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Need A Guinea-pig Routine!?

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SingyPiggys

SingyPiggys

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Hi!
I really need a detailed guinea-pig routine. One that says all off the times and everything. I would go to school from 8:30-4:00 so I need it to fit round there. I also need one for the weekend as well. I've tried many different routines for my guinea-pigs but I am finding it really hard. I have tried to fall into one naturally but that just doesn't work either :( I really need to get my pigs on routine as I will be creating a breeding company soon. I know breedings bad etc...but in my area their is only pet shops which I want to try stop from selling pets.. I can go into more detail about that. But for now I really need to get my pigs on routine!? Please I need one!
Thanks-Emma x
 
Do you have any other pets or children that could get to the piggies while your away? I ask because you could set up a play pen that hooks up to your cage while you are at school. I would also suggest spot cleaning your cage first thing when you get up in the morning as well as feeding your pigs. I do this and it works well for me. However, I have a dog and cat and cannot let them roam in their connected playpen while I am away so I make sure to set it up right when I get home everyday so they can come out and play.
 
They live in a hutch so they have a playpen underneath it anyway :). No nobody else it at home :(. Do you think you could write your full guinea-pig routine? xx
 
No problem, here is my routine. I make sure to wake up early enough about an hour to an hour and a half to clean, feed and play with them before I get ready for work and school. My times vary per day as I work part time and am a senior in college so unfortunately I don't have a set time to give you.
1) I spot clean all the poo and remove the hidey houses and all from the cage to get any hidden poos and any loose hay (since most of the time they don't eat the hay if its been peed or pood on.
2) I have fleece bedding and blankets so I change the blankets daily but only the bedding every other day and replace them with new ones. ( I have about a weeks worth of fleece bedding and blankets so I only have to do laundry once a week if I don't want to do so more frequent.
3) After I make sure the poo and pee spots are in control I give my pigs their favorite vitamin c treats
4) I replace all their hidey houses so they can hide and eat their treats if they want (or if its super early they can go back to sleep)
5) Now I make sure to fill up their hay feeders
6) Next I give them pellets
7) I fill up their water bottles next
8) Lastly I give them veggies (I give them Green leaf lettuce 5 days a week, kale 2 days a week, and fruit 2 days a week)

This is my morning routine. I hope this helps. :)
 
Ugh thank you! What do you do after work/school. Gosh I must sound annoying but I just really need help xxxxxx
 
SingyPiggys said:
They live in a hutch so they have a playpen underneath it anyway :). No nobody else it at home :(. Do you think you could write your full guinea-pig routine? xx
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Your guinea pigs will adapt to the routine you set them.

Guinea pigs are naturally most active in the mornings and late afternoons while they just tend to sleep or quietly bowse for the rest of the day and the night. You may want to time any activities and feeding with your guinea pigs around that rhythm.
Best make a list of all jobs that need to be done daily at first, like feeding some veg and a couple of handfuls of pellets, check whether the water bottle is filled for the day, refilling hay generously (which makes up to 80% of the daily food intake) before you go to school and then spot clean the hutch and food dishes, clean the water bottle and refill, give the dinner veg and another 2 handfuls of pellets and have interaction with your guinea pigs once they are used to human contact (unless you get guinea pigs from a good rescue that already used to being handled).



Please make sure that the you keep the hutch draft-free and the access ramp to the hutch closed at night and on cold/stormy days like we are currently experiencing; guinea pigs that don't have extra protection can die from frost/dampness or illnesses caused by it. IIt is not necessarily the strong frosts that kill, but the great changes between day and night time temperatures. when in the play pen, the grass and the ground needs to be dry and not too cold; you guinea pigs need at all times access to a dry and warm (or in summer a cool and shady!) place. During a heatwave, and exposed hutch in full sun can be killer, too. We have seen cases of that happening - sadly at the cost of piggy lives!
 
Thanks for your comment. Yes I was aware of that so I brought a big hidey to go inside of the housing area. This shelters them further from and wind and rain. I don't close their ramp enterance at night since I find they seem to go outside at night? I don't know why? Yeah I know about the storm we were right in the middle of it. Would you believe that one of my guinea-pigs were actually stood outside eating the grass in the middle of it!? Pouring with rain and the wind was blowing him over! I did bring them inside into my room to run around at that point because I felt too bad leaving them out there <3
 
SingyPiggys said:
Thanks for your comment. Yes I was aware of that so I brought a big hidey to go inside of the housing area. This shelters them further from and wind and rain. I don't close their ramp enterance at night since I find they seem to go outside at night? I don't know why? Yeah I know about the storm we were right in the middle of it. Would you believe that one of my guinea-pigs were actually stood outside eating the grass in the middle of it!? Pouring with rain and the wind was blowing him over! I did bring them inside into my room to run around at that point because I felt too bad leaving them out there <3
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Please close the ramp in case rats or mice burrow or bite through the run or foxes trash the run. An open ramp can really kill - and guinea pigs can simply die of fright! On cold nights, please fill a cardboard box with lots of soft hay that your piggies can burrow into for extra insulation, but not so tightly that they can get into.
 
