4 replies to this topic

[GoldenRuby44]

hi there, my mom wants a pet and we've decided guinea pigs are the best pet for her out of the options available to us. i'm wondering if anyone has a good care guide for guinea pigs? thanks in advance <3

[lil BIG dwarf]

https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/Is great even if your in the US. You’ll definitely need 2 or 3 pigs, though, and have a good rodent/exotic/small animal vet

[A~HM]

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/forum.phpis a great site also, and also has plenty of images of correct cages and cages for sale. Find a good vet for the pigs before you get them, and make sure you are ready for the vet bills. I have 4 pigs and have spent over $2000 on them all since last year (2 from a shelter, 2 were abandoned, 1 from a rescue)

[Poptart~]

I agree with above- definitely go check that out. The main points with owning Guinean pigs are. Be sure you have a lot of hay this may be Timothy hay, orchard grass hay, or any other grass based hay. Unless you have a baby or pregnant guinea pig then you don’t want to use alfalfa hay as it is too high in calcium and will harm your guinea pig. Many people will just use Timothy hay with another grass based hay mixed in. You also want to be sure you are giving them fresh vegetables and pellets once a day.
For bedding you will want to use fleece or aspen wood chips, you can place a tile in some parts of your cage as a way for you guinea pig to cool off in the summer. Be sure that if you are using multiple tiles next to each other that the tiles don’t have any sort of space between them, or your guinea pig may hurt their toes in the cracks.
Be sure that you get a group of two or more because of left alone it may cause many mental problems and if you keep two or more than they will get a lot more enrichment because unless you can speak guinea pig and spent the entire day with them then they will be left alone for a lot of the day and as they are social animals this will cause problems. 8 ft.² is the bare minimum for cage size but many will enjoy 10 to 12 ft.² be sure that your cage is over 1 foot taller and I’ll see you guinea pig may be able to jump out. Guinea pigs are very sensitive respiratory Systems so try not to use a lid on the cage as this will limit air ventilation.
Most other information can be found in the form that the others link above.

[ajuniceu~]

I highly recommend checking out the two guinea pig forums linked above, and joining them for further information

 

If you'd rather information in the form of videos, some great channels include Autumn Grace, Little Adventures, Guineadad, Guinea Pig Jungle, Abi's Animals and Little Kingdom.

 

I'll just go through the basics

- must be housed in pairs or more: bonded females tend to work best in terms of less squabbles, but neutured males x females and male pairs work well too.

- 8 sq ft is the bare minimum, but I'd recommend at least 10 sq ft for a pair of females and at least 12 sq ft for a pair of males. C&C cages are a great, inexpensive cage option.

- bedding options include fleece liners (eg guinea dad liners), bath mats, fleece w/absorbent layer under, paper bedding, aspen shavings or kiln dried pine shavings. I personally would go with fleece for the main section, and then a litter box with the hay and paper bedding.

- their diet should be mainly hay, and they should have grass based hay such as timothy or orchard avaiable to them 24/7. I suggest placing piles in hay directly in their litter area as it provides easier acess and they like to burrow in it. veggies should be also fed on a daily basis, 1 cup per pig is a good amount, and pellets should be timothy hay based such as oxbow pellets and 1/8 cup per pig a day. guinea pigs need plenty of vitamin c so this should either be given in the form of veggies such as bell peppers or tablets (oxbow)

- guinea pig cages should have at least 1 hide per pig, chew toys, one water bottle per pig, litter area, hay, etc. pinterest has some great cage examples!