Hi everyone I am new to the forum and am hoping that someone with more guinea pig experience than me could give me some advice on how to create the best environment for a newly acquired girly piggy called Sooty. I am already mum to two pairs of gorgeous well bonded boars (Cracker & Sprout - 18 months old, and Baloo & Wheezy Po - 6 months old) who live in a 5x2 stacked c&c cage.
Sooty belonged to my friend who could no longer give her the attention she needs and she came to me on Sunday. She's 3-4 years old and has been on her own for quite a while since her cage mate passed away. She is very shy but is slowly coming out of her shell - she let me stand in the same room today while she ate her veggies! I was delighted!
She is currently in a small shop bought cage next to my boys cage but I have ordered the things to build her a c&c cage. I have read elsewhere on the forum that girls should ideally live in a separate room to the boys. Due to space limitations this isn't an option and also the whole point of me having her is that she isn't stuck in a room by herself. I think my best option is to build another level onto my existing cage but not sure whether she should go on the top or the bottom. The last thing I want to happen is for my boys to start fighting because they can smell her. Can anyone advise? I have read conflicting things and don't know what to do for the best.
I also don't know whether to get her a friend to share her new bigger cage. She's been on her own for so long I'm not sure it's the right thing to do. Do you think just being in the same room as my boys is enough? The cage is in my kitchen so there is always kids, cats and dogs passing through so she won't be short of attention from other species! Please help! I apologise for the length of the post but I have so many questions! I'm not even sure I've posted in the right place so double apologies if I haven't! (Can I also say that I have got so much fabulous information as a guest on this forum that I finally decided to become a member so thank you everyone x)
Sooty belonged to my friend who could no longer give her the attention she needs and she came to me on Sunday. She's 3-4 years old and has been on her own for quite a while since her cage mate passed away. She is very shy but is slowly coming out of her shell - she let me stand in the same room today while she ate her veggies! I was delighted!
She is currently in a small shop bought cage next to my boys cage but I have ordered the things to build her a c&c cage. I have read elsewhere on the forum that girls should ideally live in a separate room to the boys. Due to space limitations this isn't an option and also the whole point of me having her is that she isn't stuck in a room by herself. I think my best option is to build another level onto my existing cage but not sure whether she should go on the top or the bottom. The last thing I want to happen is for my boys to start fighting because they can smell her. Can anyone advise? I have read conflicting things and don't know what to do for the best.
I also don't know whether to get her a friend to share her new bigger cage. She's been on her own for so long I'm not sure it's the right thing to do. Do you think just being in the same room as my boys is enough? The cage is in my kitchen so there is always kids, cats and dogs passing through so she won't be short of attention from other species! Please help! I apologise for the length of the post but I have so many questions! I'm not even sure I've posted in the right place so double apologies if I haven't! (Can I also say that I have got so much fabulous information as a guest on this forum that I finally decided to become a member so thank you everyone x)
