Oh my goodness! We have a guinea pig!!

[shelleyd2008]

We went to the local auction tonight. My 4 y/o son took a watch he had won in a crane game with him, so he could try to sell it and get some money (probably to buy some more baby chicks

). Anyway, the guinea pig lady was there, so he just HAD to have one! My dad 'bought' his watch from him, and voila! We have a baby guinea pig! Now what?? I went to walmart and bought guinea pig feed, a water bottle, a chew log, and she is currently in the 'big chick' brooder on the porch, inside of a fish tank. I have pine shavings in there as the bedding. Anything else I need to do??

 

[BoJo]

I have had guinea pigs for years...they really are fun and easy pets to teach children how to take care of living things on their own.

They love to chew and you may have to trim nails every now and then...but other than that the toys and treats for them are unending.....any raw fruits and vegtables you have around they love to eat. I would get a small mineral block for them to taste on and maybe some Vitamin C drops for their water......

They like to hide in a little house....I give them the shoe boxes from the kids shoes....they will tear them to shreds but it will last a few weeks!! For the first few weeks....whenever they go poo.....put it in one corner....they will associate that corner with going to the bathroom. Then after awhile it will be just that corner that you scoop out once a week and the whole cage only once a month. Have fun and let your child play with him alot while he is small.

Enjoy!!

BoJo

 

[gypsy2621]

as soon as possible get her a proper cage, fish tanks can be deadly, they over heat very quickly.
plastic bottom wire topped. many inexpensive choices.

Aspen shavings. they can chew on aspin and not get sick.

guinia pigs need vitamin C as their bodys do not produce it naturally.

be sure her food has at least 18% or higher amount of Vit C.

yogurt drops can be given sparingly as a treat and a vitC boost,

hay is a necessary food for them, not only will they eat it they will use it for bedding.

a Pigloo is also something not necessary but it will give her a place to get away from it all.

hanging chew toys ( small bird wood toys, bells removed, will give her something to chew on and beat up. mine love theirs.
little fruit flavored chew toys, they love to toss them around the cage.

lots of LOVE, Im sure there may be more but at the moment I cant think straight.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Oh that's right!! You can litter-box train a guinea pig, can't you? I had forgotten about that! I was going to get one of those edible logs, but it would take up a good portion of the tank! We will have to get a bigger cage, but this baby is so small that the fish tank works well for now. We did give her some slices of apple, she was so hungry, she was nibbling on my son's finger! I probably do have a shoe box laying around, I'll have to look. Thanks BoJo!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Any particular type of hay? I was going to get some of the timothy or alfalfa at walmart, but my dad has some already for his horses. Not sure what kind it is though.

 

[citalk2much]

Cute they are too much fun.
For food I use only plain pellets. Give them Timothy hey they should have an on ending supply. I give them raw fruit and veggies everyday they yell in the morning until I get it to them they are great pets so fun. In the summer I have an outside cage so they can go out and eat dandelion greens to their delight. They love there little house igloo type so fun! Do not give them the food with all that colored junk in it

 

[shelleyd2008]

No, the food I bought is just pellets, and says 'complete guinea pig feed' on the bag.

So the pine shavings are a no-no then?

 

[NancyDz]

Excellent, Guinea pigs are great!

There is a great site and forum here for guinea pig owners...

http://www.guinealynx.info/


There are excellent cages you can make using wire shelving units from target and choroplast corrugated plastic. Fairly inexpensive and fun to design. Here's mine, I needed it to have a small foot print so I went up and my Hershey has a 3 story condo

You can use chewable vitamin C for piggies, mine just takes it out of my hand, I think I got the 250mg and split the tablet in 4, I give him one piece a day.

Also he needes lots of veggies .. try to avoid iceberg lettuce as it has hardly any nutritional value, stick with other types of lettuce, carrots, parsley, kale, some fruit but not a lot. There's tons of info on that website. He also needs hay daily, timothy is the best i think. I use oxbow brand but I have split a bale with my other
piggy friends as it's a lot cheaper.. just have to have a place to
store it.


Have fun with your piggie!

nancy

 

[citalk2much]

Pine is okay I prefer hardwood shavings.

 

[citalk2much]

So true that is a great site