Just Got Two Rescue Piggies! (Image heavy)

[Mage of Mist]

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Meet Percy and Pedro the bonded boar guinea pigs I got 2 days ago. ^^ They are both rescue piggies from two different homes, but have been bonded and are now living here, with plenty of veggies and love. Also I am aware the cage is rather small as this is the best I can do until we get the flat, though the cage is more of a bedroom/dining room than anything, as they get a lot of time outside the cage. I am hoping to get a "puppy pen" sorta set up, basically a large run that they live in.​

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Percy: ​

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This is Percy the Peruvian cross, not quite sure what he is crossed with, but I assume Abyssinian with how wild his coat is. His background was that his owner didn't have the time to take care of him anymore and so Percy fell into neglect, whilst otherwise healthy, his coat was matted and he was dirty.

Now he is in a loving home getting all the snuggles and cuddles he could wish for, he will lay on your lap for hours and adores having his fur brushed and combed, and he gives plenty of kisses, especially when you scratch under his chin. He will also sass at you if you try putting him back too soon before his cuddle/brush quota is met.

His feet are also adorbs​

Pedro:

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This is Pedro the Lunkarya, he is a shy and somewhat skittish bean who came from a hoard of 200+ guinea pigs and was a mess before getting tidied up and bonded with Percy.

He wasn't a fan of me at first and wouldn't let me touch him, though once I found the one spot he'd let me scratch, under the chin, he became far friendlier and now lets me pet his sides and back and gives the occasional kiss too... Though he is still a grunting wriggle worm when it comes to brushing. ​

He is a massive fan of the tube and won't share it, even with Percy.

Though, old man Scrappy, my now 4 year old Japanese Quail, isn't quite sure what to think to these strange, hairy potatoes. Though they do get along in supervised freeroam time.

 

[Piggies&buns]

To the forum

What gorgeous boys you have!

The guide below gives specific details regarding boars.

A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars

Yes the cage is rather small for two boars, but as long as you know and have a plan to give them more space. Two boys need a 6ft x 2ft cage. When you move them to a new cage, you will need to follow the details in the guide as changing change constitutes a change in environment and can cause a hierarchy sort out between them.

Another important thing to note is that it looks like they are being fed muesli. If possible, switch them to a plain pellet. Mueslies arent recommended to be fed anymore. They should also only have one tablespoon of pellets per pig per day, not a full bowl (although it may be deceptive on the picture as to how much there is). dry foods (pellets and mueslies) are the least healthy part of the diet and can contribute to excess calcium which can lead to health problems.

Pellets Or Muesli / Dry Mix?

 

[Mage of Mist]

To the forum

What gorgeous boys you have!

The guide below gives specific details regarding boars.

A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars

Yes the cage is rather small for two boars, but as long as you know and have a plan to give them more space. Two boys need a 6ft x 2ft cage. When you move them to a new cage, you will need to follow the details in the guide as changing change constitutes a change in environment and can cause a hierarchy sort out between them.

Another important thing to note is that it looks like they are being fed muesli. If possible, switch them to a plain pellet. Mueslies arent recommended to be fed anymore. They should also only have one tablespoon of pellets per pig per day, not a full bowl (although it may be deceptive on the picture as to how much there is). dry foods (pellets and mueslies) are the least healthy part of the diet and can contribute to excess calcium which can lead to health problems.

Pellets Or Muesli / Dry Mix?

There's two spoons of Burgers Guinea pig pellets with some vitimin C fortified guinea pig food and a sprinkle of rabbit food in the shallow bowl every now and then to nibble on as well to keep them from getting bored. ^^ Though I shall pick out the muesli now that I know it can lead go health problems because of excess calcium, as it is in both the fortified food and rabbit kibble. I already avoid alfalfa and high calcium vegetables as those could cause stones, but I didn't know about the museli. They also had a lot more vegetables earlier in the cage before they ate almost all of it, a cup each as guides online say.

Thank you for the guides as I shall follow them. ^^ I do plan to give them a large pen for them to run around in, already did a transfer from a borrowed cage to the one I have now that is larger and transferred the bedding so that there wouldn't be any issues and they just continued on as usual without any chasing or scuffling. They also spend practically all day outside the cage, which gives them plenty of room to run around and be crazy popcorners... Or huddle up to me for cuddles instead.

