I missed a pregnant hamster - at least, I didn’t notice it was pregnant until about a day before it gave birth when I saw that my new hamster had sprouted visible nipples and a rather large belly. She was already pregnant when I bought her, but I didn’t know it. She, too at the babies.
Anyway, this thread makes me want a guinea pig. My sister had one when we were younger, and it lived in her bedroom (yes, in cage). It would weet loudly any time we opened the fridge in the kitchen. He learned to associate the fridge sound/smell with food arriving at the cage moments later.
Yeah, but guinea pigs get very pregnant. Also, the little dudes are born with all their fur and teeth, eyes open and able to run and eat solid food right after birth. And they’re also not as prone to baby-eating as hamsters and other rodents. It just occurred to me that if mrrealtime didn’t notice his pig was pregnant, and he mistook the babies for tomato, and the mother ate the babies, then it was probably a miscarriage.
They are prey animals, and generally prey animals will try to flee if you’re doing something they don’t like. In this case, “squirm” might fit better than “flee”. So I’d say, if he or she holds still for the tickle, you’re a hit.
So far, every time we’ve looked into a new species of pet, we’ve found out there is a body of species-specific knowledge that’s very helpful, both in terms of learning to provide better care and also learning to interact with the pet rewardingly. The Internet is a great resource for this. The lesson I’ve taken tro heart is there’s almost always something worthwhile to learn about any animal that’s new to you --often, quite a lot to learn. Your own intellectual curiousity, and the keenness of your observations, are important to your pet’s well-being.
The love of a seven-year-old can be a powerful resource as well.
weecritters.com will send you a huge box of timothy hay for $25 or something. This is a way better deal than buying the stuff in pet stores.
My own vet said that vitamin supplements weren’t necessary AS LONG AS we regularly fed them fresh fruit and vegetables, particularly ones high in vitamin C. Put half an orange in their cage every other day.
Piggies are social creatures and give and need love and attention. They each have their own individual personality. Fleeing’s instinctive in a prey animal, but once you catch them, they love being held and make very good listeners if you’ve had a hard day. Intelligence? Well, let’s just say if you gave one the SAT, you’d get it back with holes nibbled in it and no correct answers marked off.
You can go to a farm supply store and get a bale of hay for $5. It will last just about forever, and both your pig and your wallet will thank you. If you let them get hooked on lettuce, though, you’ll swear they’re cute, furry locusts.
Ours liked to graze in the yard (we didn’t spray the lawn, so that was no problem.) We only took them out when it was over 60 degrees F and we stayed out to watch them so they wouldn’t wander off and get lost or get attacked by some other animal. On warm summer days they’ll graze for a while and then find a shady place to rest–one of ours liked to go inside the forsythia bush and another napped behind a rosebush.
Excellent reference sites - we’ve gotten a lot of info from them. We too have our piggies in a cage made per the instructions at cavycages.com. We don’t have a lid on ours though - unless there’s some other animal around the house that might like to snack on piggies (dog, cat, perhaps bird), you can leave the top open as they don’t climb out of such a cage. We have an open-top cage, since they’re the only pets. Makes it very easy to reach in and pet, offer treats, etc.
Ours have us trained. They wheek and we give them veggies They’ve learned the sound of rattling plastic (= grocery bags) and get hysterical until we feed them.
Our cage is outside, hence the lid. I’d keep them inside wre it not for my mum, who not only thinks they are bearers of foul disease but is allergic to them, their hay AND their bedding. Oy vey.
Dangerosa, oranges are pretty high in sugar and citric acid, which can cause diabetes and mouth ulcers, so it’s probably best not to feed them that regularly, or in such high amounts. Red peppers (a quarter for every two pigs) and leafy greens are a better source of vitamin C.
