With soft fur, short legs, and chubby appearance, guinea pigs can easily melt anyone’s heart.
They often come in small size, so people find no difficulty to handle it, especially children.
Because guinea pigs are very sociable, they love to live with a pair or group.
Watching them running around like a fur ball has been a pleasing experience for many pet lovers.
Like any other pets, guinea pigs need attention and proper care.
Even though they are easy to raise compared to some domestic animals, you definitely have troubles when looking after them.
The followings are frequently asked questions regarding guinea pigs’ food and bedding that you might find it similar to your situation.
Track down to have an answer to your concern.
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FAQs about Guinea Pigs’ Eating Favors
How do I prevent my guinea pigs from throwing the hay all around?
Many people choose hay as comfortable bedding for guinea pigs, and later they find out they get an oh-no moment.
Even though it is the bedding, they love to make a mess with it sometimes. That’s how it is frustrated with pet owners.
There are many reasons that lead to this behavior, firstly, guinea pigs might need your attention.
Remember that they are very active and curious, exploring the surroundings is their favorite.
Boredom might be another reason. Your pets just love to have fun with the hay when they feel bored. Don’t be stressful because they are acting weird, they are just playful.
In order to deal with this problem, make sure you interact with them more often.
If your piggy feels like receiving love and care, they probably stop throwing things.
Besides that, prepare for them some toys in the cage.
The natural material ball is a good boredom breaker that your pet can chew and destroy, instead of the boring hay.
If you can invest a cozy house, guinea pigs will be very excited to hop and hide on it.
Why do guinea pigs smell if kept indoors?
All animals do smell, but the strong smell might not come from guinea pigs themselves, probably their urine. They tend to pee in the cage after drinking water.
You can’t find where exactly the smell is because the bedding absorbs the urine. Furthermore, if the urine wet the dry poops, the smell will be worse.
If your pet lives in the small cage in limited room space, no doubt that the smell will always be there.
It seems like the air can’t blow through to carry the smell away which might be uncomfortable not only for you but the piggy as well.
The most effective solution is to clean the cage frequently.
Change the bedding and pick up all the poops to prevent being wet.
Don’t forget to give your little friends a nice bath also help the reduce the smell significantly.
Read more: How to Take Care of a Guinea Pig
When changing guinea pig bedding, do I have to remove all the poop first?
Yes, it is a common way to clean up, yet not the best.
Of course, you have to remove all the poops, but you don’t have to wait until the time to change the bedding.
Guinea pigs poop a lot a day, up to hundreds of pellets.
You can take a little time to pick them up daily so that you don’t have to be so stressful wiping all the poops once you change the bedding.
If you don’t want redundancy, just take the whole thing including the old bedding and the poops to the trash can. Fast, simple, and effortless.
Then, replace with new bedding to provide a healthier environment for your pets.
However, you need to consider the type of bedding you are using whether it is effective to do this way.
Budget for bedding supplies also needs to be thought about.
You can always do more research on different kinds of bedding which fit your needs.
Read more: Best Guinea Pig Bedding
What are some good guinea pig food recipes?
You probably don’t need a certain food recipe for guinea pigs, but they need three essentials in the daily diet.
First, hay and more hay. Just like a rabbit, hay should be 80% of guinea pigs’ meal.
It is friendly to the digestive system and helps it function positively.
Moreover, hay slows down the teeth growth in guinea pigs as they keep gnawing the hay.
There are several kinds of hay such as Timothy hay, Orchard or Alfalfa hay which are all fine for your piggy.
Even there guinea hayracks also available for the smooth eating process.
Second, guinea pigs need pellets. Pellets contain a lot of various types of vitamin and mineral needed for your pet that hay alone can’t offer.
With the rich nutrients in pellets, your pet can grow more actively and happily.
Timothy and Alfalfa hay pellets are the most popular pellets that you can refer to.
The last one is vegetables and fruits. This fresh food will widen the food choice while it supplies plenty of necessary nutrients.
Healthy vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers, basil, green salad are all good to go.
Apple, papaya, peach, plum are tasty fruits that should be in the food list as well. Limited amount of fruit is healthy, or else it might cause a problem to the digestive system.
Read more: What do guinea pigs eat?
Can I give my chinchillas, guinea pig food instead of chinchilla food?
In general, you should not do it. Chinchillas and guinea pigs have greatly different requirements in term of food.
While guinea pigs’ food contains a lot of vitamin C and low calcium, chinchillas’ food should be filled with fiber, carbohydrate, and protein. Some food is only formulated for some special animals to match their needs.
The exchange in food between these two species will affect negatively on their health and life span.
A recommendation for you is to give each species only what they need.
Although chinchillas and guinea pigs share some food that they both can eat, yet pet owners need to know what appropriate ones are and for what pet.
Here is the guide for how to cut guinea pig nails.
A good environment makes healthy guinea pigs
Sometimes it is frustrated in taking care of the little piggy, but it is always a worth experience for pet owners.
Guinea pigs are lovable pets and deserve to have a good house where they thrive and live a happy life.
Always keep them clean to avoid disease, and research for more food options to your pet regarding their size, age, and preference.
If you find any difficulty, visit the vet to refer their pieces of advice.
Hope you have wonderful moments with guinea pigs, the sweet creature.