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Post by yodelpig on May 11, 2011 11:29:20 GMT
BIG HUG I am so sorry; it is very hard watching a pigy of your passing away, but you are doing the right thing - she can leave, carried by your love.
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Post by yodelpig on May 10, 2011 16:36:11 GMT
Congrats on your homerun and last bit of school; I'm looking forward to seeing more of you and Edward over the summer!
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Post by yodelpig on May 10, 2011 12:16:13 GMT
Best of luck with your plans!
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Post by yodelpig on May 10, 2011 11:21:04 GMT
Hi and welcome to the forum!
It is great that you have been reading up and preparing for your piggies.
Guinea pigs are prey animals, so make sure that there is some shelter in each run from which they can start to explore their new surroundings. Give them time to settle.
Personally, I would not put them outdoors yet until they have got their bearings with their indoors living style, which can take a few days or weeks; I would even leave out the indoors run until they have got the hand of their cage. You will know when they start popcorning and running around like mad that they are happy with where they are and that you can go onto the next stage.
Otherwise, keep to a firm routine and create daily rituals for food, cuddle time etc. using the same words in the same tone, so they can learn to anticipate what is coming.
You will find that pick up time can be a wild. If one of the piggies has problems with being picked up (it cuts very close to their prey animal instinct), you can try shooing them into a padded shoebox with one short end cut off and a treat at the other end. But give them a day to befriend the box and become relaxed around it first and even have a little nap in it!
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Post by yodelpig on May 10, 2011 11:11:47 GMT
Hi and welcome, Diane!
It's great that you have found Lucy such a lovely friend; they make a very striking pair! It is always upsetting when you lose one of your piggies.
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Post by yodelpig on May 9, 2011 19:15:56 GMT
How big is your cage? A cardboard box, a tunnel or even a rag pegged to the side of the cage would also do as a second shelter. Piggies like to cuddle up, but not everypig and not all night long.
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Post by yodelpig on May 9, 2011 15:12:32 GMT
If you can give them two hideys that would be great; as well as two bowls to eat fresh food out of, ideally spaced well enough apart that the underpiggy can eat in peace.
Guinea pigs are herd animals and always need to establish a hierarchy in a new place or with new herd members. Nipping, head butting, rumbling and mounting, and chasing off is normal dominance behaviour. Wheeking loudly is submission behaviour. I will hopefully die down somewhat over the next week.
Occasionally you may noitce one girl rumbling and mounting the other - she is in season then.
You will alwayas get one bolder/more vocal piggy and one that is more quiet.
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Post by yodelpig on May 9, 2011 15:07:34 GMT
What a little pair of cuties!
We have a thread tips for new owners at the top of the cavy care section. Please do not hesitate to post in the care section if you have more questions.
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Post by yodelpig on May 9, 2011 10:47:14 GMT
It looks like a text book case of piggy barbering! I have seen two of my longhaired piggies nibble at each other to some extent (they happen to be original group mates of Anya's) and Caron's locks have also been under attack lately. But I have also come across cases of barbering from other guinea pig owners and rescues. Often, the perpetrator has been a youngster that was newly bonded with an older piggy. One rescue has a blind/deaf girl who barbers the rest of the resident herd she now lives with, with the result that all the piggies with the expcetion of the barber are looking very moth eaten due to the extremely haphazard way of the barber striking! Here is more info on barbering: www.oginet.com/pgurney/barbering.htm
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Post by yodelpig on May 9, 2011 10:36:22 GMT
Great news!
Dominance behaviours are rumbling, bum wiggling (we usually call the combination of the two rumblestrutting), head butting, nipping etc. The top piggy has first choice of everything from sleeping place to food choice.
How much dominance you see depends on how dominant by nature the top piggy is, how big the age gap and how closely contested the top spot is.
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Post by yodelpig on May 9, 2011 9:06:38 GMT
Lovely pics! The first grass ever is such a revelation!!!
Although I doubt that Morty can sort the sisters out on his own.
Better drape an old beach towel over the run in order to keep the bird of prey off. If you are planning to leave them out for longer, you would need a firm lid.
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Post by yodelpig on May 8, 2011 9:26:33 GMT
It is as much a matter of practice as anything else. Just cut as many nails as you can in one go; don't feel like you have to do them a ll at once. Most piggies get eventually used to the procedure, but there always are the determined wigglers and the drama queens!
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Post by yodelpig on May 7, 2011 11:54:16 GMT
I am glad that things are better now with Momo out of the way; Mia's and Morty's reaction shows that you have done the right thing! You have done a great job in rearranging the cage for best socialising. It is never easy to make a decision like that; it makes you feel like you have failed your piggies.
I was very close to it with Nia and Nerys squabbling incessantly. Thankfully, that settled down with Taffy and Telyn's arrival. Sisters, eh?
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Post by yodelpig on May 7, 2011 9:30:13 GMT
I am so sorry for Marsha losing so many of her pets; but I am glad that she's not lost any lives in her family. It must be horrible to lose everything in just a few minutes!
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Violet
May 6, 2011 19:55:49 GMT
Post by yodelpig on May 6, 2011 19:55:49 GMT
I am glad that you have had some success. Best of luck with your plans!
Just give any piggy you can get a loving home; that is all you can do. You can't save them all, sadly.
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Post by yodelpig on May 6, 2011 19:05:01 GMT
Brace yourself that he may be suliking with you when you come back - or be overjoyed. You never know; but he will surely be happy to go back to the old routine when you come back home.
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Post by yodelpig on May 6, 2011 19:03:00 GMT
Oh, they can popcorn for even longer! Just enjoy that you have such a happy, healthy piggy that is full of energy and joy of life!
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Post by yodelpig on May 6, 2011 16:14:12 GMT
I just love that shot of her...
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Post by yodelpig on May 6, 2011 14:16:52 GMT
If you can afford a grid cage, that is even better - I have one myself, actually, it's a bit of piggy palace as my crowd has grown and grown... It is much easier to extend and to adpat to your own needs if you wish to!
Please continue to cuddle Badger. Just don't try not to overreact to his tweaking. If he learns that it doesn't work, he will hopefully give up. If it is getting worse, you can GENTLY blow into his face. Generally, piggies are not good with cause and effect and don't understand the word "no".
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Post by yodelpig on May 6, 2011 13:46:03 GMT
Lovely to see Ike finding his voice and coming into his now!!!
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