If you have ever owned guinea pigs, you will know that they can be very nervous and shy.  Most pet owners will just work with the fear instead of curing it.  

Here is how you can gain your guinea pig's trust.  

1.  You Intimidate Him

Think about even the size of your hands compared to your guinea pig.  Reaching your hands into your guinea pig space is obviously to freak him out.  As your pig is intimidated by you because of your size, you must act in a certain way. Start by gaining his trust. You can do this by hand-feeding his daily veg each day.

This should make him realise that your hands aren't a scary monster that's coming to get him 😂 At first, try to keep your hand as still as possible.  When you think he is getting more confident, start moving about a bit more.  

Eventually, you can start petting him.  If he gets scared, start at the beginning again.  

2.  Your Not Practising Enough

To encourage your guinea pig to be confident and friendly, you need to spend time with him every day.  Multiple times a day actually.  If you don't have the time to spend with your pet each day, you shouldn't have one.  

Like any other pet, guinea pigs need lots of attention.  In fact, they love cuddles like any other pet IF you treat them correctly.  

Apart from working on his confidence while hand-feeding veg, you can take him for cuddles while you watch TV, sitting with him while he explores a new room or give him a treat to eat on your bed.  These things will help you to give him the confidence around you to become friendly.  

Of course, at this point don't pick the guinea pig up if he runs away from you.  Instead, let him come out of his enclosure by himself.  A lot of times, he won't care as much about being picked up if he's in a large space.  

3.  You Pick Him Up Every time

Just like many other prey animals, guinea pigs simply don't like being picked up or carried.  Being carried around means death in the wild.  So, obviously avoiding that is best for keeping trust.  

I personally use a pet carrier (with a treat inside) to move my guinea pigs around.  when you do need to pick him up (for emergencies, health checks or vet appointments) more slowly and make it as quick as possible.  



  *Disclaimer*  

I am not any type of animal expert but instead only an animal lover who wants to share her tips.  Please consult relevant animal specialists and do not only take my advice.

 The Rider's Pets

Size and Location

Firstly, you need to decide where you are going to keep your guinea pig and in what type of cage.  You can either use a hutch or a small garden shed outside with a run OR keep them indoors.  
If you choose to keep your pet indoors, they will need out of their cage for a lot of the day.  I like to go between letting them run around the room where they can jump in and out of their cage and letting them outside in a run (depending on the weather).  

There are so many different types of Guinea pig cages but they should have at least 10.5 Square feet (with lots of time outside the cage) for two guinea pigs.  

Basics

Firstly, you need a water bottle, I prefer glass to plastic bottles and I also have one for each guinea pig in the cage.  You will also need a hayrack.  Me being a horse owner, guinea pigs are supposed to be eating from the ground (like horses).  This means hayracks that are high up (like haynets for horses) isn't natural and I have found that hay got into my guinea pig's eyes so try to find one that is close to the floor, like a roller.  
Lastly, are the food bowls.  I like to have at least one for the Nuggets and one for the veg.  

Extra

Toys - 

You should get your guinea pig lots of toys to keep them from getting bored.  There are lots of types of toys like wooden chew toys, hanging toys and foraging, boredom breakers.  

Blankets + Beds 

I like to buy lots of fleece blankets ao I can alternate them while I wash others.  I also like the small guinea pigs beds to put into a corner.  Another option is to place some tunnels in the cage.  

Litter Tray - 

If your guinea pig is litter trained or you want to litter train then you will need a litter tray,  I like the corner ones because it takes up less room.  You will also need a guinea pig safe litter like wooden pellets.  You can then choose to use the fleece blankets over shavings for the bedding.  




*Disclaimer*  

I am not any type of animal expert but instead only an animal lover who wants to share her tips.  Please consult relevant animal specialists and do not only take my advice.

 The Rider's Pets

Crude Percentages

The first thing I like to look at is crude percentages.  It is important to make sure the fat percentage is as low as possible.  While looking at hay & nuggets, I would never buy anything that is over 3% crude fat (crude fat is sometimes called crude oil), who wants a fat guinea pig?  No one!  I personally like to find nuggets with 2% or lower fat.  

Next, I look at the crude protein, Guinea pigs don't need a high amount of protein so look for 15-16% of crude protein.  

Lastly, is the fibre which I like to find nuggets with 20%+ of crude fibre.  If you can't find any this high, don't worry too much as the main diet of hay will provide most of the fibre that your guinea pig needs.  

Amount of food

Guinea pigs need to eat mostly hay.  In fact, I try to feed hay for at least 80% of the total diet (which is just as much as they want to eat).  This is SO important because chewing on hay keeps their teeth from getting too long.  

