» c&c http://bluestonecages.com Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:25:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 When are you going to find a better cage than a Blue Stone Commerce C&C Cage? http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/are-you-looking-for-a-great-cc-cage-with-an-innovative-design http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/are-you-looking-for-a-great-cc-cage-with-an-innovative-design#comments Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:54:16 +0000 bob http://bluestonecages.com/?p=60

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]]> http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/are-you-looking-for-a-great-cc-cage-with-an-innovative-design/feed 11 C&C (Cubes & Coroplast) Guinea Pig CagesTie Wraps or Plastic Press-On ConnectorsA Comparison http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/cc-cubes-coroplast-guinea-pig-cagestie-wraps-or-plastic-press-on-connectorsa-comparison http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/cc-cubes-coroplast-guinea-pig-cagestie-wraps-or-plastic-press-on-connectorsa-comparison#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:11:26 +0000 bob http://bluestonecages.com/?p=28 Most other Cubes and Coroplast guinea pig cage sellers use plastic press-on connectors in their cage construction. This video will show you exactly why we here at BlueStoneCommerce disagree with this practice and exclusively use zip ties (tie-wraps, cable-ties) as fasteners in all of our cage designs.


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]]> http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/cc-cubes-coroplast-guinea-pig-cagestie-wraps-or-plastic-press-on-connectorsa-comparison/feed 4 Guinea Pig Cages – How to Build a C&C Cage http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-%e2%80%93-how-to-build-a-cc-cage http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-%e2%80%93-how-to-build-a-cc-cage#comments Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:00:38 +0000 bob http://bluestonecages.com/?p=430 C&C cages are becoming increasingly popular. Their usage has increased dramatically over the past few years. This is largely because pet owners are beginning to realize that while standard mass-produced pet store cages may be economically feasible to house racks of laboratory guinea pig test subjects, they fail to provide a comfortable and healthy living environment for our much-loved family pets.

So how do you go about building a C&C cage? As a first step, you will need to design your cage. C&C cages can be as simple as a rectangular “fence” placed around the perimeter of a Coroplast box; or as complex as a multi-level “pig mansion” complete with a top, a bottom, ramps and balcony levels. The choice is yours. Literally hundreds of photos are available online to inject inspiration into your cage design efforts.

Some things that you might want to consider when designing your cage are:

  • A top or lid for your cage if you have a cat, toddler or other “domestic predators” in the house.
  • A wire bottom if the cage is to be placed on a table. Cages with no bottoms can be dangerous for your pigs because once an edge slips off the table; it may drag the entire cage down onto the floor.
  • If your cage has a top, be sure that it has large openings to make cleaning and cage maintenance easy. Trying to clean an enclosed cage through a small opening is difficult at best.

Once you have your cage designed, you will need to purchase all of the necessary materials. You will need grids, Corolast and some type of fasteners to hold the unit together.

You can generally obtain grids by purchasing a wire storage cube shelving unit from one of the major department stores. Be sure that the grids have openings that are no larger than 1.5 inches. One of the national department stores has recently changed the design on their storage cube units in order to save costs. The unit is constructed from grids that are 14-inches square. The old design had nine squares alone each edge. The new cost-reduced version uses 8×8 grids.

Various pig rescue organizations have reported guinea pig strangulation deaths and injuries resulting from using these 8×8 grids in C&C cages. It vitally important that these grids be avoided when building your cage. Be sure that if you are using 14-inch by 14-inch grids, that they are the 9×9 variety. As an alternative, insure that the openings are 1.5 inches or less on each side.

If grids are not available in your area, you can often obtain them by contacting one of the several online C&C cage sellers.

Coroplast is generally not available in hardware and home improvement stores. The best way to buy Coroplast is to contact local sign shops. Coroplast is routinely used for outdoor lawn signs. You will want to contact multiple sign shops and get a few quotes as they vary widely in price. If you wish, sign-makers may even be willing to cut it to size for you for a small fee. When contacting sign shops, be sure to tell them you are building a guinea pig cage. They may offer you a lower price when they find that you are not a competitor.

The last thing you will need is a means of connecting all of the grids together. Most storage cube kits come with press-on plastic knob connectors included. Most C&C cage designers use these fasteners to build cages.

As an alternative, you can also use tie wraps or zip ties to hold your cage together. Although they require a little extra work to apply, they offer a much stronger, sturdier and more permanent fastening method than the press-on plastic connectors.

