The adult weight of Dutch pigs is 1- 1.5 kg, the body length is 20-30cm, and the fur is compact and shiny. It can be used to make exquisite fur coats, shawls, gloves and fur hats.
The Dutch pig is smart, lively and docile, and it is also a special ornamental animal. Dutch pigs have high reproductive rate, strong disease resistance, early sexual maturity and short sexual cycle, generally around 16 days; The gestation period is 60-65 days, and you can give birth to 6 fetuses every year, with an average of 4-8 fetuses. The newborn pig is about 100g, and it will eat and move after giving birth. Piglets are naturally mature, and a pair of Dutch pigs can breed 80 pairs a year. The market price is above 30 yuan, but the cost of raising a pair of Dutch pigs is not more than 5 yuan. The economic benefits of raising Dutch pigs are considerable.
Dutch pigs are easy to raise and extensively managed. It takes weeds as its staple food and likes to eat grass, leaves and so on. With some concentrate, your weight will increase by half. In winter, corn straw, wheat straw, rice straw and peanut seedlings can be crushed and added with bran to meet the growth needs.
Guinea pig, the English name is Guinea pig. Usually called guinea pig, Dutch pig, Dutch rabbit, pika and so on. Originated in Peru, South America, the natural food is grass, plant roots and fruit seeds, and it is an absolute vegetarian. The wild guinea pig is slim and flexible. Being kept as a pet by human beings for a long time, it has become chubby and popular because of laziness and lack of exercise. Guinea pig meat is still a good food. I like that many people just crowd together, because living together in the wild can increase the chances of finding enemies. Will communicate with each other through a slight cry.
If your living space is too small for cats and dogs to move around, or you are afraid of being scratched and bitten, then choose a small and docile guinea pig! He is chubby, clumsy and cute. Although it is a mouse, it is more lovable and docile than the traditional mouse. Guinea pigs are vegetarians, have no special requirements for food, and are strong and not easy to get sick. It's very clever. If you are kind to it, it will recognize you and play with you. The size is moderate, not too small like a mouse or too big like a rabbit, and it is more suitable for playing in the hand (15 ~ 20 cm or so). It's clumsy and cute, unlike a squirrel. Once it escapes, it can't be caught. Very suitable for children or the elderly. Its price is not high, and it doesn't need professional feeding equipment. As long as a cage of the right size is prepared, fresh water and food are supplied every day, and it is often played with and its nest is cleaned regularly, it can grow healthily and happily. When it is ripe, it will come out to meet you when you come home from school, and it will run to you to ask for food.
The life span of guinea pigs can be as long as 10 years, so you must be mentally prepared before raising them. Make sure that no other animals in your house will hurt it, such as cats and dogs. Water and food must be supplied every day, and its excrement will stink, and sometimes it will make a noise and bite. If you can accept this, let's learn about guinea pigs.
Teeth: There are two upper and lower teeth (front teeth) in front of the mouth, which are mainly used to cut off food. The front teeth grow very fast, so you must chew food with high fiber content often, otherwise you will not be able to eat because the front teeth grow too long.
Feeding box: if it is too late to prepare a nest for it, you can find a box (wood or plastic or even a carton) and put some clean rags in it. Because newspaper ink is not good for small animals, it is best not to use it. This box is only temporary, because when it adapts to the environment and gets bolder, it will start grinding its teeth with the box and maybe even slip out. So you must prepare a suitable strong box to make a nest for it. You can buy boxes for raising small animals or special boxes for raising guinea pigs in the market. In the past, the feeding box was divided into two layers, with a tray at the bottom and barbed wire in the middle. The advantage is that it is convenient to clean, but the disadvantage is that the feet of guinea pigs are easily caught by wires and cause injuries. The guinea pig feeding box has only one floor, which is slightly larger and has an opening at the top. When feeding with it, the inside must be covered with sawdust. Let the guinea pigs move freely. The disadvantage is that the excrement is not easy to clean, and the padding must be cleaned and replaced frequently. Pay attention to the feeding box as large as possible, otherwise you will get fat because you don't get enough exercise, and even cause mental stress and other problems. This is especially true when multiple animals are raised. Store away from cats and dogs, avoid direct sunlight, wind and rain, and pay attention to ventilation.
