What You Need to Know Before You Buy a Guinea Pig
We hope you’ve conducted the required research on taking care of guinea pigs, and you’ve purchased or built an adequately sized cage, and now you’re ready to buy a guinea pig. This can be fun!
Nearly all pet stores sell guinea pigs for the simple reason that they are such well-liked pets with both youngsters and adults. Or you might look on Craig’s list or perhaps a similar classified ad web site to find private parties that have bred their guinea pigs and they are now wanting to sell the pups. Yes, that’s precisely what baby guinea pigs are known as – pups!
The first, and extremely important question that you have to ask yourself is this: do I buy just one guinea pig, or do I get a pair? A lot of people incorrectly believe that buying and raising a couple guinea pigs is two times as difficult and cost twice as much money as raising just one guinea pig. Even though this could possibly be partially true it may actually be less trouble than you imagine.
You shouldn't start a guinea pig breeding venture if you feel you are going to gradually dread the activity of tending to, feeding, and cleaning up after your furry friend. get into it because you and your children love animals, and you also love taking care of animals. That said, of course just one guinea pig might be somewhat less difficult to care for and is perhaps enough to keep you amused and also content, make sure you put some really serious thought into acquiring a pair of guinea pigs or even more. I’ll explain why…
The thing is, guinea pigs are sociable animals, in the wild they really are actually “herd animals”, they will live in big communities and they really like the companionship of other guinea pigs. The truth of the matter is the fact that they could get lonesome if placed alone, and also their health and wellness will certainly suffer if left alone.
Guinea pigs can get lonely if they don’t have other guinea pigs to interact with, and lonely pigs will look to their owners for companionship and will require your attention on a regular basis. At times they will actually cry out for attention. But if your guinea pig has a playmate to help keep entertained and play with, you won’t need to expend quite so much time with them.
What sex of cavy should you buy? In the event you might be going to get only one guinea pig then it doesn’t matter too much which sex you choose to buy. Normally the male guinea pig is a bit more active and has a lot more energy that they have to burn off which requires more physical exertion. The female cavy is usually more docile and less energetic, and can be a better choice for small children that like to carry or handle the guinea pig often!).
Have you decided to get two guinea pigs? Excellent, you will be glad you did. Now an additional question: Do I buy two males, two females, or one of each? That question might be responded to in part by whether you want to breed guinea pig pups. If you intend to breed and sell guinea pig pups then the correct answer is pretty obvious – one of each!
A male and a female sharing the same cage will usually get along best. In such a circumstance the male guinea pig will take the dominate role and consider the female as his, and after that the female is going to accept the male’s dominant role. They’re going to get along really well. However if left to do what comes naturally you will shortly have a cage brimming with guinea pigs! If you don’t want to have any unwanted litters you can have your pet cavies spayed or neutered, just as you would a cat or dog. Neutering the male is the much less expensive surgical procedure.
Should you get two male guinea pigs make certain that they’re from the very same cage and also the exact same litter. This tends to lessen the chance of the males fighting one another for domination. They’re going to fight, nevertheless, in case the cage is just too tiny and they do not have satisfactory cage space to establish their unique territories. But if you give them an adequate amount of room they will get along much better.
Should you buy a couple of female guinea pigs they will usually get along very well together. Considering the female’s docile character, only very rarely will female guinea pigs end up in a violent battle with each other however they may squabble sometiimes over the water and food.
In case you have two male guinea pigs, it is never recommended to add a female guinea pig to the cage. This would always bring about a fight involving the males for the female;to put it differently a struggle for dominance. If left in the same cage the winner, because he has established dominance, will not allow the loser to share the food and water any longer, and the loser may eventually starve to death. It’ll be easiest to take out the loser and place him inside a different cage.
To sum up, if you want to raise really happy and healthy guinea pigs then you should buy a pair of them. They’ll be much better off along with a companion and will be much less susceptible to sickness attributable to loneliness, and will live a long and contented life. Now go buy a guinea pig – or two!
Subscribe To Blog RSS