I Branched Out..

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Pixie Rabbit Rescue

Pixie Rabbit Rescue

New Born Pup
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So I took the plunge last night and filled in my own paperwork to adopt Princess Peach & Daisy. Daisy is really nervous so I did not want to spook her trying to get a picture after cleaning out, but Peach had a snuggle into my baby bump and gave me a lick. I'm still not used to guinea pig behavior so unsure if good or bad. She also nudged my hand a few times?
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The housing is just what they arrived in, they've been here a week and I'm just waiting on a large blue 4x2ft cage coming back to me from a friend. I thought my friend had ordered a bale of ecobedding for me but turns out she forgot, before I order anything what is the best bedding in your opinion? I have dust extracted shavings from wilko's that I use in my bunny shed and gerbil tank (although my rabbits get wood litter in their litter tray, just not all are litter trained). The hamster gets fibacard that I get a bag of off my friend, but she'll move on to whatever the piggies go on to.
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I'm clued up on my veg, fruit and herbs for them. They're on timothy hay (wilkos finest lol)
But what pellets are your favorite and why?

If you can share your set-up's for a pair/trio/quad please do to give me inspiration.

And lastly, litter training? Is it done same way with rabbits? I think the girls wee quite a bit though but I don't know what is a lot and what isn't with piggies? They don't excessively drink water as far as I can tell so not overly worried that the weeing is kidney problems/diabetes.

Thanks guys for reading this far, and a big thanks to anyone who can share their piggy wisdom.
 
A lick can either be love or them just licking salt off of you, most prefer to think of it as love.
A nudge to your hand with her head usually means 'get off' so if you are stroking an area they don't want it or you have done it long enough thats their way to let you know 'enough'

As for bedding, many people use different. It depends on what works best for you. Shavings are the worst bedding to use as it often upsets guinea pigs causing sniffles, sneezes and stuff. The most popular seems to be fleece. I personally use shredded paper for my boys.

I don't feed my piggies pellets as most pellets I come across tend to not be the best stuff and mine are fine without it. As for brands, burgess seems to be popular or science selective.

Most guinea pigs aren't litter trained as guinea pigs tend to walk and poop or pee. Occasionally you will get pigs who either teach themselves to poop in an area or if you are lucky you can litter train them. I've never heard of this happening but it might be possible?

Congrats on your new piggles. :)
 
mine are on fleece with litter trays. Most wees go in the litter trays. Have ground sheet/shower curtain on the floor then incontinence pads then main fleece. Then have towels and extra smaller bits of fleece round litter trays as because that is covered they tend to wee there.Under their hideys at the other end i have extra towels and fleece as well. It is very rare they pee there as not covered.My litter trays are lined with newspaper then finacard which i just started using and love it then meadow hay. Softer than timothy hay to avoid haypokes. You can put timothy hay in hay racks as it is dearer than the meadow hay. The smaller bits of fleece and towel get changed when wet then the main fleece every week.Here are my set ups, sorry room too small to get full pics. There is a thread on here for c&c cage setups. 4x2 cage may be too small for 3 piggies but someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Think 5x2 for 3
 
Mine do their business where they want. I haven't been able to litter train them. I do use dust extracted small flake shavings, however, I've just bought a bale of snowflake small animal bedding to try, I'm changing their hutch when I get off duty, so I'll let you know what its like. They also get meadow hay to eat and sleep on, fresh fruit + veg in the morning and Burgess Excel guinea complete nuggets for evening meal.
 
Hi guys, thanks for the swift responses.
Here was me thinking because of the fleece piggies litter trained better than rabbits lol, how often do you find yourselves changing/washing the fleece bedding? Do you just use pet blankets?
They came with pets at home nuggets and wagg museli, the wagg got chucked. I bought the new brand ASDA's own pellets but then read the ingredients made piggies prone to calcium stones. Cannot win. I'd like to go pellet free, but not yet. They're on an egg cup a day each. I scatter feed the pellets with some veg and hay.
I picked timothy hay because it's just natural for me with the rabbits, it's best for their digestive systems and teeth, but rabbits are lagramorphs and totally different, so I'll just use meadow hay for them and give the bunnies the good stuff lol
There's only two piggies. They're both 'princess'' named after the supermario ones lol.
Yes she was getting sick of me I think as she did the head nudge towards the end, after my little monster kicked her from inside my tummy, but doubt she felt it haha.
 
