Hiding and scared guinea pig? HELP!

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Zaphy

Post   » Fri Mar 23, 2018 6:18 pm


Are you still weighing on a human weight scale, or were you able to weigh her on a small kitchen scale? I don't think a scale large enough to weigh people will be able to weigh something as small as a guinea pig accurately. Especially if you're holding her and subtracting the difference. [edit: bpatters beat me to the punch, whoops]

If she really did lose .2lb that would be very concerning, moreso if she only weighed a pound to begin with. It sounds like she's still eating/drinking/pooping well on her own, though... normally if things are that dire there will be some more obvious symptoms, so with the information I have at the moment I'm more inclined to doubt the accuracy of your scale unless you're using a small one now. Have you heard her sneezing, especially when you're not visible/audible to her? Does she sit very tensely and hunched, with her fur puffing up sometimes? Are her poops firm and oval-shaped?

I can attest to bpatter's method of finely mincing up veggies and mixing with pellets for picky pigs. It may take a long time, but it does eventually work. My most stubborn pig took I think 3 weeks of it before she finally figured fresh veggies out, but she did get it in the end.

bebe_thepiggy

Post   » Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:28 pm


Ok. I can probably get one at Walmart tomorrow. I’ve been writing them down. Should I restart it? I’m assuming I should but thought I would ask.

bebe_thepiggy

Post   » Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:31 pm


She has sneezed maybe once or twice when I was holdin her. She does sit like that too, mainly when someone walks in. Her poops are oval and I haven’t felt them except for one time but it was firm.

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Zaphy

Post   » Sat Mar 24, 2018 5:29 am


I think so, unfortunately the inaccurate weights aren't going to be much use. Good on you for writing them down, though! That's a good habit to get into. Keep an eye/ear on the sneezing... One or two sneezes might be blamed on dusty hay, but if you keep hearing her sneeze you'll want to get her in to an exotics vet sooner rather than later. You want to be very proactive with possible URIs, they can very suddenly go downhill very quickly.

GL page on URIs

She might be just fine but in my experience, more pigs from pet stores will develop a URI than not so it's worth it to be extra vigilant. The prognosis is much better if you catch it early than if you wait for full-blown symptoms.

A pig's body language can tell you how they are feeling, if you know what to look for. Now that I think about it, it's probably not the most reliable of tells right now since she'll still be tensing up/scurrying for cover whenever someone walks by her cage. But sitting tensely hunched up with the fur poofed out typically indicates that they're feeling unwell or painful. They may squint the eyes as well. Look to see if she does this when she thinks she's on her own, rather than when someone walks into her room.

If her poops are firm enough to hold their shape when she lays/steps on them (so, no mushed piles of poo in the cage/stuck to her bottom or feet), then that counts as firm. You don't have to go digging around in her litter area yourself, but bless you for being willing to. :)

bebe_thepiggy

Post   » Sat Mar 24, 2018 11:19 am


She does hunch up when she thinks she’s on her own too. I’ve only seen her squint her eyes once or twice. Most of the time though it’s late at night and she’s waiting for my lights to go out so she can run around quickly before she goes to sleep. I laid a blanket over her cage so it was darker and she’s already eating, drinking water, and moving around more than she was before.

I’ve only seen maybe one or two squished poops but it’s near where her igloo is and she tends to move it around a lot. Not on purpose but it’s near her hay and food bowl.

Is it bad if she only eats hay from the diy toy I made her? It’s a empty toilet paper roll filled with hay. I’ve seen her eat from her hay a few times in the past 2 days, Ive just been filling up the toy like 4 times a day.

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Zaphy

Post   » Sat Mar 24, 2018 2:51 pm


Nope, doesn't matter where she gets her hay from as long as she's eating it.

bebe_thepiggy

Post   » Thu Mar 29, 2018 4:42 pm


Update: She no longer hides in the corner! I think it was just her needing to get used to me, my room, her new cage and etc.
She does run around like crazy in her cage though. Especially when I turn off the lights. She also moves her igloo around the cage herself, with no help from anyone. Any idea why she would do that?

We found another female guinea pig from an adoption website instead of a pet store. We were thinking of getting her to give Bebe some company. She’s an adult guinea pig. We would need a bigger cage though. We have a standard pet store cage right now, I’m not sure of the exact measurements. It’s ideal for one guinea pig. Do you recommend any good websites or places to get larger cages or C&C cages? Preferably on the less expensive side.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Thu Mar 29, 2018 4:55 pm


All guinea pigs are members of the furniture movers' union. :-)

See https://www.guineapigcages.com for info on C&C cages. Also browse the Cages forum there -- there's a thread with links to places to get materials.

bebe_thepiggy

Post   » Thu Mar 29, 2018 10:32 pm


There is a C&C cage on amazon that isn’t vey expensive. But it’s a few cm/in smaller (3 about) on both sides, for two guinea pigs. Would that be okay? It’s just a one level cage, it doesn’t have a loft because my guinea pig never goes up there but I don’t think she likes the stairs/ramp that leads up to it.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Thu Mar 29, 2018 11:47 pm


You have to teach most guinea pigs to use ramps.

The grids on that cage on Amazon are no good for guinea pigs. There are only 8 holes across, and they can get their heads stuck in those. You need grids with nine holes across.

Closet shelving makes an awesome cage. It's easy to put together with zip ties, and can be made any size you want.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Mar 30, 2018 8:31 am


More on cages here (pics showing grid issue):
www.guinealynx.info/housing.html

bebe_thepiggy

Post   » Fri Mar 30, 2018 11:26 am


My family has Amazon Prime so we like to get a lot of things off Amazon. So I searched up closest shelf or something like that and a shelf of 6 cubes of the racks came up. Some of the reviews said they used them for C&C cages for their guinea pigs. Do you think that would work?

I keep my guinea pig in my room because I’m always in there. Her cage is ontop of my dresser because it fits perfectly still with some space left to keep things for myself on there too. So I would have to move it to a different spot in my room. Plus I have two little brothers (ages 2 and 4) so I have to keep it in my room because otherwise they will mess with her too much.

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