Guinea pig advice needed.

[jent]

Hi, I'm adopting a guinea pig - long story! I don't know masses about them and I've been trying to find a decent forum and I can't so I thought someone on here would be able to help. She's quite old - about 4 and has always lived indoors so she will be indoors with me too. She has a large zoo zone but to be honest she will be free range in the house (downstairs). Obviously she'll go in her cage for bed but I'm gonna try to attach a play pen to it. Anyway, shes bedded on shavings and currently has no hay which I'm going to change cos she needs hay!! I know about the vitamin c thing so will supplement that. What food do I feed? Commercial wise I mean?! She's on p@home at the mo. any guinea pig help appreciated x ps she doesn't arrive until Monday and she's called bubbles

[mangoandmimi]

Air flow isn't brilliant in a zoozone so make sure she's out quite a lot. The attached playpen sounds good to me though. My guineas are fed the Burgess mix (it's in an orange bag, don't remember its full name) and they absolutely love it. They've been on other stuff (inc wagg, pig version of harry hamster etc) but they're museli mixes meaning the pigs can get fussy :/ never tried p@h but i can imagine what it's like. Obviously fresh veg every day, they love their greens more than anything ^^
Is bubbles short or long haired? Looking forwards to pics x

[racinghamster]

Here is a good webpage for piggie advice and tips for you: Guinea Pig Care and Health Information

As for diet, she would be much better fed a pelleted diet of hard feed with added vitamin C rather than a commercial mix. But gradually introduce this. Hay is required 24 hours a day. Hay should be green in colour which indicates it`s quality. The Zoozone will be nice for her to sleep in during the night, but if she`s allowed lots of out-time during the day, that`s great. Females usually like company (males are more territorial) so you might be able to find her a younger companion.
Fresh veggies is a good way of giving them their vitamin C aswell as having it already included in the pelleted food.

Lots of people set up small dog cage pens for indoor piggies. Leave the door open during the day and close it at night. They do seem to be a nice type of caging for indoor pigs and bunnies if you want her to have ease of access to her bed and water bottle.

The link I posted is a really good informative site and also links to the wonderful Peter Gurney`s A to Z of piggy health.

[fluffymunchkins]

Awww how brill, I know she'll have a good home with you
I've had pigs in the past and done some holiday sitting, they are so lovely, if I had the space I'd have more in a heartbeat!
I reccommend this forum - Guinea Pig Forum | Guinea pig care information in Jersey, Channel Islands | Care Resource & Guinea Pig Forum | Rodents With Attitude
The information pages on the website are useful too. Piggypigpigs is a youtuber who gives great advise on her channel with her 4 boy pigs (she has adorable hammies too).

Burgess excel nuggets are supposed to be really good to use, though if shes on a variety mix (e.g.gerty guinea pig) then they can be a bit fussy to move onto a pellet diet x

[jent]

Great thanks!! I was thinking pellets might be best invade she's picky! In my opinion she's a bit er.. Chubby?! What should she weigh?! Yeah She will pretty much be free range we have no dogs or cats so she'll be very safe! She's. Short haired, white with black and tan patch near her head!

[fluffymunchkins]

700-900grams for a female is stated on articles i've read, but I expect most pigs are larger then that on average (closer to 1000g +). Though like with hams it can be different depending on the individual pig. If shes been eating just the things she likes she might have put on a bit x

[mangoandmimi]

aww my boys are bigger than any other pig i've seen (guess their long fur adds to their size a bit) and they're on nuggets.
she's not that old, considering they can live to about 6 years, so if she's going to remain alone she'll need a lot of stimulation and attention

[jent]

Ok thanks. Has anyone had any experience introducing a new piggy to an older one?! I volunteer for an animal rescue who have guineas and I could choose from a selection. What sort of personality would be good to introduce to her if I did?

[fluffymunchkins]

Not had any experience introducing two pigs of the same age. But usually they accept babies more easily (like treat it as their own). But I'm not sure if theres a difference in introductions between genders, ours was an older male and a baby male x

[luvcats22]

heres the link to an informative page on introducing piggies x
Guinea Pig Companionship