Guinea pigs are one of the most common pets that parents get for their children. They are considerably less demanding to take care of than cats or dogs. They stand out among rodents because of their sociable nature, willingness to snuggle and they are hassle-free. The great advantage is also that unlike other rodents, the guinea-pigs sleep at night and do not make any noise by its spree.
Guinea pigs are one of the most common pets that parents get for their children. They are considerably less demanding to take care of than cats or dogs. They stand out among rodents because of their sociable nature, willingness to snuggle and they are hassle-free. The great advantage is also that unlike other rodents, the guinea-pigs sleep at night and do not make any noise by its spree.
There are printed manuals where you can learn a lot of useful and necessary information that a good keeper should know before buying a new guinea pig. This article will inform you about the most important rules that will make a guinea pig feel good at your home.
The size matters
When choosing a cage for the guinea pig, get one that provides a lot of space. After all, this is a larger rodent which is highly sociable, so I warmly recommend getting two instead of one new member of your household. Trust me, they will be much happier like this!
The perfect size for one guinea pig is approximately 100 x 55 x 45 cm, for two it is 120 x 56 x 50 cm. But when you get a larger cage, your guinea pigs will certainly thank you! The animal needs physical activity and space, it spends most of its life in the cage so there should be enough space to move.
Pay attention to a proper diet
In addition to granules designed specifically for guinea pigs (avoid those with a high proportion of cereals), give your pet enough hay. It should be a large part of his diet. Another part of the diet is vegetables, give it to your pet regularly. Instead of treats bought in the pet shot, you can dry dandelions and carrots for your guinea pig. It will be certainly happy for it.
Instead of one larger bowl for all the food, get two smaller ones. Put granules in the first one and vegetable in the second one. Put hay on a separate place, too. For more, there also has to be a drinking spout with water.
What you need for the bedding
Wood shavings are better for the bedding of a guinea pig than sawdust. If you care about the environment, there is also ecological bedding called Asan on the market and you can choose from more types. And by the way, you can get these beddings for cats, too.
An extra thing you may appreciate when cleaning the cage are plastic toilets for rodents. They are usually placed in the corner of the cage. Some even have "coverage” so they provide the animal more privacy. This special toilet is perfect in the corner where the guinea pig started doing that itself. In the beginning, you can try to reward it for going to the toilet with a treat. But expect that even though the guinea will go to its toilet in most cases, it can sometimes happen that you find faeces in other places.
How did you arrange the cage for your guinea pig? How big is it?
Although it might appear that the cat doesn’t give a tail about you and it is indifferent towards you, maybe you will still find some displays of affection in its behaviour. Do you know how cats show such affection towards a person?
Cats love grass. They nibble at it if it's to clean their belly from hairs or just for fun. In addition, if you get a cat its own flowerpot, you can hope that it will leave your other plants alone :).
Whether you remove a tick from a dog’s or cat’s fur the right way might affect whether the animal will become infected with Lyme disease or another malign disease transmitted by ticks. Have you got the right technique and tools?
Just like with people, also in dogs, Lyme disease is a very grave illness. There are an estimated 20% of ticks infected in the Czech Republic. And because despite the use of antiparasitic agents, your dog might get a tick from time to time, it’s good...
I’ve already written about cat mint, today, we’ll take a look at another, lesser known drugs. Since not all the cats respond to all of them and they don’t respond to everything the same way. Therefore, if you didn’t succeed with cat mint, maybe you’ll...
Every cat owner has certainly already heard of cat mint, catnip or catswort. Under all these names hides a herb that makes most of the cats “high”.
When your family grows by a new (human) member, it isn’t necessarily a happy event for everyone. For many dogs, it’s very difficult to come to terms with such situation, therefore, it’s better to start preparing them already before the baby is born....
I’ve already written about the fact that you’re not supposed to leave your dog closed in a car on summer days or on how to prevent hyperthermia in cats and dogs. So you have mastered the prevention already. But it is also necessary to know how to...
Without a question, chinchillas are beautiful and cute furry animals with large ears, a long tail and distinctive eyes. Do you know where they actually come from, what their name means and that we almost succeeded in nearly exterminating them before...
You have probably noticed that cat tongues are quite unique. They are rough and somehow scratchy. It seemed weird to American biologists and therefore they decided to look deeper into it.
What should I say, the cats are simply different. Since the time immemorial, they have been surrounded by mysteries and secrets. Most of them behave as if they were the master of the world and as if they don’t need the human at all. A couple of...
It can be quite a task to choose the right pet food precisely for your cat. To even understand the contents... That’s why we’re going to take a look today what to focus on, what to look for in the contents and what you should rather avoid.