You can also avoid all of the work involved in designing your cage and in finding materials by purchasing a C&C cage kit online. These kits come with instructions and all the materials required to build your cage. Either way, building a C&C cage is a great way to provide a healthy and comfortable environment for your cavies at an economical price.

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]]> http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-%e2%80%93-how-to-build-a-cc-cage/feed 0 Guinea Pig Cages – The Most Important Element in Guinea Pig Cage Cleaning http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-%e2%80%93-the-most-important-element-in-guinea-pig-cage-cleaning http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-%e2%80%93-the-most-important-element-in-guinea-pig-cage-cleaning#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:00:11 +0000 bob http://bluestonecages.com/?p=428 One of the most important factors in insuring that your guinea pig cage is easy to clean is ironically also one of the most overlooked criteria in cage selection. If you want to be assured that the next cage you purchase will be easy to clean and maintain, be sure to read on.

When we purchase a cage for our guinea pigs, we consider many factors – size, color, durability, attractiveness, etc.  These factors vary depending upon our individual tastes and needs. But the ultimate bottom line is: we want to be sure that the cage we choose is not only good for the pig but also good for the pet owner.

In order to make cage-cleaning an easy task, it is absolutely essential that your cage be equipped with large openings. If your cage is fitted with small openings, you will begin to have trouble even before you begin the cage-cleaning process.

Before you begin cleaning, you will need to move your pigs out of their cage and to another area. If you have ever tried to catch a guinea pig through a small opening, you will realize just how difficult it is. In order to easily pick up your cavy, you need to use both hands to guide or funnel the pig in toward your body where it can be gently captured.

If you have a small opening, you will not be able to use both hands. Instead, you will have to learn to execute something I call the “scramble and grab” technique. In other words, the pig will scramble around the cage while you attempt to implement the single-handed grab. This is not an easy task and, even after you get good at it, it may still require several attempts to capture your pig(s).

Now it’s time to clean the bedding out of your cage. If you have a small, standard pet store cage; you will simply disconnect the top wire portion from the plastic litter tray and dump the small amount of litter into a waste receptacle. Some pet store cages have lids that swing up to create a very large opening. Others have a very small door on the side. Either way, cleaning is no problem because removing the top essentially creates a large opening for you to work with.

However, we strongly advise against putting your cavy in a small pet store cage because it is far too small to provide a healthy living environment for your pig. So it doesn’t meet the win-win criteria mentioned above. In other words, it’s good for you (easy to clean), but bad for your pig (unhealthy living conditions).

In recent years, largely due to the internet, people have become more informed about humane and healthy guinea pig living conditions and many are recognizing that standard pet store cages are sadly inadequate in terms of space requirements. While they may have been economically feasible in the past to house laboratory guinea pig test subjects, they fail to provide ample space for our much-loved family pets.

Because of this, people have been turning to C&C (cubes and Coroplast) cages as a much-healthier alternative – and this is great for the pig. However, many of these C&C designs are equipped with small doors (approximately one square foot). Once again our win-win criteria are violated. This type of cage is good for the pig – but bad for the human owners.

A large cage – like a C&C cage – may hold as much as 25-lbs. of bedding. You can imagine how time-consuming it can be to remove 25-lbs. of soiled bedding through a small opening. Then, you have to clean the entire bottom with vinegar and water and replace 25-lbs. of bedding – again, all through that small opening.

A great solution is to get a cage with a large opening. Cages with entire sides that fold down like a pickup truck tailgate are available and can make cage-cleaning very much faster, easier and less frustrating. Bedding can be shoveled out easily. And the large opening offers easy access for cleaning. Alternatively, the entire Coroplast bin can be slipped out through the large opening for very easy cleaning. And lastly – putting in fresh bedding is a snap. No more endlessly shoveling tiny amounts through a little opening. The bedding can be poured in directly from the bag.

Large openings are a factor that most of us rarely consider when selecting a new guinea pig cage. However this situation must change if we wish to save hours of time and frustration in our cage-cleaning routines.

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]]> http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-%e2%80%93-the-most-important-element-in-guinea-pig-cage-cleaning/feed 1 Guinea Pigs – A Cavy Q&A http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pigs/guinea-pigs-%e2%80%93-a-cavy-qa http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pigs/guinea-pigs-%e2%80%93-a-cavy-qa#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:00:30 +0000 bob http://bluestonecages.com/?p=422 The guinea pig is one of the most popular pets in North America. In spite of this, there are many facts about this little creature that are not commonly known by most people. Please join me as I attempt to explore (sometimes successfully) some facts regarding the history and characteristics of our friend the guinea pig.

