# Guinea Pig Care.



## AdequateRat (Mar 12, 2015)

My sister and her boyfriend adopted two guinea pigs a few months ago.
They're called Chewbacca and Han Solo. Both male, un-neutured.. 

They've been extremely busy lately and never really had time to socialize them. :c

They were living in an old Double Level Critter Nation cage, WHICH I TOLD THEM.. wouldn't be the ideal place to have guinea pigs as they like to run around and not climb.

Anyway! I offered to bring them up into my room...

This is their cage that I made for them:









I've never taken care of guinea pigs before, so any advice you could give me would be great.

*I have a few questions of my own:*

-Is this cage good/big enough? D:
-How do I go about socializing these fur pigs?
-Anything else I potentially need/guinea pigs would like for their cage? (I'm trying to convince my sister and her boyfriend to get a small cat tunnel that I can put in there... and I was gonna see if I could find some old cat ball toys with bells.)
-Can they learn their names?



They're already lying out in the open, I don't know if that's good or bad. :x
(It's kinda warm in my room, but I have the window open and 3 fans going currently.)

Any, *ANY* suggestions/tips would be lovely and greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. They had half this amount of space where they were previously kept.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

I am new to guinea pigs myself. But I think that cage looks good. My guy loves carrots alot! I give himTP rolls and he loves to throw them all around, its cute.

My guy seems to know his name pretty well. He knows the word nummies for sure as he gets excited when he hears it because it means I am giving him a snack lol

I would definitely suggest this facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/663237273725239/ the people there are so nice & helpful.

And yay for you on giving them more room and love


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## Rattenstein (Nov 14, 2014)

I've had guinea pigs before, two girls, one was mine and the other was my sisters. They're fun C: 

Mine loved mandarin oranges, and just about anything else really; guineas love food- they'll learn the sound of the fruit/vegetable drawer and start squealing and running around if they hear you open it, or if they hear a bag crinkling. 

They love it if you take them out for free range time, especially if it's outside so they can eat the grass! 

I never had to work with socializing them, but I assume offering tasty fruits and veggies will help, maybe some yogurt treats too.

My two girls wound up being separated- they where pregnant when we got them (we didn't know) and turned aggressive toward each other after one gave birth. My guinea pig lived over six years, while my sisters lived about five. My girl never got sick once in her entire life, she died one night peacefully in her sleep. The night before she had been running around squealing for vegetables just like usual, I did not expect to find her dead in her igloo the next morning... So I guess I did a good job with her?


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## JCM (Mar 8, 2015)

-Is this cage good/big enough? D: _*a 2x3 c&c is a bit small for two boars. I would try to shoot for a 2x5, but a 2x4 would be fine as well*_
-How do I go about socializing these fur pigs? _*bribe them with veggies. They have instant courage if offered veg XD*_
-Anything else I potentially need/guinea pigs would like for their cage? (I'm trying to convince my sister and her boyfriend to get a small cat tunnel that I can put in there... and I was gonna see if I could find some old cat ball toys with bells.) _*more chew toys and another hide would be nice. Another thing pigs tend to like are fleece toys--cuddle sacks are popular, and you can buy them on etsy and such for around $20*_
-Can they learn their names?_* some certainly can. They don't tend to come when they're called though*_


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## AdequateRat (Mar 12, 2015)

_*a 2x3 c&c is a bit small for two boars. I would try to shoot for a 2x5, but a 2x4 would be fine as well: *Yeah! I just joined a guinea pig forum.. Someone said that was a minimum requirement and it made me feel kind of guilty. I still have some of the panels, so I was going to extend it later tonight. _

_*bribe them with veggies. They have instant courage if offered veg XD:*_ I have romaine lettuce... They're sitting on my lap right now, getting used to me... They're hiding under the towel... I was gonna let them lie here for an hour or so and get used to me, then try and feed them the lettuce. They're not eating it from my hands regardless right now. SIGH! 

Thanks for letting me know!


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## AdequateRat (Mar 12, 2015)

I went ahead and extended it.
It's now 2x4 squares.


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## JCM (Mar 8, 2015)

Oooh yay! Lucky piggies!
I did think of another (cheap or free, depending on what you have laying around your house) toy--A blanket tent!
You basically take a piece of fleece and bull dog clip it in the corner so it lays loosely on the ground. Here is a picture:









Or alternatively, you can cut and tie the fleece in a triangular manner in the corner of the cage, so that it looks like this:


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## AdequateRat (Mar 12, 2015)

JCM said:


> Oooh yay! Lucky piggies!
> I did think of another (cheap or free, depending on what you have laying around your house) toy--A blanket tent!
> You basically take a piece of fleece and bull dog clip it in the corner so it lays loosely on the ground. Here is a picture:
> 
> ...


Neat idea! I'm gonna try it out.


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