Information to consider before getting guinea pigs

Guinea pigs are rodents (gnawing animals) and they are also known as Cavia porcellus, or Cavies for short.  I prefer piggies as it is short, cute and to the point for our girls. Guinea pigs are social animals and must live in pairs as a minimum but are better if kept in herds of 3 or more. They can live between 5 and 9 years with some even living to the grand old age of 11 years old in the right conditions.

Good pets for children?

Guinea pigs are not the best pets for children due to the workload and the full time commitment it takes to keep them clean and healthy. It is a misconception that guinea pigs are great pets for children as they are very skittish creatures who tend to scream (WHEEK) and runaway when you try to pick them up. This can deter children from continuing to create a bond with them and even scare some younger children.

A guinea pigs digestive system

Hay, dry food mix and vegetables are a daily part of a guinea pigs diet and without Hay the guinea pig will fall ill within 24 hours. The number one rule of keeping guinea pigs is that it has unlimited access to hay at all times and a cup of vegetables each per day. (You will note that in the following section I made an actual hay pen in which I cleaned and filled this with hay daily). A herd of three guinea pigs can, and do, poop more than a shovel full every day if healthy. Guinea pigs cannot digest food fully the first time around so they eat their own faeces and continue to digest the food this way. The faeces we clean up are poops which hold no more nutritional value to the guinea pigs. Guinea pigs urinate a lot throughout the day too which is why they need a well ventilated living enclosure and cleaned out daily. Too much calcium in their diet can cause problems with this. If you happen to be cleaning out your Guinea pig habitat and find crusted patches of white chalky substance, then you need to cut down the calcium in their diet. This chalky substance can build up inside the bladder and is known as sludge, it can cause severe bladder problems if the calcium levels are not lowered and kept under control. Obviously clean water must be available at all times too, you must always have at least two water bottles as there can be problems when the girls go into heat which will be discussed later.
Foods high in calcium that should be given in smaller but regular doses are as follows:

• Spinach
• Parsley
• Kale

Foods that can be fed daily are as follows

• Romaine lettuce
• Little gem Lettuce
• Green/ yellow peppers
• small amount of spinach/Kale/parsley
• Coriander

Other foods you can feed once weekly

• Carrot (high in sugar)
• Red pepper (High in sugar)
• broccoli (too much can cause bloat)
• cauliflower (too much can cause bloat)
• popcorn (no flavourings just plain popped corn) as a treat

These are just very basic guidelines as there are many foods you can feed your guinea pigs to keep their diet interesting but there are also foods you cannot feed them at all (nothing in the onion family can be given to any rodent).

Oreo and Tink in there second enclosure

The enclosure I built for them 

Living conditions

There are guidelines on the internet for living space required for various numbers of Guinea pigs. When we had two guinea pigs we originally followed the 10 square foot rule the above enclosure was 12 square foot as there were three Guinea Pigs. I noticed however that all three girls spent all there time in the hay pen (where the water bottles are) so I gave up and bought a c&c enclosure raised off of the floor. This actually gives them around 9 square feet but they run around like mad pop-corning and zooming around. They have also become slightly tamer allowing us to pick them up with much less fuss than [previously. I of course plan to extend the size of the c & c enclosure as I feel it is the height of the enclosure rather than the size that has caused this positive change but for now they are active and happy. they are starting to become more confident with floor time and hopefully at some point I would like to add a little ramp that they can walk up and down themselves so as they can have freedom to come and go when we are in to supervise them.

2 x 4 c & c enclosure for our girls.

They love it more than the old enclosure

Issues with Sows

Tink, Queen of the herd 

Sows can go into heat once every 14 days and it can get loud and frustrating for both the guinea pigs and the humans. There are a few things you may notice when a Sow is in heat. She will tend to walk slowly and all puffed up (almost like a bull dog swaying side to side) and growl at the other girls as she does this, this is called rumble strutting. In our house the Alpha sow does this regularly, she is re-affirming her status with Oreo and Belle. before Belle came along she was much worse, blocking Oreo form the water bottle and the food pellet bowl too. Oreo however is much funnier when she is in season, (I am almost sure it is revenge for Tinks grumpiness), Oreo runs up to Tink (never Belle) and mounts her before running away. Tink looks very indignant at this. Oreo does not block bottles or food but does tend to block Belle into her house at times so we have to stay aware of the girls mood and whether they are in season or not. Belle, the youngest girl, tries to challenge Tink when she is in season and this causes both Tink and Oreo to barricade her into her house and keep her away form Tink during her season. I some ways Belle helped to calm Tink down when in season but in others she makes it harder for herself when she is in season. so there you have it, no one girl has the same personality, and none go into heat and act the same, it is chaos. It can get quite rowdy and the girls will often head but each-other out of the way so really not great pets for young children to deal with without adult supervision.

Cost of Keeping Guinea pigs

This section is the real eye opener as keeping guinea pigs is actually really much more expensive than people expect it to be. I will do this in list format as it is really the easiest way to put the cost or regular needs together I will then add on the irregular costs. These are UK costs only.

• Hay x 4 bags 5.49 per bag = 21.96 per month
• Food Pellets x 1 bag = 4.99 per month
• Vegetables x 30/31 bags per month (average of - 1.29 each) = 39.99
• Fitch bedding (if using) £22 per month (or can use fleece and wash)
• NB: DO NOT USE WOOD SHAVINGS AS PINE IN THIS IS DANGEROUS TO ALL RODENT RESPIRATORY SYSTEMS
• Total cost monthly = 66.94/88.94

Other costs involve

• vet bills for injuries/illness (minimum cost for us so far is just under £100)
• claws clipped every 3 months x 3 = £45
• annual check ups x 3 = £135

Total yearly cost for our girls to date =£1118.28

Oreo, after her eye had been healed

Belle, Oreo and Tink 

Conclusion

Now I am not trying to deter anyone form getting guinea pigs as pets, but I am trying to raise awareness of their complexities and the financial costs and also the life time commitment you need to give these little creatures. Guinea pigs can live up to 8/9 years old and they are prey animals that live with high levels of anxiety. They cannot cope very well with being passed from owner to owner as this wears them down and causes high levels of stress, illness, and early death. I understand there are situations where it could become very difficult to keep pets where there lives would not be enriched anymore due to health or financial changes, however the reason I see everywhere for the re-homing of most rodents is that it was bought for the child and the child has lost interest now. Ultimately, the responsibility of all children and animals in the household lie with the adults in the house. I really want people to know what they are committing to when buying guinea pigs. I will be the first to admit I had no idea it took so much work and money to give them a good life. I will also admit that it is extremely rewarding when they let you give them hugs, I call them my 'Therapets' (not all of them give hugs though). If you can commit to all of the above, the issues between sows (Boars too, although I have no personal experience with boars), the living space required, the cost needed, the time spent cleaning there enclosures every day for up to 8/9 years. All of this for the price of a hug (when your guinea pig will let you) then go for it. If however, you have any doubts at all, please look at something that takes a little less time, has a little less complexity and less financial commitments.