Food basin: avoid choosing plastic or other materials that will be chewed. Should choose ceramic or stainless steel texture, a certain weight is not easy to be knocked over.
Drinking water: In order to keep the feeding box dry, it is recommended to use a licker-type water feeder.
Mat: The function of mat is to absorb the moisture and smell of excrement and make guinea pigs feel comfortable. You can choose sawdust, sawdust, hay, rags, etc. Cat litter is also a good choice, and paper chopped with a shredder is also a good choice.
Breeding: If you want to breed, you can raise a pair, or a male and two females. The gestation period of guinea pigs is about 60 ~ 70 days. Young rats are born with teeth, fur and eyes.
Your eyes are open, and you can start eating at once. However, it is suggested that young rats should not be raised alone within 2 weeks after birth, and it is best to be taken care of by the mother rats. Young rats reach maturity after about 3 months.
Disease: The most common disease in guinea pigs is scurvy. Because guinea pigs can't synthesize vitamin C by themselves, if vitamin C is lacking in food, they will get this disease. Symptoms are joint swelling, accompanied by pain and limping. If you don't pay attention, you are in danger of death. The best treatment is to take vitamin C orally until the symptoms disappear. Adding vitamin C to drinking water has a good preventive effect.
Variety difference: Common short-haired guinea pigs are famous experimental animals, and almost all of them have become synonymous with experimental animals. Therefore, it is more common in the pet market and the price is cheaper. Long-haired guinea pig, also known as satin mouse, is not only large in size, but also silky soft and beautiful, making it a good family pet. In some places, there is even a beauty contest for curly guinea pigs.
Matters needing attention in raising guinea pigs
If a small animal like guinea pig is sick, it is not easy to find a suitable doctor, so it is mainly prevention and treatment. Caution is better than carelessness. Summarize some things that should be paid attention to every day.
1. Xiaotian is usually fat and doesn't stand up often. Many people sometimes like to lure them to stand up with food. Stupid Xiaotian will stand on his back to get enough food, and sometimes even fall on his back, but I don't recommend it, at least don't let them fall on his back. It may not be a big problem when I was a child, but after half a year, I became fat and choked easily. I have had such a thing myself, almost scared to death, so be careful not to let their heads fall back when feeding them.
How to bathe guinea pigs?
Generally speaking, because the epidermis of animals has oil to protect the skin, taking a bath often will damage the health of animals; Moreover, every day (guinea pigs) clean themselves up. It is best for the owner to clean the living environment every day to protect his health, and there is no need to take a bath often. What should I do if I have to take a bath?
Local cleaning:
Some people will take the method of local cleaning. It is common for local skin to get sick every day, and doctors give medicines such as lotion. At this time, there is no need to wash all over. You can dip it with a cotton swab, wipe it with water and try to clean it.
Whole body cleaning:
1. The scientific cleaning method is to find a container, usually a washbasin, and put warm water in it, about 2 or 3 centimeters deep, depending on the size of the day. Generally speaking, it is good to have some, and then wet your body with water every day, because your hair is thick every day, so be careful not to dry it after washing. 2. Then use small animal shampoo. You must buy something nice and formal. Don't choose something too strong. I'm using the "Yiren" brand now, and the main raw materials are natural materials. When you buy it, you must go to a regular place and buy it from a regular manufacturer. If it is poisonous, it will be in trouble. Because it is not easy to buy special shampoo for daily use in the market, I am worried that there will be chemicals that are not conducive to Xiaotian in cats and dogs, so I try to choose natural and green shampoo when I buy it. Use a small amount of shampoo every day and gently rub it. Some netizens like to dissolve shampoo in water and wash it directly with this shampoo after foaming in water. I'm worried that I will need too much shampoo, which is not good for my daily life.
3. It's almost enough to wash, so you can continue to wash with the water in the basin every day, so there is shampoo in the water, and you can wash it below every day.
4. Then put every day in another basin. You can find a large coke bottle filled with warm water in advance and wash it every day. Don't forget to wash your ass every day. How much water you need depends on yourself, so maybe you need two coke bottles.
