Housing Guinea Pigs indoors is fine as long as you follow some basic rules

Of course it is entirely possible to keep your guinea pig indoors. Whereas outdoors they are normally housed in a dedicated guinea pig hutch many people keep them indoors in a variety of different cages or other housing.

However just as for keeping your guinea pig outdoors, when keeping him, or them, indoors there are some things that you need to think about.

There are hazards for guinea pig’s indoors that do not exist outdoors.

guinea pig hutch
Image by aka_lusi via Flickr

The first thing to think about is the type of housing you will provide to him. Whilst it is perfectly possible to use the normal guinea pig hutch that you would use outdoors this does have some limitations. For example an outdoors hutch generally has an open floor to allow the guinea pig to graze on grass. This is of course not always the case but is common.

Using this type of cage indoors means that all the mess will end up on your floor. Of course you can always lift the guinea pig cage up and clean, however there are easier ways. One of the first things to think about when considering your guinea pig housing is how easy it is to clean. For example there are guinea pig cages solid plastic floors that are much easier to clean.

Some outdoors guinea pig hutches have a wire floor. We suggest that this is inappropriate in any case, however should also be avoided for indoors guinea pig housing.

Much better than using an outdoors cage for your cavy is using an open topped cage. This allows for easy cleaning as well as allows for the people to pick the guinea pig up very easily. There is no need for a roof on your guinea pig hutch where he is kept indoors. The sides should be around 30 to 40 centimetres high.

Should make sure that your guinea pig housing is not located under a window where it will be drafty or near any appliances such as the heater where there may be dangerous fumes. This is also better not to locate the guinea pig cage in direct sunlight through a window as that can get very hot in summer, and cold in winter.

And just like for an outdoors hutch there should be a sleeping area where your guinea pigs can get out of the public view and sleep in a little privacy.

Housing your guinea pig indoors is a fine way to ensure you have plenty of happy guinea pigs and lots of guinea pig contact time. You need to find a suitable place in the house to place your guinea pig housing, and then enjoy your guinea pig.

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