Any Guinea Pig Owners? = )

[pssh]

He may not take to veggies and fruits right away. Some of them can be very stubborn if they have never had any before. When one sees another eating something it wants to eat it too. They get jealous of eachother

This site is great too!!
http://www.guinealynx.info/impaction.html

Edit: mite stuff.
http://www.guinealynx.info/ivermectin.html

http://www.guinealynx.info/ivermectin_treatment.html

Topical treatment (what you may choose because it's a bit easier)
http://www.guinealynx.info/ivermectin_topical.html

Oral treatment
http://www.guinealynx.info/ivermectin_topical.html

Oh yeah, and now that you know you have an adult boar, all the more reason to adopt a young male piggy! Now you can experience the young energy of the little guys. they are so cute and they are full of personality.

 

[PrettyInInk87]

He may not take to veggies and fruits right away. Some of them can be very stubborn if they have never had any before. When one sees another eating something it wants to eat it too. They get jealous of eachother

This site is great too!!
http://www.guinealynx.info/impaction.html

Edit: mite stuff.
http://www.guinealynx.info/ivermectin.html

http://www.guinealynx.info/ivermectin_treatment.html

Topical treatment (what you may choose because it's a bit easier)
http://www.guinealynx.info/ivermectin_topical.html

Oral treatment
http://www.guinealynx.info/ivermectin_topical.html

Oh yeah, and now that you know you have an adult boar, all the more reason to adopt a young male piggy! Now you can experience the young energy of the little guys. they are so cute and they are full of personality.

Lol! Thank you. I do want another but right now i'll focus on this little guy. I'm not sure how old he is but because of the impaction, i'm thinking he is an older guy. His previous owner told me she didn't know how old "she" was... A friend of mine is giving me a larger cage for him but don't know exactly how big it is. I have him out on our BIG long couch on top of a very thick blanket. His cage is WAY too small so i'm thinking of keeping him out all day and just putting him in his cage at night until I get a larger one. He's so curious and adventurous, lol! My brother in laws cat is so jealous!

 

[pssh]

Well, I hope everything works out. when I needed a cheap large cage I went to ikea and bought some scrap pieces from the 'as is' section and nailed them together. I used a plastic shower curtain/drop cloth under it and some towels on top. Worked just fine and they got a nice big cage. I just asked if they had two matching pieces so that it would all be even. $6 total

 

[PrettyInInk87]

YES! I just got an e-mail and someone is giving me a 18x30 cage. Still on the small side but a lot larger than the one I have now. I posted a want ad on Craigslist. I'll try and pick it up later today!

 

[pssh]

Oh good! I'm sure he will appreciate the space more.

 

[PrettyInInk87]

He's so cute! He's cuddled underneath a flap of blanket. He hasn't touched his veggies... I gave him a piece of cucumber, orange bell pepper, celery, and tomato. I'm sure he'll give in eventually though.

 

[kinyonga]

One guinea pig I had was "toilet trained"...he stood over his food dish and did what was necessary...so it made it easy to clean the cage out. I did have to provide a different food dish though!

One thing to be aware of....Guinea pigs require Vitamin C....they are missing an enzyme that is necessary for the body to make Vitamin C so they require supplemental Vitamin C in their diet....so make sure that they get proper guinea pig food!

 

[PrettyInInk87]

One guinea pig I had was "toilet trained"...he stood over his food dish and did what was necessary...so it made it easy to clean the cage out. I did have to provide a different food dish though!

One thing to be aware of....Guinea pigs require Vitamin C....they are missing an enzyme that is necessary for the body to make Vitamin C so they require supplemental Vitamin C in their diet....so make sure that they get proper guinea pig food!

In the bag of extras that were given to me with him came a bottle of vitamin drops for his water with extra vitamin C. I read not to use the drops so am not going to and am going to toss it. I did read the vitamin C part. I'm going to go to the pharmacy section and buy tablets for children or adults, mash them up, portion them out, and sprinkle into his food. I read that that is the best way for them to get the extra vitamin C they need.

 

[Elizadolots]

I strongly recommend getting another. They are very social and need to bond with another. It's actually against the law, in Sweden, for a store or breeder to sell a lone guinea pig to someone who does not already have guinea pigs.

Keep trying different greens for them. Mine are especially fond of dandelion greens and wheat grass. You can grow your own wheat grass from wheat berries that cost like $1.25 a pound, which gives you loads and loads of grass. They like clilantro, parsley, dandelion greens...you name it. I save the decorative greens some restaurants put on the plate to take home to the pigs.

If you buy them pellets (we do) then look for pellets with added vitamin C. They have a shorter shelf life, but it's worth it. Our pigs get green bell pepper 3 or 4 times a week.

Try to vary the "hay" they get..if the pellets are alfalfa, then buy Timothy hay and vice versa. Ours get pellets, hay, greens and "crunchies" (green pepper, carrots, broccoli) every day.

**edited to add**
And, wood!!! I can't forget that. You need to give them access to wood they can chew on. That keeps their teeth short. Failing that, you'll be cutting teeth and I promise you, you do not want to have to do that. It happened with a hamster and that was horrifying enough...I don't know that I could do that with one of the pigs.

Don't use any really smelly wood like cedar. Those contain creosote which is toxic. Get something like pine or birch. Basically the less likely it is to be used for outdoor construction, the better it is for your pigs. Look around at storage boxes and stuff for scraps. Lots of jams and jelly's come packed in little whitewood containers...those are perfect.

 

[PrettyInInk87]

I strongly recommend getting another. They are very social and need to bond with another. It's actually against the law, in Sweden, for a store or breeder to sell a lone guinea pig to someone who does not already have guinea pigs.

