Origin Story
Apple had been asking for a pet for a while and I had a hard time on deciding what to get. I understood he wasn't going to be responsible for it's care and I knew whatever I chose would have to be something I would enjoy and like caring for too. We had decided on budgies for a while as they're very simple to care for and we've had them before, but I began to wonder whether he would perhaps benefit from a more hands on animal, one he could snuggle and hold.
After a trip to a Petits Farm where we held a rat, I became certain that was the animal for us. But upon hours of research about their care, I realised just how expensive everything would be. Not to mention with how smart rats are, they require constant mental stimulation and new toys & puzzles.
I'd hit a blank again until I started researching guinea pigs. Their needs didn't seem too insanely expensive 
and the enclosure would be low cost (though-spoiler alert- I ended up spending so much more than anticipated as I just can't help myself when I see something they may like). I loved how they seemed fairly sociable yet not too demanding in needing the constant new mental stimuli like rats.
I hit up an old friend who I knew had 4 guinea pigs of her own (which actually got us back to being bffs again)! After her encouragement and a crazy amount of research, I ordered all my supplies and soon after, before they'd even arrived my mum offered to take us to Pets at Home for just a 'look'. After 'looking' for 2 hours (!!!) I exited that shop with two 9 month old piggies from the P@H adoption centre.
I fell in love with them when I saw them and panicked that someone would adopt them before me if I left it longer. They came from a family who had a baby who turned out to be allergic to them. The staff member said I could buy a cage that day to take them home in and keep them in for 2 days until my proper set-up arrived and return it after, which I did!
Before entering the shop that day, I was set on getting sows (females) but I was so easily convinced when I saw these two. Though they are boars (male), we stuck with our original chosen names- Honey & Gingerbread. After all, gender norms don't exist in this house.
Cage Set-up
- A 2x6 c&c cage set-up
- Hay Tunnel
- Bath mats for under the water bottles to catch leaking
- Brown & white checkerboard tent hide -this is my fave thing in their cage, the 'skeleton' of it is built of plastic rods and you can take off the fabric VERY easily to wash.
- Leaf garland- there are genuinely so many in the pack. I ended up giving half to my friend to decorate her piggies cages.
- Log tunnel- I have this leading into their hide.
- A cheap £3 polar fleece from B&M (can't find exact link) I cut to create curtains.
- T-shaped tunnel- I actually love the print on this and its so spacey. I've chucked it in the washing machine with no issues so far. This is one of their favourite places to chill and I tend to carry them out of their cage in this, sometimes both at the same time. The item no longer exists on Temu but if you type in 'mushroom guinea pig hieout' there are very similar ones.
- Snuffle mat-I scatter their daily pellets on here for more enriching feeding. I chuck it in the wash once a week.
- Carrot-top house -I got them two of these as they're boys (and not the best at sharing). They've basically ate all the carrot from the top in the space of a month! When these are no longer usable, I plan to switch one of them out with a wooden 'castle' with a lookout (probs an xmas present for them).
- Glass water bottles- -They have two of these. Again, being boys, it's recommended to get two of most things. Plus, if one stops working there's a backup. I prefer the look of glass bottles and apparently they harbor less bacteria than plastic.
- Wood shavings-you have two main options for bedding when it comes to guinea pigs, fleece or wood shavings. I settled on wood shavings.
- Correx liner-Pre-made liners are not only overpriced but I couldn't actually find one anywhere to fit the size of my cage in white. I bought one of these large sheets of correx in 4mm (same as the pre-made liners) and used a stanley knife to cut, score and fold to the size of my cage. It is literally perfect. It's subtle enough to not be an eye-sore but also keeps all the bedding neatly within the cage and is very easy to wipe down. I made the edges 15cm tall.
- Hammock- You can't really see in this image but behind the curtain is a hammock. I didn't have much hope they'd actually use it but I find Gingerbread chilling in there every single day. It comes in a set with a hanging tunnel but they're not at all bothered about that (to be fair, it's really hard to hang it at an angle/height they can climb in) but it was worth it for the hammock alone.
Other items they love/are useful
Pellets-When researching guinea pig care, this seemed like the most reputable brand for pellets. They last agesss as they only have 1/4 a us cup per day between them.
Wooden desk-bit of an obscure one but my mum picked this up from the charity shop (though I've seen it on TT shop) and every time they're out in the lounge I put it up. It is their absolute favourite place to sleep under.
Treats- They literally love all the varieties of these hanging treats from P@H. They demolish them so fast! They're such a good price and even better when they're on the 4 for 3 offer.
Mini Hay Bales-Another little food option for them to chomp on to add a little variety.
Piggie Cam- I have this rechargable security camera mounted above the cage pointing down to it. I love that I can check up on them from my phone whenever!
Jars of forrage mix-Above the cage, I have four of these cute jars I got from the range filled with different forage mixes from p@h. I usually sprinkle them throughout their hay for them to find.
Stacking Cups- Great for enrichment. I put veg between each cup layer and they take them apart looking for it.
Party Hats
The piggies were originally meant to be a birthday present for my son but since we ended up getting them a few weeks earlier, I decided to make a card from them to him to remind him they were part of his present. Here's them in the party hats I crocheted:
He always says they look like trains when they follow eachother and he's obsessed with trains so I used that to my advantage to create this chaos:
Things my kid has said/asked about the guinea pigs
- 'Do guinea pigs keep a diary?'
- 'Will they turn into real pigs?'
- 'Their poo looks like boomerangs'
Fleece vs Wood Shavings
Some of the most aesthetic cages online have fleece as their cage base (in fact, almost all the tiktok cages I saw used fleece for bedding). When researching guinea pigs, I was set on getting it for the following reasons:
- Reusable/washable- more expense upfront but a LOT cheaper in the long run.
- Never have to run into the issue of running out of bedding.
- The customisation opportunities!! Cute autumnal fleece in October, Christmassy one in December etc.
- Much easier to daily spot clean as you can just sweep away the poo each morning.
- Much easier deep cleans as you can just shake it out and wash.
However, if you saw my cage set-up you'll notice I've settled for wood shavings. I actually did try fleece for an extremely short period, but it smelt so bad after just a day. I literally couldn't keep it on for more than one night as the smell was too bad. I find that wood chippings don't smell at all, in fact I actually love the smell of them. While it does mean incurring a monthly cost, it's worth it to avoid the smell. I probably will try fleece again in the future as I still wish it worked out for me. Every time I see a cute seasonal fleece I get major fomo. But for now, wood shavings work for us.
Piggy Gallery
