Help on Guinea pigs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!............................................................

Question

My mom might get me a pair of guinea pigs. Can you please tell me a few tips on them? Do you know if guinea pigs and gerbils can live together in the same cage? If I put them in 2 seperate cages will they make my room smell really bad?

Answer 1

Guinea pigs and hamsters should be seperated. In fact, they can become quite hostile towards each other if they stay together. Guinea pigs do not smell! As long as you clean their cage at least twice a week (Mondays and Fridays for instance) they should not stink!

Guinea pigs need at least a 3 ft by 3 ft cage (it should be bigger since you have two). They need more space than hamsters because they are larger! It should not have a weaved floor (like a bunny cage). The floor needs to be a solid piece. Choroplast (what business use to make posters) is a heavy kind of plastic that is a good floor material to use. I have it as the floor and two inches on the side so it is easier to clean. Some people just line the bottom of the cage with newspaper, but I find that it makes it more smelly and more of a chore to clean (surprisingly). You can find choroplast at any poster store. They may even give you a discount if you say you're using it for the bottom of a guinea pig's cage.

Hamster and guinea pig food should not be mixed either. They each need their own food for their bodies. Guinea pigs need hay as part of their diet (its not necessary for hamsters to have hay but they do enjoy it too!). Timothy Hay is the best hay for guinea pigs.

Guinea pigs need a salt/mineral wheel because they do not get enough salt in their diets out of their native enviornment. They also need wood strips (or anything wood related) to chew on. Their teeth keep growing and in order to keep them under control they need to chew! If you cannot find any salt wheels there are also pills available that you can drop in their water bottles that will supply them with the same nutrients. And your piggie might not eat the whole wheel, my piggie only chews on the wheel every now and then (usually when I'm running low on fresh veggies and fruit!).

Guinea pigs need lots of water so a large water bottle is key.

If your guinea pigs start eating or drinking less or more than usual something may be wrong with them so monitor them carefully. Also, guinea pigs may pick up mites. This could cause at it's most severe seizures (my guinea pig had seizures when he contracted mites) but mostly it causes his skin to become a sickly color, his fur to fall out and he becomes very (VERY) sensitive to the touch (since the mites are under the skin, you can imagine why). Luckily, most vets are able to give you a sulfur-smelling (rotten egg) "dip" that you can scrub your piggies with using a few cotton balls. Also, they may give your piggies some shots or even a formula to give your piggies orally. But this is all if they contract mites. Since guinea pigs are prey animals they usually try very hard to put off the "I'm-alright" facade. They act like they're fine even if they're in a lot of pain. This is why its important that you really pay attention to your piggies!

If your piggie does become ill it is best to clean out the cage fully. A regular cleaning involves the sweeping out of bedding (pine is best as cedar is prone to causing lung problems) and then washing it down with vinegar (vinegar is best to pick up that stubborn guinea pig poop!). After that wash it again with bleach and wash the food containers using bleach and soap too. If your guinea pig has a hammock (my guinea pig LOVES his hammock ) wash it with your rags that you use to clean his cage and items. If your hammock is a colored hammock, don't be afraid to clean it by itself (I have a colored hammock and I don't want to lose that color!).

Guinea pigs are a wonderful pet to have and after enough handling will welcome being picked up and petted (my first guinea pig immediatly liked the attention my current piggie doesn't like it so much but I'm trying to get him to like it over time). Again, hamsters and guinea pigs should not play together unless it is HEAVILY supervised.

Guinea pigs love fresh vegetables and fruits (and they need a good heaping serving each day). Most piggies love celery, corn husks, apples, carrots and lettuce. My piggie doesn't like carrots but loves lettuce (as long as it is not wilted). Cabbage, grape vines (not the grapes, they're too squishy), peaches and potato skins are also favorites!

Avocados are posionous to guinea pigs so do not feed them acocados! Pears are also bad for guinea pigs. Your piggies might even like orange peels (not oranges or limes or lemons because they're a little too acidic for the piggies). But they might like the peels. You'll notice with time what your piggies like or don't like (one may even like something that the other won't even touch!).

Piggies also love shredded paper. It's healthy for them to have paper. In fact, when I give my piggie hay I put it in a toilet paper roll tube. It's a toy because he has to wrestle the hay out of the tube but then it's food because he can eat the whole tube throughout the week. (I feed my guinea pig hay whenever I clean his cage - twice a week).

Your piggie itself might become stinky sometime throughout the year. Guinea pigs only need bathed no more than twice a year (there are exceptions, of course). If your piggie is super stinky you can give him a bath in the sink using baby shampoo. The "no-tear" forumla is best!

Most of the guinea pig maintance is an experience. If you notice that your piggies are getting too hot in the summer put a frozen water bottle in the cage (wrapped in a rag so they don't get "burned" by the ice). If they have a lot of poop in the cage before you usually clean it - clean it up. If your piggies nails are getting long - cut them (you can use a normal nail clippers and a buddy to hold your piggies).

I wish you luck with your piggies!

