How to Care for Guinea Pigs

How to care for these popular pocket pets!

Making the decision to adopt a Guinea Pig can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Although somewhat shy, Guinea Pigs, with a little encouragement, are fun loving, gentle and charismatic little creatures. When searching for the best family friendly pet Guinea Pigs will always come out on the top of the list. As far as pets go they are low maintenance, inexpensive to feed, take up little space, make little noise and are relatively clean. However there are a few things you need to know to ensure your Guinea Pigs enjoy a long and happy life.

1. Housing. Providing a home that is large enough and predator proof are the two most important factors when it comes to buying or building a Guinea Pig hutch. It is recommended that hutches are a minimum of 1.0mt X 0.70mt and larger if you have two or more individuals. Ensure the hutch has a covered nest box area for sleeping and escaping the rain. If you are planning on leaving your Guinea Pigs outside overnight please make sure the enclosure is snake proof. As a general rule commercially available hutches are not snake proof. Snake and rodent proof wire is available from most hardware stores so it is possible to rewire your hutch.
2. Bedding. Guinea Pigs love their creature comforts so a lovely bed of clean dry hay is a must for all nest boxes. However, don’t use lucerne hay as they will eat it and it is too rich for their digestive systems. Lining the box with newspaper makes for easy daily hay changes. If you would like to go a step further check out Cozy Caves – I did say Guinea Pigs like their creature comforts! Tip: use old hay and Guinea Pig poo in the vegie garden, their vegan life style makes for excellent fertiliser!
3. Furniture & Toys. Just like cats and dogs, Guinea Pigs need to be stimulated to prevent boredom, for this reason two Guinea Pigs are better than one. The great thing about Guinea Pigs is that they love to play, are really inquisitive and get excited over the most basic of toys. This is where children and Guinea Pigs make a great combination. Cardboard boxes are excellent as the kids can spend hours making really fun houses and Guinea Pigs will spend even more time checking them out! Tubes and tunnels made out of PVC plumbing tubes are cheap and easy to clean. You can also purchase Guinea Pig furniture, but with a little imagination household objects will do just as well. The thing to remember is that Guinea Pigs love to chew stuff! So when making toys from items around the house ensure they are not toxic. Search the web for ideas and safe products and most important of all get the kiddies involved!
4. Temperature. Guinea Pigs originate from South America, use burrows as shelter and are mostly active during the cooler hours of dawn and dusk. Needless to say they are not designed for the Australian climate. Guinea Pigs should never be housed in areas where temperatures are above 28 degrees. Position the hutch in a well ventilated, dry and shady area in the garden. If there is a chance the hutch will get direct sunlight during the day either bring them indoors or place a tarp or beach umbrella to provide shade. Ice packs wrapped in old teatowels were a hit with our Guinea Pigs during those really hot summer days!

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Feeding.

One of the greatest apsects of owning a Guinea Pig is their inexpensive taste in food. They will make use of much of your left over leafy greens and vegetables and love eating your backyard grass. This makes them a very economical pet. Please BEWARE, not all fruit and vegetables are good for Guinea Pigs! Avocado, onion, garlic and hot spicy vegetables should NEVER be fed to Guinea Pigs. Commerical pellets are also available and a good quailty brand will ensure all vitamin and mineral requirements are met. We recommend Oxbow Guinea Pig Pellets (available to order at Vitality Vetcare) as it doesn’t contain the high fat sunflower seeds and has less nutrient-poor bulk than is found in the supermarket brands. Avoid high sugary formulas or those with molasses added.

A diet of 70% fresh grass or high quailty grass hay (not lucerne hay), 30% green leafy vegetables and 5% fruit (use as treats) is ideal for optimal health. Below is a Guinea Pig food pyramid with suggested healthy and safe options.

1. Vitamin C. Guinea pigs cannot produce or store vitamin C so it is improtant that we provide it in their diet on a daily basis. The Melbourne Rabbit Clinic has some really handy advice on how to provide Vitamin C as well as other great care tips for Guinea Pigs.
2. Expanding your Guinea Pig collection, or not. It is important to know just how proficient Guniea Pigs are at breeding when you make a decision to adopt two or more individuals. Males can breed from two months of age and females, believe it or not, can breed from four to six weeks of age! So the term “breeding like rabbits” should certainly be applied to Guinea Pigs. Housing two entire males is possible if they have been together since birth, females tend to get alone well in groups of up to three. The ideal situation for bigger groups is one desexed male to two or three females.

Adding new animals to an already established group should always be done with care as Guinea Pigs can fight, inflicting serious injury.

Slow introductions can be done by housing the new Guinea Pig in a separate hutch within close proximity to the group for several days or weeks. Short, supervised play sessions can be begin and these can get longer as the Guinea Pigs get to know one another. Eventually once you are confident everyone is getting along co-housing can begin.

If you would like more information on Guinea Pig care feel free to call Vitality Vetcare and speak with a staff member.