We have today become the proud owners of two Guinea Pigs. named Brian & Roger ( I am creating a animal Queen tribute act!!Freddie the dog means we are 3/4 of the way there!!).
We've got them a really large hutch with ramp to a downstairs run so plenty of space.
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/tulip-cottage-hutch-and-run-by-pets-at-home-(in-store-only)-83751
They have hay & wood chip bedding and toys for enrichment. Going to leave them for a few days to settle in and gain their confidence but we are first time guinea owners and i just wondered of anyone with any previous experince could offer us any nuggets of knowledge lol. They are aginst a fence and reasonably protected from wind. Sounds silly but will they just know to go inside where its warm and cosy if its raining/cold? We are planning to put them in the shed during the winter but wont they miss fresh air?running on the grass etc? Sorry for slightly wittering post - I am very excited :-)
Thanks in advance

I bed mine on straw and give them fresh hay everyday to eat.
They need vitamin C daily and mine like celery with their morning Tesco food and hay, then green beans at bed time ! If I have any they also like apple cores and salad peppers.
Mine don't like cabbage or spring greens, and will only occasionally eat cauli leaves. I also pull dandelion leaves and grass for them.

Mine go in the garage in the winter, I think a shed would be too cold but others will probably disagree !

They really are lovely little things who will squeak for attention. I would never have a rabbit now as I think guinea's are more entertaining. Enjoy !

I used to show, breed, and judge long coats for many years, and, at one stage I had 300.  All in a very large heated shed.  Draught is a killer for them.  Wet won't do them much good either.

Most people will bring them into the house for petting and handling, and they don't make lots of mess.  They can be quite vocal once tame and used to you.

Try them on beetroot, it will put condition on them.  Cut it into quarters, as they won't eat the skin.

We love squiggly pigs, we have four of them at the minute, all indoors. We've kept our piglets indoors as they interact so much with us, they know the sound of the cars in the drive way, the front door opening, the chopping board, bags rustling in the kitchen etc, they are funny little things too.  We usually have them live to about 6 years, one made it to nearly 8 and one of ours is huge, like a small dog on little legs!  We also have a blind piggie, she developed cataracts virtually overnight and her eyes are pure white but she is happy and content.  We feed Wagg guinea pig food (buy large sacks) shavings from tack shop (£7 for large bail) lovely hay from a local farmer and they eat all our veggie scraps every day.  Can't fail to ignore them as they can be so noisy.  We had one chirping during the night recently, that is a very rare sound only one of our previous pigs did that.  So yes we love our piggies :)

Our guinea pigs live in an indoor cage, but previously we have had guinea pigs that lived in hutches outside. We used to put them in the shed in the winter, as you plan to.
I do prefer them to be indoors as they are such funny little characters, it is good to see so much of them - although every rustle of a bag or wrapper will result in a chorus of wheeking and popcorning as they regard it as a sign it is feeding time lol. They have outdoor exercise in a pen, weather permitting.

To gain their confidence offer them food from your hand and talk to them frequently, then you can try handling them for short periods until they build up their trust in you.

"Try them on beetroot, it will put condition on them.  Cut it into quarters, as they won't eat the skin."

Thanks for the tip Jean! :-)

Aah, it seems that they are very easy to love.

Re Beetroot: Fed raw or cooked? Will try them on that.

We dont have the room to keep them inside and purposely bought a large hutch/run so they had lots of freedom whilst outdoors. At the moment it is very wet where we are (hasn't stopped raining all day) but i've checked them several times and the inside is dry and they are snuggled up in the enclosed 'bedding' area although i have seen them pop out a few times for a drink. Is that ok? Would hate to think that they are cold or uncomfortable.

Can't see the link for the cage you have bought, but think I know the type. :-) Have you got a rain cover at all on it as even though it may appear dry inside wood will absorb water (if it is wood) and not treated. Just want to make sure that is covered. :-)

I'm glad that you will be moving them into the shed for autumn/winter with our weather maybe even spring. :-D They do feel the cold, I once met a lady chatting at the school dates who told me she was off to get another guinea saying they don't live very long do they? She really thought that their life cycle was 2 years, she was shocked when I told her they should live to be 6-7 years.

She kept them outside in hutches and the hutches today are quite flimsy things, all through the cold and winter weather, no wonder the poor things passed over, so do make sure they are kept warm. :-)

Ours lived indoors or in outbuildings, they are perfectly happy inside in the summer as well, we would put them in a run on the grass in the daytime and then back in the outbuildings with a window slightly open if really warm.

If I were to ever have just one or two again I'd definitely have them indoors as their characters are so funny and you can miss out on that.

Good luck with them, I know we have re-cycle bins today so food is not wasted, but even now when throwing veg leftovers I still think what a shame the guineas and rabbits could have had those. :-)

Ok, so after reading through this thread it would appear that OH now wants to 'make room' for them to come indoors. I can see the benefits that it will improve their socialisation and make them more a part of the family. Would like them to use the outdoor hutch/run as it is such a nice set up and feel it would be money wasted if not used, at least when the weathers nice.
So (more questions i'm afraid)....
What kind of cage do you have indoors? We want to give them as much space as possible. Pics, if possible would be great.
Are they ok with the general husehold noises? Washing machine/hoover/dog barking etc?
Honestly, how much do they smell? Had hamsters before which occasionally had an odour. With guineas being bigger and having two of them I'm not going to be greeted with an offensive odour every time i walk in the room am I? Obviously they wil be cleaned thoroughly and regularly but these are things that are quite important when keeping animals indoors
We are like two first time parents lol. Thank you for the help so far.

My piggies (yes, I'm another fan!) used to have a hutch and run in the garden for summer and mild winter daytime use, and a hutch indoors for night-time and winter use. I never found that piggies smell at all, not like mice or hamsters. They are the best of all 'small furries' - terrifically responsive and seem to thoroughly enjoy interacting with people.

The indoor hutches were kept in our back room where the computer is, so they had a bit of company. Even though they never ever came anywhere else in the house if they heard me chopping vegetables in the kitchen (they'd never seen me chopping vegetables) they'd be shrieking "weeeeek, weeeeek, weeeeek!" for me to bring them the carrot tops or broccoli stalk or whatever. Incredibly clever little animals. I love them.

My oldest son has had GPs since he was 8, he's now 18! At the moment he has 4 that live in indoor cages in his bedroom. The one time I bought a lovely outdoor hutch with a hutch hugger they were out for 1 night before he brought them back inside!! The smell is minimal if cleaned out regularly. We're trying out a new pellet type bedding that absorbs all smells, he says it's very good.

I'll second that never noticed guinea's to smell, they were never afraid of any household noises, my first GP's when I was a child I even used to carry to friends, the shops etc with me, they were always relaxed and calm if they are handled a lot. But agree they can hear a fridge door or veggies being cut from any room, which causes excitement. :-)

They are great company because they are really nosy they chat to you and like to watch what you are doing, something that you do miss when they are not in the home. They call to you if they want company too. :-)

They are perfectly fine in a shed/out building they still live for many years, but it's true they do love company, they particularly enjoy us.

There are plenty of indoor cages on the market, my dad used to always make ours had some for 20+ years and I really liked the ones with glass but haven't noticed any of them they are generally plastic ones now, but they are light and easy to keep clean. You need to keep them somewhere where the dogs can't get to them not necessarily because they want to hurt them, most enjoy having a chat with them too, but so that they cannot knock them off units etc. It is up to you where you keep them, office, room, kitchen, porch, conservatory or a bedroom, whatever works best for you and JG's idea of changing from outdoors to indoors on a night would work really well too that way you can judge the weather each day.

I know it is always exciting when you get a new animal no matter what it is and GP's are so lovely............  :-)

Mine is a ferplast one, it is 1m long which is ok for two, given that they exercise outside too. I got mine from Pets At Home (it was an ex display and so reduced from £60 to £40), but if you search indoor ferplast cage on ebay, you will see what they are like.
The only smell I do notice is the hay, which isn't unpleasant. Mine are kept on top of the air hockey table (that the children never bother with any more) so they are nice and high up and out of sight of the dogs. This is in one of our living rooms downstairs.
About 7 years ago we had a boar who lived by himself (happily) in my little boys bedroom and to be honest, I do think he smelt a bit. I personally would only keep sows indoors I think.

