Guinea pig routine

[Twiceover]

Hello,

We have just got a couple of lovely rescue guinea pigs. I have been reading lots about guinea pig care but I've never owned small pets before so I'm not very confident with it all.

Could any kind guinea pig owner talk me through their daily routine with their guinea pigs. E.g. what time you feed them, what and how much, cleaning out, how often you handle them, how much time they spend in their run outside.

They are currently living in our old playhouse and hopefully their run will arrive tomorrow. They still seem very shy but they've been at the rescue centre since 1 July so I guess it will take them a while to settle. The playhouse is lined with newspaper and then hay - will that be warm enough at this time of year? They have a water bottle but I'm worried that they aren't drinking from it as the level hasn't gone down. I have put their food next to the water bottle and they seem to be eating well. They have also left lots of poos around the place so they are exploring their new home when it's quiet.

Any tips much appreciated - I haven't felt this worried since we brought DTs home from hospital - surely twin pigs must be easier than twin newborns?!

We have a pair of indoor piggies, two sisters. They live in a large run in our spare room.

The run is lined with newspaper and covered with hay. We have two igloos for them that have lots of hay inside.

We put them in a run outside sometimes but they are not big fans of the outdoors.

They have a bowl of dry food in the run and I feed them fresh veggies 3 times a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner.

They have some of these each day - cucumber, carrot, tomato, red pepper, different types of lettuce, spinach, baby corn, fresh grass. Not all of them every day iyswim but these are the things they like best.

They love parsley as a treat.

We clean the run every second day. DD plays with them after school.

Not sure if this is good guinea pig care but they seem very content and are thriving.

When we got ours first they didn't seem to drink much water but this summer they've started drinking a lot more.

I think if you are feeding them lots of juicy veg they don't need to drink much.

We don't handle ours very much. They'll take food from our hands and chat to us but we've never got into picking them up much as they don't seem to like it.

We do take them out of the run in a confined space though and dd plays with them. They scamper around her and seem to enjoy it.

They are quite loveable little things. I drop in and see them during the day and they shout at me for food when they hear me coming.

Stock up on newspaper - our neighbours save theirs for us. They are lovely little creatures but they wee everywhere! I tried lots of combinations when I acquired my 3, but newspaper and good quality hay are simplest and cleanest. I get my hay by the half-bale from an equine supplies store. Pet shop hay in tiny bags is useless - you need loads of the stuff and it has to be good quality.

Mine rarely use their drinking bottles but they have vegetables 2/3 times a day which presumably covers their needs. Favourites are peppers (they're not so keen on red), cucumber, carrots, occasional strawberry or raspberry, apple, spinach, cabbage. Dry pellets (not the muesli type) available at all times. Fresh hay every day, clean out everything at least every second day.

They adore fresh grass though, so they do go out in their run - attached to a little wooden house - whenever possible. They also have a 6 foot hutch attached to a paved run, where they can go for a change when the grass is too wet. Useful when I'm cleaning out one of their indoor cages.

I am also about to invest in some stuff from Runaround - I love the look of some of these set-ups - mine love tunnels.

www.runaround.co.uk/

ps Mine don't particularly like being picked up but will sit quietly in my lap while I groom them. Two of them have long hair (pain in the neck) and they all endure bathing once a month. I clip the long hair around their rear ends too. Gorgeous Guineas shampoo leaves them shiny coated and soft.

Not everyone treats for fleas and mites but I do - when they arrived, one already had mites so I do them once a month with Xeno 450 drop-on treatment.

Enjoy them - as long as you're prepared for the constant cleaning, they're the sweetest pets.

Mine live in a very large hutch, meant for outdoors, in our lounge. They have a full clean out every other day. Newspaper and hay. They no longer have sawdust/woodshavings as one has very poorly feet.

They have a bowl of Burgess Excel nuggets and a water bottle all the time. Snacks constantly throughout the day. Main veggie meal in the evening. When my eldest DD comes home from school one little fatty tells her she's been starved all day, Wheek, Wheek! I'm looking at you Millie.

