Oh my goodness! We have a guinea pig!!

[buckeye chickens]

I have to guinea pigs. I also have a CC(cubes and choroplast) cage. They love it! run around for hours. also check out http://www.guineapigcages.com/ and there fourm for care info.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Ok, so I was wondering. The sites that were recommended both say to not keep them outside, but this is the only option to us at the moment. Any tips on keeping a guinea pig outdoors? I could provide a heat lamp when it is cold, and maybe talk my dad into letting it come inside, but I don't know if that will happen.

 

[kelseygirl707]

My Piggie always loved Parsley, carrots, celery, and broccoli as treats! Good luck, they can be alot of fun, Mine ran loose alot of the time, because he didn't like walking on the hardwood floor, so he would always stay on our area rug. He also loved to sleep in our lap, except on my dad, for some reason he always had to sleep right under his chin, LOL. And he would do little mating dances for our dog, or try to sleep between his fron legs, LOL.

 

[citalk2much]

I would give it a heating lamp and make sure it is dry and safe. In the summer i keep mine outside they do great

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Should I still go with the C&C cage? I would think with it being so open that would chill the poor baby too much?

 

[NancyDz]

Hmm I'm not sure, I know that they can get too hot and sometimes in the summer people put frozen water bottles in with them to keep them cool. But the cold I'm not sure about. They do need
to be where they get a lot of interaction, so even outside, make sure its in an area where there is a lot of traffic. Maybe two would be better for warmth, they are social so two would be good anyway. Hopefully your dad changes his mind.. maybe show him some of the cool cages you can build. I built the one I pictured so I could have him in the hallway between my living room/kitchen.
Everyone loves seeing him, and its really easy to keep those cages clean, it never smelled. I use ABM stall pellets on the floor, they are awesome for keeping it dry and nice.


Good luck

Nancy

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Yeah, I saw that they do better in pairs. I was thinking "oh my, we just got one, and we already need two??"

My dad, always the money hungry person, says I should get a male, so I can be the 'guinea pig lady' at the sale. I don't think that's going to happen. I tried getting a rabbit for a pet, and before I knew it, I had 6!! Never did breed them, and ended up selling them all! So if I do get another one, it would most likely be another girl.

Oh, and I could put the cage right by the door, with a 4 y/o running in and out all the time, it would be a very active place!

 

[CountryMom]

Be careful with the outside. It isn't cold so much that kills them (especially if they are kept with a friend) but heat will kill them very quickly. I would imagine a heat lamp on half the cage durring winter would be good so they had a place to get away from. Anything above 85 degrees is a dangerous situation for a pig in the summer time. And a fish tank is a horrible cage as it won't allow circulation of air like a wire sided cage does. It will trap the odor of ammonia from their urine and will heat up extra hot with any reflection. So please find the little one a cage soon. Also be very careful that no preditor can get to the cage or pig. Dogs are usually a family's biggest worry.

Guinea pigs need at least an 18% Protein pelleted feed and Vitamin C fortified feed. Either that or pure Vitamin C crystals (human grade not the pet store drops) in their water. I use a rabbit pellet to get enough protein percentage and buy my Vit C crystals from Puritain's Pride online. (Rabbit feed does not have added Vit C.) I use 1250 mg per gallon of water to fill their bottles. Pelleted feed with vitamin C added really only has a shelf life of roughly 4 months before it starts to loose it's C.

You can feed with fresh veggies daily, but be careful not to overload a pig with leaf greens. It can cause diarrhea which for a young pig especially is deadly. I would limit the leaf greens and feed more items like baby carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, and apple slices. The bell pepper especially is an excellent source of C.

Pine shavings or pine pelleted bedding is perfectly fine. Have used it for years and never had an issue. Just do not use Cedar as it will cause problems. The pine pellets are your best bet for odor control.

Most of all, let your son play with the pig and handle it. The more you play with them and spend time with them the sweeter and more gentle they become. Some still retain that flight drive to run from a hand, but usually are fine once caught. A guinea pig can be a wonderful addition to your home. You father may find that it isn't a bad animal to have inside the house either.

 

[citalk2much]

Outside in the summer mine have a rabit hutch. Yes you have to watch the heat to frozen water bottle works great! They are herd animals and always happier in groups of more then one. My male is fixed no breeding here. Always keep in mind the market around here there are way to many homeless piggies so I will not breed I did have a boo boo once and have to say I can't think of anything cuter then baby piggies!

 

[shelleyd2008]

I was checking out the guinea lynx page, and it looks pretty difficult to sex them when they are young? The woman I got them from said this one was a girl, I'm thinking I need to be checking her a lot before I go and get another one! I would hate to have some unwanted babies!!

Darn, I was gonna take a pic of her, but my stupid batteries are dead on my camera. Wouldn't you know it