Author’s note: No pigs were harmed in the writing of this article.

Q: How much do guinea pigs weigh at birth?

A: Guinea pigs (also known as cavies) only weigh in at around three ounces at birth.

Q: When guinea pigs are born, do they hold them up by their legs and spank them like human babies?

A: No! Absolutely not. (See author’s note above).

Q: How large do they get to be when they grow up? Do they weigh more than a sweet potato? They’re kind of shaped like a sweet potato.

A: The average adult boar (male) weighs around three pounds. The smaller adult sow (female) averages only about two pounds. I don’t know how much the average adult sweet potato weighs.

Q: What is the difference between a sweet potato and a yam?

A: This one deserves a two-part answer: 1) Neither one is a mammal and 2) remember, we’re talking about guinea pigs!

Q: How big do guinea pigs get? How long is the average adult cavy?

A: As adults, guinea pigs average about 9 – 14 inches in length. (At least as long as most adult sweet potatoes).

Q: How long do guinea pigs live? How long would that be in dog years?

A: On average, this little rodent has a life expectancy of about five to seven years. I don’t know how long that would be in dog years – but I can tell you from experience; in husband years, it’s about seven minutes.

Q: How come dog years are a measurement of time whereas light years are a measurement of distance?

A: Yams and sweet potatoes are both angiosperms. However, yams are from the Dioscoreaceae family whereas sweet potatoes are botanically unrelated and are from the Convolvulacea family…

Q: What do you call baby cavies? Piglets? Piggies? Kittens? Sprouts? Futons?

A: Nope, oddly enough, although adult males are called boars and females are called sows; baby guinea pigs are not called piglets (or futons). They’re called pups. So, if our dog gave birth to pups, I’m sure it would really confuse our guinea pig because…

(our dog is a male).

Q: What is a group of cavies called? A pack? Flock? Covey of cavies? Gaggle of guineas? A pride of pigs?

A: Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong… and… wrong. A group of guinea pigs is called a herd.

Q: Herd of guinea pigs?

A: Of course I’ve heard of guinea pigs! (Rimshot).

Q: What’s a henway?

A: Not fallin for that one.

A: How come a cavy’s eyes are on the sides of its head instead of in the front like ours? Doesn’t that make it harder to wear glasses?

Q: In the wild, guinea pigs are a prey animal – that is, they get eaten. Their eyes are on the sides of their heads in order to widen their field of vision and allow them to better detect predators. Also, most cavies wear contact lenses because – glasses on a guinea pig? That’s just silly.

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]]> http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pigs/guinea-pigs-%e2%80%93-a-cavy-qa/feed 0 Guinea Pigs – The History and Origins of the Guinea Pig http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pigs/guinea-pigs-the-history-and-origins-of-the-guinea-pig http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pigs/guinea-pigs-the-history-and-origins-of-the-guinea-pig#comments Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:00:33 +0000 bob http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pigs/guinea-pigs-the-history-and-origins-of-the-guinea-pig Guinea pigs and humans share a history of more than 10,000 years. The cavy originated in Central and South America. In the wild, their domain extended through Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. The cavy was domesticated by the Inca Indians somewhere around 7,000 or 8,000 years ago. They were used as not only a food source but also as a sacrificial animal – sacrificed to the sun god – in religious ceremonies.

In the wild, guinea pigs lived in small groups or herds. For this reason, they are inherently social creatures and do not do well if kept in solitude. It is recommended that they be kept at least in pairs.

Cavies first made their way back to Europe on the ships of Spanish conquistadores during the 1500’s. They eventually also came to Holland, England and France. At first, these pets were reserved only for the wealthy and elite. They were much too expensive for anyone but the rich. But their ability to reproduce so quickly soon made the European supply of guinea pigs swell. As the price fell, popularity of the little beast increased as they became affordable to the common people of Europe. It was not until the 1800’s – more than 300 years after it landed in Europe – that the cavy finally made its way to the United States.

Sadly, in the mid 1800s, the cavy was put to use in laboratories as a research test subject. In fact, it was used so extensively for this purpose that its name eventually became synonymous with this function. Fortunately for the guinea pig, this usage has dropped off in recent years as laboratories turn to other rodent species for these purposes.

