BouncyBunny Productions™
MP Animal Care
∞Guinea Pigs∞
How Big Should My Cage Be?You should have about 10.5 sqaure feet for two guine pigs. The bigger the cage the better. Outside hutches are not recomended guinea pigs have a very limited range of temperature tolerance. Other animals could break into the cage and hurt your guinea pig as well. Never keep your guinea pig outside, keep them inside, where they will be safe and warm, and you can interact with them more.
Where Should My Cage Be?
Find a room, inside, where your family is in several times a day for decent periods of time. But, make sure no one will trip, push, or knock it over your cage over, your cage should probably be in a place where people are a lot and the pigs will get lots of attention. But don't place them in an area with a lot of noise, this will make them skidish. If your family is loud a bedroom may be the best idea. A living room, bedroom, or hallway are the best choices because your family is most likely there a lot. Your guinea pig will feel more included in your life and you'll be able to easily interact with your guinea pig whenever you pass by the cage. NEVER put the cage outside, in the car, or in the garage. If the cage is outdoors the guinea pigs may not get enough attention, they will be too cold or too hot a lot of the time, and predetors could kill them by breaking in to the cage.
How Many Guinea Pigs Should I Get?
Guinea pigs need to have at least one friend (of the same sex) to live with. Guinea pigs are herd animals and it is un-natural for them to live apart. If you have an excuse such as 'my parents will only let me get one' or 'I can only afford one' you shouldn't get any guinea pigs because it isn't right to get animals you can't take care of. The only situation where there would only be one guinea pig is if his/her partners pass,if the guinea pig left is still young you should get a new partner for her/him but if he's past the age of 5 you won't have to get a new partner. Males are called boars. It is common for boars to get in fights, only take them away from each other if they draw blood or any other harmfull physical and noticable wound. Once you seperate two boars it is nearly impossible to get them to like each other again, and don't try or you may get a dead piggy.
Keep your guinea pigs' water bottle clean and change it daily. Get a guinea pig/rabbit bottle with the little ball in the spout and keep it full. Never use dog bowls. Be sure to clean the nozzle every day to keep it free of hay and pellet gunk which can breed harmful bacteria and can clog the water flow. Nozzles can be cleaned with a Q-tip. The water bottle itself can be cleaned by putting in uncooked rice, a little water, and then shaking the bottle. The rice will dislodge any algae build-ups. If the cage is in the sun for part of the day, this can make more algae grow in the bottle. In this case, cover the bottles with an non-see threw cloth to avoid algae. You can buy a water bottle cleaner at your local petstore (petsmart sells them), they come with a nozzle cleaner and a bottle cleaner.
Cleaning The Water Bottle
Vitamin D
We humans can make our own vitamin D from the sun, guinea pigs don't have that ability. Guinea pigs need vitamin D and when they don't get it they can get very sick and possibly die. Here is how to make sure your guinea pigs get enough vitamin D! You can gibe your guinea pigs half an orange twice a week(hence the background) but no more than that because oranges are high in citrus which is bad for rodents. You can buy Oxbow Vitamin D Drops (sold at PetSmart,online,and local pet stores) and use as recremended. Or you can add vitamin D drops to the water bottle , some people don't recremend this because if the guinea pigs don't like the tase they will stop drinking and not only lack vitamin D they will dehidrait.
So The Cute Cage At The Pet Store Will Work, Right?
Pet store cages are way too small for any guinea pigs. What that means is that the cages pet stores sell are too small. If you read 'How Big Should My Cage Be?' you'll know one guinea pig needs 10.5 sqaure feet, which is more than it sounds. To find out how many sqaure feet a cage is do length times width. Pet stores just want to make money, there are many great cages you can buy/make that are actually good for your guinea pigs! Read other sections to find out more information.
C&C Cages
C&C cages are one of the best cages for guinea pigs. You can make them or buy them. C&C stands for 'cubes' and 'cloraplast'. Cubes are the storage cubes the walls are made from. The cloraplast is a coragated plastic that is water proof and used for the base. You can buy cloraplast from your local sign shop. You can buy the cubes at walmart,target,Bed,Bath,and Beyond, and more. You can buy a completed cage at guineapigcages.com, they also have a store that sell cozies called guineapigmarket.com.
C&C cage
Food
There are five types of food guinea pigs eat, they all make up the nessecary diet for guinea pigs.
Pellets 10%
Like most rodents guinea pigs shouldn't have pellets with mixed in treats and others. Oxbow is a great guinea pig food which can be purchased at PetSmart,local pet stores, online, etc. If the pellets have mixed in treats and others the guinea pigs will only eat the treats and become unhealthy which is a cause of a short life span. Pellets should be fed once a day at the same time every day(night or morning and a different time than salad) guinea pigs should be fed 1/4 cup per cavy.
Salad 10%
Salads can be made of lots of different things. The main ingrediant for a salad should be romaine lettuce. Guinea pigs should not have ice berg lettece as it is unhealthy and has no nutritional value. Guinea pigs should have salad at the same time every day(night or morning and a different time than pellets) guinea pigs should be fed 1/4 cup per cavy.
Hay 60%
Guinea pigs should have unlimited hay avaliable. Hay can get expensive but i is needed. Hay can be stored in hay racks, on a towl, in a bowl, etc. Timothy hay is the best because it has the right nutrition, timothy hay is the most common as well. You can mix in small amounts of different types of hay but buy it ay a pet store or make sure it is made for small animals because some types are bad for guinea pigs.
Vitamin D Supplemints 20%
Vitamin D is needed for guinea pigs as they can not produce their own. Read about vitamin D in the Vitamin D section on this page.
Treats 0%
Treats are not needed and should only be fed once a day. If you are wanting to feed more than one to teach something buy special healthy treats or use pellets or salad.
Breeds
There are different breeds of guinea pigs to read about them go to the 'Guinea Pig Breeds' page.
