Guinea Pig Care

Hello! I’m back! I’ve been gone the past few months traveling, but now I’ll be posting most every week!

In January, I will have had my guinea pigs for a year. Before I got Peppermint and Fudge, I did a lot of research on guinea pigs. I’ve learned many things through trial and error, and I hope these tips will help you too.

1. You can’t have just one

Guinea pigs are herd animals, which means they need to be in a herd. Even if you play with your guinea pig a lot, it won’t be the same as having another guinea pig around. Make sure you get guinea pigs that are the same gender too!

2. Cage space

Two guinea pigs need about eight square feet of cage space. There are many different types of cages. The ones in pet stores are usually too small and are overpriced.  Some people will build c and c cages, which are made with square grids and coraplast. These can be built yourself or you can buy them online.

3. Hay

Hay is for horses- and guinea pigs. About 80% of a guinea pig’s diet is hay. Specifically, guinea pigs need timothy hay. Guinea pig teeth never stop growing, so they need hay to wear down their teeth too. Make sure your guinea pig has hay all the time. I put my hay in a small hay rack so it doesn’t make such a big mess, but you can just pile it on the ground.

4. Veggies

You’ve probably seen pictures of guinea pigs eating veggies. One guinea pig needs about a cup of veggies a day. I give my guinea pigs some veggies in the morning and some in the afternoon. Guinea pigs can have most veggies, but it’s a good idea to make sure they are edible. Watery veggies such as cucumbers should be introduced slowly. If not, your guinea pigs will have some minor stomach issues.

5. Vitamin C

Unlike humans, guinea pigs cannot produce their own vitamin c. This means that you will have to give your guinea pigs vitamin c supplements. I have a liquid supplement that I add into their pellets. You can also put vitamin c drops in their water, but this could make the water taste bad and then your guinea pig won’t drink, which isn’t good.

6. Pellets

You don’t have to give your guinea pigs pellets, but that means you will have to give them a lot more veggies. Make sure to get pellets specifically for guinea pigs.

7. Bedding

Like cages, there are many types of bedding. There are wood shavings, fleece bedding, paper bedding, and much more. I use fleece bedding, which is reusable. I bought some fleece and then measured my cage. Then I sewed two lairs of fleece together to make fleece rectangles. I use two fleece rectangles, which means there are four lairs of bedding. The only downside with this bedding is you have to wash it in the washer.

I’ve used wood shavings and paper bedding before too. The nice thing is you don’t have to worry about cleaning them in the washer. A downside I noticed right away was my guinea pigs would run, which would kick up the bedding and get it everywhere, even outside the cage. When I would clean the bedding up, I would use a hand broom and dustpan. Sweeping it all up took a long time. Another downside to this bedding is it is very dusty.

8. Cage Cleaning

Once a week, I’ll take the guinea pigs out of their cage, and then clean it. First, I wrap up the fleece. Then I put it into an old laundry basket. (make sure you dedicate one laundry basket to this.) I take an already washed set of fleece and put it into the cage. I set up the cage and then put the guinea pigs back into it.

I take the laundry basket with the dirty fleece outside. I shake it out. This is very important because all of the poop and hay will ruin your washing machine and make your family really mad. Once the fleece is shaken out, I put it in the washer on heavy duty. You can buy a horse blanket bag to put the fleece in to help stray hay from getting in the washer, but if the fleece is shaken out well, this shouldn’t be a problem. Then I’ll put it in the washer and the fleece is as good as new.

9. Shelter

Since guinea pigs are prey animals, they like to hid under things. You can buy plastic or wooden houses, which make very good places to hide. Make sure you have at least one house for each guinea pig. There are also tutorials online for how to make a fleece house.

10. Water

Most every living thing needs water. You can either put you’re guinea pigs’ water in a bowl or a water bottle. I’ve tried both, and I prefer the water bottle. The downside to putting water in a bowl is the guinea pigs can tip over the bowl (HUGE mess) or put stuff in the bowl. The nice thing about bowls is they are the way guinea pigs would drink in the wild. The downside about water bottles is they can drip, which overtime will make a mess.

I hope this inspires you to get guinea pigs. Even though they make a mess, their adorableness always makes up for it!

Bye for now!

Hannah