Frequently Asked Questions
Looking To Adopt A Guinea Pig...What Should I Know?
So I Have Been Looking To Adopt A Guinea Pig... I Have Been Reading About Them Online And Have A Rough Idea Of What To Do. I Was Just Wondering If Anyone Could Give Me Any Tips Or Tricks. Or Basically Just Give Me A Rundown Of How To Properly Care For A Guinea Pig. Also, I Have 2 Small Dogs (One Of 5Lbs And The Other Is 10Lbs) And I Plan On Handling My Guinea Pig A Decent Amount, Which Means They Will Be Potentially Near The Dogs. Has Anyone Had Any Serious Problems With Dogs Getting Along With Their Guinea Pigs?.... Thanks For All Your Help.
I'll try to give you all the basic info on guinea pigs. The average lifespan for a guinea pig is 4 - 8 years. Although (rarely) they can live as long as 10 years. When getting a guinea pig(s) you will need to consider that they require a lot of care.
Social Life:
You will need to buy at least 2 guinea pigs. Guinea pigs are herd animals and are very unhappy if they are by themselves, even if you give them all the love and attention they could ever want, they are still much happier with a buddy.
Cage:
For a guinea pigs cage they need 10.5 sq feet for 2 piggies, 13 sq feet for 3 piggies, & 15 sq feet for 4 piggies. That is the minimum sq feet, so more is always better. Here is a great place to buy a guinea pig cage from http://www.guineapigcages.com/cubes.htm Clean your guinea pig cage every 3 to 4 days or as often as you think is needed.
Hay:
Guinea pigs need unlimited Timothy Hay. NEVER give piggies Alfalfa hay! Alfalfa hay should only be given to pregnant mothers and growing babies. Alfalfa hay has too much calcium and other nutrients which can cause bladder stones in guinea pigs. Timothy hay helps their digestive system and is the best way to help keep their molars ground down and healthy.
Vitamins:
NEVER use vitamin drops. The vitamin drops that you buy at the pet store contain additional vitamins and minerals which can potentially be toxic to them. The only vitamin a healthy guinea pig needs is Vitamin C. Adult piggies need 30-50 mg per day of C. Your healthy piggie shouldn't need additional Vitamin C supplements IF your piggie is getting proper fresh greens and some fruits and high quality, fresh guinea pig pellets on a daily basis. You should not give your guinea pig a diet high in fruits to ensure they get adequate vitamin C. Guinea pigs like and need a variety of fresh vegetables and some fruits, just like we do. Make sure you focus on high-quality greens and veggies which are high in vitamin C and low in calcium. Here is a website that tells you what types of veggies and fruits a guinea pig can have http://www.guinealynx.info/diet_vegs.htm...
Pellets:
2 guinea pigs need around 1 handful of pellets. Make sure it is a high quality food.
Bedding:
AVOID -- Cedar, corncob bedding, straw, Pine bedding, etc.
Use: Aspen shavings
Exercise/Floor time:
Daily exercise will help your piggie maintain good health. Find an enclosed space with an easily cleaned floor such as a bathroom or kitchen and they will slowly begin to look forward to the freedom a larger space will give them. They will especially enjoy this time if you hide favorite foods in the area.
Bathing:
Guinea pigs need to be bathed about once a month. Or at least once every other month.
Tips:
1. DO NOT use Giant Exercise Balls and Wheels. These are big health hazards to your guinea pig. They can cause spinal injuries and foot and ankle injuries leading to very difficult, life threatening problems. DO NOT USE these products.
2. Guinea pigs like to potty in private. They do not want to get you wet. If you are holding them, they will generally make their 'need' known. Some will start to fidget; some will try to get away or wriggle off of your lap or towel. Others will give you a nibble on a near-by body part, such as a hand or finger. If you ignore their signal, that signal will usually increase in intensity, such as a stronger nibble, until they give up and do what they have to do, much to their and your chagrin! Guinea pigs average about 15 to 20 minutes before they need to relieve their bladder. Some can go considerably longer, but start paying attention to "signals" at about 15 minutes.
- And about having problems with dogs and guinea pigs. I have 2 dogs also, they are both Chihuahuas. And I have 8 guinea pigs. I haven't really had any serious problems. The only problem I have is that they will bark at my guinea pigs sometimes. But I haven't had any problems with biting or anything like that. I would be VERY cautious with dogs being around guinea pigs. They can be very dangerous to piggies.
