First time owner deciding on cage

Recommended Guinea Pig Rescues

I've linked in the recommended rescue locator for you. Rescue Centre is the best way to go to find well bonded, healthy animals. Finding piggies to rehome privately is risky, owners can be very economic with the truth about the health of the piggies they are rehoming! Of course many people are genuine but we do hear some very sad cases here. As a first time piggie slave the last thing you need is to be plunged in at the deep end with a sick or pregnant animal. Good luck in your search.
 
As a first timer with guinea pigs, I understand the impulse to just have one on the assumption it will be less work. Having owned a hamster for a while, I can assure you two is not much more work than one. It’s the cage that is the most thanklessly labor intensive aspect, and you’ll be servicing one cage for two cavies, so it’s really not more work in any meaningful sense. As for the size of the cage, I find it actually easier to clean our 2x4 cage than our comparatively smaller hamster cage. So, bigger cage and get two. Oh, and enjoy!
 
Swissgreys said:
I just wanted to chime in here and say well done for being open minded and taking the advice offered on board.
It sounds like you will be a great owner and hopefully you will get your piggies soon.
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Thank you, all of your support means so much. I've made a plan if anyone has time please let me know if anything should be omitted. You're all so kind thank you for everyone's help and I hope I'll be the best human for my piggys to be 😂🤞🏼15790409871319211447321422774718.webp
 
Alejandro232 said:
As a first timer with guinea pigs, I understand the impulse to just have one on the assumption it will be less work. Having owned a hamster for a while, I can assure you two is not much more work than one. It’s the cage that is the most thanklessly labor intensive aspect, and you’ll be servicing one cage for two cavies, so it’s really not more work in any meaningful sense. As for the size of the cage, I find it actually easier to clean our 2x4 cage than our comparatively smaller hamster cage. So, bigger cage and get two. Oh, and enjoy!
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Yeah I've taken some time to look into it further and I agree that itd me more beneficial for them to be a pair.
 
piggieminder said:
Recommended Guinea Pig Rescues

I've linked in the recommended rescue locator for you. Rescue Centre is the best way to go to find well bonded, healthy animals. Finding piggies to rehome privately is risky, owners can be very economic with the truth about the health of the piggies they are rehoming! Of course many people are genuine but we do hear some very sad cases here. As a first time piggie slave the last thing you need is to be plunged in at the deep end with a sick or pregnant animal. Good luck in your search.
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This has been really helpful thank you x
 
Lisha said:
Thank you, all of your support means so much. I've made a plan if anyone has time please let me know if anything should be omitted. You're all so kind thank you for everyone's help and I hope I'll be the best human for my piggys to be 😂🤞🏼View attachment 131127
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Carrots are also an occasional treat due to being high in sugar. ALL fruits should be occasional too - I see you put blueberries in the daily section. Herbs other than coriander shouldn’t be fed daily. In particular parsley which is high in calcium.

Spinach is also high in calcium and shouldn’t be fed much. Maybe 1-2 leaves per week. Don’t feed it in the same week you feed kale - it’s also a high calcium content. Corn and cranberries should also be occasional

Cabbage needs introducing slowly as it can give them gas. So don’t give too big a piece.

Hay should make up at least 80%

Below is the link to the feeding guide - please note it’s just a ‘guide’.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

The veg I feed daily are bell pepper, celery, lettuce, cucumber, green beans, coriander. Sometimes I don’t have them all so they don’t get them all. But they’ll generally always get at least pepper and lettuce.
 
Root veggies are generally quite fattening so don't feed too often and also avoid more than one brassica family in any given day due to the potential for gas (Brussels, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower). I feed fruits very occasionally, ie less than once a week as too often can lead to infections and sores around the mouth
 
:agr: With lady kelly and siikibam. The only herb you really want to give daily is coriander. Thyme is not a daily herb - any hard leaved, hard stemmed herb is usually Mediterranean and can be fed but not often. Corn isn’t really something to give daily either - can be fattening.
its very rare that I give my mine fruit at all. They may get a piece of tomato if I’ve made some for us in a salad and there is a bit left over, but in terms of actually giving it to them, I think they’ve had fruit about five times in 18 months!

In terms of pellets, I note you say 10%. We advise 5% and that amounts to just one tablespoon of pellets per pig per day.
 
Siikibam said:
Carrots are also an occasional treat due to being high in sugar. ALL fruits should be occasional too - I see you put blueberries in the daily section. Herbs other than coriander shouldn’t be fed daily. In particular parsley which is high in calcium.

Spinach is also high in calcium and shouldn’t be fed much. Maybe 1-2 leaves per week. Don’t feed it in the same week you feed kale - it’s also a high calcium content. Corn and cranberries should also be occasional

Cabbage needs introducing slowly as it can give them gas. So don’t give too big a piece.

Hay should make up at least 80%

Below is the link to the feeding guide - please note it’s just a ‘guide’.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

The veg I feed daily are bell pepper, celery, lettuce, cucumber, green beans, coriander. Sometimes I don’t have them all so they don’t get them all. But they’ll generally always get at least pepper and lettuce.
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Thank you so much for this (thankfully this was a first draft well before we get them which gives us time to adjust the plan) x
 
Lady Kelly said:
Root veggies are generally quite fattening so don't feed too often and also avoid more than one brassica family in any given day due to the potential for gas (Brussels, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower). I feed fruits very occasionally, ie less than once a week as too often can lead to infections and sores around the mouth
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Thank you, I took the suggestion of once a week from online but I will definitely take this on board
 
Piggies&buns said:
:agr: With lady kelly and siikibam. The only herb you really want to give daily is coriander. Thyme is not a daily herb - any hard leaved, hard stemmed herb is usually Mediterranean and can be fed but not often. Corn isn’t really something to give daily either - can be fattening.
its very rare that I give my mine fruit at all. They may get a piece of tomato if I’ve made some for us in a salad and there is a bit left over, but in terms of actually giving it to them, I think they’ve had fruit about five times in 18 months!

In terms of pellets, I note you say 10%. We advise 5% and that amounts to just one tablespoon of pellets per pig per day.
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I really appreciate this I wasnt sure what quantity of pellets would be sufficient so thanks for helping me with this x
 
I have 4 piggies and they are in pairs. Dennis & Betsy are a very loved up couple and Christian & Meg are more friends. They take turns in the run every other day. When they are in the run the pellets are scatter fed and they enjoy looking for and finding them. In the evening when they go back in the hutch I scatter feed the veg.
 
It’s good to see someone really doing their research before getting piggies. I admit I didn’t do much before I did (slap my wrist!). But I did make sure to read up on the essentials here - cage size, feeding guide and behaviour. You’ll be a fab owner ☺️
 
Siikibam said:
It’s good to see someone really doing their research before getting piggies. I admit I didn’t do much before I did (slap my wrist!). But I did make sure to read up on the essentials here - cage size, feeding guide and behaviour. You’ll be a fab owner ☺
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That's so kind x Thank you, I hope so :luv:
 
I'm having a lot of difficulty finding something to use like correx. I tried proplex from wickes it hasn't worked out as it's difficult to fold I really dont know what to do. Any help would be brilliant thank you x
 
Lisha said:
I'm having a lot of difficulty finding something to use like correx. I tried proplex from wickes it hasn't worked out as it's difficult to fold I really dont know what to do. Any help would be brilliant thank you x
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You can get "floor protection" from homebase and probably wickes too. It's marketed to protect flooring when you're decorating etc. In homebase it's black in colour.
 
I used people’s for the boys cage. It doesn’t need as much scoring as you’ll cut through it. But you should be able to bend it once scored.

You can always get correx on eBay.
 
Yes, you need to score one side of the proplex/correx before folding it. Use a craft knife or similar, but be gentle as it's easy to cut all the way through it, especially with proplex as that is only 2mm thick.
I bought 4mm correx from the Aluminium Shop online. (and still managed to cut all the way through it on one corner :doh:)
 
Lisha said:
Just as an aside I've taken everyone's advice on getting 2 as i agree it wouldn't be fair especially since they are quite social animals so thanks for everyone's help with that. I'm thinking of getting 2 sows as I've read a lot about boars getting aggressive towards one another and being a first time owner i don't feel it'll be responsible to put either of us in that position. Does anyone disagree, or have any advice on 2 sows together please?
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I have always had girls and they can have their moments the same as boars do.. please don't be put off the boys! I know some lovely ones x
 
@Lisha - sounds like you are doing all the right things before getting your piggies.. Good luck!
 
That’s a lovely set up, good on you for seeking advice x
Looking forward to seeing your piggies when you get them 😀
 
It looks really nice, even better when there are some piggies in it. I imagine you’re getting really excited now :D
 
I love what you've done with the grid so you can clip those bottles on at the right height. I'm having a why didn't I think of that moment! I stopped using those bottles when I went over to C&C grids. I've a box of those bottles in the greenhouse, will go and look them out tomorrow, I've loads of spare grids.
 
piggieminder said:
I love what you've done with the grid so you can clip those bottles on at the right height. I'm having a why didn't I think of that moment! I stopped using those bottles when I went over to C&C grids. I've a box of those bottles in the greenhouse, will go and look them out tomorrow, I've loads of spare grids.
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Glad you're able to get some use out of them 😊🤗 happy to help you guys after all you've done for us x
 
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