Guinea Pig Information – 8 Essentials Care Items and Their Cost
Guinea pigs live on average between 4 to 8 years, though some have been known to live up to 12 years. These cute little creatures make the perfect pets, due to the fact that they are usually fairly low maintenance (especially when compared to dogs).
If you want to get a pet for your child, then you should definitely consider getting one of these cute creatures. Before you purchase your cavy, you need to know alittle about caring for one by reading up on guinea pig information.
The most important part of caring for a guinea pig is the house in which it will live. Many websites offering information will tell you that 2 to 4 square feet per pig is sufficient.
That is not truly the case, and you should try to find a larger cage at least 7 square feet for one pig or 10 square feet for two. You can actually find a home for your guinea pig that will cost you between $60 and $80 for a large cage.
Alternatively, you can make your own cage using no more than $50 worth of materials, or you can spend $40 on a CC cube that is large enough for two.
Once you have bought the home, here are a few other things you’ll need:
- Water bottles will run you around $10 to $15 for a pack of three to five bottles. These will usually be enough to last a year or two, as you can simply clean the bottle and reuse it a number of times before it gets too dirty.
- Food dishes can be found at your dollar store for $1, though you can find costlier dishes if you so choose. A dish can last you many years, as you simply wash it thoroughly and frequently to keep it clean.
- Hidey houses are perfect for guinea pigs, as it gives them somewhere quiet and dark to rest, hide, and sleep. You can usually find a set of 3 or 4 hidey houses for $5 to $8 at your local department store, or you can pay a slightly higher price at your local pet store. You can also make your own at home using plastic bowls, cardboard, or anything else that you can come up with.
- Guinea pigs need toys to play with, though usually these toys will consist of cat or bird toys. You can find them for $4 to $8 at your local pet store or department store.
The above items required a single purchase or an infrequent purchase in order to care for your piggies.
There are some items however that you will need to purchase regularly in order to provide a healthy home environment:
- The bedding that you use is important, as you want it to be soft and absorbent for your pig. You can buy a bale of hay for roughly $5 to $10, and that bale of hay can last you as long as six months, this is a cheap alternative to Timothy Hay BUT you must be careful when buying pasture hay. Only buy it from a trusted vendor and make sure it does not contain mould or thistles.
- Guinea pig pellets are an important part of ensuring that your pet has sufficient nutrients in his/her diet, and you can purchase a huge 25 pound bag of pellets for about $25. That bag should last you 3 months or so.
- Vegetables to feed your guinea pigs can be grown in your own garden, but you may end up spending $10 or more every week just to get enough fresh vegetables to feed two.
Original purchases aside, you will end up spending about $12 a week on caring for your pig, due to the costs of food, bedding, and pellets.
As you can see, caring for your guinea pig is actually fairly easy, and you will only spend a bit of money on your cavy each week. For a low cost pet, guinea pigs are hard to beat, and they are far cuter and easier to care for than a dog. By purchasing a guinea pig, you are getting a great pet for your kids that will be easy and cheap to care for.
Guinea Pig Houses – How to Create the Perfect Home
There are many places for your guinea pig to live, and you can easily make or buy any number of guinea pig houses as the perfect mansion for your little fellow. The variety of shapes, sizes, styles, materials, colors, and textures of housing for your guinea pig is actually quite startling, and you can find the perfect home by understanding a bit about guinea pig houses.
Bigger is Better
The first thing that you need to know about housing your cavy is that bigger is better. There are a number of benefits to having a large cage including: your pet will have more space to run and play, this will promote good health as your cavies can exercise all day.
Cleaning and maintaining a large cage is also be much easier, it’s less promblematic and you can actually access all spaces of the cage when cleaning soiled areas.
Being territorial creatures a number of guinea pigs will not coexist well in a small environment. If you want to provide the best conditions in which to care for multiple guinea pigs, then you need to find houses that are large.
Having plenty of space in which to move around in makes it easier for your guinea pigs to get along.
It is vital that you choose guinea pig homes that have the right grids. Certain types of grids have larger spaces between the bars, which means that your pig can easily squeeze right out of its cage.