5. After washing, dry it with a dry towel prepared in advance and try to dry it. Then you can dry it with a hair dryer. Master the temperature. But most people are afraid of hair dryers every day. I have been trying every day since he was a child, but I still can't get used to it. Because I think the hair dryer hurts my hair, I seldom praise it. What happened? N what Sauce mash? Na？ Hey? What kind of jacket? Is there anything wrong with grandma's training? What happened? What's the matter with you? What's the matter with you? Hey hey? Manganese? ぷ⒓ ③??????????????????????????93 What about acyl milk? Hey? Do you want to get sick?
Precautions:
1. The water temperature must be appropriate, neither too cold nor too hot;
2. The bathing environment and the place where you stay after bathing every day should not be too ventilated to prevent catching a cold every day.
3. When taking a bath, if you are afraid every day, you should pay more attention to touching him and talking to him to relieve the tension every day; You may climb out of the shower every day, so the edge of your face should not be too short;
4. Don't wash your hair and ears. Don't let water enter your eyes when washing every day;
It is not advisable to take a bath in winter, because I am afraid of the cold every day.
The diet of guinea pigs
Guinea pigs like food best! Guinea pigs are rodents and herbivores. If they don't eat, they are sleeping! If they eat too much, don't get enough exercise, or they are fed the wrong food, all these will lead to their satiety and obesity.
Guinea pigs only need three basic foods: high-quality granular staple food, enough ladder grass and water containing vitamin C.
You can also add some oats and wheat germ to the staple food.
The following is the breeder's recipe on SweetWheekers website:
2 parts of Oxbow Cavy Cuisine and 1 part of Mazuri guinea pig granules. This feed is for guinea pigs over 6 months old. Each adult guinea pig is fed a cup and a half of this staple food.
From birth to less than 6 months, young rats were treated with 50-50 Oxbow guinea pigs (mainly alfalfa) and Mazuri guinea pig granules. During the feeding period, the food intake of mother rats and young rats was out of control. Once weaned, young rats do not need breastfeeding or other milk substitutes.
In about 4 months, it is necessary to gradually add the food of young rats to the food of rats. Let them adapt slowly.
water
Guinea pigs need fresh water every day. Water containing chlorine and fluorine is toxic to guinea pigs.
Fruits and vegetables
Guinea pigs like fruits very much. If you feed grapes, you need to cut them in half to make sure there are no seeds in them.
Never feed bananas to guinea pigs! Because bananas contain too much potassium, it will cause urinary tract diseases in guinea pigs.
The Dutch pig is a herbivore, with various weeds, vegetable leaves, plant stems and leaves, and crop straws as its staple food, and a small amount of concentrate grows rapidly. Dutch pigs are easier to breed and more adaptable than rabbits. It will feed after birth and grow into a commercial pig in about 60 days. A pair of Dutch pigs can breed more than 80 pairs a year, and the market price is about 80 pairs in 30 yuan. Breeding Dutch pigs has the characteristics of fast slaughter and high efficiency, which is worth choosing by farmers.
Some vegetables that guinea pigs like to eat are: long leaf lettuce or red leaf lettuce, wrinkled parsley (celery), headless cabbage, green edamame, carrot, eggplant, dandelion leaves, chicory, green pepper (not spicy), tomato and so on. In addition, fresh lotus leaves are also delicious for guinea pigs.
Wash the vegetables before feeding.
Vegetables that should be avoided are: spinach, onion, leek, potato, cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce (rolled lettuce)! ! These foods can cause diarrhea, bloating and poisoning in guinea pigs.
snack
You can give some alfalfa and berry snacks and oil-free raw sunflower seeds. These things are very oily. Be careful not to give too much at a time.
Biological characteristics and anatomical and physiological characteristics of guinea pigs (some need to be understood. If you want to keep a Dutch pig as a pet)
1. guinea pig belongs to mammals, rodents and guinea pig family. Also known as guinea pig, sea pig and Dutch pig.
2. I like to live in groups, with a big head, short neck, round ears and no tail. I have hair all over my body and short limbs. I have four toes in my forelimb and three toes in my hind limbs. I have pointed short melons, which will pinch people, so I don't like crawling and jumping. I can keep them in a small concrete pool without a cover. Habit docile, timid and easily frightened, sometimes squeaking and screaming, like dry and clean living environment.