You have so much room, explore!

 

[Piggies&buns]

The Burgess guinea pig pellets are already fortified with vit c so they don’t need anything else added to it. I definitely would not give them anything designed for rabbits (the rabbit diet is a little different to the piggy diet). they won’t get bored as hay needs to make up 80% of their daily food intake, pellets just 5% so as long as they have lots of hay they will be fine! Hay and grass also contains vit c (it’s the whole reason they don’t need to make it for themselves) and with some veggies and a tiny amount of pellets and they will be fine.

filtering their drinking water also limits calcium intake - pellets and water contain more calcium than the highest calcium veg. You don’t need to avoid giving them high calcium veg altogether (unless they already have bladder issues) but you do need to limit it to no more than once per week.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

 

[Piggies&buns]

Oh and just another thought, Burgess pellets do contain alfalfa but its in there under its other name of Lucerne, so if you do feed any high calcium veg then it can sometimes be a good idea to avoid giving pellets on that day, just to ensure you dont inadvertently over do things

 

[Mage of Mist]

The Burgess guinea pig pellets are already fortified with vit c so they don’t need anything else added to it. I definitely would not give them anything designed for rabbits (the rabbit diet is a little different to the piggy diet). they won’t get bored as hay needs to make up 80% of their daily food intake, pellets just 5% so as long as they have lots of hay they will be fine! Hay and grass also contains vit c (it’s the whole reason they don’t need to make it for themselves) and with some veggies and a tiny amount of pellets and they will be fine.

filtering their drinking water also limits calcium intake - pellets and water contain more calcium than the highest calcium veg. You don’t need to avoid giving them high calcium veg altogether (unless they already have bladder issues) but you do need to limit it to no more than once per week.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

I will keep those in mind ^^ So I should stick with the spoons of Burgers pellets, hay, the occasional herb+meadowgrass mix and daily veggies? Sounds good.

I can't really filter the water, but I could buy water bottles that have low amounts of calcium listed if needed. Neither have any kidney stone issues as far as I am aware, so I think I am probably being a tad paranoid. I will keep high calcium veg to a minimum, but will add them in every now and then as a type of enrichment rather than outright excluding it.

As far as I noticed, my boys aren't picky eaters like some piggies are from what I heard, as they had a small chopped plum as a treat with their vegetables and monched that down after giving a curious sniff and lick.

Oh and just another thought, Burgess pellets do contain alfalfa but its in there under its other name of Lucerne, so if you do feed any high calcium veg then it can sometimes be a good idea to avoid giving pellets on that day, just to ensure you dont inadvertently over do things

Ok!

 

[rp1993]

Welcome! Your boys look gorgeous!

 

[Mage of Mist]

Welcome! Your boys look gorgeous!

Thank you X3 They are my precious fuzzy potatoes. Had my eye on another pair at first, but those two were already adopted... Then I was shown Percy and Pedro and fell in love. ❤ Long hair piggies require regular grooming and I love to brush and comb, so they are even more perfect for me than the two shortfur piggies I saw.

 

[Mage of Mist]

Pedro's being a very good boy this morning Normally he starts wriggling and grunting, but this morning he was being very well behaved, needing little more than a few adjustments to his position rather than grooming becoming a wrestling match.

 

[Mage of Mist]

I am dying from cuteness here chilling with the boys.

 

[Flutterby]

 

[Mage of Mist]

@Piggies&buns
How does this look? They have a full hay rack as well.

Hello! ^^

 

[Wiebke]

What a cute pair!

They look a bit like my Cerian 'Little Love' (who is a coronet and not a peru like yours).
Breila 'Briar Rose' is an aby and has more gold in addition to her dark lilac (or 'blue') colouring.

 

[Mage of Mist]

What a cute pair!

They look a bit like my Cerian 'Little Love' (who is a coronet and not a peru like yours).
Breila 'Briar Rose' is an aby and has more gold in addition to her dark lilac (or 'blue') colouring.
View attachment 157674

They are precious! =o I love Breila's coat, haven't seen a piggy like that before, and Cerian looks so soft.