In order to ensure that you can protect your pet, you need to know that there is no way for it to get out of its cage by selecting a grid with smaller holes.
Finding the Right Bedding
The bedding is one of the most important aspects of guinea pig houses. Choosing the right bedding means that your furry companion has a clean, fresh, and safe home environment in which to live.
Placing a newspaper on the bottom of the cage and covering it with fresh hay (timothy hay) is the best bedding, as the combination of these items will ensure that your guinea pig isn’t wallowing around in his own urine or fecal matter.
Plus it’s much easier to clean, and yes we all like that!
C&C Cages
One of the best choices housing guinea pigs is to use CC cubes. These cubes are simple metal grids that have wires coated in plastic.
You can use these grids to build a home of whatever size you desire and they are easily taken apart to modify, adjust, or move. You simply connect each grid using special connectors and you immediately have a lightweight, easily portable cage.
One of the best things about these CC cubes is the fact that they are so lightweight. You can easily transport your pig around wherever you go, and the cage can always come with you.
These cubes are also incredibly easy to clean, thanks to the fact that they have a plastic coating over the wires that make the cubes easy to wash.
They are also fairly cheap to buy. You can find a box of 30 CC cubes at Costco, Target, or a number of other department stores for between $18 and $35.
This makes them a great choice for anyone looking for a cheap solution for their guinea pig homes, and can save you a lot of money that would be spent on building a wooden guinea pig cage.
You can easily set up these CC cubes in a matter of minutes, using the connectors to make the perfect walls for your cage. You can make a tall cage with many levels, or a long cage with plenty of floor space.
You have the ability to alter the design, shape, and dimensions of your guinea pig cage according to your desires (and your furry companions of course).
If you want the best home for your pets, then you will need to invest a little in the right equipment. Finding a home that is big enough to run around in is vital, and make sure that the environment has everything that your cavies need to be happy.
Again these include clean bedding, toys, fresh food and water. If you do all this you will receive plenty of nose touches from your furry companions as thanks!
Guinea Pig Noises 101 – What does that mean?
It is important to understand as much as you can about your guinea pig and one of the things that most people don’t understand is the noises that cavies make.
Understanding the vast range of guinea pig sounds will make your job as an owner dramatically simpler and more fun. This is especially true when you discover that certain noises will relate to different emotions and actions, as your pet communicates his, her or their thoughts and feelings to you! Below you will find a list of sounds and their meansing.
Rumbling
The rumbling sound will often be heard during mating season. This sound is made by a male (boar) attempting to seduce a female (sow) and it is also made by a sow that is in season ready to mate.
The rumble will be a deeper sound than a regular purr and you will often see this noise accompanied by the boar walking around the female, swaying his hips.
When you hear this noise, you can be certain that it is time for some love between your guinea pigs. So if you don’t want to start breeding, immediately relocate your stud to another cage!
Wheeking
Wheeking is the word used to describe the guinea pig noise associated with your pet being hungry. They will usually only make the sound when they know it is time for their regular feeding or if they think that food is coming, for instance when they hear the fridge door open or the back door close.
Purring
Purring is often an indication that your cavy is happy or content. They will often make this noise when being pet, because they are being fed or simply life is just too good!
There is a similar noise to the purr that a guinea pig makes when feeling afraid, and you can tell which noise is being made by the fact that your pig freezes when it is afraid. It will usually resume purring once they feel that the threat has passed.
Shrieking
When your guinea pig starts making very loud and very high pitched noises, you can know that thet are shrieking. This sound is often made if it is terrified or in pain.
For examply if your boar nips his fellow residents, you will usually hear this noise. The same noise is also often produced at the vet, when the little guy gets his injections. They may also shriek as a method of warning other cavies to back off, and is usually made when one pig is afraid of another aggressive pig.
Sometimes the shriek will be an alarm or warning call, and pigs who have been separated from their mates may make this call frequently.
Chubble or Chutting
The sound that a guinea pig makes when it is minding its own business happily is known as a chubble or chut sound. They are usually simple muttering to themselves as they go about their day, happy as any guinea pig should be. This noise signifies contentment, and is often accompanied by purrs.