3. The sense of smell and hearing is developed, and it has a very high response to various stimuli, such as being extremely sensitive to sudden changes in sound, smell and temperature. Therefore, pneumonia is prone to occur in the case of turbid air and cold environment, causing abortion, and it is also easy to abort when frightened.
4. Guinea pigs are herbivores with well-developed masticatory muscles and very thin stomach wall. The cecum is extremely large, accounting for about 65,438+0/3 of the abdominal cavity. The demand for crude fiber is more than that of rabbits, but it is not as easy to have diarrhea as rabbits.
Guinea pigs eat a lot and have a strong appetite for accustomed foods, but they are particularly sensitive to deteriorated feed, so they often eat less or waste food, and even cause miscarriage. It is also particularly sensitive to antibiotics, and it is easy to cause death and enteritis after administration. If penicillin is used, it will cause small intestine, colitis and even death, regardless of dosage and route. The sensitivity to penicillin is higher than that of mice 1000 times, so we should be especially careful when treating with penicillin. Contrary to the mouse, it eats less and has less activities at night.
6. Guinea pigs belong to late-maturing animals, that is, the pregnant period of female rats is 63 (59 ~ 72) days. The embryo is fully developed in the mother's body, fully developed after birth, full of hair, eyes open, ears erect and permanent teeth. They can stand and walk for an hour after giving birth and eat soft feed for several hours. After 2 ~ 3 days, under the care of the mother rats, they can suck breast milk and eat green feed.
7. Vitamin C cannot be synthesized in the body (liver and intestine), and the required vitamin C must come from feed. Humans, primates and guinea pigs lack enzymes to synthesize vitamin C. Therefore, when feeding guinea pigs, vitamin C should be added to the feed or water or fresh vegetables should be fed. Scurvy occurs when vitamin C is deficient, one of which is paraplegia of hind limbs, especially in winter. If vitamin C is supplemented, the symptoms will disappear.
8. The ear socket tube is sensitive and convenient for listening experiment. Guinea pigs are most sensitive to pure tones of 700 ~ 2000 cycles/second, such as observing the toxicity of neomycin to the inner ear with audio frequency of 2000 cycles/second.
9. Hypoxia tolerance is 4 times stronger than that of mice and 2 times stronger than that of rats.
10. Very sensitive to mycobacterium tuberculosis, Brucella, diphtheria, Q fever virus, lymphocytic choroid plexus meningitis virus, etc.
1 1. Guinea pigs are prone to allergic reactions, and the "complement" in serum diagnostics is made from guinea pig serum.
12. The thymus of guinea pigs is located in the neck, between the mandibular angle and the entrance to the chest cavity, with two bright, yellowish, slender and completely lobulated glands. The liver is divided into four main lobes and four lobules. The lung is divided into seven lobes, four lobes in the right lung and three lobes in the left lung.
13. The sexual cycle of guinea pigs is16.5 (12 ~18) days, the gestation period is 68 (62 ~ 72) days, the lactation period is 2 1 day, and the litter size is 3.5 (/kloc).
Animal sexual cycles can be divided into multi-cycle (multiple sexual cycles in one year) and single cycle (one-time cycle in one year). Except primates, there are obvious species differences in the reproductive cycle of all mammals. Some animals, such as dogs, cats, hunters, horses and cows, have this periodic change only in the breeding season, and the reproductive organs are in a state of atrophy and rest at other times, but animals such as mice, rats and guinea pigs usually show a cycle of reproductive cycles all year round.
Guinea pigs, mice, rats, hamsters and rabbits still have postpartum sexual cycles, that is, animals may become pregnant within 48 hours or at some time during lactation after pregnancy and delivery, which is called postpartum sexual cycle or abnormal pregnancy.
14. The normal body temperature of guinea pigs is 38.6 (37.8 ~ 39.5)℃, the heart rate is 280 (200 ~ 360) beats/min, the respiratory rate is 90 (69 ~ 104) beats/min, and the tidal volume is1. Oxygen consumption is 8 16mm3/g living body weight, blood pressure is 75- 120mmHg, total red blood cells are 560(4.5-7.0) million /(mm3), and hemoglobin14.4 (11-). Platelet 1 16000 /mm3, total plasma protein 5.4 (5.0 ~ 5.6) g%, blood volume accounting for 6.4% of body weight, 32 pairs of chromosomes, life span of 5 ~ 7 years.