I hope this info helps! I tried to tell you all the major info about guinea pigs. If you decide to get guinea pigs they are wonderful pets. Good luck 
http://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.h...
How Do I Make My Feet Tougher?
I Wanna Know How I Can Make My Feet Tougher And Stronger So I Can Walk On Rocks And Pine Straw In The Woods And Stuff. I Have Been Walking Around Barefoot Outside And Stuff Lately, But I Wanna Know If Theirs Something I Could Do To Train My Feet. Thanks
Just go barefoot everywhere. I've always had my boys go barefoot whenever it was warm enough. They always have really tough, leathery soles by the time they've been barefoot for a few weeks. We do a lot of hiking in the woods, so I got them a really good book on barefoot hiking that you can also read on line now:
http://www.bhthom.org/hikertxt.htm
Guinea Pigs??!!?
How Big Should My Guinea Pigs Cage Be?? Can I Use A Fish Tank?? If So How Big Should It Be?? What Bedding, Food And Hay Shoyld I Use?? What Are Good Quality Toys?? How Much Would It Cost For All That??
the cage should be about two feet by three feet or something around there. a fish tank wouldn't be healthy for a guinea pig becuase there is not enough ventilation so i really wouldn't recommend it. many poeple use a homemade cage called cubes and chloraplast cage. these seem like a good suggestion because you can make them the size and shape you need them to utilize your available space and they tend to be bigger for a cheaper price compared to comercial cages. you can buy a paper based bedding or a wood bedding. there are debates on pine and ceder beddings leading to respiratory problems. You need some type of pellets, avoid bags that have seeds or other fillers (the kinds that look like bird food). timothy hay is pretty well accepted as the best hay. alfalfa should only be given to growing or pregnant guinea pigs. the best toys for guinea pigs are card board boxes and tubes and a buddy to share the cage with (if you can afford it). after the initial shopping trip (which can be $100+ depending on what kind of cage you're getting) it'll probably cost about $30-40 a month. a word of caution before you rush out though, it sounds like you haven't read much and this is very important for the caring of a new pet, there may be things you need that you didn't think to ask about and so poeple didn't know to tell you. there are plenty of guinea pig sites out there and i will be putting at the end of this. guinea pigs can live for five years or more so it's important that you think about this carefully before getting one, it's horible for guinea pigs to wind up in a shelter on being neglected because the owner discovered that they weren't so right for them after all. good luck if you find that a guinea pig is right for you
http://guineapigcages.com/index.htm
http://www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm...
http://www.diddly-di.fsnet.co.uk/content...
http://www.guinealynx.info/
*EDIT* a note about the hay: make sure the bag you buy is not dusty and does not look like straw. (it should be green). you can buy bales of hay but you may not have the space for that.
Ideas On How To Stop Dog Pee From Killing Grass?
So The Problem Happens To A Lot Of People. My Dog Pees On The Grass, And It Kills The Grass. I Get Circles Of &Quot;Burn&Quot; Yellowing Grass And Eventually It Dies. Now, I Know That Watering The Grass After Each And Every Pee Would Stop It, But In No Way Is That Possible, I'M Not About To Follow The Dog And Water The Spot She Pees In. I Know There Are Pills You Can Give The Dog To Stop Yellowing The Lawn, But I'D Rather Not - Not Too Sure If Its Safe For The Dog In The Long Run. So, Is There Anything Else That Can Be Done? Ever Hear Of A Special Grass Seed Thats Stronger Than Others And Will Stand Up To This Problem? I'Ver Heard About Giving The Dog Some Tomato Juice Each Day, And That Could Neutralize The Pee? Any Truth To That? Any Other Home Rememdies Or Fertilizers Like Lime Or Anything? Please Help, I Like My Lawn, And I Like My Dog, But Want This To Stop. Plus Walking The Dog Somewhere Else Each Time Is Not Really Possible Either.
Nothing will stop the urine from burning your grass, but there is actually a lot you can do.
1. Train your dog to go in an "island." Have some area underneath trees or around shrubs where you have mulch, pine straw, whatever you use in your part of the country. Walk your dog there every time and give treats for going potty in that area, rather than all over the yard.
