How to make your guinea pigs feel at home

A happy home is a healthy home and that goes for guinea pigs too! A guinea pig’s home should have everything they need to keep active and mentally stimulated.

Although guinea pigs aren’t naturally playful, they do like to be kept busy with toys and will love anything involving food. Here we look at all the things you can do to make your guinea pig’s house feel like a home.

Keeping your guinea pigs entertained

Guinea pigs feel safe when they have plenty of hiding spots. Here are some enrichment ideas for your guinea pig enclosure:

• Plastic igloos or tunnels – these make great hiding spaces to help them feel safe and secure. Avoid using enclosed plastic hiding spaces such as igloos during hot weather, as they can retain the heat and cause heatstroke. Find out how to care for small pets, including guinea pigs in hot weather.
• Cat carriers lined with newspaper and lots of hay.
• Cardboard boxes or card tunnels – be sure to cut a few guinea pig-sized holes into the boxes to give them multiple entrances and exits.
• Bendy stick bridges – these make good hiding spaces.
• Some may enjoy a cosy fleece bed to snuggle in.

Making food more fun!

• Hay kebabs and forage trees. Simply take two cardboard toilet rolls and stuff one end with their favourite hay, add some dried or fresh forage into the centre and enclose with more hay. Take a willow stick and pass through the middle of the rolls. Place several of these into an empty cardboard box to make a forage tree.
• Forage bags. Half fill a paper bag with hay or dried grass, mix in some dried or fresh forage and give the whole bag to your piggies. Make sure you cut the handles off before placing in for them to rustle around in.
• Stick bundles. Take 10 – 12 willow or apple sticks and tie tightly around the middle. Hang them from the sides of the run for your piggies to reach up and enjoy.
• Plant pots. Mix some hay and dried or fresh forage into a plant pot and turn it upside down. Watch as your guinea pigs have fun trying to get to the treats.
• Herb planters. Grow herbs such as mint or lemon balm in a plant pot and attach an upturned hanging basket over the top. Your guinea pigs will nibble the herbs while they are growing but not destroy the plant’s roots.
• Mock hedges. These are garden hanging baskets or magazine racks completely stuffed with hay to avoid legs getting trapped. You can hang them up in the run to encourage your guinea pigs to reach up and browse.
• Gnawing twigs. Guinea pigs love gnawing on apple tree branches and willow twigs. They love the tasty bark, plus it’s great for their tummies and keeps their teeth in good shape.

Bedding options for your guinea pigs

It’s important to make the right choices when it comes to your guinea pigs’ bedding. The wrong bedding can have a very negative effect on their health. You could have an allergic reaction too! Wood shavings, sawdust and straw often contain fur mites, cause respiratory, allergies, fungal and mange conditions.

Hay, it’s the only way!

The most suitable bedding for your guinea pigs is hay. It also makes up a large chunk of their diet, so it has multiple uses! Line their enclosure with a thick layer of newspaper and completely cover it with a good, deep layer of fresh, sweet-smelling green hay. In the wild, guinea pigs live in dense vegetation and will use this to hide from predators, so the deeper you can make the hay, the better! Be aware that some people can be allergic to hay, mistakenly thinking they are allergic to the guinea pigs themselves.

It’s often more cost-effective to purchase hay from a local farm or equine shop by the bale. You can then pick a nice, green bale and reduce the risk of being old stock and possibly contaminated or filled with sharp thistles.

Fleece bedding

Fleece bedding is an option for indoor guinea pigs, as long as they have multiple piles of hay to graze from. If you choose fleece, be prepared to sweep and wash lots of blankets in your machine as they will need changing every couple of days!

Weekly – refresh clean

Daily

1. 1. 1. Pick up poo and wet hay.
      2. Replace dirty bedding with fresh hay.
      3. Change their water.
      4. Remove any greens/forage they have not eaten from the previous day.

Weekly – full clean

This may need to be done more often throughout the winter when their time in the run is reduced.

1. 1. 1. Place guinea pigs in a secure plastic cat carrier with plenty of hay in. Put it in a safe, quiet space away from where you are cleaning.
      2. Remove enrichment, bowls, bottles and clean with pet-friendly disinfectant.
      3. Fully sweep out their enclosure and wipe down with pet-friendly disinfectant.
      4. Set up the enclosure with fresh bedding and place enrichment back in.

Top tip – Line hutches and shed floors with vinyl for an easy-to-clean and wipeable surface under your guinea pigs’ bedding.