How Old Before Going On The Grass?

[Tbag]

We got Wyatt a little young just after he'd been separated from mummy (4 weeks) and I'm just wondering how old he should be before he goes out on the grass? Before going to our bonding session I was under the impression he was 6 weeks but only got told 4 weeks as the bonding was in progress! Didn't want to ruin things and I wasn't too concerned about his age since I'd say we're a fairly experienced and super clean piggy household and know any warning signs etc.

He's been getting grass clippings and had no adverse effects but I'm just a bit worried about his developing immune system and if he'll be ok going out 'out' yet? He'll be 7 weeks on Monday.

It's just such nice weather it'd be a shame to keep them in!

 

[AndreaJane]

*bumping* this for you. I'd like to know the best age too - I'm a bit worried about the size of the mesh in standard ark runs or when using a cage with the base off ( same size mesh as the ark runs) if it's suitable for mini-pigs because I know you shouldn't use C& C when they're little.

 

[GPTV]

Hmm well i'm not sure officially- but when i had my first two girls i had a surprise pregnancy to deal with, ended up with one super huge baby & she lived with her mum & aunt.
She was a June baby, the weather was warm & reasonably sunny. i put her out on the grass with the others after about ten days.

This was years ago, i wasn't at all experienced & before the days of the "beloved knowledgeable guinea pig forum" information.
She suffered no ill effects & grew into a happy healthy piggy.
Her mum had been out on the grass also throughout her pregnancy, so i guess she was used to a regular intake of grass from her mothers body.

i wouldn't feed lawn mower cuttings( if that's what you mean by clippings?) but giving her hand cut or picked grass should be fine & build her up slowly with uncontaminated grass. ( you can see exactly what vegetation you have got & know you haven't got anything poisonous if hand picked)

but i'm afraid i don't know if this was a correct decision on my part & i had been lucky or if i shouldn't have done it. i just assumed if they were in the wild they would graze straight away.

@AndreaJane crumbs i never even thought of that with my little baby either.... i just had a supervised chicken wire run for a few weeks, then made a proper sturdy wooden run for the lawn & used a 1x2cm mesh i think it was, bought from a hardware shop.

All the books i read prior to getting my babies never mentioned any of this! Although i think Guinea pig care & information has improved greatly since i got mine (plenty more room for improvement of information on a wider scale needed though.)

Wish i had had access to this forum then. hopefully someone with more mini-pig experience will be able to help you more. xx

 

[Stewybus]

If he's eating veggies try a little hand picked grass so he knows what it is. Then a little grass time will be OK, maybe 15 to 30 minutes. Another thing you've got to check on with babies is that they can't escape through the bars of their run & that they've got shaded areas.

 

[Tbag]

Thanks folks, he's been putting away veggies like no business and my little grass scissors have been snip snip snipping away with no ill effects so far so looks like we should be fine to start proper time with the green stuff!

He's also bulking out nicely and no chance of fitting through the bars of the run! We never leave them unattended outside either so will be able to keep a close eye on him and make sure he's doing ok.