Guinea pigs for dummies

[BrieAndChilli]

Ok have promised the kids some guinea pigs. We looked after the school ones for a weekend a couple of years ago and have done some reading, been to a pets @ Home kids workshop, DD has watched videos and read about it and educated her brothers but no real experience

Do we need an outside hutch and and an inside hutch and a run??
Do they go in the run everyday?
What’s the best type of hutch/cage?

Any tips/useful info????

I put mine in the run outside when the weather is double figures, and dry.
if you have space and inclination you can have them inside during the winter but you must keep them in so they acclimatize, otherwise the shock of the sudden cold will kill them.

You can keep them outdoors if you are willing to insulate during winter and give heatpads / extra hay.

If you chose to bring them indoors over winter then they wouldn't be able to go back out again until warm weather had completely resumed. October-March time would be out of bounds.

Or you can keep them indoors always and have a run for outside for grass and exercise time.

Guinea pigs need lots of space, the biggest 'rabbit' cage pets at home sale isn't suitable, you would need an area of around 8/9 square foot. They aren't great with stairs so having everything on one level is best were possible, but I do have a couple bluebells for some of my pigs (Currently on offer £79 at petsathome) and have the run attached to the bottom of the hutch.

If living indoors I'd recommend a midwest plus cage. These are suitable for 2 guinea pigs, if you decided to get more then you would need to attach another cage to that one.

They don't need to go in a run everyday assuming they have a suitable cage for living in, but it's great for them to get out and run. If living outside it's much easier to attach a run to the hutch and then you only have to open/shut doors.

I'd do a bit of research of your own before buying them as well, they are fairly easy pets but they can be quite time consuming with the cleaning/grooming/feeding routines.

I'm a new pig owner (had mine 2 months) so don't have stacks of advice as I'm still learning.

What I'd wish I'd done differently is not to buy a normal cage at all. We bought a large one (bigger than 2 guinea pigs need apparently) but once you put in all their stuff (and realise they grow to be BIG) that those cages are just too small.

We've now got a c&c style one (lots of panels and you can add to it/change shape) and it's 100x better. Piggies are so happy in it and it's loads easier to interact with them.

They're the best pets in the world. Fact!

I had my guinea pigs in an outside cage and they got scared by foxes and passed away. Had a few after and always kept them inside but they needed a lot of clearing out and never found them as social as hamsters in my opinion. A cage with easy access and a few hiding spaces is best for the guinea pig but if you want them a bit more social probably best not to have too many hiding spaces. I don't think it's important to allow them into the run every day

We were going to put them in the conservatory (north facing so doesn’t get much sun!!) there is a radiator out there.
It’s currebtly used for the kids toys.

I would say go for indoors and then a run for grass time on warm days. I used to keep mine outdoors but brought them in this winter and have decided they are much better indoor pets. If you have no predatory pets, c&c cages are amazing as you have such easy access to them and they are so easy to clean out. 'C&C guinea pig cages' will sell you a complete kit.

I have moved onto puppy pads under a single layer of polar fleece as it's super clean for inside the house and really easy to deal with. If you decide to go for fleece or pads, you definitely need a 'horse bag' so you can just shove the fleece in the wash.

I disagree with the 'few hideys' comment above. Guinea pigs worry about predators above and are much happier with something over their heads, I think you need to provide this if you want them to be chilled out enough to be friendly. Mine is so friendly he is like a little dog.

I would say get sows. I had a pair of boars and sadly one has passed away. I am now in the difficult position of deciding whether to find him a friend, which may or may not work out, when I definitely do not have space for two cages. I wish I'd had sows so I could have just added a friend without so many concerns.

Don’t buy them st pets at home if you can avoid it, rescuing is bettrr.

C&C are really good (I have grids from Costco about 14" squares)

You do need to line the base , they cannot walk on the naked grids.
If you have little piglets you need to overlap the grids the holes are too big (no worry with lardy adults)

I made a lid for one half that attached with cable ties so I could snip and raise it , I put a blanket over the li at night time to give them cover. They had two hay boxes and a tunnel.

The other cage -plastic base / metal bar to- had a rubber garden trug with a door to make a hidey house.

Mine have:
their outdoor Pighouse (wooden playhouse) with their hutches on floor level and access to the floor 24/7
outdoor runs (pegged down with huge tent pegs) that they go in if we are home (too many foxes to let them play unsupervised). Though they are safe, I've seen a fox sitting bold as brass by the run in the middle of the day, and the foxes can dig (though pigs cannot). It would scare the piggies even though I know they're safe.

The indoor cages in our small bedroom (no door and we put the radiator off) for winter. Ours come in for Guy Fawkes then when we think its cold enough we bring them inside. Usually they go out to the Pighouse in the day , but last winter was really cold and my guineas are nearly 4 yo so we kept them inside day&night till mid March .