In any event, it is not known for certain how the guinea pig received its name. It is obviously not a pig, nor is it from Guinea. People have speculated that perhaps roasted guinea pigs reminded Europeans of suckling pigs (piglets). Others suggest that the cavy may have been transported to Europe on ships from the port of Guiana. Others feel that the guinea pig’s squeal may have reminded people of a pig’s squeal. In the end, the origin of the guinea pig’s unusual name has most likely been lost to us forever.

The proper name for the guinea pig is the cavy (pronounced kay-vee). This name is derived from the scientific name: Cavia porcellus. Technically speaking, guinea pigs are caviomorphs. Caviomorphs are South American rodents who share the following characteristics: a single pair of mammary glands, four toes on each front foot and three toes on each back foot.

The history of the guinea pig has been intertwined with that of humans for thousands of years. The cavy was first domesticated as early as 5,000 B.C. by the Inca Indians of South America. They were brought to Europe in the sixteenth century and they made their way across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States of America in the 1800s. And today they have taken their place, here in North America, as one of our most favorite pets.

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]]> http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pigs/guinea-pigs-the-history-and-origins-of-the-guinea-pig/feed 240 Guinea Pigs – How to Care for Your Cavy http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pigs/guinea-pigs-%e2%80%93-how-to-care-for-your-cavy http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pigs/guinea-pigs-%e2%80%93-how-to-care-for-your-cavy#comments Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:00:42 +0000 bob http://bluestonecages.com/?p=418 The guinea pig – also known as a cavy – is one of the more popular pets in North America. This is largely because they are friendly, docile and amiable creatures. And with few special needs, they are also relatively easy to care for. There are many varieties of guinea pigs varying in color, size, markings and hair type.

When choosing a cage for your guinea pigs, be sure to select an enclosure with adequate ventilation and sufficient floor space. Never put your pig in an aquarium or a deep-walled box. The ammonia fumes produced by your pigs’ urine can cause respiratory problems for your pets if they are concentrated by glass or other solid walls and not allowed to dissipate into the surrounding air.

Also be sure to provide ample living space so that your pigs can live comfortably and enjoy the opportunity for sufficient exercise. A standard rule of thumb for living space requirements is to allow a minimum of 6 square feet for a single pig, 7.5 square feet for two pigs living together, 10.5 square feet for three cavies and 13 square feet for four pigs. Keep in mind that these are minimum requirements. When it comes to cage size – more is always better.

Your cage should be filled with bedding to absorb urine and keep your pigs clean and dry. Clay litter should never be used. Dust from this type of litter can also cause respiratory problems if inhaled by your pigs. Bedding produced from recycled newspaper is an effective and healthy choice.

Fleece is becoming a popular alternative to bedding. Fleece does not absorb the urine, but allows the liquid to wick through – thereby keeping your cavies dry and happy. A layer of absorbent material should be placed under the fleece in order to contain the urine after it passes through the layer of fleece.

Guinea pigs are fond of fresh fruits and vegetables. Be sure to choose fruits and vegetables that are dark in color. In general, lighter colored fruits and vegetables are lacking in nutrition. Never feed your cavy pale-colored vegetables (such as iceberg lettuce) which offer very little besides water and empty calories.

Like humans, guinea pigs lack a critical enzyme that allows its body to manufacture vitamin C. For this reason, it is critical that your cavy receives a vitamin C supplement every day.

It you want your guinea pig to like and trust you, you will need to treat it with respect. Never handle it roughly. When picking it up, always support your guinea pig’s bottom from underneath. Also, your cavy’s bones can be easily broken, so be careful not to squeeze your guinea pig too tightly nor drop it from excessive heights. The more you handle your guinea pig (providing you handle it gently), the more comfortable it will become with you.

The guinea pig is one of the most popular pets in North America for many reasons. It can be an affectionate and enjoyable little animal friend when treated with kindness and respect. And with appropriate parental guidance, its docile and friendly nature makes it an excellent pet for a young child.

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]]> http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pigs/guinea-pigs-%e2%80%93-how-to-care-for-your-cavy/feed 0 Guinea Pig Cages: The Most Commonly Overlooked Factor in Choosing a Cage http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-the-most-commonly-overlooked-factor-in-choosing-a-cage http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-the-most-commonly-overlooked-factor-in-choosing-a-cage#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:00:28 +0000 bob http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-the-most-commonly-overlooked-factor-in-choosing-a-cage When you go shopping for a guinea pig cage, what are the things you consider? Color? Price? An attractive design? People choose their cages based upon many different criteria. However, there is one extremely important factor that often gets overlooked or ignored.

