Hi fellow skinny pig peeps

ThatPurpleB

ThatPurpleB

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi

Obviously done tonnes of research on guinea pigs and skinny pigs but there is much less out there for skinny pigs so I hope more experienced skinny pig owners can help me out. Just checking I'm doing things right. I have 2 sows, both skinny pigs around 2 years old. They've been with us less than a week.

Food:
I understand that they eat more with their metabolism and body heat needs. They get unlimited hay so that's easy. Furry guinea pigs for a pair are recommended 2 tablespoons of pellets and 2 cups of veggies shared between them. So I've been giving a little under 3 tablespoons of pellets and 3 cups of veggies for them to share. No soft poops so I'm hoping I've got the veggies right. I think their previous owner gave them unlimited pellets, and they eat my mere 2 and a bit tablespoons in no time. We're currently changing over the food gradually so have a mix of old and new pellets. Our new pellets get eaten 1st so I wonder if they will go even faster as we switch over to more of the new stuff. How many veggies and pellets do you feed and for how many skinny piggies?

Habitat:
What do you use to furnish (not sure that's the right phrase?!...) their home? I know they need to stay warmer and their skin can scratch so have to be careful what's in with them. I have fleece bedding on the floor and 2 fleece tunnels. Our house is warm (20oC) but I'm still worried as the tunnels are quite big so dont sort of wrap around them to keep them warm in any way.

Skin:
The person we got them off use to bath them once a month and then put a moisturiser on them. We're talking human facial moisturiser here....
From what I've read if their skin is ok, leave it. Rub in coconut or other food grade oil for dry skin. Or wipe oily skin. But generally their skin should be ok and oily/dry skin is probably indicator of another problem like poor diet. No baths but with the odd exception (explosive diarrhoea). Am I on the right lines here?

I just get frustrated at vague skinny pig care guides that say "more food" and similar phrases. Like, ok, but how much more... not helpful.

Thanks to any experienced keepers reading this and able to advise!
 
I know each piggy is different so we wont all be exactly thesame but it'd be nice to know I'm in the right ball park.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum.

I have also have two skinny pigs, a boar and a sow, they are now three years old. Dora weighs around 950g and Ginger 1.1kg.

Diet - I generally stick to the diet recommended on the forum but with a few extra pellets. Dora and Ginger are a healthy weight, so it seems to work for them.

I have never bathed Ginger but Dora has an over active grease gland so I do bath her occasionally. I wouldn't recommend any sort of moisturizer as this can cause skin problems.

I do have fleece cubes and beds for them to sleep in, I then also put a piece of fleece fabric inside to make them extra cosy. I buy the cubes from Fuzzbutts and beds from Ada Art Guinea Pig Beds. Fuzzbutts made me some cubes with just one entrance, which they love. As long as you keep the temperature at least 18oC they will be fine.

One thing with skinnies is the amount of poo they produce, probably twice as much as my other piggies. They are also a bit hyperactive.

Hope this helps. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Do post some pictures. We all love to see piggies.
 
YvonneBlue said:
Hello and welcome to the forum.

I have also have two skinny pigs, a boar and a sow, they are now three years old. Dora weighs around 950g and Ginger 1.1kg.

Diet - I generally stick to the diet recommended on the forum but with a few extra pellets. Dora and Ginger are a healthy weight, so it seems to work for them.

I have never bathed Ginger but Dora has an over active grease gland so I do bath her occasionally. I wouldn't recommend any sort of moisturizer as this can cause skin problems.

I do have fleece cubes and beds for them to sleep in, I then also put a piece of fleece fabric inside to make them extra cosy. I buy the cubes from Fuzzbutts and beds from Ada Art Guinea Pig Beds. Fuzzbutts made me some cubes with just one entrance, which they love. As long as you keep the temperature at least 18oC they will be fine.

One thing with skinnies is the amount of poo they produce, probably twice as much as my other piggies. They are also a bit hyperactive.

Hope this helps. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Do post some pictures. We all love to see piggies.
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They do poop so much! I bought a hand held hoover and so glad I did, removes poops so easily.

This is Nova and Luna. Love them more than we thought we would, its only been 5 days. They are lovely characters. Coming home from work to these 2 wheeking at me is amazing. 🥰🥰🥰

Thanks for your help.
 

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ThatPurpleB said:
They do poop so much! I bought a hand held hoover and so glad I did, removes poops so easily.

This is Nova and Luna. Love them more than we thought we would, its only been 5 days. They are lovely characters. Coming home from work to these 2 wheeking at me is amazing. 🥰🥰🥰

Thanks for your help.
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What gorgeous girls. Skinnies are definitely noisy too.

Here are Ginger and Dora, they love the sunshine. Dora likes to sunbathe on top of her bed.

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YvonneBlue said:
What gorgeous girls. Skinnies are definitely noisy too.

Here are Ginger and Dora, they love the sunshine. Dora likes to sunbathe on top of her bed.

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So cute! Their colourings are all so different even without fur!

Definitely very vocal! I think it makes me like them more though. I like to imagine what they're saying. I keep watching guinea pig noise youtube videos to work out what the different squeaks mean. 😂
 
YvonneBlue said:
What gorgeous girls. Skinnies are definitely noisy too.

Here are Ginger and Dora, they love the sunshine. Dora likes to sunbathe on top of her bed.

View attachment 169828
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You look like you have a nice variety of stuff in with them. At the moment I have 2 of everything, identical. I'm not sure if they'll settle down when they're use to their new territory but currently they dont share. I'd feel bad if one of them was booted out of the "best" hide and had to sit in another one so everything is identical 😂. I'm hoping when I try new things they pick different favourites so I can have a mixture of stuff.
 
