How much space do you need to keep a guinea pig?

Once you have decided where you plan to keep your guinea pigs the next consideration is how much space you are going to need and how many guinea pigs you plan to keep. Like all caged animals, the more space you can provide them the better. Of course none of us have unlimited space and from a practical point of view there are limits on much space we can provide for our guinea pigs. The following is a rough rule of thumb guide to the minimum space requirements for guinea pigs:

• For 1 guinea pig 7 square feet minimum & more is better
• For 2 guinea pigs 9 square feet minimum & more is better
• For 3 guinea pigs 12 square feet minimum & more is better
• For 4 guinea pigs 14 square feet minimum & more is better

What can guinea pigs live in?

Ok, so you have decided where you plan to keep your guinea pigs and how much room they need but what will you actually house them in?

There are several options and for the sake of completeness we will cover them all briefly here, however it is now generally agreed that the cube and coroplast type housing is best for guinea pigs. If you haven’t heard of this before don’t worry it is covered in more detail below.

Guinea pig hutches

A traditional hutch can be used to house guinea pigs as they can provide for all of the basic requirements of the guinea pigs, such as shelter, shade and draught free areas. A whole range of hutches are available and they can include various split level designs, ramps and interesting decorative appearances.

One thing to be aware of though, if you do choose a hutch is that they tend to be pretty small, particularly if you are keeping two or more guinea pigs together. So it is important that if you do chose a hutch that you also have a run or play area where they can come out for a bit more exercise very regularly several times per day. As well as providing fairly limited space hutches are generally made of wood therefore the flooring will absorb some urine and this can give odours which can be irritant to guinea pigs and cause respiratory disorders.

Hutches do have some advantages in that they are mobile and therefore flexible to changing weather conditions and can also be moved into a shed or shelter in bad weather and they are generally fairly well predator proof although, of course, each hutch should be checked for potential vulnerabilities as cats and foxes can be very cunning in overcoming flimsy door catches.

Guinea pig cages

Mainly for indoor guinea pigs cages come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are usually of two main types, either a traditional wire cage or plastic aquarium type enclosure. They all usually have plastic bases for easy cleaning and should allow fitting of an externally mounted water bottle as guinea pigs will continually knock water bowls over. Guinea pigs love places to hide so you should ensure that there is room for some tubing or boxes for them to play and hide in.

Cages are becoming less popular choices for guinea pig housing as they are all too often far too small for the guinea pigs needs. Guinea pigs do require enough room to be very mobile around their quarters and given enough space they will run around the perimeter fairly fast sporadically and this is very beneficial for their general health and well being. Cages generally do not provide enough room to do this.

This leads us on to what are now regarded as the most suitable and best type of housing for guinea pigs:

Cubes & coroplast caging

As guinea pigs don’t jump or climb much a popular and affordable solution to housing them has been building runs out of wire panels, these can be open topped or enclosed. This is relatively affordable and usually allows the guinea pigs much more space than a similar budget spent on traditional cages. Cubes and coroplast guinea pig caging has many advantages over other forms of guinea pig housing and these are covered in great detail at Cavy cages. In brief it is affordable, flexible to requirements, easy to build and very easy to clean and maintain.

Cube and coroplast caging is actually adapted from storage materials available from a number of sources, the cubes are wire mesh panels about 14 inches in length intended for storage shelving but can easily be adapted for housing guinea pigs. Coroplast is a type of sheet plastic that in structure resembles cardboard but made out of plastic and it has properties which make it ideal for the flooring in a wire cube cage. You can add as many wire panels as you wish to make a cage of any size to accommodate your guinea pigs comfortably. Detailed instruction on how to obtain these materials and build your own cubes and coroplast caging can be found at Cavy Cages.

Free range guinea pigs!

Yes guinea pigs can be allowed to free range! Providing a few basic precautions are in place. First you need to make sure that your room is guinea pig safe this means that there is no access to electrical wires or toxic materials which they may nibble on. The floor also need some protection as, of course, guinea pigs will do their business anywhere so a plastic or non-porous surface of some kind is best together with some absorbent bedding materials.

Conclusion

I hope that this brief whistle-stop tour of guinea pig housing has given you some idea of the range of choices open to you for housing your guinea pigs and allowed you to weigh up some of the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of guinea pig housing.

Go to our Guinea Pigs Articles pages to learn more about guinea pigs