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Ann's Guinea PigsWe are currently not accepting rescue piggies. Our caviary is full.
If you are trying to give up piggies for adoption in the Tampa area, please contact the Tampa Bay SPCA.
They are located in Largo, Pinellas County. They are a no-kill shelter and will find a home for your piggies.
If you can't look after your piggies, please don't dump your piggies with a vet or elsewhere!
Likewise, if you are looking to adopt a piggy, please contact the TBSPCA first, before buying from a petshop.
You can look for piggies at this link.
It is often not up to date, so do not be discouraged if you do not see any guinea pigs listed. Call the shelter and get on their list of people wanting guinea pigs. They can also recommend other shelters that have guinea pigs for adoption.
If you have other questions, you can email or ring (call) Ann and she will try to help you with your piggy.
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 Sydney |
Bruce
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Ginger |
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Trix |
 Hillary |
Kinjaroo |
Most of these piggies are rescued orphans or were abandoned by their original owners
Guinea Pigs are still
classified as
rodents, but there has
been talk of them being classified as their own order.
There are no recorded cases of transmission of rabies or other
communicable
diseases.
Rest in Peace, our dear
departed piggies - link
For those who keep track of obscure
national observations, March is adopt-a-rescued guinea pig month.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and
Petfinder.com,
the leader in online pet adoptions, are inviting
families to learn about these darling critters and consider adopting
one.
Guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus, or “cavies”) are
native to South
America. They can live up to 10 years in captivity and are quite social
creatures. There are about 13 breeds of guinea pigs, differentiated by
their hair types, colours and markings. Some cavies have long silky
hair, while others have a rough coat resembling multiple cowlicks all
over their bodies.
Not all families have the space or can afford to care for a dog or cat,
so guinea pigs can make a nice family companion.
“On any given day, we have between 2 and 10 healthy guinea
pigs
awaiting adoption for just $5,” says Connie Brooks, shelter
manager for
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Tampa Bay.
“Guinea
pigs make great small pets. When they are turned in to a shelter,
it’s
usually because people realize that their care and clean up is more
intensive than first thought. Just because a pet is little,
doesn’t
mean it’s easier to care for.”
The domesticated guinea pig is quiet and affectionate — even
cuddly, enthusiasts say. They don’t require constant
attention and have
relatively low-cost daily upkeep. Perhaps the most adorable guinea pig
trait is their language of squeaks, squeals, gurgles, growls and
murmurs.
Cavies only bite if they are very frightened by things such as
mishandling or a threatening animal.
Guinea pigs may look like toys, but they are delicate critters
that need gentle handling. Children younger than 6 are too young to
handle guinea pigs. Older youngsters should be supervised by an adult
and taught how to pick up and hold them properly.
To help you care for your pet guinea pig, find a knowledgeable
veterinarian who can tell you about the pet’s
dietary,
grooming and
housing needs.
Here are piggy particulars:
•Cavies are social herd animals. They prefer each
other’s company
and thrive best if kept in pairs. Be careful not to pair a male and a
female or you’ll have more pigs than you’ll know
what to do with. Adult
females are easiest to keep. Young males get along well, but may become
aggressive as they become adults.
•Guinea pigs love to run and play and are capable of jumping
12
inches. Therefore, the minimum enclosure for a single pig is a 2-foot
cube. The more guinea pigs you have, the more space you’ll
need.
•Wire-bottomed cages may be used as long as something is
placed on
the floor to prevent their little feet from getting caught in the floor
bottom. Glass aquarium enclosures should never be used because of
inadequate ventilation. Keep housing away from direct sunlight, drafts
and temperature extremes. Always line the cages with safe bedding such
as sawdust or wood shavings.
•Guinea pigs love to hide and play. Outfit their enclosures
with
cardboard or PVC tubes wide enough for them to fit through. You may
also allow cavies playtime in a single room, once it has been
pig-proofed for safety. Always supervise their playtime outside the
cage.
•Feed your guinea pigs quality, commercial pellets made
especially
for them. They require daily vitamin C, which rabbit pellets do not
contain. You can also supplement their daily diet with small amounts of
fresh fruit and vegetables. Be sure to clean up leftover fresh food
before it spoils. Water should be provided in an inverted bottle that
attaches to their enclosure. Change the water every day.
Gnawing Ideas
•Like all rodents, guinea pigs’ teeth grow
continuously. Provide
pigs with a piece of wood to gnaw. That will wear the teeth
down. Use
a pesticide-free tree branch, or unpainted wood that has not been
chemically treated.
•Brush your guinea pig regularly to keep the coat smooth and
remove loose hair. Long-haired guinea pigs should be groomed daily to
prevent tangles and matting.
If you think a guinea pig sounds like a great family addition, go
to Petfinder.com and search for available guinea pigs at your local
animal shelter.
If you don’t have computer access, you can use the public
computers at your local library or call your local animal shelter to
see if they have guinea pigs available for adoption.
