Hello!
I will be getting a Skinny Pig next month and will be feeding it timothy hay, occasional fruits and veggies(Which ones are safe?), and Guinea Pig Pellets. I am wondering about the Vitamin C...where do I buy the supplement? How much should I give per day? Can I buy it at a pharmacy? Can I just buy the timothy hay at wal-mart? There is a farm where I can buy timothy hay but it's an hour away.
I will be making their cage out of storage cubes, can skinny pigs fit through the grids? I know normal Guinea Pigs can't but where Skinny Pigs...well are skinny pigs.
I've already asked this question..but I didn't get a straight answer. Can Skinny/Guinea Pigs bond to you? Can you pet them? Can you let them run around a supervised area?
Also, skinny pigs need something to trim their teeth, right? Can I use those wooden Hamster carrots? Or what about sticks?
Can I use normal Pine bedding?
Sorry for such a long question!!
Thanks!!
Answers:
You are able to give them almost any kind of fruit or vegetable. We always give our guinea pigs lettuce, and always have. Vitamin C is very good for them, but they don't HAVE to have it given to them, as long as you give your little piggie lots of fruit treats (not dried). It will say on the bottle how much to give. You probobly can't buy it at a pharmacy, a pet shop will have it though. You don't have to give your piggie timothy hay. We only sometimes do (and it's not even timothy hay-it's just hay!). You can let you piggy outside to eat grass all day if it's in an enclosure where it has lots of room to run around and has shelters (we just give our's their houses). Our's are out all day (they are out right now!). The storage cube is great! That's what we started out using! We also put paper bags on the bottom underneath the shavings to soak up the pee (any kind of paper shopping bag will do; they love digging it up and chewing on it). To the answers on the third papagraph, yes, yes, yes. They are just like noraml g-pigs. If you give your piggy a wooden house, it will take care of its teeth needs by itself. We never got wooden toys for ours. Normal pine bedding is what we use. I think it's great!
If you have ANY more questions, please ask me! I love helping people with guinea pigs!
1. Timothy hay is all the same, anywhere you can find it- Walmart, Petsmart, a farm... it's all okay.
2. Hard veggies and fruits are the safest. As in no bananas, oranges, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. Carrots, broccoli, apples, are all good choices. Watery fruits/veggies will give them diarrhea.
3. Vitamin C for rodents is available in liquid drops that you mix in with their water. You need to buy the kind made especially for rodents/guinea pigs- do NOT use human Vitamin C! Make sure you follow the directions to know how much to add.
4. Do NOT 'make' a cage! Unless you are a carpenter with endless resources, this is a bad idea. You never know if they could ingest whatever you make the cage out of and choke or be poisoned. You need to BUY a real cage that was made for guinea pigs. End of story. Otherwise you risk hurting or killing your pets. You need a wire cage with a solid plastic bottom, as large as you can find- I think they usually make them about 3 feet long by 18 inches wide.
5. Guinea pigs will bond to you to a certain extent, but they are not dogs. They won't come running when you call, they won't follow you around. They will let you hold and pet them, but usually only for a little while at a time before they get bored.
6. DO NOT let them run around on the floor! It only takes one swift bite to bite into an electric cord and shock themselves to death. It's way too dangerous. What you can do is get a playpen designed for dogs, it should be a long bendable wire fence that you can make into a circle and lock. You can let them run around inside that.
7. You can give them any chew toy designed for rodents. Do not pick up sticks or wood from outside, there can be bacteria, bugs, and fungus on those that can kill your piggy.
8. Don't use pine or cedar, stick with aspen bedding or shredded paper bedding. Pine and cedar have oils that smell too strong for guinea pigs.
9. You should really buy a book and make sure you know exactly how to take care of them- go to any bookstore and find a good thick book on guinea pig care. Better safe than sorry!
10. You DO know that 'skinny pigs' aren't actually skinny, right? They're hairless. You asked about them fitting through stuff, but skinny pigs are the exact same size as guinea pigs- they ARE guinea pigs actually, they are just hairless guinea pigs. Make sure you know what you're getting!
http://z.about.com/d/exoticpets/1/0/z/a/...
Skinny Pigs are the same as Guinea Pigs except that they are bald so if a guinea pig can't get out of the cage that you made then I wouldn't worry about the skinny pig getting out. As for the hay, you should be able to get it at any store that has a pet section (like at a grocery store). I wouldn't worry about getting the vitamin C supplement as their food pellets contain vitamin C. I've had 5 guinea pigs and have never used a vitamin supplement. Fruits and vegetables that are safe are carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, oranges, apples, melons, kiwi, bananas. I would recommend that you do not feed it lettice as it is toxic to them. (Not very many people know that).
