Hi, I hope this is the right forum to post this in
I just bought my first two guinea pigs 2 days ago, and they came from a really bad situation in a family who didn't care for them ( When I got them the hay bedding was completely moldy and there was old pee and poo everywhere ). They have been with me for a while now and are currently having their first floor time which they seem to really like. However I just noticed that their claws are really long and curly and my long-haired boy seems to have mats or mud stuck around his butt. They are still way too scared of me to be handled yet but I don't want them to have to walk around with curly nails, what can I do?
They also seem to be fighting quite a lot, they are both males and I don't know if they are neutered...
Hi!
Your boys made be too scared of you, but they are going to feel a lot better after you cutting off the worst of the mats, giving them a bath and then carefully cutting/clipping off the mats close to the skin (giving your matted boys a short haircut to allow the hair grow back without tangles and without attracting fungal skin infections, skin parasites and vermin due to their filthy state. Then trim their nails.
If necessary, do it has a two person job. if you feel that you cannot cope with handling them, could you contact your vet clinic and ask whether a vet nurse with guinea pig experience could help you and show you for a comparatively small fee.
Considering their bad state from having to sit in their own excrement and likely not having had the right diet/diarrhea (the 'mud' that you are mentioning, they could do with a vet check anyway!
You never know what is lurking underneath all the mess and in what state your boys are actually in as diarrhea could be a sign of them having been on a wrong diet with far too little hay on top of not having been cleaned out!
Please take the time to read these helpful guide links:
What to check and look out for in new guinea pigs (vet checks, sexing, parasites&illness)
Sexing Guide (includes pictures of full and neutered boar bits in adult boars although from the mess your boys are in I highly doubt that they are neutered)
Bathing (including cleaning grease glands) (Any dried poos caked directly to the skin need to be gently removed in a sometimes repeated process of soaking and and gently scraping until they have been fully go off without harming the skin)
Boar Care: Bits, Bums & Baths
Guide to Cutting Guinea Pig Nails
Guinea pig body quirks - What is normal and what not?
They are also re-establishing a group in new territory. Neutering takes away only the ability to make babies; it doesn't change behaviour, personality or social interaction. Rumblestrutting and mounting are socially interactive mild dominance behavioursand not just simply mating behaviours.
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Please put your boys on a good hay based diet (over 80% of the daily food intake) with a carefully balanced mix of veg and 1 tablespoon of pellets per piggy per day. Please be careful to introduce only one new veg per meal in case their digestive system can't cope with it.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Here is our full new owners information collection, of which most of the links above are part of. It also contains a section on settling in and making friends with, as well as a guide on social behaviours etc.
Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides
