Guinea Pig Care

sahil4731

Well I am starting this thread on how to take care of guinea pigs, which are very very cute pets. I'll try to cover as much, but still it is not really very possible.

Guinea pigs as pet:-

They are amazing. They are cute, lovable, social, intelligent to some extent.

They eat all the time. They can eat 24/7. Its for you to see for how often can you feed them. (Will cover what they eat in a while.)

They eat so much, hence they poop and pee a lot. They don't really like clean environment. As soon as you clean their cage, they would make it dirty in no time.

Males are known as 'Boars' and females 'Sow'.
Their breeding is NOT recommended, as it is fatal for the sow.
The boars and sows MUST be kept separate to avoid any breeding.
They breed pretty fast, with gestation period being 60-72 days.
They are sexually very active.

2 Piggies would need a cage of minimum 4ft x 2ft. Same goes for single piggie. In India we really won't find grids which you may have seen on other websites. I went to a welder and told him to make a cage of the above mentioned dimensions with 'Welded Mesh'.
It turns out to be good and get it painted with enamel paint. It should not be toxic, as guinea pigs might chew on the cage.

For queries related to cage please visit www.guineapigcages.com

For vet:-
In India I doubt if there are any vets specially for exotic animals like guinea pigs.
I took mine to a normal vet. I beforehand had some knowledge about guinea pigs so I was in a position to make out if the vet was worthwhile.
There are a few checks you can try.
If the vet knows about Ivermectin and its dosage to Guinea pigs. (It has to be very very less, and according to their weight)
If he knows about the medicines which are fatal for guinea pigs, like amoxycillin, pencilin etc. I can give you the whole list if you want.
Never expect a guinea pig to show you the symptoms of any problem they have, as they are prey animals. They would never show the symptoms. You will have to observe them. Like their poop, their weight, eating habits, activity etc.

As for their eating, Hay is a must. That is what I have learnt from the web and a few vets also told me that. They shouldn't be fed with vegetables 24/7 but hay can be given to them for all time. Timothy hay is preffered. In Chandigarh I couldn't find it, but its available in metros at good pet-shops (wondering if someone could send it to me ; )

Pretty long post. Will post whatever is left in next post.
But for ultimate source of information on guinea pigs visit

WWW.GUINEALYNX.COM

You'll find answer to all possible questions there.

Thanks.