Jo K
New Born Pup
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2016
- Messages
- 11
- Reaction score
- 5
- Points
- 70
Hello,
We have four guinea pigs and although we have gone on advice from different pet shops we STILL managed to get it wrong and I am now worried that three of them are not happy enough. We know we have made mistakes but we went on advice given by people who we thought knew what they were talking about.
It all started with Mr Biggles, a lovely guinea pig with really long hair. He was no longer wanted by his previous owner, the story was that he was found in an alley but the pet shop who took him in didn't believe that was the case as he had been checked over by their vet and was healthy apart from his nails had not been clipped enough. We fell in love and took him home. We were sold a cage with him that was too small, became apparent pretty quickly that even getting him out every day he didn't have enough space. We also know that they like to be kept in pairs so we kept a close eye on him. For the first week he seemed happy, but then started just lying there and generally didn't look happy.
So we decided to get him a friend. But we don't know how old Mr Biggles is, the guess is a minimum of three years so we thought (and it was agreed by TWO pet shops) that getting two would be a good idea, otherwise if Mr Biggles is older and dies then his younger companion would be left on his own and we would go through this again. We ended up getting three as there were five together in the shop, I knew if I left an odd number someone would probably buy two and leave one there on his own and I found it really hard to choose between them.
Our cage is 154cmL x 78cmW, we were told that would be fine for five guinea pigs (and this would only be four) so we were happy. For a couple of months everything was fine, the three younger ones (Archie, Sammy and Dusty) would play and one at a time would sit with Mr Biggles. One day it all went wrong. Really wrong. Sammy and Dusty attacked Mr Biggles and kept trying to give him a piggy back (we have a three year old), so we had to separate them. Mr Biggles had to live in the small cage until we could get him a bigger one (this happened over Christmas, so took a couple of days to find and get a cage). We took him to the vet as his bottom was bleeding where we saw them bite him, turns out he had a parasite and may have had it since we had him! The marks weren't from them, they removed hair which allowed the marks to show. He was then treated (and so were the other three), his marks turned to scabs, fell off and he has been happy on his own ever since and is up for more cuddles than he ever was before and is making all the right noises. He does tend to just sit around a lot, but looks relaxed rather than depressed and never says no to food (especially cucumber).
The other three seem to get into fights at points, only quick ones but I'm not sure if they are happy. It tends to be Dusty and Sammy going at each other or Archie. We get them out every day and feed them well, we have a hiding place and a food bowl for each of them and have some toys to chew on. They don't seem unhappy, and I have caught Dusty sleeping with his eyes closed (from what I know that means he feels safe) but they never seem to relax when being handled (they vibrate in a way which I'm not sure means they are happy or wish we would put them back?) and there is an awful lot of teeth chattering that goes on. They don't make distressed noises a lot or unhappy noises (apart from the teeth chattering) but they don't make happy noises much either like Mr Biggles does. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I hate to think we're not giving them a happy home.
Also, I see a lot of people are weighing their guinea pigs - I've never been told to do this by three pet shops or a vet. The three young ones are VERY fast, I'm not sure I could catch them if they ran off, so I assume this is something I need to start doing yesterday - any advice?
Sorry for the long post and thank you in advance (this is the first forum I've ever joined so please excuse any mistakes I make)
We have four guinea pigs and although we have gone on advice from different pet shops we STILL managed to get it wrong and I am now worried that three of them are not happy enough. We know we have made mistakes but we went on advice given by people who we thought knew what they were talking about.
It all started with Mr Biggles, a lovely guinea pig with really long hair. He was no longer wanted by his previous owner, the story was that he was found in an alley but the pet shop who took him in didn't believe that was the case as he had been checked over by their vet and was healthy apart from his nails had not been clipped enough. We fell in love and took him home. We were sold a cage with him that was too small, became apparent pretty quickly that even getting him out every day he didn't have enough space. We also know that they like to be kept in pairs so we kept a close eye on him. For the first week he seemed happy, but then started just lying there and generally didn't look happy.
So we decided to get him a friend. But we don't know how old Mr Biggles is, the guess is a minimum of three years so we thought (and it was agreed by TWO pet shops) that getting two would be a good idea, otherwise if Mr Biggles is older and dies then his younger companion would be left on his own and we would go through this again. We ended up getting three as there were five together in the shop, I knew if I left an odd number someone would probably buy two and leave one there on his own and I found it really hard to choose between them.
Our cage is 154cmL x 78cmW, we were told that would be fine for five guinea pigs (and this would only be four) so we were happy. For a couple of months everything was fine, the three younger ones (Archie, Sammy and Dusty) would play and one at a time would sit with Mr Biggles. One day it all went wrong. Really wrong. Sammy and Dusty attacked Mr Biggles and kept trying to give him a piggy back (we have a three year old), so we had to separate them. Mr Biggles had to live in the small cage until we could get him a bigger one (this happened over Christmas, so took a couple of days to find and get a cage). We took him to the vet as his bottom was bleeding where we saw them bite him, turns out he had a parasite and may have had it since we had him! The marks weren't from them, they removed hair which allowed the marks to show. He was then treated (and so were the other three), his marks turned to scabs, fell off and he has been happy on his own ever since and is up for more cuddles than he ever was before and is making all the right noises. He does tend to just sit around a lot, but looks relaxed rather than depressed and never says no to food (especially cucumber).
The other three seem to get into fights at points, only quick ones but I'm not sure if they are happy. It tends to be Dusty and Sammy going at each other or Archie. We get them out every day and feed them well, we have a hiding place and a food bowl for each of them and have some toys to chew on. They don't seem unhappy, and I have caught Dusty sleeping with his eyes closed (from what I know that means he feels safe) but they never seem to relax when being handled (they vibrate in a way which I'm not sure means they are happy or wish we would put them back?) and there is an awful lot of teeth chattering that goes on. They don't make distressed noises a lot or unhappy noises (apart from the teeth chattering) but they don't make happy noises much either like Mr Biggles does. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I hate to think we're not giving them a happy home.
Also, I see a lot of people are weighing their guinea pigs - I've never been told to do this by three pet shops or a vet. The three young ones are VERY fast, I'm not sure I could catch them if they ran off, so I assume this is something I need to start doing yesterday - any advice?
Sorry for the long post and thank you in advance (this is the first forum I've ever joined so please excuse any mistakes I make)
to the forum.