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Handling/New Owner

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Hayley09

New Born Pup
Joined
Aug 3, 2020
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Location
Uk
Hey All,

We've had our to Guinea Pigs for 8 days today and have yet to handle them.
They live indoors and are very happy happy in their environment, they come out for exercise outdoors (if dry) and indoors twice a day.
They are comfortable with us walking around and are getting less frightened and not hiding so much.
They are feeding from our hands and seem comfortable being near us but when we touch them they hide. I tried using a soft brush in one yesterday and she was very comfortable being stroked whilst eating but then when we attempted it again she got scared.
We are really trying to gain their trust at the moment so don't want to just pick them up.

Any suggestions? Tia
 
Eating from your hand means that they do trust you, so you’re doing well. Not all piggies actually like being touched or sitting in your lap. Beat thing is to go at their pace and if they don’t like it then you just leave them to it. My girls generally only let me stroke them when they’re eating. I’m okay with that because if they’re happy then I’m happy too. Have you weighed them yet? It needs to be a weekly thing as part of their ongoing weekly health checks.

We’d love to see photos of your piggies. Feel free to introduce yourself and tell us about them ☺

New Owners' Most Helpful How-To Guides and Information

Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering And Cuddling Tips
 
I didn't know you had to weight them. At the moment they are eating all the hay I give them plus greens and also they have their weighed nuggets. Treat wise is once a week. Do you know where I could get some more info on the ideal weight they should be?
Thankyou for replying
 
There is no ideal weight. You just need to check they gain weight.

You also check their heft to know if they are a good body size for themselves. It’s explained in the weight management guide I will add below.

Make sure they never run out of hay - they must have access to hay constantly. Replaced and refreshed daily, sometimes multiple times a day.

Nugget wise they need one tablespoon per day. Dependent on brand, it equates to about 6g per day per pig. Don’t go by what the packaging says as it is always too high.

Weight - Monitoring and Management
 
Hey is on a feeder and always stocked. They love their greens but don't eat a huge amount of nuggets. We have an outdoor run for them and they like grazing. I'll weigh them today during cleaning.
Is it normal to do a full clean everyday? I have tried various things but they soil quite alot.
I have news paper down and puppy pads and a light bit of saw dust and they also have bedding. We tried just picking the poo out but don't want them living in their own wee. They don't seemed fussed by the constant clean house
 
No they generally don’t need a full cage clean every day (and if your piggies are boys and then once they hit their teens, cleaning too much will likely cause problems and will make them smell more due to scent marking). You will need to poop pick every day (sometimes twice a day) but depending on what bedding you are using and how effective it is it should only need changing completely once or twice a week.

you’ve said newspaper, puppy pads and shavings but also another bedding - what is that bedding? For example, if it’s hay or fleece, then you would only need the puppy pads underneath and not the newspaper and shavings. Newspaper in itself is a soggy thing to use so is possibly the cause of needing to change so often - depending on how you are using it in relation to the other bedding items

What sex are you piggies, and their ages?
What is their cage size?
 
I have only used the newspaper since yesterday's clean but it's more the poo then wee why I change them. I have put the sawdust down in corner they are to try absorb it. Both are girls and only young I can't be sure of age I'm going to say around 12/13 weeks? I totally forgot to ask as we were absorbing all the care Info she was giving us.
Do you think they mind the cleaning out daily? Sorry to bombard you with messages lol I have researched quite alot bit just need to know I'm doing it all right
 
The bedding is like a cotton wool type of material for guinea pigs
 
The puppy pads should be enough on their own to absorb urine.
They will poop a lot but just removing the poops should be enough so you don’t have to do a full clean every single day. For example, if they are bedded on fleece, then you can just sweep them up, use pee pads for high traffic areas so that you can remove them more frequently so you don’t have to change the entire cage every day.
 
Thankyou, I'll remove it.
There happening the garden grazing. I have attached a photo
 

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Were they used to grass when you got them? Have a read of the bedding guide and see if there's another option that would work better for you.
 
Yes, we were told to gradually build up the veg/grass as it could cause them a stomach upset.
 
Hiya - we use puppy pads under fleece and only need to pick up poo (and hay!) once a day. I have a plastic tray with kitchen roll at the bottom and then put a lot of hay on top. They are really good about mostly using this box to wee in (and roll around and eat in!) I change that once a day for hygiene. They did used to use the corner litter box (again filled with hay) but they got a bit fat to comfortably fit it!
 
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