The most commonly overlooked factor in choosing a guinea pig cage appears to be cage size. Sure, people may think they look at cage size when purchasing a cage. But, judging by the number of small, “standard” pet store cages still being purchased every year, it is clear that people do not really look at cage size.

Let’s do a little thought experiment. The average guinea pig is about 9 to 15 inches in length. The average height for a human is roughly 5’4” to 5’10”. An average pet store cage is 24-inches by 16-inches.

Put yourself in your pig’s place. An equivalent size room for you would be approximately 8-ft by 12-feet – the size of a large bathroom or a small bedroom. So, living your entire life in a large bathroom or small bedroom may not seem horrible – but it would certainly be a challenge to get a significant amount of exercise in a space that small.

Another related factor that I’m convinced that people do not consider when sizing a cage are the additional accessories that your pig requires – such as a nest box, a food dish and a hay rack.

So let’s return to our hypothetical equivalent room. When we add a nest box to our pig’s cage, we are adding an item that is perhaps 10 to 12-inches on each side. That might be equivalent to building a seven-foot by seven-foot storage shed and placing it our hypothetical equivalent room with us.

Add a food dish to your pig’s cage (about half the size of your pig) and it’s like throwing a kiddie pool – three-feet in diameter in the middle of the floor in our room.

Of course we’re going to need a water bottle. This would be roughly equivalent to something the size of a hot water heater standing in the corner of our equivalent room.

A hay rack is has a footprint of approximately four by seven inches. So adding a hay rack to the wall might be roughly equivalent to pushing a couple of nightstands up against one of the walls in our hypothetical equivalent room and placing them side-by side.

Does this sound like a lot of room? Does it sound like someplace you would like to spend the rest of your life? Let us review.

We start by moving into an 8 x 12 room – an area roughly the size of a large bathroom or a small bedroom. Next we put up a 7×7 storage shed in the corner. This leaves us with an eight-foot by five-foot space in front of the shed and a useless one-foot by seven-foot narrow strip along the side of the shed.

Then, to make matters worse, we place a three-foot wading pool, a water heater and two nightstands in our remaining 8×5 living space. What does this leave us with? We are left with a very small and cramped area in which to live. And, worst of all, our health begins to suffer because exercise becomes a nearly impossible task.

When you buy your next cage, consider the situation from your pig’s point of view. Look – really look – at the space situation facing your guinea pig and select a cage big enough to provide an adequate and comfortable living space. Over the past several years, C&C (Cubes and Coroplast) cages are gaining in popularity for this very reason – they provide a spacious, healthy environment for a reasonable price.

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]]> http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-the-most-commonly-overlooked-factor-in-choosing-a-cage/feed 0 Guinea Pig Cages – Is Your Guinea Pig Cage Large Enough? http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-%e2%80%93-is-your-guinea-pig-cage-large-enough http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-%e2%80%93-is-your-guinea-pig-cage-large-enough#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:00:38 +0000 bob http://bluestonecages.com/?p=407 Your choice of cage is one of the most important considerations in determining the quality of life that your guinea pig will enjoy while living under your care. One must keep in mind that the cage is much more than just a container or enclosure to contain the cavy; it is the most major and important element in your pig’s immediate living environment. As such, the selection of a cage for your cavy is a serious matter and should be not be taken lightly.

When considering a cage, be sure that your pig has plenty of room to move around and be comfortable. Most importantly, your pig needs room to exercise. If the quarters are too cramped, your pig will not move around much and will not get its much-needed exercise. Guinea pigs do not use exercise wheels like hamsters. Because of this they need a cage large enough to facilitate walking, hopping, “popcorning” and other full-body exercise.

Also remember that the pigs will not be the only objects taking up space in the cage. You will need to provide them with a comfortable nest box or other similar shelter. In addition, your pig will need other accessories such as a food dish, hay rack, water bottle and perhaps some toys.

As a general rule, most standard pet store cages are too small and cramped to allow adequate living space for your cavy. And to make matters worse – once you place the nest box and all the other accessories we mentioned above in the cage, there is little room left for the animal.

