When it comes to creating an ideal home for your guinea pigs, what are the essentials? A good place to start is by learning more about these gentle small furries. A little guinea pig know-how can go a long way to understanding what your piggies require from their environment to be healthy and happy.
- Guinea pigs or ‘cavies’ (Cavia porcellus is their Latin, scientific name) originate from the grasslands and lower slopes of the Andes Mountains in South America. Being a small animal, guinea pigs have many natural predators, which is why they avoid open areas without shelter and are on constant alert against potential dangers.
- Extremely social, wild guinea pigs live in close family groups of five to 10 individuals, though several groups may live in close proximity, forming a colony.
- A typical wild guinea pig habitat contains an area of dense, high vegetation for cover, which they tunnel through and hide in, and a more open foraging area. A colony’s territory can cover 1,500 square metres. And, while they don’t burrow, they often use burrows created by other animals.
- When it comes to food, wild guinea pigs naturally spend most of the day foraging on grasses, plants, vegetables and crops.
When keeping guinea pigs as pets, it’s important to remember that they’re still wild at heart, retaining all their natural instincts and behaviours.
The challenge is to care for them in a way that meets all their needs and enables them to do all the things that piggies enjoy, such as chatting with their guinea pig chums, exploring a varied environment, grazing and foraging for food, keeping a close eye on what’s going on around them from a safe lookout space, and choosing sheltered, cosy spots for a snooze.
Space, safety and places to hide and peek
When creating a home for your guinea pigs there are three key things to consider – providing your piggies with plenty of space, ensuring their accommodation is safe and secure, and supplying a selection of places for them to hide and peek out from.
Follow our 8 top tips to enable your piggy pals to enjoy their best guinea pig lives!
1. GUINEA PIGS NEED SPACE TO THRIVE
Your guinea pigs need as much space as possible so that they can relax and be able to roam, explore and forage, just like they would in the wild. Traditional small hutches do not provide the space guinea pigs need to behave normally.
Instead, a hutch should just be viewed as your guinea pigs’ ‘bedroom’ and be permanently attached to a much larger guinea pig run where they can exercise freely at any point in the day or night. This can be a safe guinea pig-proofed room indoors or a large run outdoors. Your guinea pigs’ main housing should be draught-free, predator proof and as big as possible – an absolute minimum of 1.5m x 1m.
Guinea pigs can be housed indoors or outdoors. The important thing is that they have suitable accommodation, companionship, enrichment opportunities that enable them to exhibit natural behaviours, as well as the right nutrition.
While these small pets have traditionally been kept outdoors, today there are many people who prefer to care for their guinea pigs indoors, where they can keep a close eye on their health and wellbeing and spend more of the day interacting with them.
Find out more about creating an ideal home for indoor guinea pigs >>
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Wood Green advises that groups of four or more guinea pigs need a larger indoor set up or a converted shed or Wendy House. If a ramp connects the hutch to a run, check it is wide enough and not too steep or your piggies may be too scared to use it.
2. GUINEA PIGS ENJOY TIME OUTDOORS
On sunny, dry days (never let your guinea pigs get damp), piggies love spending time outside, grazing on grass. A minimum garden run for two to three guinea pigs needs to be 1.8m x 1.2m, wooden framed with a removable/hinged lid to allow easy access and well-built to prevent predators and young children trying to climb in when you’re not able to supervise.
Add multiple hiding areas/tunnels spread throughout their whole run for them to dart into. With hidey houses, choose wood or fabric rather than plastic, which can overheat in hot weather. As guinea pigs don’t feel safe grazing in the open it’s a good idea to provide multiple options for them to move between.
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The RSPCA advises that if you’re keeping your guinea pigs outside, their hutch should be sheltered from direct sun and wind. In temperatures below 15°C, you should move them indoors. They’ll also need sufficient bedding throughout the whole enclosure to keep them warm. (It’s usually best to bring them inside during the colder months of the year).
3. GUINEA PIGS REQUIRE ACCESS TO ALL AREAS
Although crepuscular creatures, who are most active during dusk and dawn, guinea pigs are awake for up to 20 hours of the day. This means their environment needs to enable them to have constant access to food, water, companion guinea pigs, safe hiding places, a run, and plenty of things to do to keep them occupied.
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The RSPCA recommends that if you’re keeping your guinea pigs indoors, they’ll need accommodation that’s well-ventilated and away from direct heat sources (such as radiators or sunny windows) and draughts. Room temperatures of 17-20°C are ideal. Some areas of centrally heated houses may get too hot, so be careful where you put their housing.
4. GUINEA PIGS LOVE HAY FOR TUNNELLING IN AND CHOMPING ON
Guinea pigs adore having huge piles of fresh hay to tunnel into. It’s also great to munch on too! In fact, a guinea pig’s diet should be around 90% high quality feeding hay or grazed grass (never feed them grass clippings as this will make them ill).
To keep healthy, guinea pigs need to keep their digestive systems busy with a mix of two kinds of fibre (called digestible and indigestible fibre) moving through the gut at all times. They can get this from eating good quality feeding hay, which also keeps their continually growing teeth in check.
5. GUINEA PIGS NEED THE RIGHT KIND OF BEDDING
The wrong bedding for your piggies can be really bad for their health. Wood shavings, sawdust and straw can often contain mites and cause fungal and mange conditions and should be avoided.
What’s more, wood shavings or sawdust not only absorb the natural oils that guinea pigs have which they need to keep their coats and skin in good condition, they also create dust, which causes respiratory problems.
Never use fluffy/teddy bear stuffing type bedding either because it can get wrapped around limbs causing injuries. Also avoid using straw as it is too coarse and could injure their delicate eyes.
Instead, line your guinea pigs’ enclosure with a thick layer of newspaper and completely cover it with a paper-based, non-expanding litter and good layer of fresh, sweet-smelling meadow hay. This will provide the ultimate in cleanliness and comfort, to help your guinea pigs enjoy the cosiest naptimes.
6. GUINEA PIGS WANT FEEDING TIME TO BE FUN
An interesting space to forage in, interesting things to discover, and safe spaces to scurry into will keep your guinea pigs occupied and happy.
Try hiding some of their favourite food or delicious Nature Snacks in different places for them to find on one of their explorations. Tuck away some nibbly nuggets in cardboard egg cups, or mix a few in with yummy Excel Feeding Hay with Dandelion and Marigold, some dried forage and Herby Hearts and stuff this tasty mixture inside a cardboard toilet roll.
Scatter these treat bundles around for them to find in their tunnels and hidey houses as they’re foraging and listen out for those happy ‘wheek-wheek’ sounds!
In addition to nutritious nuggets, tasty hay, and scrummy treats, guinea pigs enjoy a little fresh food every day. Try hiding a small bunch of parsley half a curly kale leaf, one small floret of broccoli or 1/8th of a green bell pepper in paper ‘forage’ bags for them to seek out.
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Feeding only the best quality food and natural treats will go a long way to keeping your guinea pigs in the best of health. As well as providing interest to their day, which is great for their wellbeing, this will help your guinea pigs maintain healthy skin, coat, eyes, teeth and digestion.
7. GUINEA PIGS THRIVE IN AN ENRICHING ENVIRONMENT
Providing your guinea pigs with an environment that keeps them active and mentally stimulated will make a huge difference to their health and happiness. Wood Green has these great ideas to add extra interest to your guinea pigs’ home sweet home:
- Hay kebabs and forage trees. Simply take two cardboard toilet rolls and stuff one end with their favourite hay, add some fresh or dried forage into the centre and enclose with more hay. Take a willow stick and pass through the middle of the rolls. Place several of these into an empty cardboard box to make a forage tree.
- Stick bundles. Take 10 – 12 willow or apple sticks and tie tightly around the middle with sisal twine. Hang them from the sides of the run for your piggies to reach up and enjoy.
- Plant pots. Mix some hay and fresh or dried forage into a plant pot and turn it upside down. Watch as your guinea pigs have fun trying to get to the treats.
- Herb planters. Grow herbs such as mint or lemon balm in a plant pot and attach an upturned hanging basket over the top. Your piggies will nibble the herbs while they are growing but not destroy the plant’s roots.
- Mock hedges. These are garden hanging baskets or magazine racks completely stuffed with hay to avoid legs getting trapped. You can hang them up in the run to encourage your guinea pigs to reach up and browse.
- Gnawing twigs. Guinea pigs need to be able to gnaw on items to keep their teeth in good shape. Often, piggies do not enjoy wooden chew toys as the tasty bark has been removed. Try offering apple tree or willow twigs as they love to chew all the bark off, plus it’s great for their digestive system.
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Plenty of fresh water every day is essential. Choose a water bottle with a solid sipper tube, attached to their accommodation and regularly check it’s working correctly.
8. GUINEA PIGS NEED A GOOD HOUSEKEEPER
It’s up to us humans to ensure our guinea pigs’ accommodation is clean, dry and hygienic. Their entire housing will need regular cleaning with guinea-pig safe cleaning supplies, which are available online or at most pet shops.
Guinea pigs have very sensitive skin and are susceptible to a number of skin complaints. Keeping your piggies’ accommodation dry is essential. Damp and dirty bedding creates the ideal environment for bacteria, fungi and other harmful things to thrive in.
- DAILY Do a quick spot check. Throw out any damp and soiled newspaper, bedding hay, paper litter and replace with new. Remember to keep back a little of the old hay so that the place still smells like home to your pets. Throw away any uneaten food and refill food containers. Fresh water should be supplied morning and evening. If your pets’ water bottle is turning green with algae, then scrub it clean and disinfect it with hot water and vinegar. If you can’t remove the algae, throw the bottle away and buy a new one.
- WEEKLY A more thorough clean should be completed each week, which involves removing and replacing all bedding.
- MONTHLY Every month you should give your guinea pigs housing a ‘deep clean’ where you take everything out and scrub the housing with a pet-safe cleaner, before putting in fresh bedding and hay. Make sure housing is completely dry before returning your pets.
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While it’s lovely for children to enjoy the company of guinea pigs, the responsibility for any animal’s wellbeing lies with adults. Small animals are often more complex to feed and care for than a cat or dog and require more looking after than a child can offer.
CARE MORE Discover more about the needs of your guinea pig with our Guinea Pig Care Guides >>
Guinea Pig Awareness Week is led by Burgess Pet Care in partnership with charities Woodgreen, Blue Cross, RSPCA and Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare, and is endorsed by the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA).