All about guinea pigs: care and maintenance at home, nutrition, breeding

An ideal pet for any, even the inexperienced, owner is a guinea pig. Psychologists have proved that the child, caring for the animal, develops accuracy and diligence. If you need a friendly pet that does not require special skills, take a pig. In order not to get confused, when the fluff is in the family, you need to find out all about guinea pigs before buying.

Appearance and habits

The trunk of this animal has a cylindrical shape. The average height is 22 cm. The largest guinea pig can grow to 28 cm. When weighing, females and males show different results. The average weight of females is about 1200 g, while that of males is about 1800 g. The head of the animal is large, the teeth of the guinea pig are sharp due to enamel only on one side. The length and color of the coat depends on the breed of the pet.

These rodents have nothing to do with pigs or water. Why did they get this name? Well, it was the pigs that they became due to the sounds being released. But the word "sea" occurred, most likely, from the "overseas", because it was brought from across the sea. Simply in the future, the word was simplified.

The way of life of the guinea pigs is very interesting for the observer. In nature, they live in families. They can live in holes, as well as on the surface of the earth or even in rocks. The leader of the pack is the male. Since these rodents have a sense of smell and hearing, it is very difficult to sneak up on a guarded "sentinel" group. In case of danger, the guard issues special sounds, warning the others. Animals are very clean: like cats, they wash their fur.

The usual temperature for them is about 20 degrees in the daytime and 8 at night. However, they are well tolerated and more significant differences.

Lifespan

Far from everything about guinea pigs is known even to specialists, however they are well informed about the life span of these animals. In captivity, the pig carries out a time that exceeds the life of the majority of rodents. The average life expectancy is 9 years. However, there were also individuals who lived for 15 years. In nature, animals die a little earlier, because their life is full of dangers, and there is not always enough food. Thus, the better the care, the longer the animal will live.

The life of the mumps depends on the conditions of detention, lifestyle, diet, heredity, care and so on.

Varieties

Since guinea pigs are some of the easiest animals to care for, which are also friendly, they have become the most popular pets. Due to the demand for piglets, animals were actively crossed, receiving new species.

Depending on the length of the wool, guinea pigs are divided into long-haired, short-haired and rare.

Long-haired animals are very beautiful. Their fur is different not only in length and color, but also in the direction of growth of each individual wool. Among the long-haired, shelty, coronet, Peruvian guinea pigs, texel, merino, alpaca and other such interesting breeds are especially common.

Shorthair can have wool, different in texture and color. Breeds belonging to this species: self, Dalmatian, satin, agutin, English crested and others.

Rare are animals, united not by the kind of wool, but by other unique indicators. For example, kui - the largest guinea pig: the weight of an adult animal can reach 3 kg. Skin and baldwin are animals that have smooth bodies (the skin of the skin is left on the hands).

Glypine floor

Most new owners wonder how to determine the sex of guinea pig. However, with the acquisition of only one individual, this is not so important - the behavior of females and males is almost identical. However, if it is necessary to purchase two animals, the issue of gender should be resolved. Adult mumps have well-developed sexual characteristics, so distinguishing them is not difficult. When buying babies you will have to be careful:

• The first way - the sex organs. To do this, you need to turn the animal over in the palm of your hand and press in the lower abdomen. In this case, the male can grope a thin streak - this is the penis. The female will have a fold of the skin forming a beech Y.
• The second is the anal sac. In females, it is simply absent, whereas in males it is quite distinct.
• The third method is feces. Perhaps the easiest way. It is necessary to look closely at how the animals defecate. The male guinea-pig leaves after itself the faeces bent at the edges, which has an arcuate shape. Whereas in females it is in the form of an even grain of rice.

If there is no desire to do breeding, but you do not want to leave the animal alone, you can buy two (or more) individuals of the same sex. It is desirable - female, as the males will constantly fight.

