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Guinea pigs - cage dimensions?

6 replies

jennifersofia · 02/02/2008 11:57

Right - having trawled old gp threads on here but still have a few questions.
-What sort of cage dimensions would we be looking at for 2 pigs? (We live in a small mid-terrace)

  • Is it okay to have gp's and a brand new baby? dd's birthday is in Feb, (wanted to get as a present) and baby due in early April.
  • should they be running around the house 'free' daily?
  • would it be safe to leave them running free and baby in same room?
  • indoors or outdoors? We live in central London, so doesn't get terribly cold. However, we do have lots of neighbourhood cats and also foxes sometimes in the garden.
  • are there a lot of vet outlays?
  • should we get them from a pet shop or is there such a thing as a gp 'rescue' centre?
Any advice appreciated!
OP posts:
peanutbutterkid · 02/02/2008 13:13

There are GP rescue centres. Considering they live 7 years and a lot of people grow bored with them b4 that's up, it would be very kind of you to try to get one from rescue.
BUT, from a rescue centre, you may have trouble finding a pair that will live happily together, and they are seldom happy living alone. Also, rescue animals are more likely to have health problems.

Vet bills are far far below what you'd get for cat or dog.

They need hay or grass everyday, plus a source of Vitamin C -- they can die without those things. They shouldn't have celery (too stringy) or rhubarb (poisonous).

Ours lived outdoors, but you must keep them protected from drafts and wet. We had them in wire mesh-surrounded runs outdoors during daytime hours (still need somewhere inside the run to shelter from wind and rain). They will keep your lawn mowed, if you like (mustn't use garden pesticides any more, though).

Ours were never happy runningaround indoors. They leave concentrated staining wee and are just too shy for it. but somehow they should get out of cage and run around daily for at least 20 minutes (on average).

They probably wouldn't go near anybody, much less a baby. The odds of them biting or hurting anybody are virtually nil.

hth.

jennifersofia · 02/02/2008 19:07

Really helpful, thanks. How can you have them running around indoors (for those 20 min) without leaving concentrated staining wee?
Also, do you happen to know about how big a cage should be? (roughly)

OP posts:
peanutbutterkid · 02/02/2008 19:11

ER, i didn't want to cope with their sickly wee, hence why I didn't have them indoors very often! Indoor cavies are probably handled more,though, which makes them tamer inlong run, so I guess there's a trade-off. Wee is Not so important on a hard floor where you can clean it thoroughly.
Table at top of This page gives minimum as well as ideal dimensions / cage size.

jennifersofia · 03/02/2008 20:45

Thanks again, looks like a very informative website!

OP posts:
PussinWellies · 07/02/2008 19:20

Our two live in a 4ft by 2 ft indoor cage in the kitchen (up on a worktop so they can squeak at us while we eat, and there's no chance of us forgetting to feed them). The kids adore them. They also have a 7 ft by 4 ft outdoor pen -- our GP rescue insisted on this before we could have the pigs.

Enjoy!

Christywhisty · 15/02/2008 00:23

We have this type of pen
Very easy to move around the grass, they have a couple of little houses to shelter in as well.

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