I like to feed my guinea pigs around 10% of their diet in nuggets.  Nuggets are great for giving your guinea pigs the vitamins and minerals that they need and they avoid selective eating.  However, you do need to find good quality food as some nuggets are high in fat or don't provide the correct crude percentages.  
If you cannot find a good brand of nuggets you can mix multiple different brands together and calculate the percentages of your new mix to make sure they are correct.  


Example of how to calculate your mixes of nuggets.  

Brand 1 - 

Crude protein 14% 

Crude fibre 20%

Crude Fat 4%



Brand 2 - 

Crude protein 18%

Crude Fibre 14%

Crude Fat 2%




Brand 3 - 

Crude protein 14%

Crude fibre 26%  

Crude fat 3%



Your Mix - 

Crude Protein 15.3%

Crude Fibre 20%

Crude Fat 3%


So, brand 1 has too much fat and a lower protein and brand 2 has too much protein.  Adding these two brands together sorts the fat and protein out but makes the fibre too low so we add brand 3 to get the fibre back up.  

To work out the new percentage of the mix, you add the percentage numbers together and then divide by the number of brands you are using.  

So here is how I worked out the new mix's protein - 

14 + 18 + 14= 46

46/ 3 = 15.3% Crude Protein

Fruit and Veg

Lastly, we have fresh fruit and veg.  I like to give around 10% of the guinea pig's diet in fruit in veg.  Getting even more into the diet, I feed about 8-9% of leafy greens healthy veg and only 1-2% Fruit or less healthy veg.  

You can find a chart online for which fruit and vegetable guinea pigs can have and how often they can eat them.  I choose an array of different veg and 1 type of fruit.  

You can choose whatever you think is best but here is a quick example of what you could feed your guinea pig for a week.  

Monday - 

Romaine lettuce 
Baby corn 
Broccoli

Tuesday - 

Kale 
Celery 
Yellow Sweet Pepper

Wednesday - 

Watercress 
Cucumber 
Apple 

Thursday - 

Spinach 
Green Sweet Pepper 
Carrot 

Friday - 

Romaine lettuce 
Asparagus 
Broccoli 

Saturday - 

Green Beans 
Red Sweet Pepper 
Celery 

Sunday - 

Cress 
Courgette 
Sweet Snap Peas


*Disclaimer*  

I am not any type of animal expert but instead only an animal lover who wants to share her tips.  Please consult relevant animal specialists and do not only take my advice.

 The Rider's Pets

Hay Or Grass

This will be the main part of your guinea pig's diet.  You should try to give your guinea pig unlimited amounts of hay for them to graze on at all times.  It is very important for his health along with keeping his teeth ground down.



Nuggets

Your guinea pig should be fed around 30g-50g of nuggets every day depending on the brand.  This will give your guinea pig a great number of vitamins and minerals without having to supplement.



Fresh Veg

I personally give my guinea pigs fresh veg every day but it can be fed every few days if you like.  It is best to feed different veg every day so that he can get a lot of different types of vitamins and minerals.

An example of the veg I feed -

Monday - Romaine lettuce and courgette

Tuesday - Bell pepper and carrot

Wednesday - Cucumber and Broccoli

Thursday - Celery and Grapes

Friday - Romaine lettuce and baby corn

Saturday - Spinach and Apple

Sunday - Kale and Neep (or turnip)



Treats

Healthy treats are great to keep your guinea pig happy and boredom-free.  I consider fruit as a treat which I feed once or twice a week.  You can also get treats from pet shops just avoid treats that have been glued together.


*Disclaimer*  

I am not any type of animal expert but instead only an animal lover who wants to share her tips.  Please consult relevant animal specialists and do not only take my advice.

 The Rider's Pets

1.  Cage

Depending on whether you are keeping your guinea pigs indoors or outdoors you will need different types of cages.  Outdoor cages are usually made of wood and mesh.  An indoor cage can be made of wood or plastic.  Another option for outside is to use a wooden garden shed with a run attached.

2.  Run

Your guinea pig will nee a run to get enough exercise.  If your guinea pig is outside then a wire run will work well.  If your guinea pig is indoors, I like to let them run around the room.

3.  Hayrack

You need some sort of hay rack to put in your cage.  You can get hanging, standing or rolling racks.  I personally have a hanging rack and a wooden rolling rack.

4.  Water bottle

Obviously, you will need a water bottle or a water bowl.  I like bottles as they don't get as dirty and I prefer glass bottles as plastic may not be good for your guinea pig.

5.  Food bowls

To feed guinea pig nuggets and fresh vegetables I have two ceramic bowls. 

6.  Carrier

To collect your new guinea pig and take him to the vets or travel with him you will need a carrier.  I personally just use a cat carrier for my two guinea pigs but you can get ones made for guinea pigs.


*Disclaimer*  

I am not any type of animal expert but instead only an animal lover who wants to share her tips.  Please consult relevant animal specialists and do not only take my advice.

 The Rider's Pets