New Piggy in the house!

Question
Hallo Christina,
My husband surprised the family with a new guinea pig today.  We think its an Abysinian (all white with whirly hair tufts) - he is six months old - last of two in the pet shop.  He seems very tame and relaxed.  How do we make him part of the family - is he too old to be tamed? How and where do they like to be stroked? What importand things do we need to remember? We are all really excited about our new piggy and we want to do the right things! If you could give us some advice we would really appreciate it!

Regards
Monique  

Answer
Hello.

It's great to hear that he is very tamed and relaxed. Not very common when you first get a pig. Most are pretty timid and shy. Guinea pigs are never too old to be tamed! :) Making him part of the family is just to love him, make sure that you pet him / hold him everyday. Give him plenty of excercise outside of the cage. I prefer to lay on the floor when it's "outside the cage" time, and let my pigs come up to me. They are very curious animals. Now, when i lay on the floor, they climb on me. Usually licking my toes or something. They learn to trust you as someone who isn't going to hurt them.

Every guinea pig is different in what they like. Some guinea pigs like under their chin rubbed / scratched. Just pet your pig like any animal, rubbing your hand from the top of the head to the bottom. Sometimes they make a purr noise when you get close to their bottom. This is because it tickles them / and sometimes excites them. I like to give a rub behind the ears. Just feel your pig out to see what he/she likes. Sometimes you will notice that when you pet your pig on the top of the head, she/he will jerk their head up quickly. This pretty much means that right now, they are just not in the mood for their head to be pet right then. I usually try to respect that.

Some advice for you?  Make sure to have a large enough cage. Most pet store cages aren't large enough for the pig. Does your pig have enough room to run laps around the cage? To explore new things? Guinea pigs can become bored and lonely if not mentally stimulated (this is why 2 guinea pigs are better than one!) They really do thrive on the company of other animals. They like to have friends!  I have made a homemade cage that is pretty large (big enough for my 4 pigs to live together and run around) and it costs me about 50 bucks to make!  Here's the website that talks about how to make the cage.  www.cavycages.com   Look under the cubes and coroplast cage.  :)

Make sure to give your pig the veggies he needs for vitamin c. For a printable list of veggies, go to this website.   www.guinealynx.com   

That website also has alot of great information on it.  If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

I'm sorry this was not within the 24 hours i promised, things have been really busy for me.

Christy :)