I'm not sure how much routine you are looking for. We basically do hay in the mornings and I also check the water bottles to make sure they're full. They eat and then basically snooze through the morning (I work from home so I know what they're up to.) They perk up again when the kids come home from school and usually come out of the cage for lap time with me and the kids at that point. They get free time and fresh food in the evening after the kids go to bed (I just block off an area, open the cage door, and let them come and go as they please in the evening.) Then I feed pellets and fresh water again before I go to bed. I have one pig on long-term meds, so she gets her meds right before I refill the food dishes too. That's about it... as long as things happen in a fairly predictable order they seem content. They get worked up when reality doesn't match their expectations (i.e. if I don't get them hay as soon as I appear in the morning or if I go back and forth past the cage without letting them out in the evenings.) But they don't seem to care whether things happen at 8 o'clock sharp, for instance.

I'm sure you don't want to hear it, but I feel duty-bound to ask you to think long and hard about why you would want to breed your guinea pigs... guinea pig pregnancies are high-risk compared to most other small animals. Are you willing to potentially risk losing your females, who are presumably pets that you care about? Is losing one to pregnancy complications or birth complications an acceptable risk? Do you know their genetic histories well enough to know if they carry any genetic disorders that you wouldn't want to pass forward? Do you know which colors should not be bred together (I ask because an area breeder where I live was producing white lethals without understand how or why she was getting them- clearly did not know enough about genetics.) If there is a risk and mom needs a cesarean section or an emergency spay, is that something you are willing and able to pay for on short notice? Would you be solving the issue of pet stores selling guinea pigs, or would you simply be adding more animals into a market that has too many? What if you couldn't sell all the babies? How would you vouch for people buying (people do buy guinea pigs for nefarious reasons sometimes... as snake food, for instance. Presumably you want to know they are going to good homes?) I could go on, but that probably sums it up... just think about it. There are already more guinea pigs than homes to care for them, there are risks inherent to pregnancy and birth, and I just want to encourage you to really think things through. Not meaning to cause offence.
 
I understand your point of view, let me go into my reasons :)

My mum used to breed guinea-pigs as a child and so did her mum, so it's kinda in the family. Between my mum and her mum they only ever lost one baby guinea-pig which had a heart problem-died on the day she was born-rip little one-she was also the runt. I do know about genetics and colourings as does my mum-who is v experienced. I am pretty sure I will be able to sell them since the nearest other breeder/shelter is 3 hours away. Even if I can't sell them, that's okay..we have enough space and room. Our garden is devoted to guinea-pigs. I have also done a lot of research even though my family is already experienced.
We will be okay <3
 
SingyPiggys said:
I understand your point of view, let me go into my reasons :)

My mum used to breed guinea-pigs as a child and so did her mum, so it's kinda in the family. Between my mum and her mum they only ever lost one baby guinea-pig which had a heart problem-died on the day she was born-rip little one-she was also the runt. I do know about genetics and colourings as does my mum-who is v experienced. I am pretty sure I will be able to sell them since the nearest other breeder/shelter is 3 hours away. Even if I can't sell them, that's okay..we have enough space and room. Our garden is devoted to guinea-pigs. I have also done a lot of research even though my family is already experienced.
We will be okay <3
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It's up to you- I just feel duty-bound to say something, seeing as I know people who have lost animals (a friend recently lost a dog who they had purchased on a breeding contact- she developed an infection post-birth and could not be saved) and as I have had a couple of animals who had inherited genetic conditions from breeders with insufficient knowledge of the family genome, which was heartbreaking to me and led to a lot of suffering before their deaths. I hope you have better outcomes!
 
SingyPiggys said:
Ugh thank you! What do you do after work/school. Gosh I must sound annoying but I just really need help x
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No its no problem really. I was really overwhelmed when I first got my pigs. When I get home I first set up their play pen that attaches to their cage so I don't have to constantly supervise them if I'm busy. Then I alternate holding them while I watch tv/ movies or do work on my laptop. I only feed them once a day (in the morning) but i give them the recommended amount of food per pig times 4 since I have 4. Other than that my nightly routine is pretty non-existent.

Oh! Also I forgot to tell you, I have a led cage light (one that does not emit heat since pigs are pretty sensitive to climate and whatnot) and I turn it on in the morning and off at night. Below is a picture of my setup just in case anything I said was confusing.
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I understand you feel you need to say something. So would I on another post-just making sure they know. Hopefully I will have good outcomes...So far our family has good results so fingerscrossed!
 
This is the second topic you've discussed breeding, there wont be a third time will there young lady? :tu:
 
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