Are guinea pigs good pets?
Should you get one?
If you’re thinking about it, I wanted to share 5 things for your consideration first!
Sprinkles has officially been part of our family since May 2020. Since bringing her home I’ve received some questions from readers considering a guinea pig for a pet.
So, I thought I’d write a post answering the frequently asked questions and also share a few things I’ve learned through our experience so far.
But first, let me answer the question…
Are Guinea Pigs Good Pets?
YES! I can only speak to our experience over the past few years with Sprinkles, but I can tell you that she is the sweetest, most cuddliest pet that is a lot of fun to have around.
5 Things to Consider Before Getting a Guinea Pig
And now, 5 things to think about…
1. Consider Adopting
I would highly recommend considering adopting a guinea pig before heading to the pet store for a few reasons. When we were pet shopping, I posted in a local Facebook group to see if there were any families looking to re-home their pig — and within a day my inbox was filled with messages and pictures of cute guinea pigs around Charlotte looking for new homes for a variety of reasons (absolutely no judgement at all by the way!!!).
First, these families were able to give us “reference checks” before we committed so we were able to pick the one that sounded like the best fit for our family. Sprinkles (formerly “Sally”) came from a home with 3 small kids so we knew she was used to rambunctious kids, and she was described as quiet and cuddly (all boxes checked for us!). The owner was also able to tell us the brand and type of hay, pellets and treats she liked so we didn’t have to waste our money testing them all out.
Secondly, guinea pigs can be an investment on the front end. By the time you purchase the guinea pig (I think our pet store sells them for around $35-40), plus the cage ($70+), hay feeder, water bottle, house, bedding, etc. it adds up!! I think we purchased Sprinkles for $40 (maybe less, I can’t remember) and she came with ALL of those things, including a large supply of food and bedding. Oh, and if you are pet store shopping, be prepared for the sales associate to highly recommend purchasing guinea pigs in PAIRS of TWO as they are very social animals. And make sure you know which gender(s) you want — there’s a difference!
Lastly, you should know that a guinea pig lifespan is 4-8 years. If you’re not sure you want that long-term commitment, you can adopt an older pig to cut down on your commitment length. If that’s still too long, I suggest going with a hamster which has a lifespan closer to 3 years.
2. Bringing Your Guinea Pig Home
Guinea Pigs Need a Few Days to Adjust
One thing I didn’t know until we brought Sprinkles home is that you SHOULD NOT handle your pig for a few days. Guinea pigs need several days to adjust to their new environment (regardless of if they are coming home from the pet store or another home) and the best way to “bond” with your pig is to feed it. Sprinkles was absolutely terrified the first few days and finally warmed up to us and let us hold her for the first time about a week in. Which leads me to my next tip…
Learn The Guinea Pig Noises
I know this will sound crazy, but a really good tip I received from Sprinkles’ previous owner was to google and YouTube guinea pig noises. It took us awhile to figure out what each of Sprinkles’ noises meant. Guinea pigs make a ton of different noises and they all mean different things. When we first brought Sprinkles home she purred all the time which made me think she was happy…like a kitten. And then I spent an hour watching YouTube videos of guinea pig noises and learned that noise often means the piggie is in distress!!!
But the absolute cutest thing about guinea pigs aren’t the noises…it’s when they “popcorn.” Oh my goodness, I laugh every single time I catch Sprinkles jumping around. When guinea pigs are happy and roaming around, they will often bounce like popcorn popping. I’m not kidding, it’s the cutest ever.
3. Guinea Pig Diet
Guinea pigs eat a LOT. In fact, they require unlimited hay to graze on all day long, which means their hay feeder needs to be filled daily. I was astonished by the amount of hay Sprinkles was eating when we brought her home and was fearful we were “overfeeding” her.
In addition to hay, guinea pigs require pellets and fresh fruits and veggies — daily. Some of Sprinkles favorite fruits and veggies are romaine lettuce, spinach, kale, cucumber, blueberries, cilantro, watermelon and apples.
