Preparing Your Home for a Guinea Pig

If you've ever gone apartment hunting or house hunting before, you know that it can be tough to find one that feels "just right". You want somewhere that you feel safe, protected, comfortable, a place that you can call home; you don't want to be sweltering hot but you don't want to feel drafty either. Think about the qualities that you look for in a home, and apply that to your guinea pig! Just as you wouldn't want to be stuck in a small room with no windows, your guinea pig probably isn't going to enjoy living in a closet either!

Picking a good spot to house your guinea pig may take a bit more time than you anticipate. Guinea pigs have very sensitive hearing, and you'll know really quickly what sounds your guinea pig does or doesn't like when they start "grumbling" at you if you have your music or television on too loudly.

On the other hand, if they're in complete isolation away from you or any other friends or family members that may be around, they are likely to get lonely, and even depressed, believe it or not! Unhappy guinea pigs will be sedentary and tend to gain weight, and won't be as approachable as a happy, well-socialized piggie.

So it's important to find a location in your home that has a balance between peaceful quiet time, and being able to be around you - the person in your piggie's life that they're going to feel happy and comforted to see. With guinea pigs, it really is all about balance, so the following are some tips for where to prepare a comfy, balanced space for your guinea pig's home.

A place like your entryway or the middle of your living room might not work too well if you often have company over, depending on your guinea pig's personality. I have one guinea pig who adores attention and is often out of his hut, munching on hay and charming guests. The other tends to scuttle away when someone draws near, only to be coaxed out gently by a yummy carrot or pepper. So he stays a bit further out of the middle of things, whereas the other is closer to our couch and our television. Some guinea pigs tolerate noise and people better than others, but if you haven't gotten a chance to meet and get to know your guinea pig yet, it's best to have a backup plan for a more quiet and peaceful spot, in case he or she seems really stressed when placed in a more active spot.

It's good to keep your eye out for a few alternatives for where your guinea pig's cage will go.

Remember how Goldilocks felt, going throughout the three bears' house, continually testing but only finding the best option when she found a balance between two extremes? Guinea pigs are the same way.

Guinea pigs aren't as sensitive to cold temperatures like hamsters are, but their little bodies are still very sensitive, particularly to heat. If you know your house doesn't have air conditioning and the Summer days get very hot, it will be important to have a place reserved in your basement or a cooler room to keep your cavy comfy during that time. Equally importantly, when it's chillier outside, make sure that your guinea pig is away from doorways or otherwise heavy drafts. You'll know if you walk in the room and your piggie is all "puffed up" and looking angry and cold. Guinea pigs feel best at a comfortable indoor temperature of about 68 degrees. Sudden changes in temperature can make them very uncomfortable, or even sick! So be sure to keep the heat on a comfortable setting even if you know you will be gone all day so you don't come home to pigsicles.

Just as you wouldn't want to be confined to a closet-sized living area day in and day out, guinea pigs need some space to play, to explore, to run laps around their cage or 'popcorn' when they get excited. (popcorning happens when guinea pigs get riled up and 'pop' all four feet off the floor at once! Some popcorn a lot more than others, but it's very cute and funny to see!)

The typical 'guinea pig size' cages at pet stores are not nearly competent for a happy guinea pig habitat. You may need to have one temporarily until you can get the materials or space for a larger one, but this is not an ideal situation. When I first got my guinea pigs, they spent several months of their lives in the smaller cages until I graduated college and was out on my own. I still feel bad to this day that they were holed up in small cages for so long, but hopefully they have put those days behind them and are enjoying their bigger digs now!

There are some great, inexpensive resources for building your own cage at a website called CavyCages.com. All you need are some stackable shelving kits, a sheet of coroplast (plastic sign making material. you can get this from sign shops or order online), and you've got the materials to build any of several different configurations of cages! Full information on size requirements and materials is available on that website. I highly recommend it!

There's also a message board for any specific questions you have, or if you just want to tell everyone how cute your piggie is : )

Of course, the bigger cage you build, the more room you will need to make sure you have cleared in your home to accommodate it. You don't always have to put a cage on your floor. You might find an old table you can place one on to enable some room underneath for storing your pet supplies!

A bedroom or home office can often be a good place for a guinea pig in an apartment setting, but something to keep in mind if you decide to keep your guinea pig in your room is the guinea pig sleeping cycle.

Guinea pigs aren't nocturnal like hamsters, but they don't sleep completely through the night and wake in the morning like people either. Their sleep cycle is known as diurnal, which is how we as humans live our lives, with our active time during the day. Guinea pigs, however, don't need as much sleep, and are frequently on an "on an hour, off an hour" schedule throughout the day where they're very active, then napping, then running around, then resting, etc. Typically they only need about 4-6 hours of sleep in an evening, so you may want to keep this in mind when housing them in your room.

If you're a light sleeper and feel that hearing the 'ting ting ting' of the water bottle or some shuffling and munching of hay, or perhaps the intermittent loud squeak will disrupt your sleep, it may be best to find another place to put them. I actually tend to take comfort in those noises now, so even though they're not in my room and I can hear them from the living room when I sleep, it makes me smile.

Back in my family's house when I had one of my guinea pigs in my room, he would wake up and run laps at 5 AM every morning, quietly squeaking and making all kinds of shuffling noise, so that was an example when it didn't work out too well!

While guinea pigs often won't chew on things as much as rabbits or hamsters will, you can NEVER bee too careful. Guinea pigs have teeth that continually grow like our fingernails do, and they're constantly feeling the urge to file them down on things, whether they're grating their teeth together or gnawing on their food bowl/cage bars, etc.

The corner of a door frame or a table leg can look mighty tasty sometimes! Thankfully, unless there is lead based paint coating these surfaces, generally your piggie will be okay if he or she accidentally takes a little bite out of your woodwork. However, you must watch out for things like power cords!

Prepping your living space for a guinea pig isn't a far cry from "baby-proofing". Believe me, if there's a little hole or opportunity to get out of their contained area, they'll find it! Be sure that you're ready to supervise them at all times if they're having floor time, and cover/remove any hazards like electrical cords, small choking hazards like nails, screws or beads, dangerous people food like chocolate or alcohol, or any other choking temptations like string from clothing.

For a treat and distraction, you could provide a mineral block, guinea pig safe wood block or other hard object that's safe for your guinea pig to chew.

Hopefully now that you've read through these tips, you'll find a cozy home for your guinea pig! Please feel free to continue to read about guinea pig care in the other lenses in this series featured in the list below. Thanks for reading!