I have a couple of questions about guinea pigs...?

Question

I just got two guinea pigs yesterday (We named them Jamoca and Mawi) and we've realized that the cages are too small. Anyways, we're going to buy the cages today and as usual, my parents are taking a h**l of a long time just to decide when to go.If I keep them in the small cages too long, will anything happen to the,? It's been about a days in those ugly cages.

What toys can I give them? I tried giving a paper tube like I used to when I had rabbits, but they just eat them. At least, I think they do. As soon as I saw that Jamoca is EATING the toilet paper tube, I took it from him. Why is he doing that and what toys can I give them?

Mawi is female and Jamoca is male. I checked that yesterday and thought there might be a slight chance that Mawi may have gotten pregnant cuz I caught them mating. So I put them in seperate cages. Is there any way of telling this early if she's pregnant?

Answer 1

Hmmmmmmmm,

Some good toys are bird toys that you can clip on the top of the cage with a bell on the bottom and they can just nudge it with their noses. They absolutely love it!

Even the babies (my guinea pig had a litter 1 week and this is the third day) try to bite the bell! Ying Yang the fiesty one loves to chew on stuff.

The reason he tries to eat the toilet paper tube is because it brings out their natural instinct to chew so they go crazy and start to chew. My guinea pig only chews on wood. SHE ABSOLUTELY HATES CHEWWY THINGS. So if your guinea pigs are like that they have wood chew things.

Well, there is not really a way of telling if she is pregnant or not in the first week, but into the second week, right behind her rib there will be a tiny bulge that will grow just a little bigger each day. In the 5th week the babies start to move, then lastly the 8th week you can actually see the babies moving inside of her. One way to tell when d-day is is by checking the pubic bone. If it is 1-2 finger widths apart delivery day is in 24-48 hours away.

They also mount eachother to show dominance.

Answer 2

Have you read http://www.cavyspirit.com/breeding.htm and http://www.guinealynx.info/breeding.html

Guinea pigs chew. If you are not free feeding grass hay, that is likely your problem. He is trying to get fiber.