Guinea Pig advice needed please

[holliem91]

Hi everyone, looking for people with guinea pig experience to advise me.

I will soon be an owner of two female GP's. I have never owned them before so have zero experience but have been doing lots of research on how to care for them properly and I am looking forward to looking after them and want to make sure they are cared for properly.

First of all, I am after a suitable cage to house them. Do I need one with a lid, without a lid? How big should it be? If anyone could point me in the right direction with possibly some links that would be great. I will say, I don't want to be paying an arm and a leg for a cage, though. I was looking at the ones with a ramp but they are on the pricier side so I am open to having a nosey at what you all suggest.

The next thing is bedding. What is the best bedding for them? I am thinking of using puppy pads/night time bed pads but then unsure of what would be best to go on top of that. I've read megazorb is supposed to be good but also that it can smell. I do want it to be as odourless as possible as they will be indoor piggies (I will be buying them a run for outside when the temperatures get warmer).

How many hiding spots will they need? Just one each or more?

What hay is best for them to eat?

Any other advice will also be greatly appreciated, thank you

Ooh exciting, do post pictures when you can.

Cage wise, the bigger the better is the main thing, they need more space than you think, so I would prioritise that over anything else, the C&C cages are the ones usually recommended on here - maybe check ebay or gumtree for any second hand options if you don't want to spend too much, or one poster on here converted an old children's playhouse so you can think outside the box a bit too. Lid doesn't matter unless you have a cat or dog or small child in the house that might bother them, they won't climb out! I'd avoid ramps personally as guinea pigs generally aren't built to climb, we used to have a cage with one and they were OK with it as younger pigs but struggled in their old age.

Bedding, after experimenting with lots of different options we use old fleece with Back2Nature recycled paper pellet bedding on top - it's not the cheapest but we use it sparingly and have found it the best for tidiness and odour control, pigs are messy and like to kick their bedding everywhere so the slight heaviness of the pellets is good and it seem to absorb the wee well. You do still need to be vigilant on the cage cleaning though as otherwise they will pong a bit, there's no other solution to that (girls better than boys in this regard so you are one step ahead there!)...

Hiding spots, I'd do at least one each and perhaps an extra or two if you have space, ours are locked in a lifelong sisterly squabble over the best spots in their cage (their preference is under a chewed up old cardboard box but the one outside the box will always upend it leaving the one in the box exposed and distraught ) but having a couple of options at least keeps sulking to a minimum!

Hay, the main thing is to buy meadow hay and make sure they have plenty of it. We just buy whichever big bales are cheapest, do watch out for calcium content is the only thing, piggies can be prone to bladder and kidney stones so high calcium feed not great, most meadow hay is fine though, you don't need to buy the fancy stuff.

First of all , welcome to the world of guinea pigs , they are lovely , chatty , greedy little rodents who are invariably the nicest of the small pets , temperwise , if a limited intelligence wise (sorry piggies but it is true )

I do want it to be as odourless as possible as they will be indoor piggies

If this is importantant to .............. time for a Big Think .
They are messy . Hay gets everywhere . The ha smells .
Guinea-pigs not so much is you clean them (we did daily cleans )
They pee and pooh wherever they choose .

They like one level , ramps are often too steep and take up a lot of room.
C&C are brilliant but you need to line the base , they cannot walk on grids .

I bought good quality meadow hay , The Range or Jolleys

They aren't agile but our hefty Rex boar could jump out of his travel cage

There are tinnes of threads on Small Pets , your questions will be answered and you;ll end up more baffled !

Some things to consider -
They are fragile . They cannot dig , kick , jump , lunge their heads , climb . Surprisingly even with rodent teet they rarely (not never) bite
They need protected from EVERYTHING .
Cold Heat Damp Wind Cats Dogs Foxes

They hide illness and go from Well-To-Dead
You get the Guinea Pig Spiral of one goes and you need a partner , they shouldn't be alone

And they break your bloody heart when they die .

(We have two cats - DH dearest wish . - after the last old piggie died . )
Much easier than the piggies , but I do miss the rodenty ones .

hay smells

They are lovely animals but they need a really big footprint for their home as they need a single level and plenty of running around space. The indoor cages in most pet shops are far too small to keep two Guinea pigs in full time.

They poo and pee constantly, and don’t confine it to a “litter tray” area like some rodents. It can get a bit smelly unless you’re cleaning at least daily. We just accepted Aroma De Guinea Pig as fairly inevitable.

We had a hay area and a fleece area, but the guineas always flung hay everywhere anyway.

Remember if you are cuddling them to always have a towel on your lap!

We found cardboard boxes were their favourite hiding places, and handy gnawing snack too. They always chose a box over the plastic igloos. Even better if there’s hay in the box!

They are really delightful animals, and when they popcorn in excitement it’s adorable.

I agree with @70isaLimitNotaTarget that Guinea Pig Spiral is real, as they cannot live alone happily. In Switzerland it’s illegal to keep them on their own!