ThatPurpleB said:
You look like you have a nice variety of stuff in with them. At the moment I have 2 of everything, identical. I'm not sure if they'll settle down when they're use to their new territory but currently they dont share. I'd feel bad if one of them was booted out of the "best" hide and had to sit in another one so everything is identical 😂. I'm hoping when I try new things they pick different favourites so I can have a mixture of stuff.
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My two don't share their beds but they do have their favourites. Dora loves the cauliflower bed. If you order from Fuzzbutts or Ada Art you can ask for extra pee pads (for a small cost), I always do this so that I can change them regularly. It means I usually only have to wash the bed once a week.

Neville's Nest Guinea Pig Rescue does lovely 3-way and corner tunnels which all my piggies love. I have to try and not keep buying stuff for the piggies but somehow parcels keep arriving.😂😂

You will always find that the dominant pig has the first choice of beds. This is just normal piggy behaviour. As long as every pig has somewhere to sleep I wouldn't worry about it too much.
 
YvonneBlue said:
I have to try and not keep buying stuff for the piggies but somehow parcels keep arriving.😂😂
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Yes I have that problem too! :)) Got Daisy the cat a nice parcel that came yesterday as she’s not quite as spoilt as the piglets but somehow a couple of things for pigs snuck in there too!? 🤷‍♀️XD xx

I love skinnies! ❤️ Your piggies are beautiful @ThatPurpleB :love:

And Ginger and Dora too of course @YvonneBlue :luv:
 
YvonneBlue said:
My two don't share their beds but they do have their favourites. Dora loves the cauliflower bed. If you order from Fuzzbutts or Ada Art you can ask for extra pee pads (for a small cost), I always do this so that I can change them regularly. It means I usually only have to wash the bed once a week.

Neville's Nest Guinea Pig Rescue does lovely 3-way and corner tunnels which all my piggies love. I have to try and not keep buying stuff for the piggies but somehow parcels keep arriving.😂😂

You will always find that the dominant pig has the first choice of beds. This is just normal piggy behaviour. As long as every pig has somewhere to sleep I wouldn't worry about it too much.
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Nevil's nest looks like exactly my kind of thing. Thanks for the recommendations. I'm largely getting my stuff from amazon but I'm trying to swap to local or small businesses for guinea pig stuff. Glad it's not just me that keeps wanting more stuff for them. We live a minimalist life but the piggies seem to be an exception!
 
The skinny pigs have their own instagram if you want more pictures.

Trying to at least do stories daily if not a grid post too.

@luna.and.nova.the.munch.squad
 
alpacasqueak said:
Yes I have that problem too! :)) Got Daisy the cat a nice parcel that came yesterday as she’s not quite as spoilt as the piglets but somehow a couple of things for pigs snuck in there too!? 🤷‍♀️XD xx

I love skinnies! ❤️ Your piggies are beautiful @ThatPurpleB :love:

And Ginger and Dora too of course @YvonneBlue :luv:
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Thanks! Had them less than a week and utterly adore them already. They're better than we could have ever hoped.

The piggies in your profile pic are adorable too! I'd get a pair with fur too as I love them but we probably don't have the space or time for more. We weren't looking for skinnies, came across them purely by chance.
 
Welcome to another skinny owner! @YvonneBlue has given you some fab advice. Mine eat the same as all my furry pigs, they just go through more hay than the furry pigs. Mine are kept on shavings covered in hay like the rest of the pigs too. They are louder than the rest of my herd, certainly characters!
 
I’m really late to the party on this one- but we have two skinny boys who absolutely adore these chunky fleece blankets from eBay. When not eating they are usually to be found quietly rumbling away to themselves under here. Wr take them out when it’s too hot but then they just tunnel under the main fleece 🙄 . They love the feel of fleece on their skin I think! we use the snuggle safe heat packs in winter which they adore. We get the blankies in medium.
 

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Skinnycow83 said:
I’m really late to the party on this one- but we have two skinny boys who absolutely adore these chunky fleece blankets from eBay. When not eating they are usually to be found quietly rumbling away to themselves under here. Wr take them out when it’s too hot but then they just tunnel under the main fleece 🙄 . They love the feel of fleece on their skin I think! we use the snuggle safe heat packs in winter which they adore. We get the blankies in medium.
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I've seen these might get one to cover one half of the cage. They have 2 little cushions that they currently sit on. Might get one of these to swap out with the cushions for washing.
 
ThatPurpleB said:
I've seen these might get one to cover one half of the cage. They have 2 little cushions that they currently sit on. Might get one of these to swap out with the cushions for washing.
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Ours are real tunnellers! If we don’t put these in they tunnel under the main fleece. They are trying to get under the fleece even today, in this heat. I’ve two big frozen water bottled wrapped in pillowcase, and a fan and Spud is digging is way under the fleece. We keep having to kick him out, silly boy. 🙃🙃🙄🙄
 
Skinnycow83 said:
Ours are real tunnellers! If we don’t put these in they tunnel under the main fleece. They are trying to get under the fleece even today, in this heat. I’ve two big frozen water bottled wrapped in pillowcase, and a fan and Spud is digging is way under the fleece. We keep having to kick him out, silly boy. 🙃🙃🙄🙄
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Mine went through a tunneling phase that thankfully has stopped. Any loose fleece edge and they'd be under it. So I now fold the fleece top under the towels below and clip it with them mini bulldog clips. This seems to have deterred them at least for now.
 
Ours do love love to burrow. We have kavee fleece liners, very thick, we can’t clip them to anything, we normally pile wooden stuff on top (houses, tunnels etc, ) and that usually works. Sometimes however life finds a way. 🙄🙄
 
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