*Note: always check to make sure the fruit, veggies & herbs are safe to give your guinea pig before feeding. Some foods like iceberg lettuce, corn, avocado are unsafe for them to eat.
Guinea Pig Feeding Supplies: Hay // Food Dispenser // Pellets // Water Bottle
4. Cage & Bedding
We really liked the idea of giving our 5 and 6 year olds the responsibilities of caring for a pet. They swore up and down that if we finally agreed to get a pet, they would absolutely take care of it — no matter what that entailed…
Well I was unprepared for how often the cage would need to be cleaned…because guinea pigs poop a lot. And I mean a lot. A lot.
The Cage
Unfortunately, cleaning the cage is actually NOT an easy task for kids. In fact, our original cage was such a pain to clean that I ended up throwing it away and building my own c&c cage using this storage cube kit. There are TONS of fun c&c cage options and configurations you can create. I highly suggest looking at Pinterest for inspiration if you want to build one yourself. Once I had finalized our configuration, I created a tray for inside the cage using corrugated plastic (the same material you see yard signs made out of) and duct taped it all together, reinforcing all of the corners to make sure there weren’t any holes.
The Bedding
Another tip I discovered was lining the cage with incontinence pads which has helped save me SO much cleaning time. I highly recommend doing this.
Guinea pigs love blankets and especially fleece for bedding. For awhile we were using a fleece blanket but it was kind of a pain to lay inside the cage and gross to clean so I switched to a fleece liner and it has been SO much better. The liners from GuineaDad are our favorite by far. We have a few of them and rotate them weekly. They are super soft, absorbent and the bottom is waterproof. And there’s a burrow pocket for Sprinkles to hide inside when she hears Thomas coming for her.
Since guinea pigs are prey animals, it’s super important that you provide a little house inside the cage for your guinea pig to hide in. We have two little homes for Sprinkles but her absolute favorite is the strawberry house! It’s easy to clean too. Once a week I run it through a “quick wash” cycle and then let it air dry.
The Kitchen
While guinea pigs are super clean animals (and do not require baths), they make ginormous messes with their hay. And worse, they poop where they eat. Literally, they eat and poop at the same time and it’s so gross. And because they eat all day long…well, you can probably see why it’s so important to clean the cage often.
So I highly, highly, highly recommend creating a “kitchen” inside your cage to keep the food area separate from the play area. In fact, the kitchen can also serve as a liter box and guinea pigs can actually be liter box trained!! For our kitchen, Matt cut a little “door” inside a plastic bin. I line the plastic bin with a pee pad then add a thick layer of Care Fresh bedding (odor control, absorbent fluffy paper). The hay feeder hangs inside the bin for her to eat. Every 3-4 days I clean out the kitchen and add fresh bedding. And I clean out the entire cage (fleece liner, house, etc.) once a week. This is crucial for odor control and keeping the cage sanitary.
Guinea Pig Home Supplies: Hide-Out House // Fleece Liner // Wire Cage Kit // Corrugated Plastic // White Duct Tape // Plastic Storage Bin // Care Fresh Bedding // Hay Feeder
Travel Home
We’ve haven’t hired a pet sitter for Sprinkles yet, mostly because she’s pretty skittish around new people and we feel bad leaving her behind. So we’ve actually brought her on our vacations and weekend trips. For car rides, we use a travel carrier (lined with a pee pad and care fresh bedding) and once we arrive to our destination we move her to a spacious pop-up play pen which includes all of the familiar items from her cage — pee pads, water dispenser, hide-out house, etc. Matt is always super creative in setting up the water dispenser and kitchen. 
5. Play Time
Guinea pigs are very social animals and require at least an hour a day outside of their cage to run around and explore. We actually let Sprinkles run around our family room a lot. She mostly hides under the couch from Thomas but can also be found “popcorning” around the kitchen. And if we’re outside, we let her run around in the grass (under supervision) or she’s on the back porch with us hanging out in a large plastic baby pool with lots of fresh fruits and veggies.
Final Verdict…
I know I’ve given you a lot of information to consider before getting a guinea pig and I’m sure I’ve talked most of you out of adding one to your family, but we really have loved Sprinkles. While it’s only been a few months, it does feel like we’ve had her forever.
If you ask me (which many of you have) if I would get another guinea pig all over again…the answer is…I’d probably go with a hamster instead, unless my kids were old enough to actually take on some of the cleaning labor. Guinea pigs are also super fragile so they aren’t the best pets for super small kids.
However, Sprinkles is SO cuddly and sweet and my kids are absolutely crazy about her. She is the first thing they run to when they arrive home from school and the last thing they check-on before going to bed. Every morning they rush to her cage to play with her and they haven’t lost even an ounce of interest.
Despite all the extra work Sprinkles provides me…I have to admit that I love that little animal. And it’s no surprise at all that I am her favorite family member too…
*consider pinning to save for later
Aww this post was so fun to read! I had a pet rabbit in middle school in high school, and I was just crazy about her. Some of her behavior and quirks sound similar to Sprinkles! It looks like Sprinkles has fit in well at her new home, and the photos of her with Thomas and Caroline are too cute!
xoxo A
http://www.southernbelleintraining.com
I love it and guinea pigs are the best and we have 10 piggies and we first got one then got her a friend then decided to get a male to have some babies to give away but then I couldn’t so I kept them all but then we lost on of our baby piggies back in April Ozzy almost turning one so left us with 9 was so sad and torn up about losing him so we adopted one to get our 10 back we love them
Just a heads up I love the fact that you’re teaching your kids responsibility with a guinea pig and that you’re telling people they’re not as easy as they look that’s awesome and amazing just a little tip you might want to teach your kids how to hold a Guinea pig properly you need to support all of their feet when holding them otherwise you can cause internal damage.
You forgot one very important thing- Guinea pigs require at least 90 mg of vitamin C every day. Guinea pigs cannot synthesize their own vitamin C. They can get this through their veggie intake, their pellets, and through supplemental Vitamin C in a tablet form, Vitamin C drops you add to water are pretty useless though.
I love that sprinkles travels with y’all!
I don’t recommend a hamster for young kids. Guinea pigs are good with being handled much more than hamsters. They also require frequent cage maintenance and cleaning. You made a good choice with the guinea pig!
I was going to say the same things. Hamsters are fragile and far easier to overstress, which can actually kill them. I’ve had both and also find our piggies to be much friendlier and far less likely to nip.
I have three guinea pigs Fifi,Pepe, and Bobo and when I first brought Fifi home I started searching in Cari for them. First thing I learned was that the piggy needed a bigger cage, if you don’t know this already store cages are usually not good for guinea pigs, they are to small and make them feel trapped, second thing is that the piggy shouldn’t be by itself so I bought a second piggie, and they got along very well, I learned what to feed them and what to not feed, learned how to hold a pig correctly, and how to tame them, after a while I got a third piggie! Also bought them a bigger cage and now they live happy little lives😄
Very informative and accurate. Kudos for adopting and getting rid of the smaller cage. Most people do not realize what they are getting themselves into when getting a guinea pig. And so many are looking for homes. A comment on Vit C was correct. I feed my Piggies bell pepper to help with this. Overall, great article!
I have five piggies and each of them are totally different. Over the course of years of having them we have found out a lot of information. As they are allowed spinach and enjoy it. Giving them it to often can actually harm them. As they age they can have a hard time with it and they develope crystal in their urine and is life threatening. With older male they have a hard time moving their bowels and may need help removing a clog. Our oldest is 9 and still going strong.. we have one that loves to sing to everyone and it is a wonderful sound. Floor time is good idea. Ours takes turn having the room of the house and our cats enjoy being with them. The piggies do mate for life and we found out that having more than one is actually better. Since they are social creatures they don’t like be a lone some times. We just started with a male Leo and she loves to be held and everything. We noticed after a while he was sleeping more and not moving around a lot. So we got Lorelei and he changed. Became more social and the sounds that they made when talking to each other were happy ones and would put a smile on your face. However you need to make sure they are not left alone. Or you get a pair of same sex pairs. We ended up having six babies. They usually only have three. Sad to say we lost three of them. Over a period of days. The three that survived which we named Midnight , Jupiter and Chatter. They are very sweet and part of our family. Good luck. Adopting is the way to go.
We have a hamster- a robo dwarf and he does not like to be handled at all which is typical of his breed. He is tidy and rarely eats or drinks but does like fruit. Nuget, with one g, just escaped recently and our puppy helped us find him by catching him inside her mouth! I thought surely the stress of that experience would kill the hamster but no such luck! Your cage is awesome!! You make it all look easy with Sprinkles!
My piggie is adorable and hops all the time. She fusses when she wants to go back to her cage and house. I have a corner net for her and she loves it. My problem is she wont eat any carrots, leave greens or fruit She likes some treats I have tried 3 kinds but loves regular lettuce which has no value. I’m a older grandma and she was bought for me. I love her but can’t hold her long time. My children clean her every other day as she is messy We feed her Timothy hay and pellets. Have a hanging water bottle she drinks and fresh water. I don’t let her run in-house only when my grandchildren can grab and watch her. She was very small when I got. The size of my open hand. She hopes when I call her even if I’m coming to get or see her.
I love all the details you shared we started out with 1 and added our 2nd about 6 months later so we knew how much work they were. We keep our girls in a large play pen area and I line the bottom with plastic table cloths I buy at $1 store what a deal.they a layer of bedding
We also found hay bales at chewy .com and they are so much neater than bags of the hay and gives the piggies something to work at
No Timothy hay for pigs i am allergic so we use orchard hay or alfalfa.
Aww!! Such a cute little guinea pig! I had one growing up! His name was Whiskers, and he loved running around our family room too. 🙂
I want suggest going to la Guinea pig rescue website. She has tons of info on piggys. Nail cutting,baths,what to feed etc. I’m a grown adult had 2 girl piggys. They passed away 2 yrs ago. I got so attach to them. Trying to find any exotic vet is hard to find also. Good luck with your cute piggy! Wheek wheek!
Loved this – we got a hamster last year and it’s been the best pet for our girls!! They are so low maintenance and ours is actually really cuddly – she falls asleep on my chest when stroking her x
I love this but your not right about everything for example getting a guinea pig you should also be prepared to take care of them for awhile. Also, they CAN eat raw corn just not cooked they enjoy it a lot plus they need 2 cups of vegetables every day lots of hay and pellets and they can’t always have fruit and one piece of lettuce isn’t enough, you shouldn’t use shavings of wood for your pig’s bedding since it is bad for them to walk on, regular bedding the paper stuff is good, but I recommend getting a guinea pig mat from Guinea Dad. Also they can’t have many blueberries because it can result in bladder stones, and the way your kids are holding her isn’t supporting the pig’s weight correctly yes they are younger but you can teach them how to. I know this all and more because I do research for my two guinea pigs, how and speaking of me having two sprinkles will need a sister because even though you may think she’s not lonely she still needs a sister they get lonely if someone isn’t there 24/7 and you don’t always know if they want you there maybe all they want is company from their own kind. -Your Reader
Thanks for taking the time to share all of this info, Laura!! I am definitely no expert on guinea pigs and we are still learning every day!
Hi! This is great and super informative- I am actually a pet sitter here in South Charlotte area and besides taking care of dogs and cats I actually have a Guinea Pig client who comes over here pretty regularly- their owners bring her habit (similar to what you guys have) and all her stuff and set her up in our spare bedroom and she does great here and we love her so if y’all are ever needing to go somewhere and you can’t bring her just let me know and maybe I can help out
I own 2 guinea pigs… love them dearly. Their noises and the way they popcorn melt my heart. One thing I did not consider was vetting. In my area we do not have a vet that cares for them. I would suggest if anyone was wanting to buy one, find a vet first! My youngest one was bought from a pet store and when I got her, I didnt realize she was sick. Guinea pigs are known for massive respiratory infections, which I was unaware of. I drove this little girl 50 miles for a vet. Thankfully, she is doing well today, but finding a vet for the guinea pigs is a huge thing. Their teeth never stop growing which may need help in filing them down at times, again vet! Guinea pigs are sweet creatures and you can’t go wrong with them, if taken care of properly.
I have two guinea pigs and I havd to give them bathes once every week. They are not clean animals and don’t keep their food in one spot because they rearrange anything that can move in their cage. They also eat anything they can but I love them no matthow many times I have to clean up behind them
It should also be mentioned that if you decide to get more than one guinea pig, make sure you get either all boars or all sows. Breeding is extremely high risk for moms and babies and should not be done. I have 7 of them; all boys. Boars are harder to pair up and groups of more than 2 are next to impossible. I have two pairs and the other 3 are singles. They are close enough to see each other and rub noses through the cage wires. They’re happy with that, but they’ll fight and may injure each other if put together in the same enclosure.
Here’s a very informative website that has useful information about any guinea pig issue you have. It has forums with experienced, long time guinea pig owners.
http://www.guinealynx.info/
3 years ago my daughter did a lot of research and decided that she wanted to get a guinea pig. She was 15 at the time and I knew that this was going to help her with some of her mental health issues so I told her okay. We didn’t know enough to look in to the shelter so we ended up getting one at Petco. When we first got him we thought that he was an Albino American but he ended up turning out to be a Cornet. For only bring a 4lb little animal he had the biggest personality I’ve ever seen. I used to call him a Devo cuz he would throw his toys around when he would have a temper tantrum but he had the most beautiful long hair that remind me of Fabio. My daughter love that guinea pig more than anything in her life. He sparked our interest in pigs and we ended up getting him another male companion. They were both too dominant so they weren’t able to be in the same habitat but they were right next to each other. There’s just something so special about their energy, holding them just made me so happy. So I eventually got my own. I was lucky and saddened at the same time when I found his sister in the same pet store two years later. It was obvious they were siblings they even had the same markers on their body. I couldn’t leave her there so I brought her home. I end up buying a new habitat on Craigslist and when I went to pick it up the lady asked me if I also wanted the female pig that went with it. Of course I couldn’t say no. She was 3 years old and had been rehomed three times. She is such a lovely little girl and loves to cuddle.
So out heard was at 5 and we were very happy with that. But in July Riot started showing signs of not wanting to eat. Even though we gave him high quality oxbow pellets, vegetables everyday and lots of organic Timothy Hay he developed bladder stones. Which my understanding is very common for guinea pigs. After spending $700 and 3 vet visits we decided to have Riot put down One of the bladder stones had broken off and lodged in his urethra. He had lost 3 lb and we knew that he couldn’t survive surgery. Even though this experience devastated my daughter we learned something very important about guinea pigs. That if we would have known to give him oxbow digestive tract treats we could have prevented this from happening. So now all of our guinea pigs get one treat everyday. I just wanted to let you know that you might want to add this into your treats that you give your girl. Me and my daughter have service dogs but there’s just something so special about those pigs. I can’t even explain it. When we move to Oregon we are going to open up a rescue and call it Riots Rescue after her first pig. It’s amazing how something so small can start something so big. I hope that all the things that we have learned might help us prevent this from happening to somebody else’s beloved pet.