(If your dog stays outside without supervision, then that won't work, since you can't get her to go there on her own.)
2. Take a little garden rake (they are about a foot long and look like a claw) and rough up the spot a little bit and pull the dead grass out. With sunshine, new grass will fill in, especially bermuda or trailing grasses will.
3. This sounds stupid, but we do it. Follow your dog and turn on the hose right on that spot after she pees. It dilutes the urine and keeps the brown spots away.
Do not give your dog a special food or medication that claims to fix the problem. It would change the ph of your dog's urine and not be a good thing, health-wise. You don't want to try to neutralize the urine while it's inside your dog. I asked our vet about that, and he said don't do that.
So we have the same problem with our lawn. We have pretty much gotten our dog to relieve himself in the pine straw. Every now and then he uses the lawn, and we douse it with water right after.
Your dog will probably go potty right when you let him out, so it's not that hard to watch where he goes. I have used a pot of water, but the hose is better and easier, as long as I can remember where he just went.
So if you don't have any mulch, maybe this year you should spray roundup and kill the grass over a potty area for your dog and then add the mulch there.
I Just Got A Gerbil And I Need Help?
Okay Well I Just Got A Gerbil And I Need Some Tips. Ive Never Had A Rodent A Well Ill Admit Im A Little Freaked Out By Her, But Don'T Make Fun Of Me Because Im Trying To Get Over My Fears And Well Ive Already Held Her And I Love Her So Much But I Don'T Know How To Take Care Of Her So Anyone Have Any Tips On Food,Shelter,Care And All The Other Necessities?
Food:
You can get normal gerbil food at a local pet store like petco or petsmart.
DONT FEED THEM LETTUCE!!! - it can cause a fatal disease
Also, never give them straw or hay, that could also prove fatal.
Use sawdust (wood shavings) from a pet store, you can't use any old sawdust, that's why they sell it in pet shops - cedar wood sawdust can kill gerbils. Also, use paper bedding, this is also available from pet stores. They need enough sawdust and bedding to dig tunnels. If you put the paper bedding in, the gerbil will chew it and make it the right size to build nests by him/herself
Your gerbils teeh will continue to grow until the day he/she dies, so he needs safe wooden toys (pet shop), not just cardboard. And a mineral stone or salt stone (these are sometimes called mineral licks or salt licks). These will keep his/her teeh healthy. Make sure they have plenty of water though. It will say on the mineral stone to put it near your gerbils water bottle, but he/she will only move it anyway! But I always put it near the water regardless.
For shelter you can go to a petstore and ask them about the cages they have. Ask them if theyn recommend any cages for a gerbil.
1) Their diet - if you buy the pellet or seed diets from the pet stores, please suppliment with some fresh veggies but go easy to avoid diarrhea. Good ones are carrots, broccoli and apples. They like nuts, but (obviously) unsalted and sparingly.
2) Their teeth - gerbils and other rodents teeth continue to grow and so they need something to gnaw on. You can buy untreated blocks and "houses" at the pet store or a mineral block. Since they love to chew, you can give them toilet paper or paper towel rolls.
3) They are dusters - since they are desert animals, they clean themselves by rolling in sand - or "dust baths". You can get some chinchilla sand from the pet store and put it in a large ceramic bowl or plastic container and they will love it!
4) They are diggers - make sure that the cage has at least 2-3 inches of pine shavings (never cedar - the oil irritates their mucus membranes) so they can dig and nest.
5) Handle with care - NEVER pick up a gerbil by the tail!!The best way to pick them up is in your cupped hand. They are also biters and will latch on so go easy when taming your gerbil. It takes time and patience, but they are so incredibly lovable when tame, it's well worth it.
Necessities:
You'll need to get a food dish, a package of gerbil food, a water bottle, a house for them to sleep in (many cages come with these in there), bedding, an exercise wheel, a rolling ball, and things to chew on. All these are a MUST so don't skip out on any of them.
Take good care of your gerbils. Give them lots of love and attention, and don't neglect them. They need to have the cage cleaned about once a week. That's when the bedding should be changed and everything should be wiped down. Fresh food and water should be replaced every day or every two days. Make sure they always have water and food available to them.
I hope you and your gerbil live a healthy life!!!
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