How long can a guinea pig live on its own

The outlook for survival is poor. Guinea pigs dont usually have one long sleep at night but they still need to take naps throughout the day and night.

Regardless of whether they are showing symptoms all guinea pigs in the household should be treated.

How long can a guinea pig live on its own. The average guinea pig lifespan is between five to eight years though particularly pampered and healthy animals can reach ten years or more. This is much longer than other small mammal pets like. It is recommended that they should either be brothers or they should be bonded before they are 6 weeks old.

Be aware that if there is a scent of female guinea pigs around it can disrupt their relationship. This can happen if you have female guinea pigs housed nearby or if you have been handling females and not washed your hands afterwards. How long does a guinea pig live.

Domesticated guinea pigs live up to eight years although three to five years is the typical life span. No natural population of this species exists in the wild. Guinea pigs live an average of five to seven years.

This lifespan is longer than many other small pets such as hamsters gerbils mice or rats all of whom only live up to a few years. If your life is in transition a guinea pig may be more portable than a dog or a cat. Guinea pigs dont usually have one long sleep at night but they still need to take naps throughout the day and night.

Theyll need to be able to choose when to go to bed and when to be active. Their exercise or run area should be least 2m x 1m but again the bigger the better. Ideally this should be a grassy area without too much mud and no standing water.

You may need to move their run or exercise area. Male guinea pigs boars usually mature sexually and can mate as young as 2-3 months of age. Female guinea pigs sows typically mature sexually at 2 months of age 55 to 70 days.

However both males and females can mature and be fertile even earlier. Females can have estrous or fertile periods at any time of the year but they are most common in the spring. The estrous cycle length is 16 days.

A female is fertile for about 6 to 11 hours most often during night hours. Female guinea pigs. How long does guinea pig dominance last.

Guinea pig dominance behavior can last for anywhere between two days two weeks or even longer. There is no period specified for the same as it depends upon whether or not one guinea pig is ready to step down and accept the other one as a dominant one. The longest jump by a guinea pig was achieved by Truffles UK who cleared a gap of 48 cm 1889 in in Rosyth Fife UK on 6th April 2012.

Truffles has managed to beat its own record of 30 cm twice now which was previously achieved on 21 February 2012 and again on 30 March 2012 where he cleared 40 cm. To make your guinea pig happy without a second guinea pig give it extra attention by playing with it for at least 2 hours every day. You should also make sure it has plenty of fun things to do in its cage like balls it can roll around structures it can climb through and things for it to chew on.

Taking your guinea pig outside with you and letting it run around a fenced yard is also a great way to keep it. If boarding keep grouped guinea pigs together and take familiar items eg. They prefer routine and can become stressed if housed around lots of noiseactivity.

To be comfortablesafe when transported. Putting familiar smelling itemscompanion s in carriersnew environment. Vitamin C deficiency is common in guinea pigs.

Some guinea pigs may develop a vitamin C deficiency even when they are getting enough vitamin C in their diets. This can happen if there are other illnesses or physical problems that are preventing the guinea pig from eating enough or are interfering with the bodys ability to absorb the vitamin C properly. Vitamin C deficiency due to dietary causes can be prevented or treated by feeding a specially formulated guinea pig.

Signs may include a scruffy hair coat or enlarged lymph nodes liver or spleen. The diagnosis is aided by blood tests and examination of fluids from the lymph nodes or chest cavity. The outlook for survival is poor.

Most guinea pigs only live a few weeks after diagnosis. Guinea pigs are large for rodents. The common pet breeds weigh between 700 and 1200 g 15 and 26 lb when fully grown and measure between 20 and 25 cm 8 and 10 in in length.

Some livestock breeds weigh 3 kilograms 66 lb when full grown. Pet breeds live an average of four to five years but may live as long as eight. According to Guinness World Records as of 2006 the longest-lived.

When you pair up a young guinea pig with any other guinea pig young or old there is a chance that as the younger guinea pig goes through its adolescent period 3-5 months they will challenge the other guinea pig for top guinea pig position. This can lead to some fighting. Most of the time they figure it out for themselves.

Occasionally the fighting is extreme and they must be permanently separated. Again remember this can happen with ANY guinea pig. The most important part of treatment is to prevent the little pests from coming back.

Regardless of whether they are showing symptoms all guinea pigs in the household should be treated. Parasites can lay dormant for a long time. A guinea pig may have picked them up some time ago but wont show symptoms until she is weakened in some way.

Very young or old guinea pigs and those. Unsuitable combinations of guinea pigs. Three boars regardless of whether theyre related although they often start off fine one guinea pig is likely to be badly bullied.

A boar with a male piglet below 20 weeks. Although the mix may work at first when the piglet matures it will compete for dominancy resulting in serious fights. If you live in a space-crunched abode a guinea pig is your kind of pet.

They can be kept outdoors or indoors and their needs are basic. Each guinea pig should have a minimum of two square feet in its cage. This means if you have two guinea pigs the cage should be a minimum of 4 square feet and so on.

Most commercial cages are designed for a single guinea pig. You should not house a guinea pig in a cage with a wire bottom. Guinea pigs can very.