New guinea pig owner

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pumpkin

Hi. I'm a proud owner of a lovely guinea pig called....Piggy!
Thing is ive got lots of questions so wondered if someone out there could answer them for me.
She has an indoor cage,what i find is that she seems to use all areas of the cage to go to the toilet. Therefore I'm finding the bedding gets dirty very quick,is this normal and should i be cleaning her out every few days? I use newspaper and hay and shredded paper as bedding but within a few hours she has trampled all of this down,does it matter or should i provide a lot of bedding so she has stuff to hide and bury herself in? Can i use sawdust like you would in a hampsters cage or is what I'm using ok? Just find the newspaper gets soggy straight away and then so does the hay. Another thing when I'm holding her does the little squeaking sound mean she is happy? She seems to make lots of noises but then sometimes nothing at all so never know if shes scared,happy or what?!

Sorry to bombard you just want the best for her obviously
Thanks
Sonia :)
 
I think toilet training a piggy is quite difficult the occasional one might do it but they aren't as easy to train as bunnies.I've got some girls that pee in one place but the majority do it where ever. I think most people will agree that hay on top of newspaper is best. I use russell rabbit chopped straw but my piggies are outside
 
Hi Sonia, welcome to the forum!

Yeah, piggies will pee and poop all over the place, little muck tubs! Mine trample all their hay down too, or eat it! Plenty of newspaper and hay is fine, sawdust has been known to cause breathing probs.

Does Piggy sound like she is chirping when you hold her? If so it means she's happy! If its a loud and high-pitched squeal then thats a scared noise..

Katie
 
You could change to using fleece as the cage is indoor, you can spot clean on this. Also put newspaper underneath it, and when they wee on it, the wee soaks through the fleece onto the newspaper. You can spot clean the poos and change the fleece 2-3 times weekly. Hope it makes sense ;)
 
I have my piggies indoor and use vetbed with a thick layer of newspaper underneath, I need to change every 3 days or so with fresh newspaper and vetbed. Vetbed can be expensive in the outset but worth it in the long run because you only need 2 lots, one for use and one for washing. But thick layer of newspaper and loads of hay will be fine too. Probably a tad more hay than you think you'll need because quite often they eat the hay you give them to keep them cosy.
In their pigloos I have hay and a fleece blanket each, my John just LOVES fleece.
Very normal for them to poo and pee everywhere.

If she is amking a cooing noise, a gentle wheeking noise then she is a happy piggy. If she is brrring or making a noise that sounds like a helicopter going over your hosue then she's not too happy. Sometimes they can vibrate too if they aren't happy.
Have a look here http://www.mgpr.org/MGPR/Guinea Pig Sounds.htm and youcan listen to guinea pig sounds and match it to the sound your piggy is makiing.
Some piggies are more noisy than others, my John is a quiet soul but Bob is just the noisiest ever.
Welcome to the forum :)

Fay
 
Hi. Thanks for all replies has put my mind at rest. Yea i think she sounds happy when I'm holding her although she quiet most of the time,just sits there!
Loves the honey stick i bought her,put some empty toilet roll in there but she hasnt touched that not sure if guineas like that sort of thing or not.
How much fruit and veg should she have per day have been giving her a carrot or an apple each day aswell as normal food,is that enough. What other veg can she have and how much,dont want to overfeed her.
 
stuff the toilet roll tube with hay and she'll probably love it! My two aren't interested in empty ones like my hamster is but as soon as I fill one with food...off they go!

As for food have a look at this http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=47.0

Gives loads of ideas for food.
I give mine 6 items of veg a day (mine aren't aint fruit lovers). So this morning they had 1 corn on the cob (although eat the leaves not the corn), 1 stick of celery each, handful of pointed cabbage and some chopped up apple (chop up apple into bite size pieces as they can get sores round their mouths with the acidity of apples).
This evening they will have cucumber, 1 romaine lettuce leaf each and half a big carrot probably. I have something else in the fridge but can't think what it is :D
 
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