Just one word of warning if you are keeping them inside... Guinea Pigs (also most other rodents kept as indoor pets) are susceptible to Bordetella (one of the main bugs that causes Kennel Cough in dogs). So if your dogs have KC there is a real risk of it being passed on and it can be fatal in small animals.

Guinea pigs are traditionally kept indoors in their country of origin, where they are an important source of food. I remember a TV programme some years ago which showed a traditional Cui enclosure in the corner of the kitchen made from low mud walls, into which the family's babies and toddlers were also sometimes put like a kind of interactive play-pen!

Giant guinea pigs have also been developed, about twice the size to normal, for farming purposes in South America and someone I knew once looked into importing some of these to the UK as there were a few people in Sweden and Holland breeding them at the time as pets.... I think they were around 2kg in weight. I can't seem to find any reference to them now, though.

I also noticed when I was in the USA that their 'average' guinea pigs are also larger than ours. There was once a Canadian woman who bred & exhibited cavies living in this area who had imported all her stock from Canada, and I had a couple from her, they were really lovely big chunky piggies.

Is it possible to vaccinate them against bordetella  ? I suppose if you want really big gp you could always try capybarras lol. Saw them in South america and was quite taken with them .

Thank you so much to everyone for all your help. we went for the 1m long ferplast cage. The 1.2 was a bit too big to fit in the lounge/dining room. Within a few hours we've seen more of them than we have since getting them on Saturday so they clearly are happier indoors socialising. Cheers again :-)

You can train piggys to the litter tray like cats.  I put a little box in a corner of the cage and now our piggy goes in that.  Saves the whole cage getting sodden.  Mine doesn't smell and I only clean the entire cage once a week.  I take out any wet sawdust and old food but that's it.
Great little pets.  My dogs are terrified of Count Dracula(her name as she's a biter!!lol) and won't go near her if she's running on the lawn.  If they do, she runs at them full pelt!so funny to watch.

>Re Beetroot: Fed raw or cooked?

RAW!  Definitely not pickled!!  :-)

The only time I have ever smelled a GP was all down to the owner never cleaning out.  The sex of the pig is irrelevant.  Even when I had 300, I had people come for a pet, and say in surprise "oh they don't smell!"

Never use sawdust (I used plain white wood shavings) and am surprised how many folk think that hay is for bedding.  Yes, the hay that gets trampled down and piddled on is used as bedding, but it is THE most important feed for a cavy.  Second is Vitamin C.

"The only time I have ever smelled a GP was all down to the owner never cleaning out.  The sex of the pig is irrelevant."

When we had a boar I was fastidious about cleaning him out, thank you very much! Prior to getting our current two, I discussed with a few guinea pig breeders and they did say the boars can give off more of a smell, perhaps this is only noticable when they live in, yours lived out....

My boars lived indoors as well as the sows, and I never noticed a smell from them.

Plus of course they can be castrated if they're to live with a sow and you don't want babies.

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">I put a little box in a corner of the cage and now our piggy goes in that.

Thats interesting to know. What kind of box?

cavlover

I wasn't implying that you didn't clean out.  A lot of folk don't think to clean the sex gland on a boar, and it is the only thing I can possibly think of that would actually smell.

However, it's fair to say that I never found it offensive (more a greasy smell), and certainly not like the strong ammonia smell from pigs not cleaned out.  And the grease could be removed with swarfega prior to shampooing them for exhibition.

I must confess, I never did make a point of washing his bits, so maybe that was it. But I had always assumed it was because an entire boar would scent mark and of course I didn't clean out his cage every time he did a wee!

>I never did make a point of washing his bits

The gland is low down on the back, I guess it's base of spine, but not near testicles at all.  You can actually feel that the coat is greasier in that area at most times, unless it's a pig used for exhibition.

You learn something new every day! ;-)

Arh so thats what that is, when i had a male guinea pig he got a very greasy flakey patch in that area and took him to our local vet who siad it was proberly a skin condition and that i had to bath him every few days in special medicated shampoo. I gave up in the end as he got realy stressed with all the bathing.