The guineas go in their run at every opportunity. It has a little summer house attached and that is given clean newspaper and hay everytime they visit it.

Don't worry if your guineas aren't taking water from a bottle as long as their is plenty of wee in their hutch, they are taking their water from their veggies. My boars never learnt how to drink from a bottle and one lived to be over 6 years old

Keep an eye on their claws. They grow alarmingly quickly and they can break a toe if left to get exceedingly long.

Thank you all for your help. Feeling more confident now. Hopefully they will settle in and soon be happy piggies.

I am a new owner! (Have had them nearly a month now). I was like you and really worried initially, they were 10 weeks old and I panicked they'd not eaten! I made sure all their veg was wet so they'd get more water when they ate it!

We now do feeding hay before school (although they've loads of hay at all times anyway). Then pellets after school (but there's always a few leftover throughout the day) and then veg before bed!

We've a double decker hutch but at the moment they spend most of their time in the bed bit so that gets cleaned daily unless they've out in the run lots then every other day. The rest of the hutch we do twice a week or when it looks necessary.

It's interesting seeing what others do, as a new owner it's hard to know what to do for the best!

For bedding we do newspaper then sawdust then hay. It looks very cosy!!

I used to use sawdust but then heard some negative things so I stopped and they seem fine without it. Less mess and less expensive too so everyone is happy. I'm going to put some fleece in when the weather gets colder.

Hi- first congratulations on your new piggies and for going with Rescue. They will be a bit bewildered, they've had a lot of changes .
Have they always been cagemates or were they bonded in Rescue?

We have (present Roll Call) GP4 (my DDs lardy tricolour sow) GP5 (my tiny feisty arsey little Himalayan sow) - both Rescues ex-breeders before they came to us and GP6 (our new neutered boar, from the same Rescue. He's DDs pig, very sweet,laid back boy).
Previously we had GP1 and GP2 (rescued brothers) then GP2 died we got GP3 (boar piglet) to match with GP1. When GP1 died we had GP3 neutered and got the sows. Sadly GP3 died in January and we had no boars until GP6.

Ours live in a wooden Playhouse with some adaption .
We clean the haybox (glorified garden storage trunk for cushions etc, with 2 doors cut out) every day. Theres a layer of newspaper and hay that I roll up and replace with fresh each night. Under the hay is a good layer of small animal friendly wooden cat pellets to absorb. That lasts a week with spot cleaning. The sows pee far more than our boars ever did.

The main floor lasts a week.
In winter I use a thick layer of equine bedding (chopped card) on the floor. Or this year, if I have enough, my own shredded card/paper

We feed morning/night (veg). Pellets and fresh water at night.

Cuddle in the evening.
Run when it's nice enough, they had four hours on Sunday but the grazing days are getting fewer now sadly)

Lots of playthings- boxes,tunnels,paperbags. Make sure you remove staples, tape,handles.
They chew everything and everything

They should be warm enough in the hay but once it gets chilly you might want a Snugglepad or similar (it's a solid microwaveable plastic disc that goes in their bedding. ) I wrap in fresh newspaper each day, mine peed the cover too much.

We bring ours in at night for Guy Fawkes (noise) then play it by ear in November/early December . When they sleep in at winter they have the small junk storage room which isn't kept warm. I put a duvet over the cage to insulate them and keep them quiet.we fill the cage with hay.

You'll find yourself in the supermarket or the outdoor market buying veg for them. Especially if it's something new (Waitrose is brilliant for this, lots of reductions too) .
I;m always picking up veg and thinking "Hmm, wonder if the pigs would like this".

Yes, we already have a much greater selection of veg in our fridge than we usually did!

I think the piggies were probably litter mates but I'm not sure. They came to the rescue from a breeder who died suddenly leaving lots of guinea pigs, mice, rats etc. They certainly seem v fond of each other. They were scampering about exploring their house a lot more yesterday and seem a bit happier with our presence. Baby steps