Guinea Pig Advice Needed...

[USSRGirl]

Ok...here's the thing. I'm going to be gone for about 2-3 days this weekend and I'll have to leave poor Baba-Gnosh Scudamour (1-year-old my guinea pig) home alone in his cage. I've only left him alone overnight once before when I made this same trip a month ago and he was fine. He'll have a gallon of filtered water in his nifty little self-waterer thing and enough food to start his own restuarant chain. Other than that he's got a salt licker, chew toys, three-days supply of vitamin C's ground up evenly in his food, fresh organic strawberries, and his coffee-can hut thing which he sleeps in.

However, I was wondering if anyone who perhaps has some experience with rodents has any ideas about things I could leave to entertain him while I'm gone? I'm a bit concerned about him not getting much exercise while I'm away. He'll have the company of the cat, but other than that not much stimulation.

Just the same though, I'm rather paranoid. Scudamour is no ordinary guinea pig. He's out of his cage most all day walking around the house like a cat, so it will be a big change for him. He's got plenty of room I guess...I didn't want to get him a cage at my local petstore because they were all so small and had metal bars he could chew. So he lives in this kinda giant clear plastic storage tub (big enough to fit my cat inside with some walking space). I'm INCREDIBLY overprotective of him...like Buddha's parents, I don't allow him outside because he might see something icky or unpleasant...and parasites will jump on him. If a grenade was tossed at Scudamour I would not hesitate to jump on top of it.

So...as you can see I'm a bit...paranoid...and would appreciate any and all suggestions who entertaining my pig while I'm gone!

[Kaligraphic]

Rig up something to play the entire Sailor Moon saga, in order, for him.

[Puritan]

I second Kaligraphic's advice, although you could also play all of Ranma 1/2, in fact you could play back-to-back seasons of almost any show: Stargate, Star Trek, Leave it to Beaver, even Dallas. Or you could put on loud music like a guy in Germany did, causing his neighbors to call the police.

[Kaligraphic]

Loud music? The neighbors would punish you in the name of the moon!

[Mithrandir]

... he lives in this kinda giant clear plastic storage tub (big enough to fit my cat inside with some walking space)...

O.O You don't want to know how I imagined you arived at this statement.

[Danyasaur]

my guinea pig likes music, mostly punk rock and ska XD okay, okay, okay, so for something more PRACTICAL, every rodent I have loves it when you give them toilet roll tubes, they go crazy over them! . . . don't ask me why though. I might be affraid he'd get stuck in it if I was gone for a few days though, so. . . I don't know.

[Radical Dreamer]

my guinea pig likes music, mostly punk rock and ska XD okay, okay, okay, so for something more PRACTICAL, every rodent I have loves it when you give them toilet roll tubes, they go crazy over them! . . . don't ask me why though. I might be affraid he'd get stuck in it if I was gone for a few days though, so. . . I don't know.

Oh yeah, I used to give those to my gerbils! XD And paper towel tubes are like, double the size. XD But yes, cardboard = chewtoy to rodents like that. Also, I'm not sure if you've considered buying one or not (or maybe you already have one), but a wheel might be a good idea (though I'm not certain of how you'd attach it to the cage...). Anyways, yeah, you've got a few options here:

1. Fill his cage with cardboard chewies.
2. Smuggle him in your bookbag.
3. Have a neighbor or someone check on him periodically, just to see if he's doing well.

So those are my suggestions. XD Hope they helped, and have fun on your trip!

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Give him to me

[USSRGirl]

Well...this is an overwhelmingly helpful flood of advice (sarcasm).

1. I would never subject him to the horrors of Star Trek, Sailor Moon, or Leave it to Beaver. Luna would scare him anyway...it'd be like "BAHHH!! TALKING DEMON CAT!!!!"

2. PUNK ROCK?!!! :: Shield's Scudamour's ears :: I don't him to become a rebel!!

3. The toilet paper rolls is the best suggestion yet. I used to let my hamster crawl through those, but the pig is WAY too big to fit in one. He would just eat it...Is cardboard really ok for them to eat? I heard it was but...hrmmm.

4. Don't joke, Radical! I have smuggled him into hotels before. XD But I think he'd be more comfortable at home this time.

5. I hate my neighbors. They spray raid like confetti and freak out over every little pest. A friend of mine offered to babysit him...buuuut...I don't really trust her enough. She had a pig a few years ago and it was trampled to death by her dog. (Did I mention she's got FOUR cats, TWO dogs, ONE turtle, and two hermit crabs?)

6. Give my beloved, worshiped, sainted little cavy to MSP...wellllll now...lemme think about that.......I'd sooner hand him over to a Peruvian cuey chef.

[Radical Dreamer]

3. The toilet paper rolls is the best suggestion yet. I used to let my hamster crawl through those, but the pig is WAY too big to fit in one. He would just eat it...Is cardboard really ok for them to eat? I heard it was but...hrmmm.

Oh no, they don't eat it. They kind of just chew it apart and use it for nesting material (at least, that's what my gerbils did). But yes, I'm certain he'll enjoy that. XD

[USSRGirl]

Well...He used to have a cardboard shoe box as kinda a hide-away house thing. And he literally ATE half of it. Over a short period of time too. So...I dunno...probably not a good idea to leave when I'm not there to supervise him.

[Radical Dreamer]

Well...He used to have a cardboard shoe box as kinda a hide-away house thing. And he literally ATE half of it. Over a short period of time too. So...I dunno...probably not a good idea to leave when I'm not there to supervise him.

Actually, I'm not so sure that he ate it as I am that he chewed it up into tiny, soft pieces. XD Because I used to think my gerbils ate their cardboard rolls, too. But, as it turned out, they were only putting it to good use. XD I have another suggestion, though. You could look on a pet website of some sort and try to find out what kinds of things guinea pigs will do when they're left alone. I remember one of those pet sites being rather useful...It's where I found out that it's normal for gerbils to eat their dead "roomates." o_o Long story. XD;

Oh, and about having your friend take care of them...Couldn't you just lend her a spare key to your house so she could come check up on your guinea pig periodically? It would certainly be better than leaving him all alone, not to mention better than having him in her house, where it would be surrounded by who knows what else. XD

Oh, and who's taking care of the cat? O_o

[USSRGirl]

I have been looking on a few piggy sites. Not all that helpful though, except that they suggested the cardboard rolls too. Hrmm. But my pig doesn't make nests. He's lazy so I make them for him. Yeah, gerbils and hamsters are cannibals. XD

My friend lives kinda far away, but I might just do that. My cat has a self-waterer/self-feeder and kitty condo thing, so she'll be fine. It's only going to be like 2 days (3 days max), and they have enough food and water to start their own chain of fast-food restraunts. Plus they get along well...they sleep together, share food bowls..ect. My poor cat even lets the guinea pig chew on her feet without even looking up from her nap! X.x