| Pet Facts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Guinea Pig | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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(or Cavy) The guinea pig is a member of the rodent family. Their average life span is 4 to 7 years. Their are a fun and easy to care for. Guinea pig are social animals, so you should probably keep them in pairs. Guinea pigs need to chew to keep their front teeth worn down, because they constantly grow. Some chew stuff for them are, apples, birch of willow branches, dried whole grain bread crust, hay, and firm vegetables. Examples carrots, and broccoli. Their bedding for the cage should be white wood shaving, not sawdust or cedar shavings. Always remember to keep their cage clean, dry, and healthy. They need to be kept in a dry area. Keep them protected from cold drafts. Guineas do not like excessive heat, so they prefer to be in the temperature ranging 18-25 degrees same as people. They need some exercise. Guinea Pigs eat, carrots, peas, apples, green peppers, spinach, kale, and etc. Do not feed lettuce, cabbage, beans, potatoes, rhubarb or chocolate to guinea pigs. The latter three can be toxic. Always use two hands to pick up your guinea pig. Have one hand on the rump and hind legs and the other under the front legs. If you hold the guinea pig wrong he/she might get nervous and jump out of your hands and might break a leg or their back. Do not allow a guinea pig to walk close to the edge cause they wander too close to the edge and fall off. If you have a longhaired guinea pig you need to brush it regularly with a soft brush. Baths can be given. Line the sink with a towel and fill the sink half full with lukewarm water and bathe your guinea pig. Use mild pet shampoos only. Nails need to be trimmed every six weeks or when it is necessary. Guinea pigs are susceptible to respiratory viruses and catching one could be fatal. Your veterinarian should be consulted if you notice diarrhea, difficulty in breathing, hair loss, excessive water drinking. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Bearded Dragons | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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(Pogona vitticeps) Bearded Dragons got their name, because when disturbed, they will extend a flap of skin under the jaw, simulating a beard. Dragon�s diet is baby mice, crickets, mealworms, Boston lettuce, spinach, squash, and etc. Live wax worms are one of the dragons favorite treats. Never feed your dragon Iceberg lettuce because this will cause diarrhea, which is lethal to lizards. Adults need to be feed 3 times a week and infants & juveniles should be feed daily Dragons will usually begin to breed at around 18 months. Dragons are oviparous (egg layers). Hatchlings are about 3 to 4 inches. Bearded Dragons are amongst the very best lizard pets. Their temperament is exceedingly docile, field herpetologists relate that you can just walk up to a wild one and pick it up with little or no attempt to get away. So they make excellent pets, they are as friendly as a lizard gets. Bearded Dragons usually grow to be about 2 feet long (counting tail). The proper temperature for a bearded dragon is in the 81 to 88 degree zone, and there should be a basking area available with a zone of 88 to 92 degrees. A good way to maintain the heat in the basking spot is to have a thermostat. There are some most common diseases that Dragons will encounter. When dealing with any illness, please remember generally, the sooner the animal sees the vet, the better. Keep up your maintenance, and variety of food, and you should never have a problem! | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sulcata Tortoises or African Spurred Tortoise | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
(Geochelone sulcata) | Sulcata are native to more northern parts of Africa, from the southern edge of Sahara down through the arid countries. Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, the Sudan, Ethiopia, and up through the hot and dry Massaua coast that borders the Red Sea. The Sulcata is one of the largest African mainland tortoise, with measurements reaching 24-30 inches in length and 80-110 pounds. The largest Sulcata on record was a male resident of the Giza Zoological Gardens found in Egypt. The male weighed 232lb and measured 41.6 inches over the carapace. The oldest recorded specimen in captivity, also at the Giza Zoological Gardens, was 54 years of age (Hughes, 1986, in Stearns). Keep their temperatures in the range of 85-105 F. Make sure and keep the tortoises dry. Provisions must be made to house them indoors during rainy weather and in places where the nights are cold or damp. You can keep the tortoise outdoors but put him in a dry and heated place. If you keep your tortoise outside you�ll need to give him some shelter with a dog blanket to keep him warm if he is full grown you�ll need to give him a medium dog house. If you keep him inside and in a aquarium you don�t have to give him any shelter. But if you just let him run around in the house make him a little spot in a corner where you keep his food and water and put some type of shelter with a little blanket when you have his home ready put him by his little shelter so he knows where it is. If you own a tortoise and a dog or cat keep them away from the tortoise because even if they�re playful they could harm him. If you have the tortoise in a aquarium make sure there�s lots of room for them to wander around in. Tortoises eat fruit and vegetables but sulcatas, like all tortoises, need to be able to graze on pesticide and herbicide free grasses and weeds. Two of the most important factors in constructing tortoise diets are the calcium: phosphorous ratio of the food and supplements ingested, and amount and type of protein eaten. Too much phosphorous, or too little calcium will cause bones and shell to soften and deformity, and impairs metabolism and organ function. Some kind of food flavored by Sulcatas are, cutting grass, cheat grass, clover, edible flowers (nasturtium, geraniums, hibiscus, rose petals, and shrubs) cactus fruits, plantain, desert follow. These are some kinds of fruits and vegetables you shouldn�t feed the tortoise are, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, bok choy, and soybeans. Only feed them a little of legumes, soy and alfalfa hay. Feed them grated carrots once a week. Care must be taken when you feed them parsley, spinach, rhubarb, beet greens, collards, and carrots as the oxalic acid binds calcium. Fresh vegetables should comprise no more than 10-15% of their diet, including such items as grated raw carrots, winter squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, broccoli, corn on the cob; greens such as collards, dandelions, escarole, romaine, and kale. Some fruits to feed them are strawberries, chunks of bananas with skin, cantaloupe with rind attached, berries; peaches no pits, apricots no pits, pears, apples no seeds. Oranges and tomatoes may be fed, but not to hatchlings.
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