Wheek & Squeak

When getting your first guinea pig it is a minefield what you really need to buy.

Your first port of call will be a pet shop to get advice, please remember that they are there to make money and will be trying to get you to spend lots of your cash  and often from staff that are inexperienced staff who have never owned a guinea pig.  All the pet shops will have shelves and shelves of brightly coloured plastic houses, carrying cases and even exercise balls.  Lots of biscuits and sticky treats and you have to rely on the pet shop telling you what you need.  Not all pet shops are like this, there are some very good ones about, but there are ones that I do cringe at the advice they are giving.

I am hoping this list will help you to decide what to and what not to buy.

Hutch - There are alot of very poor quality hutches on the market.  They are made from 6mm plywood and when wet they are like blotting paper and in the winter the plywood is too thin to keep them warm.  Look for tongue and groove, lop lap or similar.  Make sure the hutch is 4ft x 2ft for 2 guinea pigs or 5ft x 2ft for 4 to 5 guinea pigs.  They should have a large bedding area which should be free of draughts.  Hutches should be off the ground so should have legs or be placed on something secure.  There are good quality hutches around so please dont buy one from the first pet shop you come to. www.rehutches.com make fantastic hutches to your specifications, they are made to the highest standard and are the best quality hutches I have seen. 

It is best to buy a hutch with a separate run.  I do not like the hutches with runs attached for various reasons.  Guinea pigs are not mad about ramps and can damage themselves or even decide not to go up and down them.  Also guinea pigs should not go on wet grass, if they then get cold and wet they can become ill and you have a strong chance of losing your pig.  Because of the rate they eat grass the run needs to be moved round daily and if you have a large hutch and run it is going to be quite a job moving the whole thing round every other day.

Run - You will need a secure run with a suitable opening door for you to catch your guinea pigs.  Again there are alot of poor quality runs on the market so again please shop around.  Some runs have either no doors or badly placed doors which means you have to lift the run off the ground to get at your pigs.  Needless to say they will not just sit there for you to catch them, they will have legged it across the lawn by the time you have put the run down.  I have seen runs just held together with staples which just fall apart after a short time.  There are various designs on the market so please have a very good look at them and make sure they are strong and will keep your guinea pigs safe.  There is one very large pet store which sells a lovely looking run but when you look at the opening on the top it has four thumb turns to stop it being lifted off but no thumb turns for stop is sliding off sideways. 

So please have a very good look before you buy anything just because its a run doesnt mean its safe you need to check how secure it is yourself.

One other thing I would mention at this point is there are lots of houses, tubes etc and they will list what size it is eg for Rabbit, Guinea Pig, Hamster.  I would say about 90% of goods (including hutches and runs) that say they are suitable for a particular animal is wrong.  I have seen 3ft cages/hutches saying suitable for rabbits (WRONG) or little wooden houses saying suitable for a guinea pig, the little door to get into it is far to small for a gp to get into it,  you really need to buy one suitable for a rabbit.  Please shop with your eyes and dont always trust the labels for size.

Cages - You can buy 4ft x 2ft cages from www.zooplus.com at very competitive prices.  Delivery is very quick and if your cage is damaged in transit I have heard very good reports how quick they are to replace it.

Dishes - Brown earthenware no tip ones are the best.  Easily available in most pet shops.

Water Bottle - The best ones to buy if you can find them are the Rotastak opaque bottles with the red tops.

  If you cannot find these then the normal water botttles you see in most pet shops are fine.  All bottles do drip and I have found if you buy a dish that is suitable for putting bird seed in a cage, its like a half circle dish with wires at the back to clip on to the aviary, this will clip onto the wire below the water bottle.  This will collect most of the drips and stop the bedding getting soaked.

Toys - Guinea pigs do not play with toys, but they do enjoy going through tunnels. I have also seen balls you can put your guinea pig in like they do hamsters to give the exercise, PLEASE do not buy these they are very dangerous and very cruel to put your pig in one of these.  There are chunks of wood in various shapes for your pig to gnaw at, Im afraid that none of mine have ever bothered with them.  I have bought a little bunch of Willow Sticks which I have found some of the young boars enjoy chewing.

Treats, Mineral & Salt Licks- Sticky treats on sticks are not a healthy treat for your pig.  If you want to give him a real treat get some parsley, small bit of spinach or a small piece of romaine lettuce occasionally, now that is a real treat for them.  If your guinea pig is having good quality food with plenty of hay and vegetables then they do not need mineral licks.  Salt licks are of no use to pigs all it does is make they wee more.  So pleased dont be conned into buying any of the above.

Bedding - There are various types of bedding on the market.  First of all do not buy sawdust, it is too dusty and will harm you guinea pig.  Shavings is the most common bedding but it is not the healthiest bedding for them.  It is too dusty (even though it says dust extraced) so it is not good for their breathing and also I find it very drying on their skin.  DO NOT BUY STRAW.  This is too course and will give them eye injuries, it could even damage their eye by losing their sight or losing their eye completely.

I use Aubiose or there is Megazorb.  Both are dust free and a much healthier option for them.  These can be bought where they sale feed for horses and come in large bales.  You will need storage space but will be alot cheaper than keep buying the very small bales from the pet shop or supermarket.

Hay -   Buy the best quality you can get.  It should not smell musty or be full of dust.  Most people buy from pet shops where it is ready bagged.  This is fine but still some are full of dust, I would suggest once you get it home is to rebag it into a larger bag and get rid of the dust before feeding it to your pig.  Better still look for better quality hay.  I buy my hay by the bale from a farm.  I look for a dust free bale that is soft and sweet smelling.  It is far more economical to buy this way but you do need storage space.  A bale will cost you about £3.50 - £5 and will last you for quite some time.  A prepacked bag from the pet shop will cost a little less and you will need to buy it at least every fortnight.

Houses - There are lost of little houses on the market.  Personally I do not like the plastic ones.  I feel they get too hot with no air circulating and if used in a cage in a centrally heated house can you imagine how hot it can get in there.  Also assuming you have two pigs there is not usually enough room for two unless they are very friendly with each other.  The houses my pigs prefer are the wooden ones.  The favourites are these  buy a large one and two will fit in quite comfortably, I also put hay on top and they love pulling it down on top of them and if you put two together they love climbing on top and make a little bed in the middle of them.

Log cabins are good but please buy the Rabbit size.

These are very popular with guinea pigs.  They eat them, sleep in them and climb on top.  Sadly they only seem to be the size for one guinea pig.

  These types on my pet hates for indoor pigs.  They are not so bad for the garden run, but please remember if the house is left in the run in direct sunlight it will be like an oven in there.

TO BE CONTINUED