Welcome William! (and Questions)

MarkellaAndRyuu

MarkellaAndRyuu

Junior Guinea Pig
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Athens, Greece
So, William just arrived a couple of hours ago. At first I was... Wow, do they get so big?
And then I was admiring the hair and then the previous owner left and I started having concerns, really. Ryuu was free roaming, and he didn't seem to like the new guy (oops...). William is so laid back (he's two years old already) and he was just lying around, he did chatter his teeth, but he's not making an awful lot of noise, like Ryuu is.

What I noticed is that he's matted (fingers crossed that I'll be able to cut his hair) and that he's missing his top teeth, which he doesn't seem to mind, he was munching on his food happily.

So, do I need to be concerned by this or not? (silly question, I think, but... Bear with me please lol)

And of course, here's a pic of my new little(eh not so little) boy :D

img_20170710_202551-resized-640.webp
 
The top teeth should grow back... In the meantime you may need to chop his veggies smaller so he can manipulate them etc... If he is having difficulties. Hopefully now with a caring person like yourself he will have no further problems, keep trying to get the Matt out of his fur if you can as he is eating. Is the Matt by his bum?
 
Thank you everybody :D he's a tough little guy, I'm sure he'll be just fine. This morning he greeted me by putting his little feeties on the cage bars, his nails are seriously overgrown and I'm super scared to cut them. I think a visit to the vet is required once he gets settled down a bit.

Ryuu is quite vocal about his dislike for the new guy but, oh well :P
 
If you can't get the Matt out by brushing, cut it out. The longer you leave it will course problems. When you go to the vet for there claws they will cut it out probably if you ask them. It I would be an idea to have him fully checked out, by a vet Cavy vet in case there are any more problems. If you look above you will find a cavy expert. That's important if you could go to one.
 
He is a gorgeous boar. I hope Ryuu gets to appreciate his new companion soon.
If the matt is too close to the skin you could try cutting it in half and gently tease it out over the next few days in short sessions so William doesn't get too stressed in his new environment. I had to do this with Willow when he first arrived with a matt under one of his back legs, it was too close to the skin to cut out completely and in a very awkward position.
 
piggieminder said:
He is a gorgeous boar. I hope Ryuu gets to appreciate his new companion soon.
If the matt is too close to the skin you could try cutting it in half and gently tease it out over the next few days in short sessions so William doesn't get too stressed in his new environment. I had to do this with Willow when he first arrived with a matt under one of his back legs, it was too close to the skin to cut out completely and in a very awkward position.
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Thank you so much for the advice! Honestly, for now, he's getting used to my presence and my petting. He flinches a lot when I try to pet him (and of course I'm being careful) but he's a shy little one I guess and he gets easily scared. I'm more worried about his nails actually... But a little bit at a time.

I can also see a hairless patch around his ears, it's even on both sides of the head, it's not an irregular size or shape . He's not scratching from what I've seen so far, but, I'm gonna check it out too.

As for Ryuu, he's not making an awful lot of sounds today. He doesn't seem to mind the other boar that much. The cages are facing each other, so there's no way he doesn't know William is there. Well, I guess we'll see in a couple of weeks, when I'll start introducing them with some shared play time. :)
 
It sounds like William has a lovely caring home with you, guinea pigs can be shy little critters and need lots of time and patience. William sounds like he didn't have much handling in his last home. There is a boar bonding guide on here which is very useful, I used it with great results. Look in the Behaviour and Bonding thread for lots of great info. on boars.
The patches behind his ears are probably explained here and are nothing to worry about. Guinea pig body quirks.
I always think it's a good idea to have any new to you piggy checked by a vet so you know what you are dealing with in terms of health and don't end up with any nasty surprises especially when the background is a bit of an unknown. Your idea to get his nails clipped at the vets is a good one and an opportunity to have a health check.
 
piggieminder said:
It sounds like William has a lovely caring home with you, guinea pigs can be shy little critters and need lots of time and patience. William sounds like he didn't have much handling in his last home. There is a boar bonding guide on here which is very useful, I used it with great results. Look in the Behaviour and Bonding thread for lots of great info. on boars.
The patches behind his ears are probably explained here and are nothing to worry about. Guinea pig body quirks.
I always think it's a good idea to have any new to you piggy checked by a vet so you know what you are dealing with in terms of health and don't end up with any nasty surprises especially when the background is a bit of an unknown. Your idea to get his nails clipped at the vets is a good one and an opportunity to have a health check.
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Thank you ever so much! Especially for that link. I admit to not having much time or... Idea where to look for that kind of info.
I did read the guide though, because @weibke was kind enough to post it when I mentioned looking for another male :D and honest to God, I didn't believe I'd find one in such a short time. I do believe in fate though.

So, I've got an update, little William is getting used to me petting him. I manned up (lol) and got his cage cleaned. I don't like the bedding his previous owner used, shavings, but I'll give it a try till the bag he gave me gets used (has enough for two more days).

So, since he relaxed a bit (and even lied down and showed me some chooken leg :P) I managed to check him over better. Yes, he's matted but it's not that bad. I'm getting a brush tomorrow. His nails aren't that bad either but I'll get them cut.
And... Big surprise, he does have upper teeth! It's just that he sits with his mouth open (love that little tongue) and his lower teeth show more (no, thank goodness they're not overgrown!).

So, I also got to pet his feeties :wub:, he let me. And, and... I also did the food test (hey, the way to a boar's heart is surely food lol) and I found out he loves cucumbers, then Romano lettuce, carrots and lastly parsley.

So, while happily munching, I managed to pet him some more and he didn't mind at all, in fact, he lied down again and decided to enjoy the experience. :D I'm seriously falling in love with him lol

Ryuu's getting some extra attention too, don't want my little man to get jealous ;)
 
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