New guinea pig advice please

[AccioWine]

We are about to get 2 baby boar piggies. I had guinea pigs when younger but I've forgotten much of what we need. Any advice on hutch (they will be indoors but we have a cat so hutch rather than cage is probably safest), bedding, food etc gratefully received please.

Hopeful bump?

Make sure they have plenty of space as it's not uncommon for boars for bicker. Mine do if they get in each other's way too much! Also ensure there is more than one "hidey space" so they can chill separately. Our's have a wooden house each and also a tube so they can easily get away from each other if needed. A bit of bickering is fine but if it turns into fighting then they'd sadly need to be separated.
Good luck! Be patient with them. They're very nervous creatures but with time (and bribery with veg!) they will start to trust you.

Hello . We became guinea owners in Sept. Best pets ever! (Though you’ll know that if you’ve had them before).

I’d say the essentials are somewhere to hide (boxes, ‘carrot cottage’ and plastic igloos from Pets at Home have all gone down well).

Ours are in a c&c cage (open grid type thing) but this won’t work because of your cats, unless you can get roof grids too, you probably can but I haven’t needed to.

There are a few guinea pig pages on fb and the c&c cages seem to be ‘the thing’ although obv lots are also in hutches and smaller cages. Some of the set ups are amazing!

We also have the P@H bluebell hutch as our pigs were supposed to live in the garage, until I fell in love with them and moved them indoors .

Ours eat nuggets, veg twice a day (probably a bit too much veg, they’re quite bossy!) - there are some good lists online of what to give, how often etc as while they need vit c, too much of some veg can give them bladder stones and bloat.

Ours love a cuddle although it took a little bit of time to make them realise cuddles are A Good Thing and we weren’t about to eat them .

Enjoy! - I’m really not a pet person at all but I totally love ours. I’m sure there are lots of things I’ve forgotten but hopefully someone else will also have advice. We have girls so I have no ‘boar-specific’ knowledge!

Thank you both for replying, I appreciate all your suggestions. Separate hidey places is a good call, thank you.
Can I ask do you use fleeces for cage liners please? Do they get really smelly even if washed weekly? I want them to be cosy as possible!

I use fleeces on top of puppy pads (and I appreciate this isnt the most environmentally friendly option...)

I clean out and wash fleeces daily, replacing the puppy pads if they’ve been wee’d on. I don’t think this (daily cleaning) is really necessary, but as the gps are currently in the dining room I’m a bit over-zealous!

One thing I would def recommend if you’re using fleece - buy a ‘horse bag’ (big zippable bag designed for washing riding gear) to wash them in, otherwise your washing machine will hate you and you’ll spend all the time de-haying the filter.

Good luck with your pigs! Shout if you have any other questions, having been won over by them I could bore on about them forever .

Boars need as much room as possible so sorry to say the standard pet shop cages usually are too small. There are good guides online as the minimum requirements.

Definitely get them checked they are both boys! They can be tricky to sex and you don’t want to end up with a litter of pigs!

We use fleece with old towels under neath for absorbancy. They are changed twice a week. They can get a bit pongy, it’s usually the hay. We change that twice a day and it keeps the smells minimum. We live near a farm and get a bale of hay for £4, a lot cheaper than pet shop prices.

Constant hay is a must. Good quality pellets too, nothing colourful the more boring looking the better usually. Hay should make up 80% of diet, pellets around 5% and veg the rest. Daily Peppers is good, limit lettuce (although never feed iceberg) as it’s nutritionally void. Limit fruit due to sugars. Dark leafy greens are good, but check calcium levels (kale, spinach etc should be 1/2 times a week).

Don’t be disheartened if they run away all the time, they’re prey animals at the end of the day it’s thier nature. They should come around with slow and gentle reassurance. They are lovely animals.

Boars are lovely and very affectionate (we've had 4 boars and 4 sows over a period of 7 years, we know have one sow left , she''ll be 5yo in May)

We've had C&C grids , good because you can adapt the shape and size. Also got a 4'x2' cage with a plastic base and metal bar top.
You could look in places like Jolleys for a rabbit cage which is bigger.
Plastic is easier to clean than wood , and guineas need a lot of cleaning

All one level is preferred , the ramps on some of those double decker cages are so steep and take up quite a lot of space.

Our original boar pair ( 1yo brothers) had a wooen playhouse adapted by DH. It was 6'62 x 6'6" so loads of floor space, houses, hay bed.

2 boars do well together if they bond and establish who is alpha. They may well squabble a bit (the Terrible Teens) but you can pre-empt and prevent a lot , mainly with space for them.

If you have tiny piglets you might need to overlap C&C grids . They need lined , pigs can't walk on grids.
We use fleece on puppy pads and newspaper , with a box of hay for sleeping in.

If you use fleece , buy a couple of the pet bedding bags and some unscented detergent . I put the liquid in the bag, wash them and hang them out, the hay blows away . Saves my machine

Have you got pigs lined up?

I googled "Large Indoor Rabbit Cages"

2 came up that were 22" long 11" wide , 14" high or 27" long 19" wide, 14" high

How is that even legal? I wouldn't put one guinea pig in those let alone anything the size of a rabbit !
That would make for an extremely shit life for a little animal !

Thank you 70, I have been lurking round the board a bit and was hoping you'd turn up as you have stood out as a bit of a sage.

We have 2 boars reserved, they will be around 14 weeks. I'm glad you said that boars are affectionate, we had a long visit and a good cuddle with them and they were relaxed and friendly so we are hopeful that we can continue this at home, though we will be giving them space to adjust.

We will keep on with the research for the best cage/ hutch. I was wary about cages as we have a cat so didn't want them to feel too exposed, but the hitched do seem so small.

Thanks also to pps with advice about food and bag for washing- a very helpful tip.

I will definitely be back to make sure we do the best by these piggies. You are all such a knowledgeable lot- I am very grateful to you for sharing. Thank you.

We have two piggies in a 4×2 C&C cage. We also have a cat. The cafe is on a stand so well above cat height. We bought a top for it but the cat is unbothered by them so we haven't used it. On the whole we try to keep the door closed when we are not there so the cat can't wander in. She has peered at them when they are being particularly bouncy but on the whole ignores them.

I started with a small cage and gradually got bigger as you really do notice how much space they take up. I am considering adding a little loft to our set up as one of my pigs likes to be up high. The other probably would not use it at all as she is super lazy.

Ours aren't super friendly. The girl is ok, but the boar started life being unsold at Pets at Home so probably wasn't handled enough. He's fine to be picked up, but then he just wants to explore. I quite like it though as he is super cheeky.

Even though they aren't massively cuddly they are very interactive. Mainly in their unending desire to be fed. I am greeted by two fluffy monsters on their hind legs wheeking away every time I move!

Get a piece of vinyl floor covering to line the hutch before the boys have even set paw in it. Wish I’d done that as the wee soaks through .

Get the kids to make shoe box hideys, cut 2 door ways to avoid squabbling.

Nothing wrong with having a wooden ‘outdoor’ hutch in your living room. Its how our pigs lived for years.

Agree boars are the most affectionate .

We got a rabbit hutch (Gumtree bargain) a couple of years ago. (Its from a well known pet store) Steamed it , used the Vikron S , painted it and put some of those adhesive floor tiles on as a base ( then newspaper )
Our pigs had this as their garden hutch (plus run) then I moved it into the Pighouse.for winter (and it stayed there)

I have to say , even though its been kept inside , it is pretty ropey .Bit rickety , wood splitting . I wouldn;t trust it to keep my rodenty ones safe outside . It's served its purpose I suppose .

I;m planning to put it inside the rabbit run for GP7 this summer (we cut the legs off the hutch) , so she can have the shelter but the security.

DD will have to fathom how she'll get into the run to catch her

We have vinyl floor covering and then use microfibre towels on top with masses of hay. The towel is changed daily and washed, they dry so quickly.

BTW do you all leave the heating on for your guinea pigs during the day when it's bitterly cold like it is now or am I going soft?

Thanks Pig for the reassurance about the cat! And for the tip about the vinyl from brizz and fortified.

fortified it sounds like we will have a similar set up to you. Did you find them very smelly out of interest?

70 these piggies are fast from what we've seen. Our reflexes are going to have to sharpen up! Hope your dd is quick!

