help! - advice needed for new skinny pig rescuer

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heidii

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The other night I came home and my mom had rescued two skinny pigs. Adorable little things, I really fell in love, as skittish as they are. I've put hours of research into many, many types of rodents but I'm really quite out of my depth when it's come to these guys. They've been rehomed three times now, in the first home one seizured as a result of stress (?).

I'm quite adamant about me being their final owner, but I am just so confused even with all this research that I'm doing.

What's the minimum sized cage? (I'd like to get a bigger one if I can!)
Their current setup is just an old cage that's maybe 2x4 feet? Not sure on the minimum for 2 guinea's, but I want to buy them those grids anyway and make a cage.

What type of bedding should I buy them?
They currently are on a layer of newspaper and then just a whole lot of hay. I don't like the fact that they are urinating/defecating on the hay that they eat, so I'd like to change beddings to perhaps a wood chip/shaving? Any options there? I don't want to be washing/drying fleece. Would they still need the newspaper alongside the wood shavings?

What should I buy them?
Currently, I know that I need to get them some kind of food bowl as they are eating out of tupperware right now. They have 0 enrichment in their cage, just two old smelly fabric hides. Are their hides I can get that aren't fabric, or do they just really like fabric?

What should I feed them?
This one is really stumping me! They are currently on this which I imagine isn't the best for them. Do they need some kind of pellet alongside the fresh fruit/veg? How often do I feed veg, and what type should I be giving daily/every other day? How do you prepare for this, do you make it everyday or make some and put the mix in the fridge for another meal?

How do I keep them warm?
Their naked, so I'm just really worried they are going to be cold.

How often do I bathe them?
Their last owner washed them every 2 weeks in the sink, I'm not sure what she used but she would then moisturise them with coconut oil. One loves the bath while the other hates it.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum.

I don’t have skinny pigs. I have two boars called Percy and Pepper.

I’m so pleased these piggies have ended up with such a caring owner. I’m glad you want this to be their forever home. 😍

Cage size- not sure. But someone will be along soon to advise. There are guides on here with sizes so have a read.

Bedding - I think wood shavings are fine for skinnies. You will need a layer of newspaper (or puppy pads) under it and hay on top of it. They also have to live inside.

Enrichment would be a big pile of hay, tunnels, hides.

Nuggets are fine. Only one table spoon per piggy per day. There is a chart on here with lots of different types. Also lots of hay. Coriander, cucumber, pepper, lettuce (not iceberg) 50g each a day and water. I think skinny pigs eat more than furry pigs.

Yes they do need to be kept nice and warm.

I don’t think you need to bath them at all.

Like I say I’ve not actually had a skinny pig so if someone more experienced comes along then that’s great. Good luck. Enjoy them. Would love to see a picture if you’d like to share.
 
Not had skinnies but most things are the same as for other hairy guinea pigs apart from watching their environmental temperature - they must live indoors, they chill very fast and they have a higher metabolism. Check out the guides linked above in the green ribbon.
Do you have boys or girls - this is very important! And do you have any idea of their age? I gather skinnies have a slightly shorter lifespan than hairy pigs, bless them, possibly due to that fast metabolism...

If you don't mind I'm going to ask the staff to retitle your thread - "Advice needed for new skinny pig rescuer" which should draw the attention of forum members with experience. Hope that's OK!?
 
Thank you all for the replies! I just really want to do this right and my only experience of owning animals are dogs, and guinea pigs just seem so fragile.

They do need to be fed more than regular guinea pigs, but I'm not sure on the quantities. Like how many grams of pellets do you give alongside unlimited hay and vegetables? Do they get fed twice a day?
 
Welcome to the forum.
I don’t have skinny pigs but I do know that you will find experienced people here.
It sounds as if this pair have really landed on their paws with you.
 
In terms of cage size, are they male or female piggies?
Two sows (females) need a minimum of 2 x 4 foot but 2 x 5 foot is recommended. When it comes to c&c cages thaf is 2 grids by 4 grids (150x77cn)
Two boars (males) need a minimum of 2 x 5 foot but 2 x 6 foot is recommended. C&c that is 2 grids vy 5 grids (180x77cm)

Feeding
Skinnies do tend to eat more but it’s hay they need more than anything else. It needs to be fed in unlimited amounts and never running out. 50g of veg and one tablespoon of pellets. Fruit should not feature regularly.

They don’t need food bowls at all. They can be given their veg and pellets simply by throwing them loose into the cage and allowing them to forage for it. That is a fantastic source of enrichment for piggies.

They do need to be kept warmer - 18-22 degrees but the experienced skinny keepers can comment further

Bedding cane be what you prefer but I do know some skinnies don’t like the feel of hay on their bodies and do better with fleece bedding. Hides can be fleece or wooden, cardboard boxes with holes cut in even.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Cage Size Guide
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs
A Detailed Guide For Fleece Bedding

New Owners' Most Helpful How-To Guides and Information
 
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Thanks for this!

At the moment, I have 0 idea when they last went to the vets, so I really want to be monitoring what each pig is eating and so won't be making them forage until they are more situated. Hopefully, some time this week, I can get them to the vets & and perhaps look around for some kind of guinea pig insurance. I want to make sure that they are both boys (I was told they are brothers, but still quite unsure).

Today I fed them their Harry's guinea pig food, alongside some fresh fruit (banana) and vegetables (brocolli, a brussell sprout, a baby tomato, asparagus, spinach, a tiny carrot and coriander). I am really unsure how to provide a balanced diet, it was pretty much just what we had and whatever came up suitable for the guinea pigs. It may of been about 100g worth, so unsure if that's underfeeding or overfeeding. Any help on that one would be superb! :)
 
heidii said:
Thanks for this!

At the moment, I have 0 idea when they last went to the vets, so I really want to be monitoring what each pig is eating and so won't be making them forage until they are more situated. Hopefully, some time this week, I can get them to the vets & and perhaps look around for some kind of guinea pig insurance. I want to make sure that they are both boys (I was told they are brothers, but still quite unsure).

Today I fed them their Harry's guinea pig food, alongside some fresh fruit (banana) and vegetables (brocolli, a brussell sprout, a baby tomato, asparagus, spinach, a tiny carrot and coriander). I am really unsure how to provide a balanced diet, it was pretty much just what we had and whatever came up suitable for the guinea pigs. It may of been about 100g worth, so unsure if that's underfeeding or overfeeding. Any help on that one would be superb! :)
Click to expand...

If they are boys, then definitely ensure their cage is much larger than four foot. Two boars need six foot otherwise lack of space can cause them to fall out. So that is a cage 5 grids by 2 grids. Boars are more territorial and need a lot more room. Ensure hides have two exits. One exit hides can cause problems if one piggy gets cornered inside one

There is only one company In the Uk who will insure guinea pigs - Exotic Direct. a lot of us simply save up into a separate bank account rather than have insurance

The only way you can know what they are eating is by getting into the habit of doing weekly weight checks (switching to once daily if you have any concerns and want to monitor more closely).
Hay is the most important part of the food intake and you cannot judge their intake by eye, hence the need for weight checks. You can of course watch them eat veg or pellets as they are not fed in unlimited amounts but given they jointly only make 20% of daily food intake (hay being 80%) seeing them eat veg or pellets isn’t enough And doesn’t tell you that they are indeed eating enough.

Our weight guide is linked in below

Weight - Monitoring and Management
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pigs Safely

Hay is the most important food. 50g of veg Per pig per day. Safe daily veggies are lettuce, cucumber bell pepper and coriander.
sprouts and broccoli and any cruciferous veg can cause bloat so go easy with that.
Tomatoes are not suitable for daily due to their acidity.
Carrot and any fruit is considered a treat only due to the sugars - one small amount and only once per week is fine.
High calcium veg such as spinach, parsley and kale should be kept limited to small amounts and once per week only. Too much calcium (most of which comes from pellets and drinking water) can lead to bladder problems. Ensure you use a water filter for their drinking water to keep calcium levels lower.

The ingredients of the pellet good you linked in are not great. its main ingredient is alfalfa which isn’t suitable for guinea pigs, it’s too high in calcium. It also contains a lot of grains which isn’t good either.

these are our feeding guides which will help you

Nugget Comparison Chart
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
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Hi and welcome! Great advice thus far.

- Cardboard boxes with two holes are what I use for hideys.
- Two water bottles.
- I used to use food bowls but my boys enjoy running and foraging. I put food on/in their tunnels, scatter about the cage and even mix in with their hay.
- Two tunnels.
- I cannot comment on bedding as I use fleece and old towels.

I didn’t see this mentioned but please invest in a kitchen scale and weight them weekly on/around the same day. I bought a scale from walmart and just performed my first weigh in last thursday (thnaksgiving afternoon).

- 2 cups of veggies (1 per pig). As mentioned there are guides for what can be fed daily, frequently, weekly and sparingly.
- 2 tablespoon of pellets (1 per pig). I place mine in fwo different areas so my boys don’t fret. However, they both seem to go to the same pile 🤦‍♂️
- 0.5 cc of vitamin c (my vet instructed me to administer this) but you can feed them foods with vitamin c to avoid syringe feeding them this daily.

- my cage is a 2x6 c and c built from storage grids with a coroplast base.

- my boys had lice and one had conjunctivitis after my rescue two months ago. Please, if you can, get them checked out by a vet.

-please look at out sexing guides but if they have already had 3 owners and haven’t had babies I think we can assume they are of the same sex.

Welcome! Sorry for such a long post! Was trying to help!
 
The longer the post the better! ^^ Super informative :)

I can't see myself getting a new cage right away (Of course, if I knew I was getting guinea pigs I would've saved, done research & gotten an appropriate cage) but I think as of the moment their cage will do. I'll try and get some photos up as I'm unsure if they are females are just small males? I've done quite a bit of research and guinea pigs are massive! But these guys are quite small.

They are 18 months and so they definitely are the same sex, however I just can't work out if they are girls or boys.