Write to pet-lifestyle expert Kristen Levine at Fetching
Communications, P.O. Box 222, Tarpon Springs FL 34688; fax at
(727)
934-6451 or e-mail kristen@
fetchingcommunications.com
Our
high tech custom built pens
(which I designed and made from scratch in Grenada):
¾” PVC pipe, elbows and Ts make the ideal cleanable pens with ¼” wire mesh for floors and walls.
We laid down paper or towels as a floor over the mesh to prevent broken feet or legs.
One of the easiest ways to house your piggy is to use wire cube storage. These are available from many stores; Wal-Mart, Target, etc. They do vary slightly in size, so be sure to pick a size that can be "mated with" later. You can see how to use these in our slideshow. A minimum of 2x2 cube faces should be used.
Coroplast can be used to make clean, durable sleeping quarters, etc.We got ours in Tampa, here. It comes in 4x8 sheets, so you will have problems getting it into a car, but we just about did it with our 2005 Toyota Corolla.
Caution! The price of a sheet varies enourmously, depending on whether the sign maker wants to be bothered in dealing with you. Our nearest store wanted $28 a sheet(!). I think we ended up paying about $8 a sheet by shopping around, so we bought four of them.
Food
We get treats of fresh vegetables every day (green peppers, lettuce, cabbage, cucumber etc.). We eat only Cavy Cuisine pellets. We also get, every day, a half (50mg) of Puritans Pride Acerola with Vitamin C.
Our older friends, or if we are sick, eat Critical Care to get a real boost. Oxbow products can be bought from our local feedstore.
Details of our high tech watering system! We designed it and got our human slaves to make it for us. Fine tuning was done by eating or destroying parts until our humans got it right!
Sorry that our
dimensions
are in Imperial measure – the
USA hasn’t changed to metric.
First
of all, why a watering system? There have
been as
many as 16 of us, so filling water bottles and fixing them to the right
places
on a fence was very labour intensive for our humans (poor things). The
watering
system came about as a way to save filling and checking bottles each
day and
providing one reservoir of water which could be checked easily. The
system
can feed us water for a w(h)eek without needing a refill!
Parts
needed:
Rubbermaid
mop Bucket (with flat recessed area in base – on
the end that cannot be
seen in this picture!) (Walmart/Ace)
0.5”
boat
through-hull in nylon (Ace)
Small
amount of caulking
2”
of 0.5” plastic hose (Home Depot)
Adapter
, barbed, (nylon) from 0.5” to 3/8” (Home Depot)
2”
of 3/8” plastic hose (Home Depot)
Adapter,
barbed, (nylon) from 3/8” to 3/16” (Home Depot)
Numerous,
barbed, 3/16” T’s – hard to find
– except in auto
supply shops
where 3/16” parts are used for vacuum lines! (Allied/Discount
Auto Parts).
As
much 3/16” plastic hose as required. (Home Depot)
Special
3/16” guinea
pig proof water nozzles! These are pretty
expensive, but worth the investment.
A
few cable ties.
Assembly
and failed experiments:
It
turns out that the selection of hardware and line size was determined
by the
final nozzles. We originally used some nozzles which were
3/8” diameter, but
had a fine thread, not barbs. These didn’t work out very well
– they were too
easy for the piggies to play with, sometimes stuck open (causing the
system to
drain) and were often pulled out. This despite attempts to clamp them
in, tape
them in and even use adhesive lined heat-shrink tubing. This the
piggies loved
– they ate the heatshrink tubing and pulled the nozzles
out!!!! The only
solution was to use barbed metal nozzles. The ideal ones were only made
in
3/16”. They, and the parts to go with them, were quite
expensive, so we opted
to buy the rest of the system from local hardware shops. This also
meant that
they were the only specialised parts in the system.
Firstly,
the Rubbermaid mop bucket was the only one we found which had a nice
flat area
at the bottom of the bucket. Through this we drilled (using what is
known in the
USA as a Drill
wood bit ) the hole for the through-hull. The through-hull is
then mounted
“backwards” the piece that goes outside the boat in
the inside of the bucket,
and the nut and barbed outlet on the outside. When fitting, apply a
small
amount of caulking to the flat faces (inside and out), tighten down and
wipe
off the excess caulking. This now gives you a leak-free water container
with an
outlet “spigot” ready to adapt down to
3/16”.
The various adaption pieces are used to get down to the ultimate 3/16” line (within the space of less than 4”). The bucket is mounted about 3 feet above the point where the piggies get their water. Once into 3/16” line, it proceeds via T’s to each of the splits in the system (male and female) and then into vertical drops (using a T, a short length of line and then a nozzle). The end of the lines terminate in a nozzle. Bleeding the system of air can be done by humans, or often by the GPs who seem to know what to do!
Peter Gurney another loveable Englishman (!) His own site.
All about GP dental health
British Association Of RodentologistsGuinea Pig Theatre – fantastic!!!! More extended list of plays
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