Communication

Despite the fact that animals are not able to speak words, they communicate with each other, using sounds. Guinea pigs, like many other animals, are quite easy to understand. And they themselves quickly learn how to let the "breadwinner" know about their needs.

For example, the sucking of swine means that they are in anxiety or anticipation. If this sound is intermingled with whistles, most likely the pet asks for food.

Rumbling has many meanings, for its more precise interpretation it is necessary to take into account the pose. Pleased, relaxed mole rumbles with happiness. If the tone is higher, and the movements are strained or the animal trembles, this indicates irritation. An abrupt rumbling is produced by animals, which are scary. Animals that are angry, grind their teeth and open their mouths like lions during a growl.

With more dense contact, the sounds of guinea pigs, their movements become clear to the owner, so do not regret the time spent with the pet.

Cell

The rodent is very easy to care for, even a child will cope with this, because it is most often for children to acquire such animals.

The main point - the purchase of "housing". The most popular are terrariums and cells with a deep pallet. The main requirement for enclosures for rodents is the difficulty of discarding and ridding the litter. Guinea pigs, care and maintenance at home which are not difficult, are very clean animals. Therefore, the litter (better - sawdust) should be changed several times a day, so that the animal does not hurt. With some effort, you can teach this rodent to cope with a need in a certain place, this will simplify the care.

Food

Being generally unpretentious, due to malnutrition, guinea pigs sometimes die. Care and maintenance at home should provide for a serious approach to the ration of the rodent.

To introduce new food must be gradually. Most of the diet is hay. The rest is accounted for by special feeds from various grains that are sold in the pet store, fresh vegetables and grass.

Water and hay should be kept publicly available, while cereals and vegetables should be given twice a day.

In order not to be mistaken with the choice of fresh herbs, it is necessary to confine oneself to the specified species: nettle, wheatgrass, plantain, dandelion leaf, sedge, clover. Other herbs may be poisonous to the pet.

Diseases

It's impossible to know everything about guinea pigs, but you need to know a little about the diseases. Most of them are easy to diagnose. With any ailments the rodent becomes sluggish, loses its appetite, its eyes tear. In order not to play "Russian roulette" with the health of the pet, it is best to immediately go with him to a specialist who will prescribe the treatment.

Breeding

Before reproduction, you need to think carefully about whether you are really ready for this amount of work, because the rodents often breed and are stable. Not every pet shop will be happy with such a flow of live goods, even if a white guinea pig is offered to him. Therefore, even before buying a pair of animals of different sex, it is worth considering, where to put offspring.

How to determine the sex of guinea pig is already known. Now it is necessary to equip the housing for the future family. Pregnant female is best kept separately until we take off the young from her.

Do not forget that pregnant animals consume more food, so you need to procure more hay and feed.

It is recommended to allow only healthy animals that have reached the age of 8-10 months to mate. Usually 1-5 babies are born. If labor lasts more than an hour, it is better not to hesitate and take the animal to the doctor.

Games

For proper development, animals need to move and play more. Therefore, the cage should be equipped with various devices for climbing, jumping, running. If there are a lot of animals, they need to give a place for joint games, one animal needs more equipment so that it does not get bored.

Training

Despite the fact that everything about guinea pigs thinks little good: they are boring, stupid, just sleeping and eating, it's all a lie. Having shown patience, you can teach the animal some tricks. And just watching a healthy moving animal is very interesting.

These animals are very friendly, sociable, so they will be happy to spend time with the owner, who, in turn, can conduct training in a game form.

Before starting the training, it is necessary to establish friendly contact with the pet, so that he is absolutely calm and not afraid of the voice or movements of the owner.

The basic commands that are able to perform all the mumps: "place", "ask", "paw", "spin". Often the owners teach the pet to sleep in a hammock, jump over the hoop, swim, sit on the shoulder and many other fun things. Teach any team should be leisurely, repeating what they learned every day. A smart pet should be encouraged by delicacy, but it's never worth scolding.

Show very little diligence, patience and love, and your mumps will become your faithful and amusing friend.