Guinea pig care

[sylorna]

nope, you can't give them too much vitamin C
Just like us, any extra gets peed out. BUT you can give them too much water (too much iceberg lettuce-which isn't recommended anyway, since there's not much vitamin c to begin with, tomatoes, watermellon, etc) and that can give them the runs sometimes, which can be risky.
Some people will dose the water, but vitamin C evaporates almost immediately after contact with light, and if not then, just simply over time...plus they're less likely to drink as much with the flavouring in the water, so i'd avoid it.
Veggies really are the way to go. If i remember correctly the cavy cages forum always recommended about a cup each a day, I never could get 2 cups worth every day (student) but do what you can.
Parsely is fun to watch them to eat...they eat it like spegatti, and it's nicely high in vitamin C, just as a side note

 

[jen]

ooo I will go parsley shopping tomorrow then!

oh and one more thing! I know you can litter train them. What kind of litter do I use? For my cats I use Feline Pine pellets. Right now I used pine as their bedding because that is all I had. I hate pine bedding and plan to get the cottony stuff next time when I clean it. But it would probably confuse them if I gave them pine pellet litter. Is regular kitty litter okay or what?

 

[white cat lover]

We used Yesterday's News for the Guinea Pig at the shelter here. However, she was already litter trained on arrival & we didn't want to switch litters & confuse the poor girl more.

 

[sylorna]

I tried to litter train my girls, however it is much harder to do than with rabbits (or so I'm told) and I was never quite successful. Basically from what I've read, GP's tend to "go" in the corner more often anyway (which I found to be true) and sometimes-especially males- they have a favourite corner. SO you put a litter pan (I had a corner one that I bought) in the favourite corner and that will help with the majority of the bathrooming, but not all. I used to call my girls "little poo machines" if that gives you any idea of what to expect...it's like they leave a trail behind them. As for peeing while you hold them, most will learn to hold it as long as they can, but I always had an old towel that i held them with, and that saved many a pants (I held them for too long I think). It also catches the poos

You were right about the cottony stuff...it is indeed carefresh and was always my litter of choice, however it does get expensive so I tried just about everything (carefresh, pine, aspen, and even blankets that I washed every day...tried hay once too..NOT recomended) If you can afford the carefresh I'd go with it...I think I ended up with a layer of pine (less expensive) and a layer of carefresh over that (nicer) but I could be wrong. They kicked it all together anyway! lol! yesterdays news was used by lots of people on the forum, but I never used it...I'd think you could put it in your litter pan...it's not like they need the clay sensation.
PS. I've been meaning to mention, that homemade cage I had...was a cavycage cage. I loved how versitle it was (had extra grids and when the girls got to fighting in their old age, I seperated them, but they could still see each other and interact). Also, if you don't do the cage, those grids + zip ties make a great pen for outdoors.

 

[meower]

Our guinea pigs really like parsley, carrots and snap peas. My husband made a cage for outside...no bottom, with two by fours for the base and a metal mesh/wiring with about 1/2" squares for the other five sides... It definetely has a top. Birds, cats, dogs, etc could get them if they didn't. I leave them in my yard for about 30 minutes at a time in the cage and they love it. I did read where they could get sick and die from deer feces so if you need to, watch for that.
My neighbor lost two of her young ones from sun exposure. She said they have no way to cool off, so make sure they have shade.

 

[sweet72947]

In regards to heat exposure, frozen water bottles are useful. Guinea pigs can lay against them to cool off. Rabbits like them too.