Even though they get their own food, as soon as the rabbit hutch is open, Rebel and Lola are straight in, hoovering up any left over veggies and emptying the rabbit muesli bowl - fat greedy piggies! :))
 
Hi there! I find fleece to be labour intensive and generate a lot of washing, so if you have small children, as i do you may struggle to keep up with the washing and drying!
 
Good luck with litter training, I've heard it's possible but I've never managed it with a single one of my piggies over many years! Mine are on fleece and it does have to be changed and washed regularly. I wash mine twice a week. It dries very quickly in the garage but you do need at least 2 sets (I have several in case I get behind with the laundry).
 
Mine tend to stick to a certain area

The corridor that leads from the main pen to the bedroom area gets the most abuse.

They do seen more comfortable doing the business in covered areas
 
You'll pretty much no my answer lol but I feed oxbow cavy cuisine in small amounts, use timothy hay in the hay racks and either megazorb/shavings/finacard/fitch with meadow hay on as bedding, less labour intensive and in some cases cheaper than using fleece! :D
 
Just to butt in lol. with regards to bedding everyone has a different opinion so much so that at the moment I can't decide I am using Fleece in some cages, wood pellet cat litter in some litter trays, aubiose in other trays, some cages with aubiose and paper bedding in another lol. I can't decide so bought some of everything & going to try and gradually narrow it down to a couple of options lol. I have been keeping pigs for over 5 years and still can't decide on my bedding, I used megazorb for a long time but changed my mind when I noticed how dusty it can be!

As for litter training, I successfully litter trained my boy George when he was little but as soon as he got a friend it went out of the window.. I gave up trying after that as they just seem to do as they please! I do have one litter trained duo, Mrs Mouse litter trained herself following the death of her husboar, she was about 1 and half at the time and had never shown interest before, she just started using one end of the cage as toilet so I popped a litter tray in there and hey presto! I then introduced a young girl about 8 weeks old and Mrs Mouse then Litter trained Sophie for me lol.

I have 13 pigs in total and only 2 are trained, my skinny boy even wees in his food dish, I move it to another corner when he does this and put litter tray where food bowl was and then he stops for a day or two and then switches corners again lol! I have to clean his bowl out at least twice a day! he is a nightmare!
 
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Thanks guys. I think I'll just move onto the ecobale/paper bedding and use the dust extracted shavings for now. I have had megazorb before for rabbits, it was dustier than wilko's shavings and I did not like the smell lol.
Unfortunately these girls are three in June and by the state of their cage not used to being cleaned out, so I am starting to believe they'll just not know what to do with a litter tray. But will put a one in there see how it goes.
 
Pixie Rabbit Rescue said:
Thanks guys. I think I'll just move onto the ecobale/paper bedding and use the dust extracted shavings for now. I have had megazorb before for rabbits, it was dustier than wilko's shavings and I did not like the smell lol.
Unfortunately these girls are three in June and by the state of their cage not used to being cleaned out, so I am starting to believe they'll just not know what to do with a litter tray. But will put a one in there see how it goes.
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you never know if they have been kept very dirty they actually might start going in a corner or area as it'll be a novelty to have a lovely clean cage. Peg a tea towel or piece of material over the main area that has been soiled the worst in the past, that will encourage them to go there as they prefer to do their business in private, Maybe on cage clean day put a bit of soiled bedding into the littertray too so they can smell the scent :)
 
The snowflake has gone down very well, its softer than the shavings but heavier, so it stays in place without getting kicked all over the place. ;)
 
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