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.

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. Read the rest of this entry

You need quality feed in his Guinea Pig Hutch

Feeding your guinea pig isn’t difficult. You can buy premade commercial guinea pig food in your pet shop and this should be provided in a dedicated feeding bowl in the guinea pig hutch at all times. However there are some other things you should feed your guinea pig as well.

Hay is a big part of the guinea pigs diet, and many people will use hay both as a lining for the floor of the guinea pig hutch as well as the floor of the sleeping area, and as there is hay in the cage already the guinea pigs will eat that.

However guinea pigs also like green leafy vegetables, (although you should avoid cabbage and lettuce as these can cause diarrhoea). They will also happily eat fruit and root vegetables like carrots, though it is better not to feed these in large quantities.

A guinea pig needs plenty of roughage in the diet which gets them chewing which helps wear down their teeth, otherwise the teeth can grow and cause dental problems.

Good vegetables to feed are the leaves of broccoli celery brussels sprouts and spinach and Asian greens. Read the rest of this entry

How do you take care of your Guinea Pigs?

Here’s a good collection of videos that give you some tips on Guinea Pig care.

Of course there’s always differences of opinion about Guinea Pig care, but there’s some good general principals.

One slightly contentious subject is washing your Guinea Pig. Some people suggest that you shouldn’t give your Guinea Pig a wash/shampoo more often than once a month or so as it dries out their skin. Some others though suggest every week.

Like everything it’s a case of seeing how things work for you.

Enjoy the videos.

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