Keep trying different greens for them. Mine are especially fond of dandelion greens and wheat grass. You can grow your own wheat grass from wheat berries that cost like $1.25 a pound, which gives you loads and loads of grass. They like clilantro, parsley, dandelion greens...you name it. I save the decorative greens some restaurants put on the plate to take home to the pigs.

If you buy them pellets (we do) then look for pellets with added vitamin C. They have a shorter shelf life, but it's worth it. Our pigs get green bell pepper 3 or 4 times a week.

Try to vary the "hay" they get..if the pellets are alfalfa, then buy Timothy hay and vice versa. Ours get pellets, hay, greens and "crunchies" (green pepper, carrots, broccoli) every day.

**edited to add**
And, wood!!! I can't forget that. You need to give them access to wood they can chew on. That keeps their teeth short. Failing that, you'll be cutting teeth and I promise you, you do not want to have to do that. It happened with a hamster and that was horrifying enough...I don't know that I could do that with one of the pigs.

Don't use any really smelly wood like cedar. Those contain creosote which is toxic. Get something like pine or birch. Basically the less likely it is to be used for outdoor construction, the better it is for your pigs. Look around at storage boxes and stuff for scraps. Lots of jams and jelly's come packed in little whitewood containers...those are perfect.

Thank you very much for your help! All of you have been of great help even though this isn't a Guinea Pig forum, lol! With little guy not at his full potential right now, last thing I can think of is getting another... When I get him all well and healthy I might just adopt him out to someone who already has one. The cage I have for him is not enough to accomidate 2 BUT I think if I rearrange our bedroom I can fit one a lot larger than that. As soon as I find a cage large enough i'm going to see if it'll work. My brother in laws cat really likes him. Anyway, thank you and if i'm not able to get another right away, i'll give him to someone who has one or 2 already.

 

[kinyonga]

There are also vitamin C tablets that can be put in the water that you can get at the pharmacy.

 

[pssh]

Unfortunately, the vit C degrade very quickly when exposed to light (or maybe it was sunlight?) and it makes the water taste different. This can cause the animals to not want to drink the water, which is bad.

 

[PrettyInInk87]

There are also vitamin C tablets that can be put in the water that you can get at the pharmacy.

Yes, I read that also. I'm going to get those this week, smash them up into powder, separate into "doses", and sprinkle into his food. Before I brought him home I also read about the drops being crap so I tossed the bottle in the trash.

 

[pssh]

If you are using guinea pig pellets, they have vit C in them already. That's why you need to use actual piggy pellets because rabbit pellets don't have vit C in them. If you can get him to eat bell peppers, you're set in the vit C department.

Here are more that can be tried if he won't eat bell peppers. It also may help to chop them up into pellet sized pieces to entice him to eat them.

http://www.guinealynx.info/diet_order-c.html

 

[PrettyInInk87]

If you are using guinea pig pellets, they have vit C in them already. That's why you need to use actual piggy pellets because rabbit pellets don't have vit C in them. If you can get him to eat bell peppers, you're set in the vit C department.

Here are more that can be tried if he won't eat bell peppers. It also may help to chop them up into pellet sized pieces to entice him to eat them.

http://www.guinealynx.info/diet_order-c.html

Yes, I went to Petsmart yesterday and picked up some Timothy Hay with cranberries and he was given to me with a bag of Guinea Pig pellets. He really likes the hay... Yesterday when I fed him a few veggies he went for the celery and the bell pepper so i'm going to stock up on the red kind. He's still a little sketchy about the Veggies, he'll sniff them and kind of step back like "Woah, what is this?", lol! He'll get it.

 

[e30nate]

these are my girlfriends two boys. theyre names are Harvey, which is the fluffy one, and alfie is the smooth one. shes a member on guineapigcages too. we built a pretty good size cage off there for them for like $30. we also have a really old one in his own cage. hes at least 6 or 7.

 

[pssh]

Awe. I love the swirly ones! Their name is escaping me right now. Abby maybe? Anyways, my mom loves those kind. She was almost going to let me adopt another one if it was swirly like that.

Yeah, some are pretty cautious. Have you tried giving some lettuce? Mine would only eat lettuce and cilantro (and fruit) for the longest time!

Edit: A cheaper way to buy hay that is usually better than the packaged stuff is to go to a feed store. My local feed store sells whole bales and 1x3 foot bags of hay for guinea pig/bunny owners. Plus all those other guys who eat hay.

 

[kinyonga]

e30nate...cute piggies!

pssh said..."That's why you need to use actual piggy pellets because rabbit pellets don't have vit C in them"...that's exactly how I found out. I had a bunny and then got a piggy and asked the pet store if I could feed the piggy the rabbit pellets and of course, they said yes. That was when I learned not to listen to pet stores!

 

[pssh]

Haha, when I used to go to pet stores, they always pointed us in the direction of the most expensive food they had! So for a while all my animals pretty much only ate those 'fancy' animal specific foods with all kinds of stuff that made them chubby. They all went on semi-diets as soon as I found out the stuff was fattening!

 

[e30nate]

Awe. I love the swirly ones! Their name is escaping me right now. Abby maybe? Anyways, my mom loves those kind. She was almost going to let me adopt another one if it was swirly like that.

Yeah, some are pretty cautious. Have you tried giving some lettuce? Mine would only eat lettuce and cilantro (and fruit) for the longest time!

Edit: A cheaper way to buy hay that is usually better than the packaged stuff is to go to a feed store. My local feed store sells whole bales and 1x3 foot bags of hay for guinea pig/bunny owners. Plus all those other guys who eat hay.

i think theyre called Abyssinian. we sadly got them from a petstore. we were there getting my supplements and they were so cute we had to get them. we were told they are only like 6 weeks old. my girlfriend used to have like ten piggies when she was younger. she said she used to have a hairless one too lol. we get our timothy hay from wal mart for like $3