Training Your Guinea Pig. Gerry Bucsis

your guinea pig, and that’s never a bad thing!

Chapter One

       Preparations Come First

      Getting ready for your guinea pig

      Are you looking at pet possibilities? Is a guinea pig high on your list? Before making any commitment, stop and think. How much do you really know about guinea pigs? Do you have any idea what they eat and what type of housing they need? Are you familiar with their playtime requirements? And, what do you know about their behavior?

      If you’re not sure about these guinea pig basics, you have some homework to do. Fortunately, there’s plenty of information available. You can read books, check out Internet sites, talk to staff at a pet store, visit local breeders, and contact other owners. The important thing to remember when you’re looking for a pet is that impulse buying is “out” and research is “in.” Make sure you learn everything you can about any potential pet before deciding if it’s the right one for you.

      So now the research is done and the decision is made…a guinea pig (or two or three) is going to be part of your family! You’re probably anxious to dash right out and make that pet purchase ASAP. But wait! There’s other shopping to be done first. Have you forgotten that you’ll need a cage, accessories, food, bedding, and toys all ready at home before picking out your pal(s)?

A cavy-friendly cage

      Guinea pigs spend a lot of time in their cages, but they get stressed if their living quarters are cramped. If you want to have a happy, healthy guinea pig—one that will be a stellar student—it’s very important to get the right size cage. What is the right size cage? Think big, big, big! When cage shopping, your motto should be: the bigger, the better.

In the past, the recommended habitat space per guinea pig was only 2 square feet. This translates into a cage that is about 12 x 24 inches (30 x 60 cm) for one guinea pig. Can you imagine that? That would be like you being cooped up in a small bathroom all of your life! Fortunately, today’s standards are much more generous and humane.

      To be happy and healthy, guinea pigs need a big case.

      The recommended roam-room for a single guinea pig is now a minimum of 7.5 to 8 square feet (2.3–2.4 sq m). Two cavies need at least 10.5 square feet (3.2 sq m), three guinea pigs need a minimum of 13.5 square feet (4.1 sq m), and four piggies need around 16 square feet (4.9 sq m). But remember, these are only the minimum requirements. It’s always better to provide the biggest cage you can afford and have space for in your home.

      Whether you’re looking at a store-bought cage, a cage from a kit, or a homemade habitat, price is probably going to be a factor. A good-sized cage might cost more than you’re expecting, so look into all of your options. If you can’t afford something suitable, put off your pet purchase until you’ve saved enough for a cavy-friendly cage.

Commercial cages

      If you take a list of the recommended cage sizes along with you to the pet store, you’re soon going to realize that it’s difficult to find a cage big enough for one cavy, let alone for several. Even if you look at all the possibilities available online, you won’t find many suitably sized cages.

      There are a few commercially available cages in the 7.5 to 8 square feet (2.3–2.4 sq m) range, approximately 30 × 36 in. (75 × 90 cm) or 24 × 48 in. (60 × 120 cm). But these are about the largest guinea pig cages you’ll find on the market right now, though larger sizes might become available in the future.

      What if you’ve already bought a cage and now realize it’s too small? You could always keep it as a “quarantine cage” for any of your guinea pigs that get sick. You could also use it as temporary housing for your piggies when cleaning out their new, larger cage, or make it part of an expanded cage system by linking it to a larger living area (see Multi-level cages and extensions).

Build-it-yourself cages

      If you’re having trouble finding a large enough store-bought cage, don’t worry. It doesn’t take much skill to make a cage yourself. And you’ll be happy to know that some of the very best guinea pig cages are owner-designed and built. Fortunately, you don’t have to start completely from scratch when making a do-it-yourself cage; you can make a first-rate cavy habitat by putting together a combination of store-bought items.

      The first item you’ll need is corrugated plastic, better known as coroplast, which is used to make an easy-clean floor for the cage. Coroplast sheets come in a variety of colors, so you can match the cage to your décor or make it a distinct conversation piece. The second item you’ll need is wire-cube shelving, which is used to make the walls of the enclosure. This shelving comes in black, white, and a limited number of colors. With these two products, it’s fairly cheap to build what’s known as a C&C (cubes and coroplast) cage for your cavies.

      The wire-cube shelving is sold under several brand names. It comes in packages containing anywhere from 16 to 40-plus wire-grid panels, along with plastic connectors for joining the panels together. When you go shelf shopping, look for the 14-inch (35 cm) square panels rather than the 15-inch (38 cm) square panels because the spaces in the 15-inch (38 cm) panels are larger, and small-sized guinea pigs could escape through them. Packages of wire-cube shelving are pretty easy to find; department stores, bed-and-bath stores, discount warehouses, and office supply stores all carry them. They’re also widely available on the Internet—just google “wire cube shelving.” However, if you order from the Internet, the delivery costs could be expensive unless your order qualifies for free shipping.

      The coroplast might be harder to find. Your best bet is to look for it in sign shops. You could also look for it in hobby/craft stores or in some home improvement stores. None in stock? Ask if it can be ordered for you.

      It’s easy to find coroplast sheets on the Internet, but be prepared to pay an arm and a leg for delivery. A sheet large enough to make a suitable cage (4 × 8 feet/1.2 × 2.4 m) is classed as “oversized” and requires special shipping. You could, however, ask to have a sheet scored (not cut) and folded, so that it would fit into a smaller package for cheaper shipping.

      One last item for your shopping list is a bag of small cable ties, lock ties, or zip ties. These ties will be used to connect the wire grids together to form the walls of the cage. The wire-cube shelving does come with plastic connectors, but these connectors are not strong enough on their own to make a sturdy guinea pig habitat.

      Once you have your materials on hand, the next step is to assemble the cage.

Assembly time

      The easy part of cage construction is erecting the walls. Just stand the grids up, and join them together with the plastic connectors to form a fence-like rectangle. The number of grids you need depends on how large a cage you’re planning to make. For example, if you want to make a cage approximately 28 inches (70 cm) wide x 84 inches (210 cm) long, you’ll need sixteen grids: two grids for each short side and six grids for each long side. At this point, use the plastic connectors rather than the lock ties to join the grids, because if you change your mind about the size of the cage or the layout, it’s easy to pop off the connectors and reconfigure the walls.

      If you’re going to place the cage on the floor, you can skip this paragraph and go straight to the next one. However, if you’re going to place the cage on a desk or a table, you need to buy extra grids to make a wire base for the