Top 12 Tips for New Guinea Pig Owners!

It's a fact, guinea pigs make amazing pets, whether you know it now or you're about to find out. However, becoming a good guinea pig owner means you really need to know your stuff. So whether you're in the early days of research deciding whether they're the right pets for you or you're almost ready to pull the trigger, this video is new for this year and it's my 12 top tips for new and wannabe guinea pig owners. So by the end of this video you'll have a much better idea of what it's like to own guinea pigs and how you can give them the best home possible. My first tip is to consider whether guinea pigs are the right pet for you and a good way to think about it is to compare them with other small rodents. And I'm going to set the record straight here, guinea pigs are not hamsters. I don't know what it is with people but they see a guinea pig, they see a hamster and it just magically blends to become one animal. But the point is that they are quite different. For starters, guinea pigs are larger, they live longer and they have quite different care requirements. Sometimes guinea pigs are thought as a bit of a compromise for children or adults as well. Perhaps you're not ready to get a cat or a dog but you want something that's a bit of a step up from hamsters or rats for example. But we have to remember that they are a bigger commitment in the long run so think about where you'll be in five to seven years. I know it's difficult and things change all the time but are you likely to be in a situation where you can still offer them a stable home? And also thinking about the present day, how much time and space do you have to dedicate to them? Because it's usually more than people expect especially if you want a really good relationship with them and to get the most out of being a guinea pig owner. And my second tip is a quick one, probably because you've heard it already. Guinea pigs are highly social pets and it's really not a good idea just to get one. If a pet shop advises you that one is okay then they are giving you the wrong and bad advice. A single guinea pig won't be able to learn from others, they may be harder to tame and they can't carry out their normal social behaviours. Owning multiple pigs is one of the great things about keeping them in the first place so it's a real shame to just own one guinea pig on their own. For any new owner the best option is probably to go for same-sex pairs, so that's two males or two females. And if you happen to have a single piggy please don't despair, it is always possible to introduce a new piggy to your existing one and it's the next tip that might help you out in this situation. Tip number three is to consider guinea pig rescues before resorting to pet shops. Unfortunately pet shops don't have a good reputation when it comes to guinea pigs. It is all too common to hear about pregnant guinea pigs, poorly guinea pigs and missed sex guinea pigs from pet shops. On the other hand guinea pigs from rescues are pre-bonded, they're really well socialised, they've been kept around people and lots of other guinea pigs and they are 100% up on their health. I would urge anyone to at least consider whether there's rescues in your area and how you can go about supporting them. Tip number four is to keep them inside if possible. So you might have to make some compromises in order to do this, say thinking about where they're going to go in the house and you might even have to reconfigure the layout of a room but trust me it's 100% worth it. With indoor piggies it is so much easier to get into a good care routine and so much easier to bond and interact with them as well. Just not having to think about going outside for them can make a big difference and you're also not worrying about things like predators or extreme temperatures. Tip number five is my best piece of advice when it comes to your guinea pigs new home and it's to maximise the amount of floor space you can give them. We've established that guinea pigs are not hamsters and they also grow a lot from when they are eenie weenie little piggies. Roxy here is 1.3 kilos, sorry Roxy. So many cages, especially those available in the pet shops, start to feel too small very quickly and it is really common to start looking for a cage and then realise that most of the cages out there are just too small and that's why a lot of people turn to DIY options. If you haven't heard of CNC cages for example they are the main one that's been going for a long long time. They are easy to build cages, you can make them from wire grids and corex which is corrugated plastic. Or if you want to go full DIY and look at building something like this then it is easier than you might think and I do have a Tip number six is to try out fleece bedding. Especially if you've got a big cage like we've just been talking about then chances are you don't want to be going through loads and loads of bedding each week. Yes you have to wash the fleece but you can keep using it over and over again which also makes it cheaper in the long run. So the key thing to know about fleece is that it works by having an absorbent layer underneath it that soaks up the moisture and pee and leaves the fleece feeling nice and clean and dry on top. Now you can get specially made fleece liners, you can even make your own but in the beginning a great place to start is by just using old towels on the bottom of the cage and folding over a cheap flat fleece throw. Tip number seven is all about what you'll put in that cage after the fleece or the bedding of your choice and my advice is to get good durable cage accessories that will last you a long long time. Now there are loads of products out there