Having read the thread about hamsters, I notice some people seem to know a bit about guinea pigs too so I thought I'd see if anyone can answer my questions. I read a comment that guinea pigs should not be kept on their own, well at the moment we have a single guinea pig. It is nearly 6 years old - I think this is fairly old for a guinea pig? Until just under a year ago it had a companion, so it hasn't always been alone. I wonder if it is mean to have it on its own? I have resisted getting another because another youngster would outlive the current one and we'd have the same problem! I don't want to keep getting more as over the years I have become really allergic and can't handle her without getting an attack of asthma. 

You're right, your guinea is definitely a senior citizen (well done! That shows you care for it well!). Although guineas are social creatures that don't thrive in solation, it would be more stressful to an elderly piggy to introduce a newcomer to it than to give it plenty of your own attention. If you're allergic are there others in the family who can handle her and be company for her?

Ah thanks Jeangenie, a senior citizen guinea pig! It has always lived indoors, just exploring on the grass on warmer days, so that perhaps contributed, and of course a good diet. The other guinea pig sadly died due to injuring herself whist out of the cage - she tried to squeeze through a gap which was too small and got internal injuries, otherwise I think she would have gone on for much longer too. Yes other people can and do handle her but they were really my pets as I wanted a guinea pig since I was a child. I think they are very sweet and intelligent, it disappoints me not to handle ours properly, can feed her and clean the cage but that's all now unfortunately.
I have noticed her making different noises lately, hard to describe but I sometimes get concerned she is distressed, not her usual 'feed me' noises. 

I agree with Jeangenie, it might be more distressing adding a new addition for your senior piggy. You obviously have taken good care of him/her.

it would be more stressful to an elderly piggy to introduce a newcomer to it than to give it plenty of your own attention.

In agreement 100%, I started off with two guinea-pigs one died and the surviving one was aged 7, very old, but didn't seem it at all. :-) I did the typical 'oh he needs a friend, he will be lonely on his own'  so took on my cousins 1 year old guinea-pig which she had got bored with, put them together, they got on well but, he was dead the next day, I cried for a week. :-(

I bought my future guinea-pigs in groups of 4's and the one left at the end stayed on it's own with lots of extra attention, I would never introduce another guinea-pig to an old tymer again.

My daughter has just got her first guinea pig, this will be her first proper pet (one that she has full responsibility of) So far so good.  She has kept his living area spotless.  We were told that a male would be more loving and easier for her first pet. We will be introducing another soon and were advised not to leave it too long before doing so, but how long could you leave it before introducing another?

ASAP. Ideally you'd have got two males (or two females) at the same time, because introducing another male to one on established territory isn't always easy. To avoid fighting you might have to consider getting a female - but then you'd have the problem of babies (female guineapigs breed very young). Perhaps you could consider rescuing an older spayed female?

Ditto JG, another male may well cause fights, and boy do they fight quite nasty, I made that mistake in putting mine and my brothers males together, they were seperated very quickly. If you have only had the guinea-pig your daugher has now for a couple of weeks and it is a babe, get another quickly before it matures, or as suggested a spayed female.

I agree that the boys are much more friendly and laid back, however, if your daughter gives her guinea-pig lots of attention he will be perfectly happy on his own, if he is kept indoors and can see plenty going on, and gets lots of time spent on him, he will be absolutely fine on his own, you don't have to get him a friend. :-)

We will be doing over the next day or so. She has saw a baby rex that she's likes he is like a small ball of fluff.  The other she already has is 14 weeks old.

She only had him on saturday

Friends of ours introduced a new guinea pig to the older one with no problems .They bought an extra cage to do things slowly , but after one afternoon of being separated in a run on the grass they were firm friends !  I think it depends on the individual.
Also a relative of ours became allergict to his guinea pig ( it also affected his asthma )  but they discovered that it was the hay causing the allergy so swapped to straw and the problem has gone .
Our guineas are now in the garage 'cos of the cold and i feel sooooo sorry for them . They love to run and jump on the lawn in the sun !

I think it depends on the individual.


I have on the odd occasion kept individual pigs, they seem more than happy as long as they get lots of attention.
One thing about having just one is you need to watch tempreture more. More than one will snuggle up together for warmth.
The nicest think about having more than one is it seems to make them more vocal. I love that noise they make a kind of purring crossed with a squeak when they are excited to see you!
Never found any difference between males and females apart from some times males can have a stronger smell.
I have also introduced younger ones to the group with no problem.
GP are probably the perfect first time pet. Good choice your daughter will love it.

I have non at the moment but have one lovely new hutch which really needs an occupant!!

