Getting Guinea Pigs? Items You'll Need To Buy?

[sport_billy]

- What your guinea pig needs
- What you will need at some point


What your Guinea Pig needs

Getting guinea pigs is an exciting time! Here is a list of items you will need for the arrival of your New Guinea Pigs

• A suitable hutch if outdoors or indoor cage, most importantly being the correct size for the amount of piggies you are getting. Unfortunately lots of pet stores sell cages that are too small for guinea pigs and will sell a 100cm cage for two piggies which is way too small.

A minimum cage size for 2 guinea pigs is 60cm x 120cm so something like a Ferplast 120cm is a good sturdy cage www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/hutches_cages/rabbit_cage/120_cm_cages/14083​

There are other housing alternatives available such as C&C cages. Some recommended supplies of pre-made c&c cages are Correx Cages that @kimlou5288 runs or www.candcguineapigcages.co.uk/

Thread 'Cage Size Guide'

Nov 6, 2014

Remember - guinea pigs are ground roaming group animals and they need as much space as you can spare! More space to run and popcorn in means healthier and happier piggies and in turn more joy for you!

Here is a visual guide to show you the sizes of the currently commercially available cages in comparison to each other:


This is a 120x60 cm / 2x4 ft cage in comparison with a 100x50 cm cage, which is sadly still very much pushed by pet shops and commercial online sellers; you can see what a difference it makes!



C&c grids are a size of 35.5cm to meet the size...

• Wiebke
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Housing, Enrichment, Travel and Climate

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More details of cages/hutches can be found in our Housing & Enrichment section Housing, Enrichment and Seasonal care​

• Water bottle and holder
• Houses to hide in, these are important as piggies like to have places to sit and feel secure. New piggies are especially very nervous at first. Please opt for huts, cosies and tunnels with two exits so any piggy can escape and doesn't have to fight their way out. You will need at least as many huts as you have guinea pigs and ideally one more. Most guinea pigs don't sleep together.

Fiddle sticks bent into an arch (large - measure 49cmx29cm) www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/accessories/bridges_stairs/bridges/227525​

Or wooden villas like this one Small Pets Cage Accessories | Buy Now for Less at zooplus​

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• Good quality hay and - where possible - fresh unsprayed and dog pee free grass (carefully introduced). It makes over three quarters of the daily food intake. All the other food groups (veg and fresh forage, pellet and dry forage and any treats together only replace the supplementary role that wild forage used to have. A good diet can add 1-2 years to an average healthy life span and take it from the lower to the upper end.
  
  
  

  Thread 'Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets'

  Jul 14, 2014

  1 The recommended ratio of food groups
  2 Hay and fresh grass
  3 Vegetables, fresh herbs and fruit with an illustrated balanced sample diet
  4 Special dietary needs
  - Urinary tract infections, bladder stones and sterile IC (non-bacterial interstitial cystitis)
  - Diabetes and long term digestive problems
  - Impaction in boars
  - Pregnancy and nursing dietary tweaks (only visible to registered members who have accepted our no intentional breeding policy)...

  • Wiebke
  • Replies: 7
  • Forum: Diet

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• Bedding, there are a lot of choices out there… Fleece, Vetbed, Woodshavings as well as paper and cardboard based beddings such as Auboise, Carefresh etc…
  Details can be found in this thread here Bedding For Guinea Pigs - Overview
  
  
• A run for exercise time, these can be shop bought or for indoor runs you can fix c&c grids together will cable ties to create a foldable run.

What you’ll need at some point.

• Pet Carrier, useful for holidays and of course trips to the vets.
  
  
• Kitchen scales for life-long weight/health monitoring and acute illness management. They are your best ally!
  
  
  

  Thread 'How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pigs Safely (videos)'

  Apr 21, 2015

  1 Picking up your guinea pigs without chasing or touching (video and pictures)
  2 Weighing (video and pictures)
  
  
  1 Picking up your guinea pigs without chasing or touching
  
  This video shows you what you can train your guinea pig to do for a stress-free pick up.
  
  

  
  Alternatively, you can use a small walk-in cardboard box for pick-up and transport. Please make sure that you cover the opening with your hand! If necessary, please cut finger holes into the cardboard box and face the opening...

  • sport_billy
  • Replies: 0
  • Forum: Handling and Making Friends

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• Nail clippers for claw clipping, if you are not experienced it is always getting your vet to show you how to do it for the first few times.
  
  
• Brush/wide toothed comb if piggies are long haired and need grooming
  
  
  For getting up to a good start, learning what is normal and not and practical advice for the most common issues encountered by new owners, here is our New Owners information collection
  
  
  

  Thread 'New Owners' Essential Information and Practical Tips Starter Collection'

  Apr 10, 2022

  Contents Overview
  1 What This Collection Is About
  2 Guinea Pigs as Pets
  - Family and Classroom Pets
  - Sourcing Your Guinea Pigs, Common Pitfalls and Your Customer Rights
  - Human Pet Anxiety: Practical Tips for Sufferers and Supporters
  - Naming and Finding Out the Breed
  - Guinea Pig Facts: An Overview
  3 Living Environment
  - Housing (with sourcing tips)
  - Bedding (with...

  • Wiebke
  • Replies: 8
  • Forum: New and Wannabe Owners Corner

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