what essentials do i need for a guinea pig?

[sanchpanch]

just bought 2 babies, to collect in 2 weeks, so now i need to start buying bits,. i have a hutch and a run, but i need to know what you put on bottom of cage etc and what i can use for bedding,

[southeastastra]

for my rabbits i put down newspaper, then wood chips, then lots of hay, they also sit in a tray each.

[sanchpanch]

thanks for that,

what do you mean by they sit in a tray each? sorry im not with it tonite

[southeastastra]

they sit in a cat litter tray, they just like it, it makes the cage easier to clean too

[misdee]

woodhsaving, straw for bedding, hay for munching, big bag of good quality food pellets, water bottles, a comb, food bowls, hay manger for putting the hay in. lots of vitamin C.

[sanchpanch]

any recomendations on the dry food?
so i buy a small cat litter tray to put n there hutch? do they sleep in it?

does the hay manger thing hang up? and where do you buy it from,

i cant wait to start buy the bits...

thanks

[misdee]

supa guinea excel, orange bag.

[krabbiepatty]

How old your kids, btw? I just ask because mine (5,4,0) showed spectacularly little interest in g pigs after about a week...

[southeastastra]

you'll only need the basics to start with, after a while you will see what extras they would like. i haven't got a manger thing cause my rabbits just eat the hay off the floor. i also buy plain rabbit mix from the market or pet shop.

[Bugsy2]

Aww, good choice sanchpanch - my two adore their guinea pigs. Mine get sawdust/wood chips on the floor of their cage/run, a bowl for their dry food & a bowl for the fresh veg. We have a water bottle & a hay manger too. Some kind of hay manger or rack is a good idea as they are quite messy eaters & if you put the hay on the floor of the cage they just end up weeing & pooing on it!

[southeastastra]

my bunnies are really clean and do their business in one corner!

[Bugsy2]

Guinea pigs seem to wee in one place - generally, but they poo everywhere! They are also really messy eaters. They climb in & out of their food bowls & pull lots of hay out. Having said all that though, they are adorable. My children are 6 & 4 and they really LOVE them so much. We have the guinea pigs in an indoor run & house in the playroom & they are endlessly petted & cuddled. I even take them out in the evening myself sometimes for a cuddle!!!

[southeastastra]

what are their names bugsy?

[Bugsy2]

Ginger & Tweetie! I am not responsible, the children named them.

[LadyTophamHatt]

Here's an extra super-dooper handy hint fo rany animals kept in hutches....



before the newpaper line the bottom of the hutch with tin foil as it stops the wee soaking right through the sawdust and making the wood smell.

So foil first.
then newspaper
the sawdust
then hay.

we've alsway done this as the bottom of the hutch has stayed lovely and odour free.....it also keeps them a little bit warmer in winter.

[southeastastra]

i always put a bin liner down, but don't want to be held responsible for any suffocated pets!

my bunnies have no name

[Bugsy2]

southeastra - no names? How come? I want to name them immediately! What do you call them? Haven't your children given them names?
So many questions!!!!!

[southeastastra]

i don't know why really, people all gave them different names, they were maud and daisy, then barbara and gloria in the end i got fed up and just left it (bad mummy) sons aren't really bothered

[LadyTophamHatt]

well I think me foil tip is super dooper if if you all don't....so ner!

[Philly]

My 2 ds's 9 and 4 adore their guinea pigs although the 9 year old is the most devoted.I think they are excellent pets .they like things to hide in etc so ours have an upturned veg rack in the run and several carboard tunnels.

Ours are called Basil and Buzz

[southeastastra]

i like your foil idea, better than my bin bag, but my bunnies might get blinded by the sun!

[southeastastra]

i like your foil idea, better than my bin bag, but my bunnies might get blinded by the sun!

[LadyTophamHatt]

ahh...no the foil is covered by all the other stuff....they won't be using it as a sunbed

[southeastastra]

i might try that then! although one bunny shreds all the newspaper as soon as i put it in. she even nibbled perfectly around a picture of tim henman

[sanchpanch]

thanks all for you fabb tips....

my children are 8 and 3, and both very excited, i am a single mum to my beautiful girls and i just felt there was something missing from our lovely family and so we thought we would adopt 2 little piggies born on 26.06.2006, and we collect them in a few weeks and we are so excited, and we picked bouys as we are all girls and felt some males in the house would be good(or maybe not)

but they are going to have girls names at the moment, Snow ball, and Lola, or maybe Pippa

i think your tinfoil suggestion is fab, would you change that every time you clean hutch out????

thanks again for all your tips, we are going shopping at the weekend....

and i shall look put for little hiding places for them , veg rack sounds good or some pipe from Diy store

[LadyTophamHatt]

it depends on how wet the sawdust is TBH....I should probably clean the hutch a bit more often because then I could leave it in for a few changes but I'm a slacker so they get new foil every time.

I clean them out once a week, but they have a really big hutch so it only gets poohy and wet in a few places.