Does anyone know how much a consultation at somewhere like Pets at Home/Vets for Pets would be? If they do guinea's at all that is.
 
Vets4Pets do see guinea pigs. I take mine to my local Vets4Pets. I'm lucky in that there is one excellent guinea pig vet there and one good guinea pig vet there. It can be a bit hit and miss though. Phone them up and ask if they have a vet with an exotics specialism particularly in guinea pigs.
 
Mine are treated like normal piggies with a few exceptions. So the general care guides on this forum will give you lots if useful info on diet, cage sizes etc.

Things that ate different for skinnies:

They eat and poop more. I give them thesame amount of veggies and pellets as any other pig but they eat loads of hay. Just means replacing hay more often and more frequent bedding changes too. Despite eating so much they always seem on the small side, mine are around 900g at 2 years old. They look loads smaller than other piggies too.

I bed them on fleece liner and all their tunnels and hides are fleece to protect their skin. This may just be me being over cautious. They get the occasional carrot cottage but it does scuff their skin. Normal cardboard boxes and paper bags seem fine though. I carefully check their nails after I cut them as a sharp edge can easily cut them when they scrat themselves.

I never bath them. I bathed Luna once when we 1st got her as she came to us with skin problems. Her previous owner use to use aloe Vera facial moisturizer on her so I wanted a fresh start on her skin. She hated it and was terrified. They get dry skin if the humidity gets low so I have some gorgeous guineas candula lotion but haven't used it in months. Coconut oil did nothing for her, not sure if it made her worse. I occasionally wipe them with a damp face cloth when they look mucky. Luna has a tendancy of laying on her poop and sleeping/resting in it, being pale pink she can end up covered in muddy looking patches. They don't seem the best at cleaning themselves. I haven't wiped them in months now though. Not sure if being mucky and low humidity causing dry skin is just Luna or applies to lots of skinnies.....

For heat our house is normally really warm anyway as Steve our bearded dragon free roams. The skinnies need to stay above 18'C. I put 2 snuggle safes in overnight just in case. They both sit on them and love them. Mine never snuggle together as Nova hates being touched so I guess it's nice to share the warmth with the snuggle safe. The door to their room is kept closed to stop drafts.

They like being stroked on the face but hate body touching, I guess with having no fur it feels weird. Nova is very very vocal and does wheek/scream alot, not sure if it's a skinny thing or a Nova thing.

They never go outside as they Sunburn in the heat but then can't stand the cold so I find it easier to keep them in. I live in the North of England so working out the few hours a year the weather is OK for them just isn't worth it.

I know it sounds like loads more for skinnies but day to day care is just more hay and cleaning, and petting them on the face not the body.

Hope this helps but ask any other questions you need.
 
Thanks for your response! I've never heard of a free range bearded dragon, but that is really cool.

I've got some new beddings coming as I'm not sure if fleece liners will work for this household, but I have bought some etsy snuggle bed things (just bought two, not sure how they'll like these new ones).

I hand fed them both the past couple days with their veggies, and also one of them really enjoyed some head touching on my lap - even fell asleep to it. I think they are getting used to living here.

The cage is about 2x4, so I'm definitely going to upgrade. I'm thinking C&C cages right now, but I might do it in the upcoming weeks as I've just found some vets who are willing to do a consultation for them :)
 
Free Ranger said:
You are going to love being a piggy slave, I can just tell 🥰
Click to expand...
That's what I'm hoping for! :)

I've never had much interest in guinea pigs, but now I'm already fascinated by all the breeds and would love to see how haired pigs relate. Maybe one day I'll invest in more :)
 
i have two female skinny pigs....10 months old.they live with a curley haired neutered piggie who is 4 years of age.i use shredded cardboard bedding for these.there cage is a 150cm x 78cm,it is a commercial cage as they both like to climb.they poo eat and drink twice as much as haired piggies.i keep the temp ay 18degrees centigrade.i feed them the same as my other 13 piggies.they are very hyperactive,but fun.both come to the bars of the cage and give me kisses.1 weights 1kg,other weights 720grames,though they are both sisters and seem to be both the correct heft.they both had ringworm,but i got medication from the vets.there skin can be sensitive.
 
Hello , I’m very late to the party here and I think you prob have some good advice so I won’t labour the point. We went straight in with skinnies as my D.H. Is allergic to fur and they have been fine! We are obsessed.

Main thing is keeping warm - ours LOVE these fleece liners (pic attached) which we use as blankets and cozy up under here all day! We put food under and they have breakfast in bed frequently.
They live the snuggle safe heat packs and we put those in especially at night.
They also poo like billyoh- we keep ours on fleece and poo is a constant battle!

I’ve never had furries so I can’t compare but Spud especially is highly vocal which is a skinny trait I believe and Renton hates being touched unless you are holding him. They are highly sensitive and prefer cheek rubs to full stroking.
Our main issues have simply been having two boars going through puberty together and ensuring they have enough space. A 6x2 has been great!
They are 14 months old now and we adore them.

Happy to answer any more Q’s. 🖤🤍🖤🤍
 

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