Care Guides

[wickedrodent]

I have seen some things posted on here (about real life animals) that really concerns me. I understand that many people are not fully educated (if at all) before acquiring an animal, but not researching to the fullest extend AFTER getting the animal is something that is unforgivable. For the benefit for the owners, and even more so for their pets, I have put together care guides for some of the animals that tend to be overlooked when it comes to proper care. For the meantime I am sticking to three, Guinea pigs, Rats and Hamsters since these are the ones I have the most experience with. I am keeping the information to a minimum of basic required care but there is much more that goes into owning these animals. If anyone needs more information than what I have provided or would like questions answered please go ahead and message me.

Guinea Pigs:

Food: Dietary requirements for guinea pigs are extensive. Many people just feed some pet store acquired pellets and nothing else. This is completely wrong in many ways. All guinea pigs (newborn to elderly) need unlimited timothy hay at ALL times. Baby guinea pigs (up to 6 months old) and pregnant and nursing mothers need alfalfa hay in addition to the timothy. Pellets are also good, but only in moderation (1/4 of a cup per day per pig). None of the pellets avaliable in petstores are healthy to feed your guinea pigs. The best food is Oxbow. They also sell hay. You can contact them through their website: www.oxbowhay.com Fresh vegetables are also a MUST. This could mean the difference between life and death in your pig. A good simple vegetable diet would be romaine lettuce, 1 cherry tomato, 1 baby carrot, slice of bell pepper, and few sprigs of cilantro daily. Check www.guineapigcages.com for more good options.

Diet Overview:

–1/4 cup of pellets per day per pig.
–Unlimited Timothy Hay.
–Fresh veggies daily!
–No salt licks.
–No mineral wheels.
–No drops in water.
-Nothing by the brand Kaytee. (Has been known to cause cancer)
–No seed mix foods (which basically covers all pet store foods)
–Best pellets/hay: Oxbow

Housing:

No petstore cages are acceptable. They are ALL too small. Guinea pigs require at the very minimum 28in x 56in for two pigs. This must be all one level. Upper levels do not count toward overall space. The best and most inexpensive options to house them are C&C cages. These are made from organization cubes and coroplast. I use this type of cage for my 3 guinea pigs (it is 36in x 72in) and I will never use anything else. Its amazingly simple to clean and the pigs LOVE it. To learn more about C&C cages: www.guineapigcages.com

Housing overview:

–Pet store cages are all too small.
–C&C cages are the best option.
--NEVER house your pig on wire flooring. Only solid flooring is acceptable.
--Indoor housing is the only safe way. Please do not house your pig outside. Temperature changes and wild animals both pose a major threat to the animals.
–Never use Cedar or Pine bedding, it is toxic to all animals.
–Aspen, Carefresh, and Fleece (my personal favorite) are all safe beddings.
–Never use running wheels or runaround balls for guinea pigs!


Social Life:

--Guinea pigs are herd animals and MUST be housed with a same sex or altered companion.
–Never house a guinea pig with another breed of animal.
–Never let a guinea pig play with another breed of animal.

Breeding:

Please do not breed your guinea pigs. For one thing they are very overpopulated. Thousands are up for adoption in the United States alone, on petfinder and through classifieds. Petstores and breeders combined are to blame for this. With the excessive breeding and purchasing of guinea pigs and the accidental litters caused by petstores mix sexing it is become as much a problem as the overpopulation of dogs and cats. When a female guinea pig DOES get pregnant she has a 1/4 change of dying, along with her babies.

Overview-

–Please do not breed.
–To find a homeless guinea pig for adoption check www.petfinder.com and search your local classifieds section. There is always an animal you can help, you just need to be patient and keep searching.


Rats:

Yes, rats make excellent pets. They are just as loving and sweet, if not more, than cats, dogs, and guinea pigs. Just like these other animals they need a lot of care and attention.