We have bought a posh double storey one.  I say posh because thats what my daughter calls it :-) She wanted one that had an upstairs for sleeping and eating and a downstairs for playing lol.  Thanks for the offer though, very kind of you.

Sounds like my guinea pig is best left with plenty of human company then on account of her age, thanks for the advice. I do remember when I decided to get my first guinea pig (well known pet store) they insisted guinea pigs should be kept singly otherwise they would not be interested in people. My vet friend told me to get another though so I rushed off to a different shop to get a second one a few days later! I would agree they make great first pets, I find them very interactive and happy to sit on your lap being stroked, very cute and quite easy to keep (well much easier than my rabbits anyway!)

We have always kept guinea pigs while the children were growing up and have usually had them as single pets. They love lots of attention and are fairly easy to train. My daughter's last piggie - Mr Padinski- would follow her all round the house and garden and had a very good recall :)

> We were told that a male would be more loving and easier for her first pet. We will be introducing another soon and were advised not to leave it too long before doing so, but how long could you leave it before introducing another?

Having bred, exhibited, and judged Cavies for over 25 years, I can reveal that, whenever I kept a young male for show, I always put him in with a stud boar for company.  When using that boar for stud, I would move young 'un on to another lone stud boar.  When visitors said "I read that you can't keep boars together", I just told them that I had never let them read the book.  When judging, boars would get fractious if you had handled an in season sow, but the only variety that I ever knew get nasty enough to cause damage in this scenario was Abyssinians.  My stud boars would clean and care for baby boars with no problem.  My last remaining guinea pig, only stayed as a loner when I decided to give up being secretary of one of the long coat clubs, and decided not to continue breeding.  She was well handled, and given extra attention, and even went on holiday to Devon with me and the dogs, because I didn't want to leave her in someone else's care.  She was 9 years old when she died.

> Also a relative of ours became allergict to his guinea pig ( it also affected his asthma )  but they discovered that it was the hay causing the allergy so swapped to straw and the problem has gone .
>

Removing hay from the diet will considerably shorten the life span.  Hay is not just for bedding, the dirty hay will get flattened, but fresh hay is a necessity for food, on a daily basis.

> damage in this scenario was Abyssinians

Interesting the only difficult pig I ever had was an Abyssinian, I "stole" it from a very neglectful owner. I always put it's bad moods down to having been handled badly.

> happy to sit on your lap being stroked

I love that noise they make it is a cross between a purr and a squeak...

Does anyone know a lists of good breeders.  I would like to get a rex for her.  I also like the look of the teddie.

JeanSW

They are aware of this , but it was the difference betwen keeping them or getting rid .  They are doing very well on straw and get out on grass as much as possible .

Maybe they could try alfalfa cubes of hay - may not trigger the allergy.

Well personally I think they would be better rehoming the guinea pigs because it is cruel to cut something from their diets that they badly need.  I also have an hay allergy and keep guinea pigs.  I take piriton tablets if I know I'm going to be cleaning them out and therefore having a lot of contact with the hay.

Why re-home when they are healthy on straw - there are enough un-wanted pets in the world without re-homing wanted pets !

> Why re-home when they are healthy on straw

As hay is a necessity not an extra, and is required for the digestive system, one could say that it contravenes the new pet laws past last year.  It would be like keeping a cockatiel and not allowing it grit.  The pet law makes it an offence to not supply the needs of the particular animal.  I haven't got the legislation handy but the wording is something like "required to provide a suitable environment and diet."  i.e. feed what ever is required by that species.  I think what the other person's concern was, taking years off the life of an animal.  (Forgive me if I interpreted it wrong.)  In the case of the guinea pig, straw is for bedding, hay is most definitely the highest on the list of its nutritional requirements.  I always gave the best meadow hay I could possibly buy, perhaps why so many lived to such a ripe old age - as I certainly don't consider 5 years a normal lifespan for this species.

Section 9(1) of the Welfare Act 2006 states - A person commits an offence if he does not take such steps are as reasonable in all circumstances to ensure that the needs of an animal for which is is responsible are met to the extent required by good practice.

(2)For the purposes of this Act, an animal's needs shall be taken to include -
(b) its need for a suitable diet

So yes, I'd say that not providing a guinea pig with hay is contravening the new legislation and leaves the owner open to prosecution.

