Guinea pigs mse style

Merv987

So we're finally about ready to get our guinea pigs, so far we know we're having 2, although could be boys or girls, and we've got a 2 story indoor corner cage, with the ramp having sides added. But after much much research, I have a few questions from real people who have gp's.
There seems so many suggestions for bedding, is hay over newspaper OK, how often does it need changing, i'very read from 2 days to a week.
And apart from fresh veggies and meadow hay, what other food should we start them on?

HappyMJ

Merv987 wrote: »

So we're finally about ready to get our guinea pigs, so far we know we're having 2, although could be boys or girls, and we've got a 2 story indoor corner cage, with the ramp having sides added. But after much much research, I have a few questions from real people who have gp's.
There seems so many suggestions for bedding, is hay over newspaper OK, how often does it need changing, i'very read from 2 days to a week.
And apart from fresh veggies and meadow hay, what other food should we start them on?

We just use wood shavings straight on the floor of the cage.

Gets changed usually every week in winter could stretch to 10 days sometimes but it's very smelly at this point. Needs changing every 4-5 days in summer as it's very smelly after a week .

We also feed Harrington's Optimum GP 10kg from Amazon for £16. Just a small scoop every day per guinea pig. Lasts about 3-4 months.

BarryBlue

We had guinea pigs for many years and used hay with newspaper underneath. The local free rag was colloquially named the 'hutchliner' in our house.;) They are quite clean animals and will use one corner of the hutch, which you can clean more often as necessary.


When you buy your guinea pigs, my recommendation would be for two females, preferably from the same litter. They will live together happily throughout their lives and you will find that one will assume the dominant role. Two males, even siblings, will often squabble, and one of each is an obvious issue.


Bear in mind that pet shops often don't separate litters into male and female soon enough. We bought one from Pets at Home many years ago and a few weeks later realised it was 'Buy one - Get four free'. Breeding them, even inadvertently, was a delight though. The babies are born fully formed and are running around within hours.

thepennyfarthings

Hi,
We have had our two guinea pigs for about six months now. (Worn down by daughter for many months!).

We currently line the bottom of the cage with newspaper then add a layer of (dust free) wood shavings. Our guinea pigs are kept in our house. I just roll it all up and throw it away, wipe the cage with pet friendly cleaner and leave to dry. I do this every day as I can't stand the smell!

It only takes a few minutes, both piggies and humans are happy, for me it is worth the little extra expense.

I have started to look into the pros and cons of using fleece to line their cage.
Hope this helps.

arbrighton

our piggies often got mites if we used hay for bedding- they were fine with shavings on paper (and we had some old floor vinyl as a base to protect the wood from pee etc). They used to be brought into the garage in winter

I miss piggies but dog is frightened of them (I wish this was a joke)

Merv987

Thanks all, we'll start with newspaper and shavings then, and see how we go. I like the sound of recycled or compostable matrials, and especially the ones that say they cut down the smell, but I guess it's trial and error.
I've seen such mixed suggestions for whether boys or girls are better, it seems to me it must be down to the individual gp's. Our local small independent pet shop has just had 4 little boy gp's in, they're only 6 weeks old, and they're teddy pigs, they are gorgeous bundles of fluff! Strangely my dd didn't fall in love with them as much as me. :-(

krlyr

I avoided woodshavings for all my small furries. A lot of the shavings sold for animals emit phenols, which have negative effects on the liver, and are also dusty which can effect the respiratory system.

Instead, as I had several small animals, I bulk-bought shredded cardboard bedding as an alternative - no dust, no phenols, and worked just as well.

For guinea pigs, an alternative many follow is to use a littertray with an absorbant substrate like paper pellets or paper-based cat little (you can bulk-buy Carefresh or Megazorb, for example) and just fleece material on the rest of the cage - this simply needs washing (and will dry very quickly - but cheap enough to have several pieces to rotate)


In regards to where to get the guinea pigs from - please do strongly reconsider buying from a petshop. Even if they swear to source their small animals responsibly, no decent breeder would sell their animals on to a petshop - where the animals are usually sold to whoever turns up with the money.

A good breeder will home directly so they can vet all potential homes, and offer support down the line if there are any issues. As a result, most petshops stock from the small animal equivelant of puppy farms, either very commercial organisations that mass-breed these animals in stacked 'cages' (usually plastic tub type contraptions) and ship them out nationwide, or home breeders who may not take as much time/care in sourcing where their animals come from or checking for good health and temperament before breeding. The animals will usually end up going to the petshop at far too young an age, as they're considered much more sellable when they're at their youngest.

I would recommend either finding a good breeder to buy from (try some guinea pig shows/clubs to find your nearest breeder), or find a small animal rescue - OK, you may end up with that same unhealthy guinea pig as you would have from a petshop, but you're not funding the process (and you're giving a needy animal or two a home!)

krlyr

Oh, and in regards to food - with guinea pigs, it's essential they get a good complete food. Unlike rabbits, they can't produce their own Vitamin C, so it's critical they get enough within their diet.

This page covers the Vitamin C bit - but the whole site looks a pretty good resource
http://www.guinealynx.info/scurvy.html

Merv987

The pet shop we've been to is really small, they only have rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters from the same breeders, and they don't have them all the time, at the moment they've got 4, the last lots was a couple of months ago. The thing that put me off rescue gp's is that we really want ones we can handle, and rescued ones, i've heard, often havent been so don't like it. That and when we tried to get 2 cats from the local shelter they got all funny about us not having the right paperwork for our own house, and wouldn't let us have the 2 cats my girls had fallen in love with, having visited every day for a week. We'd prefer to get some that need loving homes though.

Merv987

Fleece was my other option, but i've heard it can be a bit smelly.

krlyr

Merv987 wrote: »

The pet shop we've been to is really small, they only have rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters from the same breeders, and they don't have them all the time, at the moment they've got 4, the last lots was a couple of months ago. The thing that put me off rescue gp's is that we really want ones we can handle, and rescued ones, i've heard, often havent been so don't like it. That and when we tried to get 2 cats from the local shelter they got all funny about us not having the right paperwork for our own house, and wouldn't let us have the 2 cats my girls had fallen in love with, having visited every day for a week. We'd prefer to get some that need loving homes though.

A good rescue will match you up with the right animals.

Even in a small petshop, you're still likely to get the issue of not sourcing from really reputable breeders - it's just the nature of things, a good breeder will want to choose who they home their animals to, and they can't do that if they've sold them on to a petshop.