to taken hold yet? they both seem very very content being around each other and sharing from bowls etc, is this normal? can two boars get along without ever displaying dominance or am I being hasty and expecting it sooner than it should be

Hi

Dominance can range from the very mild to the very extreme (the latter during teenage with a high at 6 months). Bless yourself if you aren't seeing any and hope that this is going to get them through teenage as well once the testicles start descending and intense hormone spikes can happen - never to all though. Of course, the focus is more on the difficult extremes in our guides and not so much on the mildest end. Yours are obviously not very dominant and they are getting on well.

Getting used to humans and handling is very often a slow process that can take months. Most piggies will tolerate it for short periods and any necessary grooming and health checks but if you allow them their say, they'll never become big cuddlers. A few piggies however love it. Cuddling is in many ways a human-centric activity; sharing their enrichment activities and just normal life means that we bond by entering their world and on a more equal footing.
 
Welcome.
Your boys sound like they have been having a party!

Just wanted to let you know. Natures Own hay usually has which one it is printed somewhere on the bag.
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Glad you are enjoying them. They are so entertaining aren’t they?

This is the only forum I’m on. I’ve heard bad things about Facebook.

Feel free to join in. It’s a fun place.
 
Are they also fans of a hammock?
Yes, they are absolutely loving their hammocks in the upper section of there cage.

we were in such a panic yesterday as a full week they havent once ventured upstairs so we were like HOW HAVE THEY GOT OUT then we heard a little wheek and there they are, both sharing the same hammock upstairs hahaha
 
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