The BRODENTS! Rodent Enthusiast Thread!

[darkvoodoo]

For my rats:
Lab Blocks plus a mixture of high quality dog kibble(senior) , steel cut rolled oats, different cereals (special K,Total,cheerios,etc) whole wheat pasta noodles, Unsalted Pumpkin Seeds,Veggie swirl noodles, split peas,regular granola, lentils,flax Seed, brown rice, roman noodles, and Nutty Nuggets Cereal (its a wheat & Barely cereal ). I add in large parrot food every now and then. I've started adding Cinnamon Powder (about 3 table spoons to the mix, it helps with circulation, libido and is an anti parasite). I feed human-grade, and hormone- and antibiotic-free food when I can. Plus fruits, veggies and other goodies. My mix does change time to time as I dont want them to get bored.

[Casifer]

Hi!
I've been wanting a pet for a long time, and after doing some research and getting a job I now know I can afford one! I would love to get two guinea pigs, ( I've even chose names already- Kinley & Cero ) and am going tomorrow to buy the stuff needed to make them a enclosure. I have the perfect sized spot in my room for it, and now I'm just curious on how much it costs weekly to provide properly for a couple guinea pigs.

Any advice?

[Centri]

Hi!
I've been wanting a pet for a long time, and after doing some research and getting a job I now know I can afford one! I would love to get two guinea pigs, ( I've even chose names already- Kinley & Cero ) and am going tomorrow to buy the stuff needed to make them a enclosure. I have the perfect sized spot in my room for it, and now I'm just curious on how much it costs weekly to provide properly for a couple guinea pigs.

Any advice?

Guinea Pigs are pretty cheap to maintain, especially if you can get hay from a farmer rather than a petshop. They need vegetables daily, but for just two pigs it shouldn't get expensive. The only thing that costs a bit is bedding, depending on what kind you use, since guinea pig cages are so big.
Some people use fleece, with a layer of newspapers and towels underneath, and then you'll only have to wash the fleece and towels and replace the newspapers when you clean the cage.
I think our 6 guinea pigs (3 cages with two males in each) cost something like 20-30 USD/month in food and bedding (we get our hay for free), but I don't know the exact number.
In any case, other than the occasional trip to the vet (they tend to injure their eyes, but it's not that common, in 5 years with 6 guinea pigs we've been to the vet 4 times, all of them eye-related) guinea pigs are cheap to keep happy and healthy
If you're getting a longhaired breed you'll need some grooming supplies, but that's just a one-time cost.

Here's a pic of one of my piggies, a little walking wig (Alpaca ) called Sigge:

[Casifer]

Ah, thank you! ^
I'm so excited <3

[darkvoodoo]

Super exited for this litter!
Looks like she had 4

apolloXalana.jpg (211.03 KiB) Viewed 134 times

[cat;;]

Hi!
I've been wanting a pet for a long time, and after doing some research and getting a job I now know I can afford one! I would love to get two guinea pigs, ( I've even chose names already- Kinley & Cero ) and am going tomorrow to buy the stuff needed to make them a enclosure. I have the perfect sized spot in my room for it, and now I'm just curious on how much it costs weekly to provide properly for a couple guinea pigs.

Any advice?

Aw yay! I'm probably going to get a new piggie for my herd this coming November too! They're amazing pets(: Now I have 3 currently, and monthly it costs me about $30-40. I don't but from a petsmart or anything, but my local pet rescue so it is much cheaper.. But with the ongoing cost of getting new water bottles and maybe even a new hide ( considering they may destroy them ) it does add up.
I suggest getting a shallow ceramic bowl for food because pigs love to flip bowls!

I also suggest getting a VERY HIGH QUALITY water bottle! Water bottles are prone to leaking, and getting a good one will make sure minimum leakage and almost eliminates the need for buying a new one any time soon. I own the one in the link and I actually did get it from petsmart. It's really good because of the straight and short nozzle and the tab instead of the little balls in the spout.

Alsoooo, just to help save money, I suggest buying in bulk. I recently bought a [url]large 75 lb bag of timothy[/url] from my local horse feed supplier, and it's AMAZING quality, and for something that will last me 4 months, the price was amazing. Those bags from most pet stores don't come with a lot of hay and are obscenely expensive. I only paid 30$. Also you can buy food in bulk too, because those little bags are expensive too just to buy a new one every month. I get Oxbow 25 lbs and they're only about 30$, and since a 5 lb bag of this stuff is close to 15$, you save a ton.

I'm sure you've already read about the benefits of fleece over bedding, but I still get some bedding for a little "kitchen" area under where I put the hay to minimize mess. I make my own fleece, but before I did I bought from etsy users and such, because they're cheaper than at brand stores, and still just as good. I suggest getting 2 sets, so you can clean it and put a new one in instead of waiting 2 hours for the washer and dryer to run.

Annddd last but not least I suggest making your own toys instead of buying them, because it saves a lot of money! I love to make some things out of toilet paper holders, and tissue boxes. I even make my own hides out of some fleece I buy ( just fleece blankets I cut to size ) and the extra grids from the c&c cage I have. I have even seen people use little shoe racks for hides too.. There's an endless number of things you can make, just look it up!(:

[Casifer]

Thanks so much. <3 I'm so glad there's this community!

[Morganizer]

Our litter of rats at 2 - almost 3 days old! Rachael had 16 at first, but unfortunately couldn't care for them all and they passed. We are working hard to be sure the last 12 babies stay alive and most importantly are healthy and happy.

EDIT: I'm so excited to see them grow though!



I hope this isn't like RatForum where you can't speak of deliberate breeding... cause if that's the case, I'll stay away. I've seen others post here before about their litters so I'm sure it's fine. Just saying.

[darkvoodoo]

Super exited for this litter!
Looks like she had 4

apolloXalana.jpg

She actually had a couple more while I was gone tonight!

@Chaolithe
What are you expecting in your litter? I see a few barebacks and possible mismarked hoodeds. Look dark so maybe black?

[Morganizer]

Super exited for this litter!
Looks like she had 4

apolloXalana.jpg

She actually had a couple more while I was gone tonight!

@Chaolithe
What are you expecting in your litter? I see a few barebacks and possible mismarked hoodeds. Look dark so maybe black?

That's exactly what I'm seeing. Barebacks and mismarked hooded. I know I'll get black but momma is mink hooded. I'm not sure if I'll get any mink though. I hope so. And dad is a black mismarked hooded rex. So I'm really really hoping for rex and since it's dominant I think we should get some. Mom is dumbo and dad is standard eared so we'll be getting standard most likely.

Also sorry if that last message seemed as if I planned this litter cause honestly no not this one but we do for a fact have some planned. That's why I said what I said. Lol