Time to provide some notes on taking care of guinea pigs. Here is a list of things on providing care such as questions on how to handle guinea pigs and asking yourself if you are the right person to own one. Guinea pigs are social animals and will need daily interaction. That I'm trying spend half an hour with Latte everyday.
If you have the space, let the cavy run around the house with some supervision. Electric cables and other things that can be nibbled upon must be kept away from the floors. You don't want to harm them in any way.
Guinea pigs don't smell (generally) unless you don't clean the cage regularly. I've to clean the cage soon. I don't want any smell other than the hay I'm giving daily. Here are the steps to clean the cage. The advantage of using grids and coroplasts is that it is easy to clean.
Be aware that some people may have allergies due to the allergen existing in the urine in the bedding. When the guinea pig scurries around, the proteins exposed will become airborne. If possible, get a family member who doesn't suffer from it to clean the cage. It would be best to clean the cage outside of the house. Always wash the hands and any part of the body that had come into contact with your piggie.
Take regular weight checks on the cavy because the change in weight will inform you of their medical conditions. Regular vet check ups would benefit them in the long run.
Latte's been choosy about his hay. He refused to touch those stick thin hay that is hard. Picky eater. The new hay does not get less during the day when usually, he would finish all or nearly all when I reach home. Is he hinting something to me? Get hay with more leaves instead of stalk?
Toilet training is difficult. Although he is responding to questions that we ask him, like "Are you Latte?" He would nod. "Do you want to drink?" He nodded. Other times, he would shake his head when we told him to be more obedient. Bad pig.
He loves being talked to and would respond if he felt like it. Bad pig. Otherwise, he loves the small house that I made for him. His favourite safe and hiding place. Shall have to change a new one when the coroplast is too smelly.
Latte's not eating hay as much as he usually would. I found out why when cleaning his cage. He was stressed out by baby cockroaches. Ew! I found a dead one in his litter box under his hay rack. No wonder the hay that was put up in the morning was reduced by very little in the evening. There was another live baby cockroach that was in his usual hiding box.
When the roach was caught and thrown away, he popcorned in the box a lot. Thank goodness it wasn't me who found it. I would have freaked out. Screamed the house down even. Looks like I have to check his cage more often. Maybe clean it more for the next few days to see how. Ants can be seen but it doesn't bother him that much.
The toilet training still continues. Poop is less seen in the rest of the cage but the newspapers seemed to attract his chewing. I guess I need to put more chewy toys for Latte. I decided to recycle the old cage base as the litter box and created a cardboard step to make it easier for him to get to the hay rack. Hopefully he will pee in there too. See the newly cleaned cage below.
Latte made some sounds though I'm not sure if he was happy but I guess he was because he popcorned twice under the hay rack. Gee, he could have done it outside and wouldn't hurt his head. Anyway, he laid down after a while and it was the perfect moment to take a photo of him relaxing.
I hope to be able to stroke him without him running away from me every time. The best thing about the large cage is that I can clean it even when he's in it. He doesn't seemed bothered by the vinegar smell though. While laying out the newspapers, he kept running under which I had to pat down so he would move away. Time to check out which sort of bedding suits him as boars tend to mark their territory.
Note to self, must spend more bonding time with Latte. He keeps running away and hidding in the small corners where he feels safe. I can't even stroke him! The toilet training continues. Below is what I imagine him to think for yesterday's adventure with a giant me.
[via Webshots]
I love my new hayrack. I have more hay now! Yes! I don't understand why that giant is always disturbing me. I like hiding in there. It's safe! I get to poop and pee. She has decided that I shouldn't pee anywhere but I like that nice corner, no one can touch me but something is moving. No! She is attempting to touch me! I like it but she is huge! I'm scared. Must find corner. Must run fast. She stops. I stop.
I'm looking for a hiding place. Ah, my hay. I can burrow myself. No, something is moving on top, the light! She moves my hay away! No, I must hide! This thing can be lifted, I discovered yesterday, good. I hide. She talks to me. Asking me something. I don't understand her but she has always been talking to me, sometimes, she sounded angry.
[via Webshots]
She keeps spraying something on my pee. She has started moving my poop towards where I'm hiding. Is she going to bury me with it? No, wait, she's not. She dumps them somewhere near me. Why does she always do that? I do as I please.
The cage is done. After 2 hours of struggling with the measurements and re-cutting. The provided coroplasts sold in Popular is too small. I decided to buy 3 large pieces instead of 2. Thank goodness. It wasn't easy because the coroplasts refused to bend even when I slit them halfway.
My hands hurt. My neck is stiff. And finally, with all the struggles and cutting and perspiration and perserverence, it paid off. Sort of. At least it's large and Latte loves running in it except when he's scared. He'd hide under the hay rack. You can see below.
[via Flickr]
He feels safe under it. At least he's eating. I'm still trying to toilet train him. It takes quite some time but with the new cage, I hope he learns and adapt faster since there's a lot of space for him to run now. Except my dad says it's too big. But he'll grow bigger ma. Here's the photo of the new cage.
[via Flickr]
I'm looking at hay racks. A lot of different ways to design a hay rack. One way is to put it above the litter box, provided the guinea pig is litter-trained. I'm still in the process. Apparently, I should change my method. Not working so far. Let's see how tonight goes.
[via Cavy Cages Forum]
The innovative idea is using a bird food holder.
[via Cavy Cages Forum]
Cool idea, no?
[via Cavy cages Forum]
I think the above is one of the cheapest way to do the hay rack and I can buy it in NTUC. :D
