Things you should know about guinea pigs

Guinea pigs are ending up being dumped in rescue centers every year due to some people that bought them as pets for their children and later on don’t have enough time to look after it when the child is no longer interested in it. Many guinea pigs live out their lives in unsuitable cages and are bored and somehow get sick and later on die because of inappropriate care or they freeze to death over the winter. So when you buy a guinea pig, please think carefully about these things before you buy one.

Guinea pigs make lovely children’s pet but you have to bear in mind that they are not a toy. The parent or an adult of a child must take full responsibility of it. They must ensure that the guinea pigs are cared for properly and be willing to take over responsibility for looking after an animal that can live for 6 years. Young children are not advised to handle guinea pigs as the animal may be injured in cases where they may be dropped. Guinea pigs are nervous animals and when they react, they become terrified by sitting still and they may also suffer from stress.

You must also know that guinea pigs feel cold too. A hutch located outside is not an ideal home for your pet especially during the winter. It is best that you provide them a shed that includes heating and can keep the temperature above freezing. Also, you must check your guinea pigs at least twice a day every day, in all weather conditions. Guinea pigs are always happy when they are inside.

You will need to know that guinea pigs can live for over six years. When you want to own want, make sure that you are willing to take of them for all their lifetime. Before you buy a guinea pig, make sure that none member of your household is allergic to it. Once you have a guinea pig already in your homes, it is too late to find out that they may cause you problems. Read the rest of this entry

It’s very possible to find a very cheap guinea pig cage

Whilst it is true that one of the big advantages of having a guinea pig as a pet is that they are very cheap to buy and keep, it is also true to say that buying a guinea pig hutch can be a large expense for many people, so they end up buying a cheap guinea pig cage.

And for this reason so many people end up buying a guinea pig cage that is way too small for their guinea pig. We have explained before why a guinea pig needs a cage that is way bigger than the average hutch sold in pet shops.

Of course the best way to get a cheap guinea pig cage is to build it yourself. If you scrounge some materials and are handy with a hammer and nails it’s quite possible to build yourself a guinea pig hutch relatively cheaply, or even for free.

But of course it’s also true that there are many people are unable to build their own guinea pig hutch. So if they are able to source a cheap guinea pig cage then they may well end up buying a larger cage than if they purchased at the pet shop.

Of course the cheapest guinea pig cages are on the Internet. That’s because online sellers are not paying the overheads on a physical store and so are able to work on much lower margins. If you search on the net you’ll be surprised to find how cheap you can find a guinea pig cage.

And the cheapest place of all to buy a guinea pig cage on the net is eBay. It is entirely possible to buy a very cheap guinea pig cage on eBay if you spend a little time looking for a bargain there. You can see some examples of the bargains available on guinea pig hutches above this article. Read the rest of this entry