Classroom Guinea Pigs(care articles bring them on!)

[NovelNerd]

Oh, students don't give them treats. My kids are actually doing really good about it. One of the  guinea pigs nips, so we just bop her nose and tell her "no" ( at least that's how I trained my rats I would assume it would work with guinea pigs?).  I had one class of older boys intentionally try to teach them to bite, so they can no longer have them out. They are mostly for my 7th graders, and they are really big on learning how to care for them. We have been practicing getting them in and out of the cage.  I've been working on handling their feet more because they are skittish when being picked up and sometimes scratch the kids a little in the process. Would it be weird to file their nails?

I'm going tonight to get supplies to make a cage for them since I saw all the cube and chloroplast tutorials. I buy Oxbow rat food for my rats since it's basically the best you can have. I noticed they make a guinea pig food, and it says it has vitamin C. Does anyone use this food? Is it good like the rat food is?

Also these girls were born late Februrary and are staying in a smaller cage since they can squeeze out of the chloroplast one that their owner had made. How long before I should be able to move them to the bigger cage I built? Also I purchased young adult guinea pig food for them. How long should they eat young food? I know my rats stayed on it six months, but I wasn't sure about the guinea pigs. Also I'll have to take pics! I pics of them with the kids, but I'm of course not going to post pics of my students. I'll get pic when they are in the new cage!

[rearing_palomino164]

Good advice I've read so far! We used to see a lot of them at my old clinic. Do make sure they get their vitamin c. They have very fragile backs. Don't let them be dropped or twist and do not put them in one of those run around balls or a wheel. They can paralyze themselves. Something to chew on so their teeth stay filed down. I was also told they can catch the human cold, so as soon as you see them having any runny eyes or nose or wheezing, get them to a vet! We also saw many come in with ringworm and "head tilt". They can be hardy, just make sure to take them to a vet for checkups.

[NovelNerd]

Little bump seems we have a small issue

[northstar3184]

Here you go, Maddie. We had a young girl recently write to our shelter about cat and dog care and with my letter response I sent her some info sheets from the ASPCA's website. They also have some useful info about guinea pigs as well:
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/small-pet-care/guinea-pig-care
https://www.aspca.org/sites/default/files/upload/images/guinea_pig_edu.pdf

The Humane Society also has some great pages:
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/guinea_pigs/tips/guinea_pig_tips.html
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/guinea_pigs/

Hope that helps!

[kaoskat]

*shrugs* I could tell you how to teach them to jump through hoops?

[bathynomus]

To add more care sheets-here are some from my job (an exotics-only practice)

http://www.exoticpetvet.com/breeds/guineapig1.htm
http://www.exoticpetvet.com/breeds/Health%20Problems%20with%20Guinea%20Pigs.htm

Oxbow is great guinea pig food as well as hay!  Definitely give supplemental vitamin C though.  Oxbow makes a treat form but you can use human stuff as well.  About 100 mg a day is appropriate.  The vitamin C drops that go in the water degrades too fast to be of any use.

Clipping (or filing, though I can't imagine a pig sitting still for that) nails is fine. When they're young the nails will be sharper but once they reach adulthood they'll curl under and need regular trimmings.

Hope this helps/wasn't telling you a bunch of stuff you already know!  I looooooove guinea pigs.

[Thunderwing]

This is my favorite site. It is very detailed, with lots of info, but still easy to understand.

http://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.html

[Haruna]

Is it recommended that guinea pigs be kept in pairs or is it okay to have just one?   This is a pet I might like to have someday. <3

They are social animals. However, two males will often fight. So keeping two males together often doesn't work, but keeping two females is often fine. As an exception to that rule, my brother had two males that we think might have been raised together and seemed to get along great, so they were kept that way. He kept them in a cage with a male rabbit. They often looked to the rabbit as like a protector, hiding behind him or under him when they were scared. It was so cute when they were all out of their cage. The two guinea pigs would follow the rabbit in a little train formation.

I love guinea pigs! I pretty much agree with Northstar, but want to add that if you do get two female guinea pigs someday, I'd recommend getting two that are already related or that have been together for a long time and get along. When I was ten I got my first guinea pig, and some time later got her a female guinea pig friend from a pet store. They were not friends. I guess the first one felt territorial or something, and they weren't the same age (the first was probably three years old, the second approaching a year). But anyway, guinea pigs are so cute and I do recommend them as pets.

And that's really cute about the rabbit.