Your G-Pigs's Home

Your guinea pigs deserve to have the best home!

Cages:
First and foremost you must have a good cage for your guinea pigs. If you have only one guinea pig, 4 sq. ft is mandatory. This will sound a little crazy but 4 square feet for each piggy is the best. If you have two pigs and can't have a cage that huge, go no lower than 3 square feet for each piggy. Guinea pigs are fairly active and will run around a lot if they have the space. Also, plastic or metal solid-bottomed cages are the way to go. Wire mesh bottoms hurt g-pig feet and can cause foot and ankle problems.
Bedding/Shavings - Pine or aspen shavings can be used (pine is cheapest.) Never use cedar shavings! These have strong oils that dammage your piggy's respiratory system. Also, CareFresh bedding works well, but is more costly than shavings.  Corn cob bedding is uncomfortable and doesn't absorb well.
Cages of adequate size usally cost $80+.

Necessities:
Just the basics - water bottle, food dish, a place to put hay in or on and a house to sleep in
-Water bottle - I discovered that having medium sized one is best. Clean it/refill it every other day.
-Food dishes - If you piggies are bowl-tippers, buy a bowl that attaches to the side of the cage. Also, the stoneware ones help stop tipping. The stoneware ones also are chew proof and are my favorite.
-Hay place - Hay can go anywhere from on top of the house to inside a play tunnel. It is best to keep it on or in something, so it doesn't get burried in shavings.
-House - Wooden houses are great and fun to chew, except for thte fact that any pee that gets on the house is pretty much sunk in forever. I recommend a plastic house, and various other chew toys to make up for the non-chewable house.

Toys:
-Tunnels - Probably the most fun thing you can give your guinea pig. Their wild ancestors lived in tunnels, so our domesticated ones have still kept this love for them. Plastic hook-together tunnels like Funnels brand are very cool and can be used to make elabortae structures. If your piggy enjoys chewing the tunnels, SnakShak edible tunnels are pure bliss (my piggies LOVE them.)
-Chew toys - Chew toys are basically any toy that is made of wood. You can buy anything from wooden chew balls to chewable "furniture." These toys are usually made from fruit-tree woods and will not give you piggy any splinters unlike some other woods.
-Random toys - Most guinea pigs will enjoy anything from a bird-cage mirror to plastic kitchenware. They will find funny ways to play with random objects (like throwing plastic spoons, which my piggies do.) Just make sure the think you are giving them have no small pieces and cannot be broken off into pieces.

Environment:
The best environment is a place where there is activity, like a living room. Guinea pigs enjoy the social contact and become lonely and less active when placed in a room far from people, like basements and bedrooms.