I have a few Qs about Guinea Pigs!

[Yurtgirl]

We are hopefully about to acquire our first family pets - 2 guinea pigs!

I would love to know how other people look after theirs if I may!

Do you keep yours indoors or outdoors?
If indoors how big a cage do you keep them in?
How much time does it take you to care for them each day?
How long do you allow them to run about free range? (if at all!)
What do you put on the floor of their cage?
Do you still love the noise they make or does it get on your nerves!

I am genuinely interested in anybody's answers, I am a complete novice regarding keeping animals!

TIA

Outdoors all summer and come in at night during winter, outside if not too cold in day. The indoor cage is just one of those bog standard indoor piggy cages and the outdoor one is a double decker with run at bottom hutch on top. Don't allow them loose in garden (have cat) but run around hall supervised. Shouldn't use sawdust in cage as it can cause serious skin problems. We use hay which they need to eat daily anyway. The noise is sweet! They also need fresh veggies.

we had some.so will answer what we did=
Do you keep yours indoors or outdoors?indoors
If indoors how big a cage do you keep them in?cant remember actual size but huge,we had 3 piggies.
How much time does it take you to care for them each day?doesnt really,feeding,watering and as much play as you/they want.
How long do you allow them to run about free range? (if at all!)a few hours a day
What do you put on the floor of their cage? newspaper and hay
Do you still love the noise they make or does it get on your nerves!loved it.very cute especially when they chatted to each other

Hurrah Thanks both of you! I am fretting because I am really keen to get them but worried that after the initial enthusiasm wears off I might think "arggggggggggggh what have I done?"

Our guinea pig cage will be like this

And we have spent all day today rearranging our house to make space for it - ours is the same as the pic in the top left corner of the link - 28" by 56" - bigger than any commercially available cage!

Where has my lounge gone?

That looks great. Hope you enjoy them. I think they make great pets for kids.

that looks good!we at one point had guinea pigs in one huge indoor hutch and a lion head rabbit in another-all in the dining room-well pet room!sadly no more pigies but we still have the rabbit.
any name ideas yet?we had guinea,piggy and coco-dc named them

Ds settled on bill and ben for his after i'd talked him out of sportacus

Ah names!
That is another debate we are having!!!!!!!

Currently thinking about marvellous Old Testamant Bible names that I would have called my children had I produced 6 instead of 2! (guinea pigs seemed easier and less permanant than a menagerie of children to care for until they are 18 )

Hi Yurtgirl - me too!!

we've got 4 piggies in a C&C cage - tho' our base is just cardboard at the mo -

fab and so cheap compared to the ondoor cages you buy,

Wohmum - I asked at a sign shop today that happens to be only a 10 minute walk from us, I have bought an 8ft by 4ft peice of corex for £12 such a bargain. With the grids only costing £23 from b&q the total price is still very low - esp when you consider that the biggest commercially available cage is £75ish and still smaller than a C&C one

How many grids have you used for yours?

We havent actually got any yet of course - I have spent hours researching the little things and still havent held one yet! lol