for guinea pigs so it can be a bit overwhelming but I'm going to run through my list of top essential things I'd recommend for any new owner to get in the very beginning. Medium sized glass water bottles, a ceramic food dish, cardboard tunnels that you can get pretty much anywhere and the wooden bendy bridge hidey is great because it also doubles up as a tunnel and then you might go for another hidey as well. It is best to have two as guinea pigs don't always like sharing and it's not essential but you could have a look at getting some fleece cozies for your piggies. My next tip is to study guinea pig behaviour and know what to expect. Now I don't want to take all of the magic out of it because it is awesome seeing things for the first ever time but a lot of new owners especially ask questions and worry about certain things and whether they are normal or not and one of the things I get messaged a lot about by first time owners is concern over how scared their guinea pigs seem in the very beginning and in answer to that it is very very normal for them to seem terrified in the very beginning and be literally hiding away inside a house not moving, not eating, not drinking. One of the things you can do to help them out is to make sure that they've got hay and perhaps some food in the hidey. I wouldn't worry too much about seeing them drink out of the water bottle in the very beginning as baby guinea pigs get a lot of their moisture from the fresh veggies you feed them anyway. Tip number nine is to make sure you invest in this stuff which is good quality hay. Hay is probably the most important thing that we give our guinea pigs and it should make up 85 to 90 percent of their entire diet. The main reason being is because this is full of fibre and our guinea pigs are fibrovores so they need it to have good gut health and they also need it to wear down their teeth at the back. But it's not just for eating, this stuff is fantastic for playing in, for sleeping in, snuggling in, keeping warm in, making little tunnels in, they just love it and I'd always recommend that you have loose hay in the cage for your piggies. And because of this I'd recommend that you get two different sorts of hay, one which is like this which is nice good bedding hay, they'll also eat a lot of it, and another which looks more like this stuff. This is really nice good quality timothy hay and it's the best kind for them to be eating. I will pop my referral code for hay box in the description below and the one I get is called the timothy blend. Number 10 is another behaviour one and a bit of an insight into what it's like to own guinea pigs and it's to remember that taming is a slow process and by slow I mean months rather than weeks and ongoing after that as well. So we mentioned that young guinea pigs can be very scared in the beginning and we always need to be aware of how difficult it is for them to overcome their innate behaviours and fear of anything which could be a predator, which includes us. So don't expect them to become tamed quickly and realise that you need to put in a lot of time and effort. Definitely use food to your advantage so wherever possible do hand feeding in the cage, out for lap time and floor time, these can all be great ways to slowly but surely get your guinea pigs to feel braver around you. Yes? Hello? Are you broken? She's broken. At number 11 we have another diet one. Now it can be tempting to go out and load up on tasty and fun looking treats for our guinea pigs either online or from the pet shop, however in reality a lot of these products are just unhealthy for our piggies. Some of them might even be dangerous. And they're just not necessary. Our guinea pigs don't see those kinds of things as a treat. In their eyes treats are fresh vegetables, herbs and forages and the advice for fresh vegetables is also starting to change a little bit. In my opinion that traditional advice of a whole cup of vegetables per pig per day is too much. It detracts from the hay that they should be eating. So I think it's far better to feed small amounts of maybe three or four or even five different kind of vegetables or herbs or forages per day or every other day is also fine. And not to be a complete hypocrite but I do feed my guinea pigs some other foods that can be considered treats. So healthy ones are things like dry forages that you can sprinkle in their hay or give them to in a bowl. Also it's fairly well known that guinea pigs enjoy pea flakes, however these should really be fed in moderation, you know one or two up to three or four if you're feeling generous pea flakes a day and limit it as they start to get older because pea flakes aren't the best for our piggies digestion. Tip number 12 is about healthcare and it's understanding that guinea pigs are classed as exotic pets. So in terms of vets this means that many normal vets without exotics training might not have any real idea on how to treat guinea pig illnesses, guinea pig medications or what signs and symptoms to look for and what they might mean. So what you need to do is find and register a good exotics vets or a vets practice where you know they've got a member of staff there that specializes in guinea pigs and be safe in the knowledge that your guinea pigs will get the right treatment if they ever do get ill. And if you are in that situation where you're ready to bring guinea pigs home then I highly recommend watching this video next. This is the one comparing pet shops with breeders and guinea pig rescues. It is something that's often overlooked and a lot of people assume that pet shops are their only option when there are other places out there. Thank you for watching and we will see you in the next one. Bye bye!