Well we got our second guinea pig lastnight.  I must say he's very cute.  Decided to go to a breeder and get a teddy although I did have my heart set on a rex :-)
Anyone would think they were mine not my daughters lol.
Introduced them and they were fine, didn't take too long before they were all settled sharing a tomatoe :-)
Happy days :-)

I bred Guinea's for many years, (had 37 of the devils at one time), they had a large shed, lived in cages 7ft long (I had 4 cages) with dividers with 2,3,4 pigs per section depending on age sex and personalities. I always found lone pigs were not as happy as pigs in groups. Boars can live together if they have never encountered a sow or cannot smell one, sows are OK together but can be moody when in season (typical women). I ran them on shavings and never straw and hay must ALWAYS be available they must not have Rabbit food only Guinea food, grass is the favourite green stuff (not mowed clippings though) loads of root veg easy on the fruit or you'll get the scours and NO lettuce. When I was running my stock down and had got to my last pig an old girl of 7years I bought an equally old girl from a breeder friend and they both lasted another year together and passed away within days of each other

Wow, 37, they sound great! How large a cage would you advise for three? I have three at the moment, I had two boars but one died at a few months old, I think he must have had a bad heart. Anyway Ginger was alone for two months, after a month he had the snip and we bought two sows who lives in a cage next to his, then we had to wait a month for him to be sterile, and then his two new wives moved in, he couldn't believe his luck! They are all really happy together, I was worried one would be left out.

Mine will eat almost any fruit and veg, I love how we have no waste any more, they love peppers, broccoli and carrots, also cauli leaves, they also eat loads of hay.

Mine spend the summer outside but I always worry that they will get damp and cold, so far so good though.

I don't have any pigs or rabbits now.

I absolutley hate throwing the cauliflower ends etc away it is such as waste. The are composted but the compost bin does not say "Thanks"

:-) Yep it's just not the same chucking it in the compost compared with having it grabbed out of your hand by a wheeking piggy!

I always liked to be generous with the space for them, the more the better to make them run and keep them fit. As a general rule I would say one pig should have about a square foot of space to call his own and just work up from that. I used to have 3 garden runs for them, 6ft by 3ft the pigs used to go out in the garden during the day in summer shaded from mid-day sun, I never used to have to cut my lawn and my disgusting dogs would hoover up the poo's when the pigs went in the shed for bedtime. I have never allowed my pigs to live outside. If yours are good with fruit just make sure you avoid things like plums, citrus, strawberries etc, try bananas and swede is good if they can be convinced to eat it, mine used to love raw beetroot makes their wee pink mind which is not a problem. Sometimes I miss having them for their little 'wheeps' and chatters but as I used to breed them and sell to pet shops and  I used to worry about if they were going to good homes, thats why I gave up in the end.

My outdoor ark is quite small, we started them with a 6 foot run and 2 foot square house but they never came out into the run so I bought a much smaller one for them which they seem to like better, I leave the door open and sometimes they graze in the run under the moonlight! Yes my dogs do the same, they get very excited when I move the run every morning, it's so gross!

The indoor cage is 4 feet by 2.5 feet, I would like a bigger one really but can't seem to find anything bigger, did you make your own seven footers?

Beetroot - pink wee - ugh!

Yes I'd love to breed them but worry about finding good homes, I fear that kids often lose interest after a while. I have read that babies come out up and running like miniature versions of the adults, sounds so cute!

Yes my cages and runs were home made and yes they do 'come out' all furred up and ready to run just mini versions of the adults,I've been lucky enough to be there at the birth of many and have even had to help a mum or to when one doesn't 'get going' straight away. The boys have to be moved out of the home by the time they're about 3 weeks or they start mating with mum and sisters dirty beasts!!!

> but the compost bin does not say "Thanks"

Where did you get your talking guinea pigs?

Sorry, my sense of humour. :-D

>Where did you get your talking guinea pigs?

Oooh, they're very chatty and vocal!

And amazingly intelligent - it didn't take mine long to associate the sound of chopping in the kitchen with me coming in with veggie trimmings for them, but before long I only had to pick up a knife before I heard extremely loud "Wheeeeekkk wheeeekk wheeeeeeekk" coming from their hutch in another room!

Did they actually say "Thank you" ? :-D

Well ...... it was more like "Abouts*ddingtimetoowhatkeptyou"! :D :D

Just regarding Abbyssinians, they are my very favourites pigs - esp. Abby males because they are just so full of character. I've had 3 in my time - Abbyssinia, Galaxy and Barnaby, and found them all wonderful :) :) :) .

Barnaby was called "Mr Nasty" by the breeder, although perhaps that was due to being so close to the girls and her handling both. Not sure. I had girls too and he was fine with me, but we did get him "done" a few months after we had him so we could put him in with them.

They are the very best small  pets IMO and if handled well and considerately, are friendly even if they do have other piggies to live with.