New pet Guinea Pig

[Tzhebee]

My son turned 9 on Wed and has proven himself responsible enough for a pet. I made the mistake of letting Daddy go with him to pick it out. They came home with a Guinea Pig. :2G:

Don't get my wrong, the little sucker's kinda cute...but my oldest and my youngest child are both allergic to animal dander. The youngest shares a room with the 9 year old who now owns said Guinea Pig. :fishsmack

Now that I'm done ranting, I have a ton of questions. let start with the easy ones: WTF do I do with a Guinea Pig?!?!?! He's a full grown adult, so we got him a cage that is roughly 3x1.5 feet big and a giant ball to run around in. We bought the cardboard-type bedding the petshop suggested, a food dish and some pelets. That's about all we know.

Should I put something in the cage besides the bedding and food dish (and the water obviously)? How much, or how little, should we touch him and take him out to play in his ball and for how long? I assume he'll take some time to adjust to his new home. :whatmewor

Anyway....any help you can provide at all would be most apreciated. Oh, and his name is Scooby.

[Shanti]

Congrats on the new family member!! :)

Basics...
Be sure your using pellets for guinea pigs only. Multi purpose pellets and rabbit pellets are out!! Those have the wrong nutritional balance.
Hays aka grasses are a must. Prevents hair blockage and its their natural main diet. They are grazers like a cow! Greens, veggys, fruit, all that good stuff can be offered in small quantities daily. No head lettuce. Its useless in nutrition and serves no purpose. Pellets should always be available and hay should be offered every day. The greens and fruit and veggys can be skipped, maybe given weekly, but not the hay or pellets.

Teeth, they must chew!! The teeth don't stop growing. Card board tp rolls and other similar things are fun to chew. But wood of some kind is needed. Either store bough chew products at the pet store or tree branches. Safe branches are from trees in the maple family, bass woods, aspens, willows, are all safe. Some fruit trees can be toxic. I personally just avoid fruit tress to be safe. Pines no. Deciduous, non fruiting, seed producing are good.
Always have something wood available.

Also they chew on anything so be careful what you put in their cage. Even the plastic water bottle can get chewed if they can reach it. It should be hung from the outside of the cage or use a bottle protector for inside the cage.
4ft square is the general rule for space for one cavy (pig).

They are social. So lots of loven and attention. They don't do well being left alone and forgotten. They need company everyday.
They are also delicate. Handle them by supporting the whole body.

Your bedding sounds fine. Stay away from dusty bedding's, cedar, some stay away from all pines, and anything that is very aromatic or has lots of fine particles. Aspen shavings are ok too. I use Aspen, its cheap here and safe. I am one that stays away from all pines.

Remember there cage is there home and toilet. Clean it often where there wet spots and a lot of poop in areas. Do a complete change of bedding at least once a week with a total cage wash-down.

I forgot what you can all use to wash the cage!! LOL
I use mild dish soap and rinse well.

Watch his nails they may need trimming periodically just like a dog does. They have a vein too. Just trim the tips when they start getting to long.

Brain just went blank.
If I think of more I will let you know!! Its a start.:)

[Tzhebee]

They are social. So lots of loven and attention. They don't do well being left alone and forgotten. They need company everyday.
They are also delicate. Handle them by supporting the whole body.


So, is it OK to take him out every day now or should we wait a bit? And can we overhandle/hold/stimulate him? I'm sure the 3 year old could, given the chance.... :lol:

[Shanti]

Well, day 1, rest!
Day 2, talking and petting and lots of hello's.
Day 3 and on.... Same as day 2 but take him out for a little while, see how he is, and kinda feel your way...if he seems a little scared and isn't calming, or is jumpy and not calming after several minutes, put him back wait a few hours and try again and each day add a little more out of out of cage play and cuddle time.

As long as he isn't showing physical stress, or illness...poop changes, like gets kinda mushy or hard as rock. As long as he is pooping well, peeing well, eating well, and drinking well, all is good. :)

Be a mom baby sitting a new kid that's shy! :)

[Shanti]

Wednesday was day one, Thursday was 2 so today is day 3...start interacting!! :)

You'll have to excuse my slowness, I haven't slept much in the past 2 days thanks to storms!! So brain is a tad slow.

[oceandreams]

Any chance of a picture once he's settled into his new home?

[Tzhebee]

Any chance of a picture once he's settled into his new home?

Heck yeah! (if I can find my camera charger) :hehehehe:

Thanks for all the tips so far! :fpraise:

[DragonsChest]

Congratulations on the new familymember! I LOVE ham-hams and piggies. I have been debating getting another hamham lately, for me, not the kids, but I don't know that I want to start having to clean out a cage again.

With our piggy, I used to wake my daughter up in the mornings before school by putting Tribble into her bed with her. Tribble would burrow under the covers, tickle my daughter, and eventually end up curled up by her head on the pillow. Till the day Tribble decided to give my daughter a hair cut. Katie fell back asleep by accident, and Tribble ate about two inches off one side of her hair. Oops. (it grew back)

Anyhoo, we were all very sad when Tribble went to the great Cage in the Sky.

[Anubis]

ham-hams? lol.. that's a new one!

We always called Guinea pigs "Whistle pigs" when we were kids! Come to think of it.. I still call them that!

Good luck with your new Whistle pig!

[NiftyWings]

Guinea Pigs are cute!!! I love to listen to them whistle.

One more point I'd like to bring up about bedding. Never, ever use wood shavings!! Aside from the dust issue, the acid in the urine reacts with the wood, and creates a toxic gas that can scar little lungs. I learned this the hard way when I was raising rats. That's why so many rodents get "wheezy", because of this.

[DragonsChest]

ham-hams? lol.. that's a new one!

We always called Guinea pigs "Whistle pigs" when we were kids! Come to think of it.. I still call them that!

Good luck with your new Whistle pig!

Yeah, we started calling hamsters HamHams after the Hamtaro videos. Oh my, those were lame, but oddly compelling to watch..... :lookwhats

And our Tribble used to talk to us when we got out broc (we'd say, who wants some tree?) for her: she'd say: Wee Wee!

[Anubis]

Yeah, we started calling hamsters HamHams after the Hamtaro videos. Oh my, those were lame, but oddly compelling to watch..... :lookwhats

And our Tribble used to talk to us when we got out broc (we'd say, who wants some tree?) for her: she'd say: Wee Wee!

Our whistle pigs were the official refrigerator alarms.. any time that door opened they would start the whistle pig chorus from hell!.. even if you tried to be really really quiet... lol

[person of shadow]

Our whistle pigs were the official refrigerator alarms.. any time that door opened they would start the whistle pig chorus from hell!.. even if you tried to be really really quiet... lol
Yes same here! I had 8 at one time(mommy and daddy and 6 lil ones) and when you opend the fridge, Wee, Wee, Wee, Wee, Wee, Wee, Wee, Wee.....
an orchestra of 8 all singing to different tunes!

[Cindlady2]

Our whistle pigs were the official refrigerator alarms.. any time that door opened they would start the whistle pig chorus from hell!.. even if you tried to be really really quiet... lol

Yep! They learn real quick! Ours would also let us know when someone was at the back door. Their cage had a good view of the kitchen and the kitchen TV. We had one that loved to watch TV and would squeal if you got in her way! LOL