General Cost for taking care of Guinea Pig(s)

I have two pigs, so this'll be for the cost of multiple pigs.

For i think a 5 pound bag of Oxbow Cavy Cuisine it's $15 (which is probably the best food, you dont have to use it, and it's sort of expensive) I dont have to buy pellets that often because my pigs dont eat much.

For bedding, if you're not using fleece, it'll be $7-17 depending on the size of the package of bedding you get. Assuming you change bedding completely once a week and the small bags have enough for 2-3 changes, you're set for awhile on this. Although. If you use fleece and have old blankets laying around, bedding is free.

For Hay, it's $12 for Oxbow timothy hay. I have no idea how long this would last as I usually get enough to last me a month or two, and I dont remember how much i paid for it.

Add in a few extra dollars for veggies and toys and you're set. It seems sort of expensive, but it's really only getting all the supplies at once when you first get your piggies that's expensive.

I have 4 guinea pigs I think they probably cost me around 50 dollars a month. We humans eat quite a bit of veggies in the house so when I got the guinea pigs I only had to start buying a little bit more of this or that veggie. Honestly the guinea pigs eat mostly scraps of our veggies. lol The pellets cost me 15 dollars a month and one 5lb bag last all month for my 4 pigs. Hay is the biggest expense for most people a big bag of oxbow timothy hay cost 15 dollars and with my pigs last maybe a week but if you have access to a feed store, even if it is a long drive, the savings are worth it! I bought a big 75 lb bale of timothy/orchard grass mix for $12.50. I had to drive about an hour to get it but this should last me about 6 months. I estimate I am saving about 400 dollars a year buying hay this way. I use fleece as my bedding. The start up cost for that was around 60 dollars for my two 8' x 2.5' cages but since then I haven't spent a dime on bedding. Big, huge, mondo savings there (about 280 dollars a year!)! A big bag of wood chips costs about 12 dollars and it takes 1/2 a bag per cage for me. I would get up to 60 dollars in 3 months. I have had the fleece bedding now for going on 4 months and it still looks awesome! I estimate the fleece will last a year or more and still be looking awesome.

Medical is the biggest cost over all but it isn't a monthly cost thankfully. Guinea pigs do not need check ups they just need to go to the vet when they are ill or injured or when you think they are. Better safe than sorry with GPs. I personally would NOT do the pet insurance, instead I would set aside that much, or more, a month into a medical fund for the guinea pigs and here's why: I have 4 guinea pigs, the insurance for 1 guinea pig paid all year would be MORE than what I paid in vet care for all 4 of my guinea pigs last year. That money that would have been spent on insurance set aside in a fund that would just be added to every month should cover anything. As the guinea pigs age and their care gets more expensive the fund should be larger and able to cover the costs since it has been added to every month since the pigs were young.

Anyway that is my two cents. Good luck on your decision!

The start up costs will be the most expensive thing about owning a guinea pig. Start up costs include for a 2x4 cage:

a box of storage grids: 25
Coroplast: 20
Zip Ties: 10
Fleece: ~20
Uhaul Pad: 8
Food Bowl: 4
Water Bottle: 8
Hiddy Hut: 12 (cardboard boxes tend to be free though if you don't want a plastic one)

I'd also include a starter vet fund of 200-500 dollars in case the guinea pigs you get need vet care right away.

Fleece is a HUGE topic and it is hard to cover it all in one short setting but the gist of it is fleece bedding is like using cloth diapers on a baby. Same idea. You would put down a piece of uhaul furniture blanket then put fleece on top of it. Once or twice a day you would sweep up the GP poops with a little brush and dust pan and then about once a week or when the cage got stinky you would wash the bedding in the laundry. It helps to have two sets of uhaul and fleece so you don't have to wait for one set to wash and dry.

Do you have a C&C cage? Or are planning to make one?

If you do use fleece I suggest putting something like a plastic shower curtain under it to waterproof the cloroplast, or if you're not using cloroplast (if you're making a C&C cage) You can put the shower curtain on whatever solid flooring you're using and then the fleece on top of that.

A good idea for saving money on veggies is growing your own, the most popular food I grow for my pigs is Kohlrabi, a packet of seeds cost about three dollars and it takes a few weeks to get big enough to start plucking leaves from, but after that it can last up to 5 months before you need to pull to bulbs out and start again. I often have several stages of veggies growing at once so there is never a shortage.

The only cost associated with growing your own is water, assuming you use a compost you make. The only time my piggies get food from the shop is when my garden is a bit barren, or there is a veggie on special that I pick up during my normal shop. They also get scraps from any veggie related dish I make.

Growing you own means you know it hasn't had any pesticides used on it, you can also eat the veggies you grow so it might cut your food bill down a bit =]. If you don't have a garden bed you can always try growing stuff in pots, it might not always work but its worth a try.

If you use fleece bedding you might notice your electricity and water bills go up a little bit because of the extra washing, but if you use other bedding then you would have to pay to replace it all the time.

Most of the costs associated with guinea pig keeping would be very area specific, eg. the price of pellets in your area, the price of hay etc. Do some local research before you commit.

I have two girls, Now you can do several things to cut cost so that you can have a medical fund. One is by making fleece bedding(cheaper than using the bedding you have to buy). Buy in bulk your hay and food pellets can be purchased to last a long time. Also Feed your Piggie an apropriate diet of raw veggies. Growing your own veggies and timothy hay. You can purchase timothy hay seeds online. I am blessed that my piggies have been very healthy.

PS: Make sure to get two adopted piggies! Guinea pigs are happier in pairs.

Adult pellets are fine for young guinea pigs but if you end up with pigs that are younger than 6 months you will have to supplement with alfalfa or extra calcium rich veggies. Pigs over 6 months do not need this and should NEVER be feed alfalfa because it can give them kidney stones.

That food looks fine if you're adopting an adult guinea pig.

cdavie89 said:

There's a lot of pellets out there. Is this a bad pellet or should I just go with something else?

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There are four recommended brands: KM Hayloft, Oxbow, Sweet Meadow and Mazuri (alfalfa based so you only feed 1/8 cup a day compared to a maximum of 1/4 cup a day for the others.) I've fed each of them to my guinea pigs except for Mazuri. My guinea pigs prefer KM or Sweet Meadow but more like the KM pellets so I ordered 50 lbs. today. (I have 8 guinea pigs.) I'd suggest you visit each of their online ordering sites and check out the costs and take turns ordering and see which your guinea pig likes.

I got my first guinea pig near the end of April, and her babies (there were three, but only two were alive and I kept them both) were born in June. In total, I have spent over $600 on them so far.