Diet:

Rat diet is difficult, many things can be fed to rats and daily diets fluxuate between who you ask. I recommend feeding harlan lab block or oxbow regal rat for the main pellets. Rats also need fresh foods and a grain mixture daily.
Overview:

–Main pellets– Oxbow regal rat or Harlan Lab Block.
–Suebees: (www.ratsrule.com/diet.html)
–Fresh veggies daily (check ratsrule for more information on this)

Housing:

This is also rather difficult and varies where you ask. I personally give my rats as much space as possible and see 4 square feet per rat as a good minimum. Most others use 2 square feet as the minimum. You can check how many rats your cage holds here: http://www.rattycorner.com/odds/calc.shtml

I personally use the Ferret Nation cage and it is truly the best cage on the market. Its super easy to clean and gives my boys the most space possible.

Overview:

–At the very minimum 2 square feet (15in x 15in x 15in) per rat.
–No cedar or pine bedding, it is toxic.
-Aspen, Carefresh, and Fleece (my personal favorite) are all good options.

For more information check out the Rats Rule Forum:
www.goosemoose.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,118/forum,rat

Social Life:

One simple thing:

Rats are social and must be housed with another rat. It is possible that you could have a ‘lone rat’ if the rat in question is aggressive. This is very rare from what I have heard and it is almost always possible to introduce rats peacefully. Please keep same sexes together only unless one or all are spayed or neutered.

Hamsters:

There are two basic types of hamsters that are usually seen as ‘pets’. Dwarfs and Syrians. Syrians (called teddy bear, panda, calico, and other various named by petstores who want to make them sound more appealing) are solitary and MUST be housed alone! Campbells Dwarfs are social and can usually be housed with another of their same species and gender. If you are confused about the type of hamster you have please do a google picture search for each or message me a picture of your hamster.

Housing:

Hamster housing is also very hard. Pet store cages just do not give enough space. It is possible to get a rat or ferret cage to modify into a hamster cage but its often more trouble than it is worth. Aquariums are not good options because they do not provide good ventilation. They CAN be used, but I do not recommend it. Plastic cages sold for hamsters such as Crittertrail, SAM, and habitrail should never be used. Neither should any plastic cages or cages with wire bottom floors. I recommend Martins cages with the very strict condition that something is used to cover the wire floors. A good option is vinyl tiles.
www.martinscages.com

Overview:

–No petstore cages are good options.
–Martins are good with the exception that something is used to cover floors.
-Aquariums not recommended.
-Never use plastic cages.
-Never use cages with wire floors.

Diet:

I recommend Harlan lab blocks or Oxbow Hamster Diet.

Note to moderators: Please do not delete this. If you feel the need to lock this to ensure no arguments break out, feel free. I just wish to help the animals in question. As this is a virtual pet site it does seem like a good place, especially when some of the members are taking virtual pet care into the real world where it is not the same and should not be treated the same.

Thank you.

[Kholran]

Thanks for this, wicked. I can't speak for the other ops, but I have no intention of deleting this. It's important information, and if the basic needs of a pet can't be met, then perhaps pets are not for everyone. I won't hesitate to lock the thread if fighting ensues, but one would hope that no one's going to argue over dietary and housing needs for their pets.

I'd be happy to contribute similar information on cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, and degus/chinchillas. I work in a shelter, so educating on the basic needs of companion animals is my specialty. I admit, it also causes me to be very opinionated on some topics (spay/neuter and declawing to name a few) but I'll try to stay as factual as I can and not go off on tangents

[odinsdottir]

How about making it a sticky?

Thanks for this... I get concerned also.... Too many pets are acquired because they are CUTE, or bred because babies are COOL, with no regard for what happens to them in the future. In a way responsibility is learned from caring for animals, true, but some animals suffer when the novelty becomes old news.

If only one animal is treated better because of a post thread like this, then it was worth the effort to post it.

*applauds*

odinsdottir

[LHUhannah]

Working at a pet store I see this a lot. I can even admit to "impulse pets." But it's always good to be able to find something like this with all the basics covered

[Jinxx]

Giving several links to informational sites might be best actually.