There are many books on guinea pigs that you can find at a local pet store or library, and you can talk to a vet that specializes in small animals (also known as exotics). Any pet shop sich as PetSmart carries Vitamin C supplemenments. I use Oasis Vita Drops for guinea pigs (be careful, because they make them for all types of pets and you don't want the wrong one). Timothy hay can also be found in a pet store, although I'm not sure Wal Mart would have it. To be safe, buy the hay specifically for pets (I use Kaytee). You can buy it in all sizes. I have never heard of making a cage from storage cubes, maybe talk to a vet about that. Yes, skinny and guinea pigs can and will (if you treat them right) bond with you! My guinea pig was very shy and scared at first, but after she gained my trust (with a lot of love and attention) she loves me and responds to me and even knows exactly when it is a good time to feed her. I do everything for her, and as a result our relationship is much stronger than the average pet owner's. And yes, you can and should pet them! It shows your love for them and helps you bond. (However, the first few days, or even weeks, animals are shy and may not interact much, so be patient! Always be patient, no matter how long you have had the animal!) You can let them run around a VERY supervised area, but do NOT let them outside, even supervised, I almost lost my piggy that way. I have never used wooden sticks for my pig teeth, she chews on a timothy hay cube and the bars of her cage. However, her teeth recently grew so much she stopped eating, so always make sure the teeth aren't too long by checking in with a vet regularyly, especially if the pig does not have many opportunities to chew things. I recommend aspen bedding. NEVER use cedar, it can be toxic, NEVER use any with dyes (no matter what they say, no animals have dye in their natural habitats) and I'm not sure pine is good, I have heard it can be bad from a few people as well. I recommend aspen. It is clean (if changed regularly, about every three days) and safe and soft. Also, if you have multiple animals in the same cage, you will need to change it more often. Good luck! I know this may seem overwhelming, but if you do it right from the start, you and your pet(s) will be very happy together, trust me!
I think several people have said lots of good things. I have two guinea pigs (they're not Skinnys, but...well, they're guinea pigs), so here is my two cents.
1. How old will the pig be? Any guinea pig younger than a year old should be given alfalfa hay - it's higher in necessary nutrients for growing (and nursing) piggies. If your pig is older that a year, Timothy hay is perfect. I buy mine at Petsmart - I'm sure Wal-Mart has it too, and that should be fine. You can also check out Oxbow hay (I'll post their link below). Your pig should always have lots of hay readily accessible. It should be clean (any hay that's been peed and pooed on should be cleaned out). I do the same for my pigs' pellets, though there's probably some different opinions on this - mine always have pellets (again, look at the ingredients on the back of the bag - the first ingredient should either be alfalfa meal if they're under a year or timothy meal if they're older).
2. If you feed your pigs healthy food and feed them often, you won't need to buy any Vitamin C supplement. Check out Guinealynx.com for nutrient charts and such, but I can tell you that my boys get a handful of green leafy lettuces (NO ICEBERG...go with dark greens like romain, spinach, raddichio, etc), a sliver of red pepper (chopped up into bites), 1/4 on an orange, and a few baby carrots in the morning, and then a handful of more lettuce at night. I have yet to slip supplements into their diet. (My pigs are 4 and 5 years old and weigh around 3 pounds each. Yes, they're heffers...they're spoiled rotten and they love it)
3. That's great you want to build your own cage! We built our own too! It's cheaper to build your own (rather than buying one in a pet store). The bottom of the cage should be made of a solid material (some people use coroplast, we used a plank of wood and lined it with linoleum). The cube grids are great as the sides of the cage. Be sure to get zip ties - they hold the walls together perfectly. I'd think your pig would be perfectly fine with the grids. Definitely check out guineapigcages.com for ideas.
4. My pigs love their independence, but they also love attention. They've got incredible personalities, and they're a ball to watch. They have moments when they want to be held and cuddled, and other moments when they want to explore and run around. We let ours run around in a boxed-off area in our living room every now and then (Piggy time, we call it...heh heh). Absolutely let them run around (supervised, of course)! Our pigs have absolutely bonded to us - mine will come to me when I put my hands down in front of them. One of them even gives me little kisses/piggy licks on my face.
5. Rodents' teeth are always growing, and thus they should have access to various things to chew on. Hay, pellets, sticks, wooden items, toilet paper rolls, cardboard boxes, etc. are great for this.
6. As bedding, I use a combination of Aspen and Carefresh. Because you're getting a Skinny, I'd recommend going with Carefresh, as it's much softer and less dusty than wooden bedding. However, it's also more expensive. If you have access to a washer and dryer, consider buying lots of fleece blankets and using those as bedding - you'll have to change them every few days, but you won't spend money on bags of bedding.
You can find anything and everything you'd ever need to know on having guinea pigs at guinealynx.com. It's the best, most informative site out there. Definitely check it out.
Good luck!
http://www.guineapigcages.com/ This is a great website to answer all your questions and more. They are a bit snooty but know what they are talking about... Skinny pigs need a bit more care (no drafts etc...) but are just like regular pigs... treat them the same way.
Congratulations on the new pets! I would really suggest getting a pair of guinea pigs, they're really really social and need a companion when you're not there. Also, it would be worth it to get natural hay. Most feed stores sell the hay in large bundles, so you would really only need to buy it like once a month at a minimum. It would probably last longer than that, though. Do not use Vitamin C drops, they can make the water that you use taste weird and make them stop drinking it, causing dehydration. Most veggies will work, just make sure that nothing you feed them contains seeds. Just try different stuff out, you'll figure out what they don't like. Mine like kale, collard greens, peppers, tomatoes, outer watermelon rhine pieces, corn husks, ect. Please continue making the C%26C cage like you mentioned, the pigs will adore it. I would suggest either using Carefresh bedding or fleece to line the cage. As for teeth mantinance, always, I mean ALWAYS, provide timothy hay for them. It will keep them short. Also put in carboard toilet paper rolls, and my piggie's favorites, carboard ice cream containers.
Good luck with everything!
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This is Wrong. All cavies need hay, constantly. For digestion and dental health.
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