How do you know if a cage is big enough? There are various guidelines for sizing guinea pig cages that can easily be found online. These criteria are based upon the number of cavies being housed. However, in my opinion, the best cage-sizing method is to simply use your own common sense: if your pigs look cramped – they are cramped. Put yourself in their place. How would you like to spend your entire life living in an enclosure the size of your bathroom? If you put a nest box, bowl, etc. in a cage and it leaves an area that is only one or two body-lengths long for your pig to live in; it’s only common sense that this cage is too small.

Due to the fact that manufactured cages are generally too small to provide a healthy environment for your pigs, a new type of cage has emerged over the past few years and is rapidly gaining in popularity. This type of cage was invented by a pig rescue organization in order to economically house a large number of pigs. This type of cage is called a C&C or cubes and Coroplast cage. These cages are much larger than manufactured pet store cages and offer a much healthier environment for your pigs. These cages are being built from scratch by do-it-yourselfers or purchased as kits from a growing number of online C&C cage sellers.

C&C cages are constructed from metal wire grids and sheets of corrugated plastic. The metal grid panels are fastened together to form the walls of the enclosure and the corrugated plastic sheet is formed into a bin or pan to contain the bedding as well as your pigs’ waste materials. This combination allows an efficient and economical design which provides a large and spacious enclosure for your pets at a relatively low cost.

When purchasing or building an enclosure for your pet guinea pig, be sure to provide adequate living space to insure that your pig enjoys a healthy environment. Most manufactured pet store cages do not meet modern pet enclosure standards. As a result, people in increasing numbers are turning to C&C cages to provide the spacious environment that their pets need and deserve.

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]]> http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pig-cages/guinea-pig-cages-%e2%80%93-is-your-guinea-pig-cage-large-enough/feed 0 Guinea Pigs – Characteristics of the Common Guinea Pig http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pigs/guinea-pigs-characteristics-of-the-common-guinea-pig http://bluestonecages.com/guinea-pigs/guinea-pigs-characteristics-of-the-common-guinea-pig#comments Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:00:09 +0000 bob http://bluestonecages.com/?p=335 Over the past century, the guinea pig has become a popular pet in the United States. While we are all familiar with this common animal, there are many facts concerning it that are not necessarily common knowledge. Please read along as we discover and discuss some interesting facts about this common and loveable house pet.

The guinea pig has a very delicate bone structure. Because of this, guinea pigs bones break fairly easily. For this reason guinea pigs should be handled carefully and loosely. Never squeeze or hug a guinea pig tightly. Also, one must be very careful to insure that guinea pigs are not dropped from excessive heights nor allowed to jump from high surfaces such as tables, chairs or sofas.

Guinea pigs have a total of 14 toes. Each front paw has four toes and the back feet each have three toes. When guinea pigs walk or run, they do so only on these toes. The entire foot rests on the ground only when the pigs are standing.

Unlike squirrels, mice or many other rodents; when eating, guinea pigs do not sit on their haunches and grip food between their front paws. Their style is to feed more like a horse or a dog – simply standing on all fours and grazing out of a dish, a bowl or from the ground.

In general, guinea pigs are friendly, congenial and peaceful animals. Two females can easily live with each other with little or no conflict. A male and a female nearly always get along very well (although one of the pair should obviously be neutered in order to prevent an in-cage population explosion). Two males, if raised together will also generally make a good pair. However, if a new male is introduced into another male’s home, there will most likely be some hostile behavior – at least in the beginning.

Two males in the presence of one or more females are a bad idea. They can become quite aggressive and adversarial toward one another as they compete for the females. In the wild, guinea pigs used to live in packs. The pack’s dominant male was the only male allowed to mate with any of the females. This increased the chances of survival of the offspring because it insured that all of the children were descended from the strongest and fittest male available. Although guinea pigs no longer exist in the wild, this holdover behavior can still be observed in our domesticated pigs.

Guinea pigs have a very acute sense of hearing. Like dogs, they are able to hear frequencies or tones above the human range of hearing. Human beings can only hear frequencies up to 20 kHz (vibrations at 20,000 times per second) whereas cavies can hear frequencies as high as 33 kHz.

The guinea pig is very dependent upon its very keen sense of smell. The cavy’s sense of smell is one-thousand times more sensitive and discerning than that of a human being.

The guinea pig is an animal that is very common to most of us in the western world. And although it is quite familiar to us as a family pet and as a laboratory animal, there is much information about this little rodent that is not commonly known. I hope that the newly-gained knowledge from this discussion will help you to better understand the actions and behaviors of your own pet guinea pigs as you interact with them on a daily basis.

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