Welcome to Gaia! ::

Well, I have a guinea pig myself, and she is lovely btw lolz! She hardly ever bites me, only when I annoy her lol, but she has a bit of an attidute sometimes smile I think it isnt that hard to take care of guinea pigs really, they are easy to handle (once you know how to hold them) and mine is ALOT slower than my hamster, but that may be b/c she is just lazy heheh! xD but i luv her. If you do alot of reading about them, and find out how to hold them properly. then you should be fine! but 1 of the hardest things about having a guinea pig is clipping their nails, its pretty difficault-i think so anyway lol. but overall they are alot of fun, and theyre soo cute. = )

Guinea pigs are fairly easy to care for and are very affectionate. They do need vitamin C suppliments and hay along with food pellets and water. And you cannot use cedar bedding with them. But other than that a clean cage and some play time is about all they need.

Hmm.....

That sounds really unusual. The overeating and the diarrhea are likely related. Either he is overloading his GI system, causing the diarrhea, or his GI system is really irritated and he can't absorb nutrients causing the increased appetite, but given that he is overweight, I suspect the first one.

Unfortunately, I don't have my mouse references right with me, to make better recommendations. Try getting him a treatment for wet-tail. Consider decreasing the amount of food available to him and adding some good sources of fiber, like canned pumpkin.

What is the temperature where his cage is? IF it is too cool, he will go into "Hibernation mode" . Is he getting plenty of light? If he is not getting enough light that will also trigger hibernation.

On the bad side of things, your mouse is beginning to reach the end of his expected life span, and some strains of lab mice are prone to developing cancer. You might consider getting him checked by a veterinarian.

I hope this helps.

Small animals have high metabolic rates and heart rates and they just seem to "burn out" faster. Sorry I don't have a better answer than that, but it is what I was taught.

Have a good day!

so i want some guinea pigs. I think my mum would let me get them, as long as I take care of them and their house. But she thinks they stink. My whole family says they smell really bad. I plan (Yep, already planned my guinea pigs lives before i even hear "yes") to put the cage in this place near the chickens, where it already smells not so good anyway (NEAR the chickens, but not so they can come and torture them, I'd have it behind the fence for the chicken yard.

but how bad do they really smell. And if I do get them, I'll have to make sure they don't smell to bad, so how much a week should I clean the cage?

hmmm maybe if i get my mum to think about how good those little bits of piggie poo would be for her compost...