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[lydia]

Hi! My name is Lydia and i'm 13 years old.  I'm going to get two guinea pigs soon, once i get all the supplies and other stuff. i have a few questions though.  What do guinea pigs need to have to survive, and what brand of food do you recommend? 

[Orlaith]

Hi Lydia, welcome to the forum.

First off, make doubly sure that your two pigs are the same gender, otherwise you'll be overrun with babies within a few months.

Piggies require a good quality hay (e.g. meadow hay or timothy hay) to be available 24/7. This cannot be substituted and is the main part of their diet. Make sure it's nice and green and fresh-smelling and as free from dust as you can get.

A good quality guinea pig nugget is also important. I prefer nuggets to muesli as I found when I had the muesli my pigs were picking out the bits they liked and leaving other bits behind, so it was very wasteful. I use Burgess Excel Nuggets and my piggies love them.

Piggies, like humans, cannot produce their own Vitamin C, so they need to get some from their diet every day. Good quality nuggets will have a certain amount in them, but the best source is fresh fruit and vegetables. You can feed veg once or twice a day, whatever your preference is. Generally fruit is fed less often than veg as it's higher in sugar. Here is a great list of fresh food to choose from.

Your piggies will, of course, need fresh water available at all times.

[lydia]

Thank you, and sorry that i didn't respond for a long time. 
I got the hay, food, bedding, water bottle, etc.
Now i'm wondering how to get my piggies to bond to me. they are about 5 weeks old. 
Thanks!

[Orlaith]

Congratulations on your new piggies!

Getting them to bond with you takes time and patience. Piggies are naturally frightened so get them used to you by talking to them all the time, by offering food from your hand and by putting your hand in and letting them come and sniff you. It takes a while but they do come around eventually!

[lydia]

Okay, thanks. is it okay if I pick them up before they eat out of my hand? 
Also, what vegetavles are okay to give them every day?
sorry about all of the questions.

[Orlaith]

Don't worry, the more questions the better! That's how we all learned.

Here is a list of veg that are safe for your piggies to eat. Not all pigs like the same things so you may have to try a few, but mine like cucumber, bell peppers, carrots, lettuce (except iceberg - this is bad for piggies), baby corn, fine beans, fennel, parsley, coriander and celery, among others.

Yes, you can pick them up. If you don't manage to pick them up straight away then don't spend too long chasing them as it only gets them stressed out. You can try again later. Make sure you hold them securely and offer them some nice treats while you're holding them. It'll help them to settle.

[lydia]

Thank you! One of my girks ate out of my hands yesterday  . Which of those veggies are safe for them to eat everyday or should i switch off between different ones every day?

[Orlaith]

My pigs get cucumbers and bell peppers every day and then I vary the other veg. That's just because those are veg my piggies really like.

Variety is best as it keeps them interested and ensures they get a good range of nutrients.

That's great that they're beginning to trust you

[lydia]

thanks! I gave them peas yesterday and they went crazy over them

[Orlaith]

That's great to hear

[lydia]

I got some peppers to try out with them, but i'm wondering how much to give them. By the way, I have 2 piggies that are 4-6 weeks old.

[Orlaith]

As much as you like, really. A pepper between them is fine. Just be sure to remove the stalk and any seeds. They won't eat what they don't want.

[lydia]

sad news  I woke up this morning, and I went to check on my girls and one wasn't moving. i pet her but she still didn't move. somehow, she had died over the night. Do you have any idea why she might just suddenly die? i keep them in an outside hutch but they have fleece that they can bury under. Also, she was the bigger of my two piggies, so I would think that if she died from the cold, my other girl would have too. 

[Orlaith]

That's really sad. Is your hutch in out of the wind? Does it have any insulation? It's getting cold this time of year so it could be a factor, especially if the lived indoors beforehand.

[lydia]

the hutch is on our patio which is surrounded on all four sides. Also, wouldn't it be strange if she died from the cold since she was the bigger guinea pig? Also, I live in Southern California somthe average temperature here at night is about 60 degrees.

[lydia]

We are taking the other one to the vet tomorrow to make sure she is okay.

[Orlaith]

60 degrees isn't that cold, at least by Irish standards, but a sudden drop in temperature can affect a pig quite badly. It makes no difference that it was the bigger piggy.

Is there any chance your pig could have gotten a bad fright from a predator or something?

[lydia]

how many degrees would you consider a sudden drop of temperature? I don't thinknwe have any predators, since the only animals we have where we live are birds, squirrels and an apossum that we have seen a few times. could it just be that she was born with some sort of birth defect or disease?

[Orlaith]

I don't know about exact temperatures, but has it gotten suddenly colder at night or anything?

[lydia]

The most it usually changes in the night is about 3 or 4 degrees. We are taking Nutmeg, my other girl, to the vet today and so far she has been acting normal so maybe the vet will have an idea.

[lydia]

By the way, your piggy is so cute!

[lisa21264]

Hi Lydia I am so sorry that your piggie passed away. Sometimes they have birth defects or other things wrong. It is good you are getting your other girl checked out at the vet to make sure shes ok. It is very important that you feed your piggie veggies containing vitamin C. Bell peppers are a very good source of vitamin C. Also Guinea Pigs are social animals and you might want to consider getting your piggie another friend. They generally do better in pairs. Also if the temperature is over 80 degrees you might want to consider keeping them inside as they are very prone to heatstroke and can die quickly in hot temps. I live in Florida and it gets really hot in the summer and I keep my piggie Terra inside.

[lydia]

I am planning to get another girl as soon as I can.  I usually give her a quarter of a pepper and a bit of snother veggie a day. Is that too much or too little?

[lydia]

I went to the vet today and they said that Nutmeg is very healthy  and they think that my other girl may have gotten cold during the night.

[lisa21264]

one quarter of a pepper is perfect. I am glad nutmeg is healthy and doing ok.

[Orlaith]

I'm glad Nutmeg is healthy.

Every day my pigs get about 1/4 of a pepper, a portion of cucumber a bit less than 1 inch long and then another veg, e.g. half or a third of a carrot (depending how big the carrot is), a lettuce or pak choi leaf, a baby corn, 1/3 of a celery stalk, some fine beans. I give them a piece of pepper and cucumber in the morning and then a piece of pepper and something else in the evening. You don't have to feed them twice a day, I just think it breaks up the day for them.

Oh, and they all get a fine bean before bed when I top up their hay and dry food.

[petlover2011]

So sorry for the loss of your one piggy. I'm glad the other one is doing all right. I only have one guinea pig named Jerry. We also have two cats. I don't have enough space for another piggy. Since we live in Northern Michigan an outdoor hutch isn't an option