The cages need to be 8 square feet for just 1 guinea pig 10 for 2 pigs and 15 for 3 or 4. Dont give them a lot of fruits and vegetables daily because they can become stubborn on feed and the feed is needed 1/4 cup a day. Mine is a little over feed on fruits and veggies and never hardly eats his pellets. I also we wanna say it os ok to feed them alfalfa hay but not a lot as well they mostly need timothy hay they should only get the alfalfa hay as a treat. NEVER GIVE THEM BREAD! I WANT TO STRONGLY PRESS THIS BECAUSE I KNOW OF PEOPLE DOING IT. It can make them sick badly and possibly kill them. AND GUINEA PIG’S CAN BE ALONE REPEAT CAN BE! It can be one of the breeds which i do have now and be alone and considers u on place of another. I may add that they are the smartest breed. I have even read this as well not just saying on my word. They are very good at understanding training talking to you. They are the better breed to have if just wanting one. One of their featers is it looks like with their pink lips they have a mustache and sometimes beard. They are short haired as well. But back in the day i had a long haired breed that was supposed to be one of the ones that had to have another with them. And he lived till almost 6 years ge stayed out of his pen with me almost 14 hours of the day (so yes he slept with me & no he never pooped or peed but in the cage) how ever i never knew about the vitiman C drops as a need or was told. With mine also never ever had hay not one time just pellet food and tomatos 🍅 and carrot’s 🥕. Which im shure if I knew that then and did that I could have maybe had him longer. Each pig and owner are different than everyone else. Me personally if you are going to spent time with it daily then and more or less for example do like i did with mine and your kids with sprinkles. They would and are fine being alone. But cage size does matter. And NEVER BUT THEM IN A BALL. THEIR BACKS BREAK EASILY AND ALSO ARE NOT MADE TO BEND THIS CAN KILL THE POOR PIGGIE.!
We love our 2 male guinea pigs very much but would caution anyone considering pet piggies that they are not cheap to care for. Good hay, pellets, fresh vegs and fruits, bedding, etc. Also, I agree with a previous comment – Please research Veterinarians for exotic pets in your area before getting your pet as they can be hard to find and expensive. Ours is 45 minutes drive away. We never realized that not all Vets treat “pocket pets”. Our guinea pigs have brought a lot of fun and joy to our lives and the oldest one “Arthur” has become a therapy pet for my son who has autism.
Hi!! Please watch Saskia with the LA GUINEA PIG RESCUE on YouTube. She has at least 25 years experience with Guinea pigs. I had a guinea pig over 30 years ago and i wish i knew all she has to do. On Saturdays, at her home, she live streams health checks, adoptions and surrenders to her rescue on YouTube. Actually, guinea pigs do need to be at least in a pair, because they are so social. Take care!!!
We adopted one piggy and now we have four…We fell in love! They are the joy of our lives. We only travel to pet friendly spots with a portable piggy pen and all of their necessities. They are family! They know the word “dinnertime’ because they WHEEK!! when we say it! We are very careful to weigh them weekly, keeping a log to record any changes…I recommend this. You must insure your piggies don’t gain too much weight and stay healthy. We take them annually for check up at our Exotic Pet Specialist and log the visit and any notes from the Vet. They are happy together (all boys) and we are so blessed to have them. It should not be a random pet decision to adopt a piggy! Keep reading best practices and observing your piggies and they will be happy and healthy.
You forgot one very important need for Guinea pigs which is that they are social herd animals. This means they thrive in groups, and their emotional and psychological well being is dependent on having another guinea pig around.
Even if you have kids to play with your pet, it’s not the same as having another guinea pig coexist on the same level, eating, grooming, and alerting each other.
There are also space requirements that guinea pigs need. You’d need somewhere between 7.5 to 10 sqft of space for a pair of guinea pigs. Want to know how much space a single guinea pig needs? Look it up. You’ll get an answer, followed by the recommendation that guinea pigs usually need more than just the minimal room.
Thanks for sharing your family experience, and thanks for allowing comments so others can also share their thoughts and information.
thank you for sharing!!! such good info!
I never thought about posting in social media about adopting pets, that is such a great tip! It will definitely cut down the cost and you can help a family out somehow.
Your guinea pigs are living the life, they’re so lucky to have been part of a great home and family