A Beginner's Guide to Guinea Pigs

Hi guys, it’s Helen and Rik here, from award-winning small animal accessories brand, HayPigs!® Here's our beginner’s guide to guinea pigs, twelve things we think you should know before becoming a piggy parent!

You can watch the video below (by clicking on the play button) or read the guide that follows, it's totally up to you!

Guinea pigs are really sociable animals. They love each other’s company so must have at least one other guinea pig in their lives to interact with. The best groupings of guinea pigs are either two males together or a group of two or more females. With a herd of females, you can also add one neutered male; that way the male keeps the peace amongst the girls but you don’t get any accidental baby guinea pigs! While more than two males can live together harmoniously, you are taking a big a risk, as they are more likely to fight and you could find yourself having to make the heart-breaking decision to separate them. Male guinea pigs are called boars, females are sows and baby guinea pigs are called pups.

While guinea pigs can be bought at pet shops and from breeders, we strongly recommend finding your local rescue and adopting. All of our piggies here at HayPigs!® were adopted from our local rescue in the UK, Blackberry Patch. As well as the obvious rewarding feeling of giving a guinea pig a new forever home, rescues are also a great source of information and help you get the best start with your new family members.

Guinea pigs need lots of space. Probably way more than you think. It’s really important they have lots of room to encourage them to run around, exercise and interact. Be wary of store-bought cages and hutches, in truth very few of them are fit for purpose beyond the infant stage for a guinea pig. Guinea pigs will grow and their homes needs to grow with them!

There are various options out there for cage systems, such as C & C caging – a modular grid system that you can customise to the size you want - and the more classic hutch accommodation. You can even build you own! Whatever you choose, bigger is better and again, do your research BEFORE you commit to taking piggies on.

We would say here in the UK that a 6 or 7ft hutch (approximately 2 metres) would be OK for two guinea pigs.

Guinea pigs can live indoors or out, but it really is dependent on the climate you live in. Piggies do not like damp and draughts and are susceptible to extreme temperatures. If you’re keeping them outdoors, please place their hutch within an outhouse or shed during the colder, wetter months and in the shade during summer. Ideally, they can spend much of warmer times of the year outside, but they must have plenty of shade and fresh, cool water as well as a secure run. Just be mindful not to switch your guinea pigs in and out of the house a lot. Sudden jumps in temperature are not good for them as they struggle to regulate their own body temperatures.

Then comes the choice of bedding. Guinea pigs wee and poo A LOT! So, whatever bedding you chose, you will need to clean them out regularly and keep it dry. Our preferred bedding choices are a layer of newspaper with lots of hay on top, or a fleece cage liner (which you would need to change and wash regularly). Ideally, provide both. Some people use woodshavings but we’re not big fans of this as it can lead to respiratory problems for the piggies and foot sores.

Even with a good-sized cage for your guinea pigs, they will still need an opportunity to run around in a bigger space, either outside on the grass in a secure run (weather permitting) or in your house if they live indoors. During this ‘floor time’ also make their space interesting with multiple tunnels and crevices to explore. If they have two or three options at every turn, it will be all the more stimulating. And don’t forget, you can change the way you arrange things each day - they will love you for it!

As a top tip - try and avoid bottle necks, in other words, areas where a guinea pig may feel trapped or threatened. When laying out a cage or run, make sure your guinea pigs have enough space to get out of each other’s way! Don’t overfill their home and try and provide multiple safe areas for them to settle down in – guinea pigs are not generally great at sharing!

For added stimulation and well-being, you can also purchase enrichment toys for your guinea pigs. Here at HayPigs!® we have a tried and tested range of original toys and feeders for your piggies to enjoy. These are designed to faithfully re-create some of that natural foraging behaviour that guinea pigs thrive on. They’re also a lot of fun for the humans too, encouraging piggy parents to spend more time with their pet. 

It’s important to get to know your guinea pigs so you can try and spot if something is wrong. As they are prey animals they are very good at hiding any illness. This would serve them well in the wild, but makes it difficult for us to see when our pet guinea pigs have a problem. If you handle your guinea pigs daily and do regular checks on the basics, then hopefully you would spot if something is not right. Here are some ways to check the health of your guinea pigs:

Weigh them regularly. Weight loss is a common sign of illness, so weigh them regularly and make a note of the weight. If you notice weight loss, please visit your vet as soon as you can.

Look at their eyes, nose and mouth. Weeping eyes, runny nose, dribbling from the mouth are all bad signs and need a vet’s attention. Eyes should be bright and clear, nose should be dry, mouth should be clean and teeth evenly worn and not too long. Guinea pigs have constantly growing teeth, so this is another reason they should eat lots of hay, to keep their teeth worn down.

If your guinea pig is hiding away more than usual, not coming out for food or sitting with a hunched posture these could also be signs they are unwell and need a vet. Get to know the personalities of your piggies so you can tell if their behaviour has changed in any way.

If your guinea pig stops eating all together, this is a really bad sign and they can go downhill very quickly. In this case, don’t delay in seeking professional advice from a vet, hours can count and you must act straight away!

As mentioned earlier, trips to the vet can and most probably will happen at some point during the lifetime of your guinea pigs. Finding a vet that has specialist knowledge of guinea pigs as a species could make all the difference. In the UK they are known as exotic vets. So, do your research and don’t be averse to looking a little further afield for a vet you have confidence and trust in, as ultimately it could save you time and money in the long run. 

There is plenty of time spent on keeping guinea pigs. They are a good choice of pet if you work away from home during the day, for example. But you do have to ensure that you have the time every day to feed them, clean up after them, give them their daily ‘floor time’ exercise and have some cuddles with them! As mentioned earlier, you also need to make the time to do things like ‘at home’ grooming and also potential vet trips too.