Before bringing your new guinea pig home, you need to make sure you have set up a suitable habitat for them. Having a suitable habitat for your guinea pigs will ensure that they stay healthy and happy. Are you unsure of what enclosure is suitable for your piggy? This is the blog post for you!
Basic Guinea Pig Facts
Life Span: 5 to 9 years
Size: up to 25cm
Diet: Hay, veggies and pellets
House Size (Minimum): 7.5 square feet
Cage SizeÂ
Cage size is the most important thing to take note of as a new piggy parent. Most piggy parents would get these cages for their piggy.Â
However, it is not big enough. Guinea pigs need a lot of space to move around as they are active animals. Therefore, the bigger the cage, the better. Here are some suitable cages for guinea pigs:Â
Care of their Cage
Daily: Remove droppings, soiled bedding and stale food from their cage.
Weekly: Replace all bedding and rinse out the bottom of the tub with warm water. Dry it out then put new bedding in.
Temperature Needs
Guinea pigs cannot tolerate extreme temperatures well. Hence, it is important to put their cage in an area with proper temperature care. They do the best in temperatures ranging from 20 degree celsius to 22 degree celsius. Since Singapore is warm all the time, you can place them in an area with a fan or air conditioner.
FlooringÂ
To keep your guinea pig’s feet healthy, make sure to use a plastic tub or fleece blanket instead of wire lining.
Here are some beddings that you can consider for your guinea pig’s cage:
- Shredded or recycled newspaper bedding
- Carefresh Shavings
- Hay
- Hemp
- Ground corn cob
- Cotton towels or cloths
- Fleece liners
Cage Accessories
Here are some basic items that your piggies need in their cage!Â
Water Bottle
Food Dish
Hay Rack
A Hideout
A Bed
DIY Cages
There are other ways to provide your piggies a comfortable hut. Instead of purchasing an already built cage, you can make one yourself.
One fun and inexpensive way to make a living space for your piggies is using Cubes and Coroplast (C&C). These C&C panels can be arranged in any pattern and can be easily connected with zip ties.Â
Another way would be to use your old dresser and some drain pipes. Using this method, you can create a multi-level home for your pig.
As long as the materials are safe for your piggies, and the living space is secured. You can be creative and use different items to make a cage for them!
Genie is an animal lover, who enjoys writing on pets and animals stories. She is passionate about learning something new everyday. She enjoys communicating with people and expressing ideas. She have a huge passion in languages and plans to learn more albeit she is already trilingual in English, Mandarin and Japanese.