Whining
Whining or complaining guinea pig noises means that your pig is being disturbed from its rest. Guinea pigs will usually moan or whine loudly when something wakes it up, or they will moan at their caretakers if they don’t like being handled in a certain way.
Chattering
When you hear a sound like your pets teeth chattering or rattling, you can be certain that he or she is upset. Though many pigs will chatter their teeth when first introduced, as it helps them to rank each other in the natural order of things.
Also when your pigs begin to chatter, you can know that they are about to fight. They may also chatter at you to show you that they are displeased at you, and you had best watch your hands when they begin.
Chirping
Chirping is the least common of the guinea pig noises, and is the equivalent of a guinea pig singing.
Identifying each of the guinea pig noises is the best way to ensure that you can provide the proper care for your pig, as you can understand what they are trying to communicate through each of the noises. Hopefully by learning what each noise means, you can make life for your guinea pig easier and provide better care for it.
Guide to Guinea Pig Breeds – Finding the Right One
There are many excellent pets that you can select for your children, and guinea pigs are one of the best. There are dozens of guinea pig breeds to choose from and each one has its own special attributes.
If you are looking for the best pet for yourself or child, you should read through the list of guinea pig breeds below to find which one is best suited to your level of experience. This is because some breeds will actually be harder to care for and require more work then others.
Guinea pigs are usually classified according to two factors: their color or their coat. The following list of breeds is classified according to their coat (but you can easily find information on guinea pigs according to their color).
Smooth-Haired Coats
Cavies that have smooth haired coats are also known as normal coated pigs. The hair on these animals tends to be about 30 millimeters long, and is usually lying tightly against their skin. The out layer of hair tends to be fairly coarse, but they have a soft undercoat. Usually soft coated guinea pigs have a shine to their skin, thanks to the oils that protect the short hairs.
The thing that has made smooth haired guinea pigs so popular is the fact that there is hardly any maintenance required to keep these pigs clean. There is little hair to be brushed, meaning that it is nearly impossible for straw, hay, sawdust, and other food items to get caught in the fur. Smooth coated guinea pigs are by far the easiest to care for.
Satin Coats
Guinea pigs with satin coats are similar to smooth haired pigs, but the difference lies in the texture of their hair. Where the outer coat of the smooth haired guinea pig tends to be coarse. The hair of the satin coated cavy is soft and smooth, it is usually more lustrous and has more color. The color of the satin coat tends to be much richer and warmer. The hair itself is as long as the hair of the smooth coated cavy and they also require little maintenance to care for.
Crested and Crowned Guinea Pigs
Crested and crowned guinea pigs have tufts of hair on the crown of their heads, which is where their name comes from. This tuft of hair will always grow on the offspring of any crested guinea pig. The genes of crested guinea pigs are stronger than other genes, and the result of a mating with any any type of guinea pig will always result in a pig with a tuft of hair on its head.
Abyssinian
Abyssinian guinea pigs look a great deal like small rabbits though without the long ears and fluffy tail. And they have longer hair in their coats than the previous cavy types. They were bred in Britain, and rank in second place after the smooth coated guinea pig for being the most popular to be purchased as a pet. There is usually tuft of hair over their nose that looks like a moustache, and they tend to have very coarse fur. There are usually eight rosettes in their fur, or points where their hair radiates out in a symmetrical pattern. They come in all colors, sizes, and with all kinds of markings.
Rex-Coated Pigs
The Rex-coated breed of guinea pigs is fairly new, due to a recessive gene that results in the hair of their coat being coarse and curly. The hair usually stands straight up and is fairly springy, while the hair on their head will usually be a bit shorter than the hair on the rest of the body. They can be crossbred with other guinea pigs.
Long Haired
Long haired guinea pigs tend to have longer hair than the other breeds, and this can often result in bits of straw, hay, food, or other items getting stuck in the fur and the fur being soiled around their rear. Long haried cavies require a lot more care than other cavy types, so it is vital to consider this before purchasing one.
You should ask your pet store owner about the different guinea pig breeds he has in stock, as well as how to care for them. Always request information on the guinea pig you are going to purchase, as you will need to know how to care for them properly.