guinea pig advice needed for a newbie!

[lesleydunn]

hi my names lesley and I'm from northern ireland

its been years since ive had any small furries, last was a netherland dwarf rabbit about 8 yrs ago.

a friend is looking to rehome 2 female un-neutered guinea pigs complete with cage, etc etc

I'm very interested in taking them for my 10 year old son, and think hes the right age for responsibility etc

i will be taking primary care of them, and assisting him in looking after them.

what i want to know is:

diet? whats the kinda foods they eat?

bedding? is it the sawdust and hay combo?

ailments & diseases? do you have to treat them for lice, fleas etc on a reg basis?

exercise? was planning on keeping them in the cage, but allowing daily access to back garden (enclosed, safe & paved), and front garden (grass area, maybe in one of those pen things?)

and do they need teeth & nails trimmed professionally or does natural wear & tear and chewing on things enough?

thanks for any info given!

 

[minimowers]

Hi and welcome to the forum - you will find all the advice you are looking for on here... and more. Guinea pigs make fantastic pets and I have looked after them for as long as I can remember.

You have asked so many questions that its hard to answer them all on here so instead I suggest that you look through each of the sections on the website - behaviour, food, housing and read the sticky threads on each section. You should find all the answers you are looking for and more.

This is a great forum for getting to meet other piggy mad people and for help and advice whenever you need it. Good luck with your new girls.

 

[MemberX]

Hi Lesley welcome to the forum!

I will try and answer your questions but as MM said look through the sections on here, lots are sticky topics.

2 Females is lovely, they don't need to be neutered at all. Infact not many vets spay females because it is a major op, different for males.

Diet: Fresh greens and veg once or twice a day, plenty of hay and pellets or museli. If you go for museli then they could select feed but with pellets everything is in them so you know they are getting what they need in the way of vits! The diet is 80% hay, 15% veg and 5% pellets.

Bedding: Hay can be used with newspaper, sawdust is a no no for guinea pigs. Woodshavings can be used but I have found I am allergic to them, if they cause problems in handling what are they doing to animals feet? There are more options nowadays if the girls are staying in then you can maybe use fleece bedding, vetbed or profleece. I have used fleece blankets in the past and used a large sack to wash them in.

There is also hemp bedding available from animal feed shops Megazorb, Aubiose and Easi-bed are just three beddings available for small animals. These are mainly used for horse beddings but can be used. I'm using Easi-bed at the moment £7.97 for a massive bale that will last me a month between 19 guineas and 4 bunnies.

Problems: Guineas hide illnesses so you have to be on the ball and know your pets behaviour. If they suddenly go off their food then you will need to find out why, find a good vet who treats guineas. Critical Care is handy to have in, as are syringes because when guineas go off their food they need to keep their systems going, by syringing food into them it stops their bodies from shutting down.

Lice is a common problem and comes in on the hay, you can see them in the guineas fur/hair and they look like little cream wrigglys! Nothing to worry about there is a website called Gorgeous Guineas (is on Google) they sell Lice N Easy and is fantastic at getting rid of the pesky devils!

Mites are another thing that pigs can get, but not as often, they are treated with Xeno 450 or injections from your vet. I've only ever had 2 pigs who had mites so not that common as Lice perhaps.

There are a few other ailments like URI's, bladder stones, water infections etc but they are all over in health. I would also advice getting a couple of books I find Peter Guerney's Piggy Potions and the Piglopedia book helpful.

Excercise: They will enjoy the garden, if you get a run or use a pen make sure that you use a covering for the top, you don't want them jumping out or a bird to come down and scoop them up out of the pen. I use a fabric mesh which should be used to line a pond with clothes pegs ontop! I got it in Wilkinsons but will be available in any DIY shop.

Nails and Teeth: Nails you will have to do, I find wrapping in a towel while someone else cuts a good way. Don't trim too short as if you cut the quick the pig will bleed, nothing major and can be stopped with cornflour. If pig has black nails then shine a torch under the foot to see where the quick is. (A vein that supplies blood to the area.)

With the teeth they will wear down on there own as long as you use good quality hay. I find the stalkier hay great for my herd. In older pigs you may have a problem as teeth do continuously grow but I have a 5 year old here and torchwood no problem with her peggy's up to now.

Good luck with the girls! Looking forward to pics when you get them!

Louise