Talk to me about guinea pigs

Generally, females will cage together best, rather than two males who might duke it out. Also, be aware that males can leave their scent behind which is not pleasant....I'd opt for females.

You can get them at any petstore. I don't know where else to get them really. There aren't pig rescues anywhere that I know of. Ok I am sure there are but where, I don't know. If you get them there, you'll get them young.

Make sure that the person you buy them from knows how to sex the thing. It's hard to tell. PetSmart does a pretty good job of this. To save yourself some messiness, invest in a big fishtank for them. You can buy a wire/mesh snap on top. If you get a regular ol' cage, you'll find shavings, poo pellets and food everywhere. They kick and spin a lot. The tank takes more maintainance but again, it's between cleaning the tank out or cleaning up the floor all the time. Every day, I scooped the wet stuff and replaced the bedding. Once a week, I just got me a garbage bag, dumped the entire tank contents in it, put the thing in the bath tub and scrubbed it out. (Pee will accumulate on the sides and bottom if you don't) Be careful what you use. I can't remember what I used but I am sure the pet store will have suggestions.

Oh and another biggie....DO NOT use cedar bedding. It might smell nice to you but like I said, pigs have sensitive respiratory systems and it can cause infections and difficulty breathing. Use aspen or this stuff called "CareFresh". I think that the Carefresh worked much better but it's more expensive than aspen. Cedar is the cheapest but again, you risk harming your pig if you use that. Pine is not as bad but shouldn't be used either.

I used to work at a petstore, which is why I know all this stuff. :wink:

You're a veritable fount! Great info, thanks.

Any guesses on ballpark figures for maintenance? As in, leaving out the cage, etc -- just food, bedding, maybe cleaning products. About how much per month? (Can be REALLY broad, I just don't have the slightest.)

Oh and to answer your money questions.....
for ONE pig.

Set up
Pig - $20-25
cage (wire) - $30-50 (depending on size)
bedding (large bag) - $12-15
timothy hay - $3-5
Pellets - $5-7
water bottle - $3-5
toys - depends on what you buy!


I'd say you go through 1 large bag of bedding, 1-1 1/2 bags of pellets, 2 bags of timothy hay a month. So probably on a monthy basis you are spending $50 max. The large bags of bedding are BIG. They might run $20 I can't remember. But its compressed and it lasts forever it seems.
As for veggies, use what you normally buy on a weekly basis and just give them some cut up pieces every day. Carrots are favorites, apples, oranges, grapes, spinach, parsley...pretty much anything. Mine loved carrots and parsley, hated oranges and grapes.

I am just going on what I remember.

Oh I almost forgot this too......don't feed them alfalfa. It's bad for their wee wee. And when you buy pellets, make sure they are just PLAIN pellets...no seeds or nuts even though they love them. They'll get really fat, really fast because the nuts/seeds are higher in fat. Make sure it's Guinea Pig specific food because pigs need extra vitamin c. You can actually buy vitamin c drops for them.

Cavy Madness

This is a pretty decent site for information.

I think that you will find pigs are fun and cute.

The do this thing called popcorning. They will studdenly hop in the air and kick...sometimes it almost looks like a seizure until you realize what's going on. It's a pig saying he's super happy and super excited to be there!

Here's an example....

Popcorning

Oh and yes you should get two. Two females, IMO.

Sheesh. I keep forgetting stuff.

Keep coming back with whatever you remember, this is really great stuff.

Two females, eh? They keep each other company, are happier than if there is just one?

Oreo and Juliette got along great and Oreo was really sad once Juliette died.

My kids had two when they were about 6 and 8. They were the longer haired ones with collicks. We had a black one,Batman, and a white one,Rosie. One morning I saw that Batman produced 4 babies.

I don't usually have problems with allergies but started having sinus problems shortly after the Guinea pigs arrived. Got tested and found out that I was allergic to their urine. And I was the one who cleaned their cages as the kids were too young to do an efficient job.

After a few deaths and giving some of the babies away I finally found a home for Rosie and I've never had allergy problems since.

Also, the ones we had weren't very snuggly. They didn't like it. So the Guinea pigs didn't work out for us.

My nieces have gerbils. They're the first furry creatures that I haven't been allergic to. I don't hold them, but I can be in the room where they live and haven't noticed any issues at all. (I'm only good for about 15 minutes in a home with a dog or cat.)

I'm no expert, but I'm sure there's plenty of online info about them. The kids love them - just got two new baby ones.

The "in the kitchen" comment I think related to putting them in a social place. Jenny wasn't very happy being in Kylies bedroom with her at school all day. Once moved to the living room where he could hear and see me coming and going, and being part of the evening tv watching made him "popcorn" a lot more.

Glad you brought that up....I had forgotten that my mom is also very very allergic to guinea pigs. She would have an asthma attack when their bedding got stirred up around her.

Aw phooey.

There must be guinea-pig-allergy testing? E.G. wouldn't be thrilled with that, but...

Take EG to the pet store and have him stick his head into the cage.

If he gets stuffy, no go.

If not, you should be good.

The way it happens to my mom is instanious. She starts getting stuffy the minute she walks into the room with them.

Hay is a pretty common allergen.

Does E.G. have any allergies to plant matter? trees, grasses ...

Nope.

Mold and cats seem to be the main ones.

The amount of hay that you actually put in there shouldn't cause much trouble unless he is REALLY allergic.

And either way, he could just avoid touching/breathing in the hay.

The guinea pigs had to be in the kitchen because the "owner" of the guinea pigs was highly irresponsible with a somewhat sadistic streak.

What would the dog do with a guinea pig?

What would the black cat do with a guinea pig?

What would the gray cat do with a guinea pig?

He also had trouble "remembering" to clean the cage.

Eventually he poisoned them both with deadly nightshade.

Really, looking back, the guinea pigs were much more loveable than the kid.


Quick and dirty allergy test: Pickup the animal, stroke for a minute and replace the animal.

Peel down the bottom eyelid and touch a fingertip to the exposed pink area. If you're allergic, you'll immediately itch and burn.

The itching and burning leaves within an hour, but this is much better than falling in love with an animal and then discovering the allergy.

sozobe: saw some "skinny pigs" today and wondered if they might be even more non-allergenic than the hairy kind. They're the sort of pet that's so ugly it's cute (kind of...).

Thought of a nice hairless cat?







Some stubborn folk are still alergic, of course....but get him to rub a few of these on his face a few times!

Sphynxes DO cost a lot, too.



Personally, I am violently allergic to ordinary moggies, and longhairs, but I tolerate Siamese just fine.


Some allergic people find Rexes ok too....

There are Cornish and Devon rexes....I forget which is which: