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settling the guinea pig in

Bringing Home a Guinea Pig: Settling the Guinea Pig In

Making a home for your guinea pig, ,

In the third of this part series looking at what to do when your bringing home a guinea pig, we look at the whole process of settling a guinea pig in to your home.

There are some good things that you can do to ensure that the guinea pig feels well settled in its new surroundings.

1. Don’t pass the Guinea Pig around

When you get the guinea pig home, try not to pass it around from person to person in the first couple of days.

It is better if just one person holds and cuddles the guinea pig for a few minutes at a time so it can gradually acclimatize to its new surroundings.

The guinea pig can also get used to your scents and begin to feel safe.

It should begin to feel at home after a few days.

2. Let the guinea pig get used to the cage

Because it is in its new home, the guinea pig will need some time to get used to its new surroundings.

However, don’t leave the guinea pig in the cage and leave it for a period of time like a week or so as it wont know you and so will be harder to catch if it escapes and hides.

3. Get used to handling your Guinea Pig?

Handle your Guinea Pig gently two to three times a day. This way it can get to know you and become used to who you are and what you do.

After a few weeks or so, the guinea pig will soon come to the front of the cage to meet you when you visit. if you are lucky, they’ll do it sooner.

4. How to handle your Guinea Pig
  • Always go to handle the guinea pig with the intention of being gentle. Never hold the guinea pig by grabbing the scruff of its neck.
  • If you grab it from above and squeeze its ribs, it can really hurt the guinea pig. The lower part of the guinea pig is also very vulnerable to handling.
  • When handling a guinea pig, slide one hand under the tummy and rest the other hand on the back.
  • If you guinea pig wriggles quite a bit you can slide your hand underneath its backside and this will settle it.
  • Be as quiet as you can and you shouldn’t have any trouble. Do not entrust a child to handle the cavy as they need delicate handling to begin with.
5. Keep an eye on its teeth

Regularly check the guinea pig’s teeth.

Make sure any food is chopped up so that it can pick it up with its lips and pass it back to its grinding teeth.

If you find your guinea pig has stopped eating food, check its teeth are not broken. T

The guinea pig is also susceptible to broken teeth if it is dropped.

bringing home a guinea pig

Bringing Home a Guinea Pig: Arriving Home

Making a home for your guinea pig, , , ,

In the second part of this series we look at what do before and after you arrive home with your Guinea Pig.

Before bringing home a guinea pig make sure that you have in place these essential things;

Being prepared for bringing home a guinea pig

Get a good Guinea Pig cage

Do you house the guinea pig in a cage or do you have a hutch that the guinea pig can stay in?

They will need about 7.5 square foot of space each, which is a rough guide to the kind of cage you need to think about.

Also think about where you want to put the cage.

Obviously it needs to fit around your family requirements but what also needs to be brought into consideration is that Guinea pigs are very social animals and being on their own is not good for them.

If you can, having them around your family will be very beneficial for them.

If you have any pets in your home , think about whether they can handle having another pet in the home. Some may feel threatened by this so do take this into consideration for the benefit of your guinea pig and the present pet.

Guinea Pig food

Make sure you get enough food in for the Guinea Pig.

What i have found with Guinea Pigs is that they are always hungry and never tire of eating. So it is worth having a stock of food to feed your guinea pig.

Get some guinea pig food from a pet store and a stock of vegetables such as carrots to feed your Guinea pig.

Lettuce is also a favourite and worth stocking up on.

Water for your Guinea Pig

Purchase a water bottle as one of the first thing s you do so the Guinea Pig does not get thirsty and fill it and attach it to the side of the cage in an accessible place that it can get to it easily.

Hay 

It is worth purchasing some hay to lay down in the cage for the Guinea Pig to eat and to make its bed on.

A Run 

Guinea Pigs need exercise and love to run. Have a place where they can run around in.

If you have the garden to do this in, it might be worth making an enclosed area where they can run around in.

You can also purchase large grids that you can place on grass that will allow the Guinea Pig to run around in.

What to do when you get your Guinea Pig home

When you get home and you have its cage all ready to go, carefully lift the guinea pig out of the carrier and give it a good cuddle.

Its important that it gets to know you and what you are like as its owner, building up the trust is important.

It may appear nervous and wriggle around but that’s perfectly normal as it will be nervous and its first instinct will be to go and hide.

After a few minutes of holding it, place the guinea pig in the cage and shut the door.

Believe it or not, talking to the guinea pig will help it acclimatise and get to know your voice. This is important for the guinea pig in getting to know its new surroundings.