BTW do you all leave the heating on for your guinea pigs during the day when it's bitterly cold like it is now or am I going soft?

Our piggies have the little bedroom with the heater switched off (there's no door so they get the warmth from the other rooms and we get to hear their constant whittering)

GP7 has a cardboard box full of hay and a couple of fleece blankets over her cage at night to keep her snug .

I used to have mine on a puppy pad and fleece, but I now just use the puppy pad. He's not a chewer and the fleece just seemed redundant.

I have a 2x4 C&C and there is somebody on amazon who sells XXL puppy pads that fit perfectly. I just fold it up and bin it every other day.

He has pieces of vet bed under houses to sleep on which get washed in a horse bag. Vet bed is great because it washes so easily.

I can completely change his cage in no more than 5 minutes. Very easy and clean set up.

Oh that's a good idea with the fleece blankets, I'll try that.
They have mountains of hay - it would be in a cardboard box but they pull it all out and flatten it and then eat the box. They then do a daily fail sad face because they have got no hay.

You can get some very large cages - c and c ones are best (you can add a lid so cats can’t help themselves)! The more space the better for piggies, most of the outdoor style hutches aren’t big enough and assume you’ll have them in a run a lot of the time. If they’re indoors they’ll need more room. As a bare minimum get one of the 160cm cages you can buy from Zooplus online.

Personally I’ve never got on with fleeces. I don’t like the idea of washing them in the same machine as I wash my clothes in (!) so we just use layers of newspaper and hay and throw away and clean out each time. Ours seem happy with that.

Piggies are wonderful.

We have 2 lovely boars we rescued a few months ago, they are about a year old.
Ours live indoors in a closed cage as we have a very curious dog. We have a double decker cage and one of our pigs is quite good with the ramp, the other never uses it. I worry they don’t have enough space but make sure they have a good amount of floor time each day.
We use puppy pads and fleece which I change daily but only because they are in our living/dining area and I don’t really want any whiff of them.
Our 2 squabble a bit but nothing serious and the one who can do the ramp just removes himself by going “downstairs.”
As for food, hay of course at all times, they get so excited when you put fresh hay in. Ours have a bowl of dry food and a bowl of veg for breakfast and again in the evening for dinner. (They have also started requesting a late night snack about 10pm when we go to bed!) They love kale, carrot, parsley, dandelion leaves, green beans, cucumber, tomato, apple, tiny bits of banana, lettuce (not iceberg), cabbage, peppers, baby corn and corn on the cob. Just lots of variety really and not too much of anyone thing.
They are fab little animals, impossible not to love. They are timid and will take time to get used to you but will be quick to learn the noise of your fridge opening! You will be their food slave!

Oh yes they become a fridge alarm! Every time the fridge opens ours launch into a wheeking chorus! None of us can get away with having a sneaky snack anymore!

Hehe, they can join the cat. Every time we go in the kitchen she miaows at us! 2 animals clamouring at me for food, not to mention dd.

You cannot eat a bag of crisps without their little Food Antennae wiggling .
"You don't even eat crisps"
No, but we do like parsley and that's in a crinkly bag......in the fridge....hint hint

Cardboard boxes get chewed at 3am .
GP2 used to carve a rectangular door to a Gothic Arch overnight .

Ours don't go so much for box chewing, instead they go for house redesign and move a cardboard box to the place they want it. They only do this overnight, elves and the shoemaker style, so I never actually see this. It's move about 2 feet when I come down in the morning so I put it back where I want it (so we can see baby pig) and every night they move it back to where they want it.

This is what I face if I make crinkly noises.

these piggies are fast from what we've seen

piglets are lightning quick, light as thistledown with little needleclaws. You need to perfect the "scoop" to get one hand under the belly then the other hand under the rump .

Once they are Lardy Adults they'll run about "for a Laff" when you try to catch them, all part of their game.

Our rabbit runs are Bunny Business (we have a huge 84" long one and a 48" long one ) . They leg it to the far end ! But if they want caught , its a doddle.

Usual cry from our garden on a late Summer night was "Tilly , don't be an arse" when she was the last one to catch and DD was scrabbling about .