Size New guinea pig mom. Questions about having a solo pig.

Welcome to the forum! Henrietta is a cute piggy!

I can relate to this. For the few months, I had my pig Tigger in a petstore cage as well, and then upgraded her to a 2x4 C&C cage. She wasn't active very much, and preferred to hide in her tents and cozies. When I adopted my second pig, Adi, she definitely came out of her shell and was much more active, and she explored all parts of the cage.

Since you have a large enough cage, adopting another piggy would be best for her. Guinea pigs are herd animals and enjoy the company of other pigs.

Also, I would add the fleece forest, but only when you think that she is accustomed to her new home.

My guinea pigs seem to like change... Keeps them active and curious! Just added a diff kitchen box to my girls and they loved it. Jumping in n out like they were in the olympics competing for high jump!

the suggestion you'll hear the most is "get her a friend" whether that be a neutered male or another female. Another you'll hear is "make sure she IS a girl before getting a friend unless that friend has been spayed or neutered.

If you have extra grids, zip tie those bad boys so one extra overlaps the four corners of the top pieces. It will provide stability. Increases weight of lid and you can't open just half, but if it is something that worries you, i hope this is helpful.

you mentioned a box that was removed...why? Piggerts love multiple hideys and would love being able to choose where to nap or hide. And actually, if you get a friend, anything with one entrance leads to "trapping" situations so i would suggest putting the box back (in either scenario) with multiple holes cut in. Chewing some regular cardboard is okay. Better for their digestive tracts than chewing bits of plastic off pigloos.

the cage looks great tho. I would be jealous if i were a piggy living in anything substandard to your Cavy Paradise!!

Also, I happen to have some cavies available for adoption if you are close to me. Check out my guineapigzone.com profile. Posted under "for adoption" in the forum main page.

Welcome to the forum! I hope you stay and learn with us c: Well, first off, im Skae ^-^ I can relate, I had my two boys in a store bought cage, it was a rabiit starter cage, but.. it wasn't big enough ._. Next, bigger, is better. nothing known as to big lol, and also, is there anything under that fleece lol like, coroplast? I know its a stupid question ^^'' piggies are best in pairs, plus I think your cage is big enough for 2, Hope you stay!

Tulip lived 5 years in a spacious 2 x 5 cage and now Ginger is enjoying a 2 x 5 cage. Tulip was by herself; Ginger has been by herself since May when her mother and cagemate, Buffy, passed on. Tulip was fine. Ginger has also done quite well as a single pig. I give her lots of attention. Her cage sits in front of the sofa and I'm always passing by and talking to her or getting her out for some lap time.

it was simply a suggestion. I'm sure she's happy happy happy!

They are herd animals and will probably be much happier with a friend.

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

The bottom of the cage is a large sheet of wood that I had cut at the home depot. Its is covered in linoleum and has a large trash bag on top of that, then terry cloth, then the fleece. I don't like the bottom and do plan on getting something better.

I will definitely overlap the grids on top for stability. Thanks for the suggestion.

I have been giving her fresh veggies every day, and she enjoys that, but there aren't many that she likes. Carrots, various types of lettuce, and green beans are the ones that she will eat. I bought an electric chopper/grinder and chopped up a mixture of yellow peppers and carrots in an attempt to get her to eat her peppers, but it doesn't seem to be working.


My husband is against getting a second guinea pig, but I am definitely leaning that way. I am leaving in a week on a two week long vacation, so my husband is going to be taking care of her. If we added a second, it would be after I get back.

Just keep trying with th veggies. Took mine weeks to touch any veggie (prev owner didn't give any at all) and now they nibble everything and gobble the faves. Hoping they take to green pepper next! Highest in Vit C (I'm told). I don't touch them myself so I don't blame the pigs!

Definitely get her a companion. It looks like you have a 2x4, which is plenty big enough for two females.

You might want to put a litter box/kitchen area underneath your hay rack. It will make cleaning the fleece much easier.

I think the cage is fine, Its big enough for you to get her a friend.
They can sleep in hay but I Dont like mine too.... its to expensive for them to pee and poo on it. I know most people on here dont care and say its fine. I noticed your grids are eight across I would get some coroplast asap.

So I added the extra grids on the top. I also ran to home depot for coroplast, but I couldn't find a big sheet. Just a bunch of smaller ones. I wasn't sure how that would work and I was wondering if it would just be easier to buy the base online.

She also did eventually eat the pepper/carrot mixture. I had heard that the veggies could stay for up to 4 hours. Normally I just take the dish away when she is done eating, but this time, I left it in for a little bit. It didn't take her very long before she got hungry again and went back for the rest.

I took out the box of hay and found a soap holder at the store that looked like it would work. I kept the box though and just put some bedding in it so she can still lay down in it. This is the old setup with her relaxing in her hay.



This is her checking out her new setup.

It looks like you have the 8 hole grids. These are the unsafe ones because the holes are large enough to get their heads stuck.