Basic Care of a Guinea Pig

I love all three of our guinea pigs. They are so cute and so much fun!!They each have unique personalities. I had to put the oldest of our three in a cage by herself, because she kept bullying the younger two piggies. The two younger piggies are very much alike. They both love to play, the youngest, is very vocal! She squeaks with excitement whenever she sees you or if she hears a bag rattle!
I am going to list some basic care tips for guinea pigs. You need to make sure that you have a big enough cage so that they can run around, and get some exercise (not that they are going to run but to give them space to move around).I start with a big cage, cage liners, and bedding. I choose the Carefresh Ultra Bedding with baking soda, Petco also has a bedding with baking soda that works just as well. The baking soda REALLY does help to cut down on any odors. I also mix the carefresh bedding with just a little bit of Kaytee Soft Sorbent Lavender bedding. It is AMAZING!The piggies smell so fresh! I used to buy hay from Petco, but, I now buy Timothy hay in 10 lb boxes from Farmer Dave's Hay on Ebay, it is fresh from the farm and smells great! The piggies absolutely love it! I put a light layer of hay over the bedding and then I have a hay "dispenser" that I fill, because they love to munch the timothy hay all day long. I have also discovered that they crave and love salt. Wal Mart (and any pet store) sells salt wheels to attach to thier cage. I have a HUGE water bottle for each cage, even though they aren't very big, they drink lots! The food I stick with is Kaytee Guinea Pig Food that has vitamin C in the food. The guinea pigs need to have vitamin c. They LOVE apples, when you dice up fresh apples they popcorn and jump for joy! I also give them fresh veggies several times a week. They have chew sticks that they use to keep thier teeth trimmed down.I also have a couple of tunnels and an igloo because they are very shy and they like to hide out. I trim thier nails with our kitten nail trimmer and then file them, they really don't like this very much but if you are quick, it isn't too bad. These are what I do to keep our cute little piggies happy and healthy.