I've been involved with rats for years and not once visited the rats rule site.

http://ratfanclub.org/helpinfo.html
http://www.rmca.org/Resources/rmcafaq.htm
http://www.afrma.org/rmindex.htm

I'm sure there's more links but aol ate half my favorites folders a while back and I haven't rebookmarked a lot of them yet.

I prefer Martins cages for rats.

[Chilly Girl]

This is great info, and please may I add:

People, even though that this is a great resource, don't stop your search for info here! There are many other places and people to talk to about keeping pets.


But, please, don't get me wrong, this is a great resorce!

[wickedrodent]

Thanks Jinx, I wasn't too sure about posting links here so I went ahead and made enough written information just in case.

I found rats rule forum to be really good if you need to ask questions. When I was in the process of adopting my two boys it really helped me get everything ready for their arrival.

Here are some really good links.

Guinea pigs:

www.guineapigcages.com
www.guineapigcages.com/forum (great place to ask questions)
www.guinealynx.com
www.cavyspirit.com

Hamsters:

www.hamsterhideout.com/allabthams.html
www.hamsterific.com

Oh, and just as reference I decided to add some cage pictures.

My guinea pig cage:



The cage is mostly C&C but we had to inprovise a little to get it to fit on the rolling stand that goes over my bed during the day and in front of the closet at night. It is 36in x 72in and there is also a 'basement' that is 30in x 36in

Here is an example of a regular C&C cage (large enough for 2 pigs):



Rat Cage (Ferret Nation):

When I first got it:



Complete (also babyproofed with 1/4 inch harware mesh):

Bottom-



Top-



Hamster cage (the only one I ever loved [grids from linens and things]:



And of course.. Some inhabitants pictures.

Daphne (middle), Delilah (right), and Dudley (left):



Jasper (right) and Jinx:



And a random cute one of Jinx:

[Tanitsja]

great, maybe should give this to my sis, she has guinea pigs, 2 of them, she got i am not sure i think its 3-4 cages by now, 1 is the one she keep at home, she bougth it of my aunt and it was ment for a rabit, so i think its big enough, and she had them out each day

she also have one of those small travel cages that they dont have place to run around and end up hurting themself in by princip

she may have some other original cage, cant recal that was of the pet shop type, if so i havent seen it in ages, and she have a dog cage that she takes with her when she is unable to take the big cage with her, to go like home to my mom for weekends or such, so they are in it limited time like 2 days

for long visits in holidays she always transport the big one

i know they also get pelets, hay, and fresh vegetables each day, and she have some book on them

so sounds like she isnt totaly off in the country

personaly i know dog best, and the thing i know is there is huge differences in breed, and where you live as well.

feed, housing, neuture or not, and a lot of other things, so what may be vital to suply for one dog, is just as vital to keep away from another.
I think we may have several who know dogs, mayhaps if we want to make a guide it could be made more covering by everyone adding their knowledge into it as its such a broad topic.

[wickedrodent]

[American]

Nice idea wicked. I've also seen many people talking about they're pets and they seem so... unresponsible, unknowledgable? I'm sure many others have too. Good idea though

[LHUhannah]

well there are people having children with no idea what they are doing all the time. So why would having a pet be any different.......the worst is when people who shouldn't have kids let their kids have pets.....oh well

[Cecelia]

Thanks so much for adding this wickedrodent. I have one question. Are you allowed to put rabbits and guinea pigs together!

[Kholran]

[wickedrodent]

Rabbits and Guinea pigs should never be allowed in the same area together at all. Even the smallest rabbit can do serious injury to a guinea pig with one half hearted kick of his feet. Unless you are holding one and someone is holding the other and just allowing them to smell eachother, there should be no interaction whatsoever. Even then it is really pointless; all you would be doing is spreading potential illness' between them.

[Cecelia]

Ok thanks you guys! My rabbit is pregnant right now and we are going to get good homes for the babies. One of my friends that wants a rabbit was going to house him with her guinea pig. I'll definitely tell her that's a bad idea now!