 

[Claire W]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Your boys are gorgeous

 

[Mage of Mist]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Your boys are gorgeous

Hello, and thank you X3

Welp, second round of brushing didn't go as smoothly as before with Pedro. You'd think Pedro was fighting for his life with the amount of wriggling and complaining he does... Until I stuck a bit of bell pepper under his nose and he started to monch and forgot that he was afraid for a moment. At least I know I am making progress with him as he was an absolute angel this morning with being brushed.

Percy also had a some mats forming on his rump that I just noticed on the second round of brushing and so I did a light trim to remove them, Percy was quite grumpy over me having to touch his rump, but was no where near as dramatic as Pedro is when just getting combed, instead I got some light concerned mutterings and the occasional "stop that" rumble.

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It looks big together, but they are multiple small mats that were forming around the rump that I trimmed off.

 

[Little Ones]

If you’re finding the fur to matt easily and quickly then you may be best to give them a decent trim all over, especially around the rump. Enough so that there’s no long hair dragging at all. I’ll link below the hair cutting guide, there’s two parts to it. I think most of it you’ll know how to do already but in part 2 of the guide, there’s two images which are a reflection of short you want the hair to be.
Hair cutting guide
As long as you make sure the hair isn’t dragging at all, you should be okay.

 

[Mage of Mist]

If you’re finding the fur to matt easily and quickly then you may be best to give them a decent trim all over, especially around the rump. Enough so that there’s no long hair dragging at all. I’ll link below the hair cutting guide, there’s two parts to it. I think most of it you’ll know how to do already but in part 2 of the guide, there’s two images which are a reflection of short you want the hair to be.
Hair cutting guide
As long as you make sure the hair isn’t dragging at all, you should be okay.

Thank you for the guide ^^ It'd probably be better to trim them so that they don't turn into scruffmonsters. Even though I love the flowing fur, especially on Percy, the mats just popped out of no-where on him even after the morning brushing. I try and brush 3 times a day to keep their coats tidy.

Pedro has had no mats yet here, though I am giving him a break right now after the trauma of being brushed. Pedro has a rougher coat too, so it also doesn't mat as easily as Percy's finer coat.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Aw, welcome to the forum x
Your boys are absolutely gorgeous, they sound like they have landed on their little tootsies with you

 

[Wiebke]

They are precious! =o I love Breila's coat, haven't seen a piggy like that before, and Cerian looks so soft.

Thank you!

I have travelled all the way on the train to the tip of Kent to adopt the bonded pair of sows two years ago; it was a two day journey. But when their picture turned up on my desk as an adoption advert for the next issue of Guinea Pig Magazine, I couldn't resist the temptation (the only time I actually did).

Sadly I'd just lost my Bedo 'Little Splendid Lord' very unexpectedly in June 2018 to a massive out of the blue heart attack or stroke when I lost three of my piggies within 2 weeks and then had to emergency pts my Carwyn only days before the advert turned up because of a brain tumour, so those to two faces were so much more for me than just two very pretty piggies.

Cerian is a cross between Carwyn 'Blessed Love' and his predecessor Ceri 'Love' (RIP 2014). I have never seen another piggy like my beloved Bedo so when a lookalike turned up so providentially, I just couldn't resist to ask the rescue. Breila's rescue name was Rosie, hence her Tribe name whereas Cerian is the endearment of Welsh Ceri.

Thankfully, it was a just long but pretty straight forward journey with just the mile walk between Kings Cross and Euston station in London but no tube trip, so it was perfectly manageable. And April Lodge GPR were kind enough to make an exception for me in adopting out over such a distance. A VERY special birthday present for myself indeed!

Bedo (2013-18) - Hard to imagine but he was found dumped with the mate he had fallen out with on Cannock Chase in a cardboard box on a very cold October morning...


(Ceri ca. 2008/9-14 and Carwyn 2012-18, adopted 2015)


You can find more about my piggies in this little forum blog thread here if you are interested in the faces behind the names in my signature: Wiebke's Tribe - Sows and the City Boars


I hope that you will have as precious a time with your two fuzz balls as I have with mine.