Answer 2

You should never put Guinea pigs and another rodent besides a Guinea pig together. They were not ment to be put in the same cage. They need two totally different living habitats. Guinea pigs need a nice big cage. The proper cage size for a pair of Guinea pigs is a 2x4. Remember the bigger the better so if your pigs can have a bigger cage than a 2x4 build or buy them a bigger one. For gerbils you would want probably a 4-5 gallon tank with an open top for air circulation. As for the smell, you will eventually gain one. Having a pair of Guinea pigs myself, I would know. It depends on what kind of bedding you use. If you use fleece you will pick up a bit of a urine scent. My piggies seem to like fleece much better than wood or recycled news paper. But if you use bedding or recycled news paper the scent won't be as heavy.

Answer 3

Hi! Guinea pigs Can NOT be in the same cage as gerbils.

VERY IMPORTANT: Do NOT use cedar bedding. It's deadly to guinea pigs! Use pine, aspen pine, or care fresh.

Guinea pigs need fresh hay every day. You can buy this in bags at any pet store. They also need little food pellets- specifically for guinea pigs, because it has vitamin C. Guinea pigs don't make their own vitamin C, so they need to get it from you. They LOVE fresh veggies, but too much can give them diarrea. It's important that they get some though. Mine LOVE green pepper, carrots, fresh green beans, seedless oranges, seedless grapes, blueberries, strawberries, fresh parsley etc. No lettuce!
I would advise you to get a good guinea pig book because they give you SO much information. You can look up things on the internet too.
Guinea pigs like to be able to hide, so you might want to get them a plastic igloo. They have them in pet stores, and are fairly cheap.
Guinea pigs are VERY social animals. I would advise you to get two of the same sex, and keep them together if they get along. They love having the company of another guinea pig. Make sure they are kept cool in the summer, and warm in the winter. Drafts can quickly give them colds, and sometimes pneumonia. Guinea pigs are pretty hardy little critters, but you will definitely want to have a vet on standby for the occasional illness. A vet that specializes in exotics.
Guinea pigs love to be talked to, and will respond with their own noises.
They will chew ANYTHING they can get their paws on! So keep things away from the cage. My sister's guinea pig ate a vacuum cleaner cord!
I change my cages about once every four to five days, and there is absolutely no smell whatsoever. I use the pine bedding that I get from the Tractor Supply store in a huge bag. If you keep it clean, there should be no smell.
Guinea pigs run and jump when they are excited. It's called "popcorning" and you will definitely notice it when they do it. It's very cute!
Each sound means a different thing. They whistle or "wheek" when they want something. They'll vibrate and make a rumbling noise if you pet them the wrong way, or if they are upset. They make little oinking squeaks sometimes when they are curious. Guinea pigs are VERY loveable, and if they are treated kindly, they will love you!
Good Luck and have fun!!

Answer 4

Guinea pigs can only live with other guinea pigs. Gerbils need a totally enclosed cage, like a plastic habitrail or an aquarium. They can squeeze thru bars. Guinea pigs can't. You need to do a ton more research before getting either if you don't know that.

If you get a pair, you need two females or a male/female with one or both fixed or you will have guinea pig babies.

The cage won't smell if you change it weekly as you're supposed to.

Answer 5

Guinea pigs are very shy and delicate creatures. they require a large cage with a very very soft bedding like Carefresh which is made from recycled paper pulp and won't hurt their feet or damage their sensitive respritory tracts. please don't use pine or ceader shavings! Your pigs should be housed together, but not with your gerbils. Gerbils are aggressive and may bite and hurt your pigs.

Pigs should have fresh clean water and lots of fresh green timothy hay at all times. Guinea pigs are unique in that, like us, they vitamin C to stay healthy. the best way to give them this is to feed them a special guinea pig food called Timothy Compleate. the reason is that most foods are made of Alfalfa grass, which is really fattening and can make your pigs over weight! Timothy is a type of grass that isn't fattening. Because pigs need to eat all the time (just like rabbits and horses) they need a grass that won't make them fat so they can eat all day long.

Carefresh bedding works really well to prevent smells, but it can't hide it forever! clean your pigs' cage once every few days. use a pet safe cleaner, not a really harsh cleaner like chlorox. The more animals we take in to our lives, the more work we must do. I work with many animals and have several of my own (yes, i have a guinea pig too!), they are a lot of work to care for, but keeping them clean also keeps them healthy, and i took that responcabilibty on when i rescued them :)

also, don't forget the vet. Guinea pigs should be spayed or neutered, just like cats and dogs, to help them live healthy lives, stop behavior problems, and to prevent unwanted litters of pigs. make sure you find a vet that works with "exotci pets"... because pigs are so sensitive, they need to be treated with special techniques that a cat or dog dosen't.

good luck!

Answer 6

E1 gave excellent advice on raising guinea pigs but the best thing to do is buy a book on how to raise them. I believe there is a book out there called A Complete Guide to Guinea Pigs or something like that. All pet stores will carry it. I used to raise/breed guinea pigs and the book was a life saver for me.

Enjoy your new companions! :-)

Answer 7

OMG your mom really should have researched before she bought those Guinea pigs....... But you know, if Pets at Home will keep selling so carelessly.....

Answer 8

not sure