How to care for a g.pig

This is Moo my sister's 1 year old guinea pig,they brought him from a petstore and he had been sharing his space witha rabbit(big no no?) they also brought him on his own.This is how he live's atm,I'm trying to convince my sister and mum that she should have some more space so she can do more exercise etc

IMG_4942 by sweetheart-roland, on Flickr

IMG_4941 by sweetheart-roland, on Flickr

Yah, the guinea pig needs much more space than that. Make sure he gets fresh veggies daily, too...

Yeah I thought so,any inventive and cheap ideas for creating a better enviroment?

Yup

Cubes and Coroplast (metric)

Best, easiest way to build an awesome piggie cage. Cheap, effective and room to be creative!

They have to have a bunch of room to run, and no, they shouldn't share their space with rabbits.

Cubes and coroplast?

How to Make a C&C Cage

..damnit Allie

Thankings you!I'm going to nag my mum to buy some stuff for christmas and help my sister (she's 12) turn her room into a more g.pig friendly area.Hopefully look online to find some cheap ideas

I raised cavies and the like for a great many years. That cage is fine - solid floor, plenty of ventilation. Looks actually like a pretty good prefab pig cage for a single piggie.

You could... just as a radical idea keep the perfectly adequate cage he's in and simply make him an outdoor run where he could eat some grass and run around more on nice weather days.

Otherwise if you really think he needs more exercise you could just take him out of the cage and let him run around the room.

*btw* pigs and rabbits do share spaces just fine so long as the bunny or cavy isn't aggressive. Some bunnies like to ear nibble on g pigs.

We always had our piggies in similar sized cages. To be honest, when they were in their cage they just sat in their hay box and didn't move. Then we'd take them out for a few hours a day to run around outside (in a covered pen) if it was nice out, or to sit in our laps to watch a movie, etc.

I've heard that a tiny child's wading pool makes a decent piggy exercise pen. Waterproof (for potty), easy to deflate and store, and since pigs can't jump or climb, the sides don't have to be high.

Thanks all,I think why I feel she should have a bigger cage would be so she could have more of a run around.My sister takes her out of the cage for maybe an hour every two days,but they don't have a garden,she just blocks off part of the house and lets Moo run around,I thought maybe if she had a permanent run attached to her cage then she could decide what she does more?

If that's what you want to do that's cool, more space isn't a bad thing. I just wanted you to know it's not really required with the cage he's got. The cage he's in looks bigger than most of the single boar cages I had when I raised cavies.

When I was in my hayday about 15 years ago I had 15x15 foot pens for my girls and 4x8 foot pens for my babies and modulars for my single boars which I later went to double occupancies with. They always seemed so much happier in groups or pairs.

Thanks!I'll pass that on to my sis,she was having a bit of a guilt trip!

I personally feel that cage is far too small, there's not a great deal of running or play space. This is a good website for checking sizes...
Guinea Pig Cages, Your Cavy At Home
She would also probably be happier with a friend, guinea pigs are very social animals and become withdrawn alone. In Switzerland its actually an offense to keep a single guinea pig for this reason.

Rabbits also carry bordatella which is fatal to guinea pigs. So they should NOT be kept together. Not to mention the different food requirements and a single kick from a happy rabbit can kill a guinea pig instantly.

These.

Sure, the piggie will not die living in a cage that small, does not mean it is nice to it. No guinea pig would be happy staying in there. And yes, guinea pigs are VERY social and need friends

Can I get the drama llama please? Seriously - where does the self righteousness come from on this site?

My cavies were just fine.. tyvm so bite me. Cavies do tend to do better in groups. That's not to say they can't do just fine by themselves. I remember a couple very not social pigs I had (for some reason they were always REOs) and a fair number of long haired pigs that I had to keep wrapped and in individual cages to prevent coat chewing issues by their cage mates.

The cage is fine- it's well over the mandated cage size and it's not like this pig spends 24 hrs a day in there. Bigger is better but it's not required, just nicer. Since the op mentioned they let their pig out to run around for hours I wouldn't be worried unless the pig is giving signs of stress like cage or fur chewing/hiding all the time or spurt running.

As far as rabbits and pigs they can and do make fine companions for each other even according to rescue specialty groups- bordatella and other oddities aside - odds are greater of the pig catching a respiratory bacterial ailment from the owner is far greater than a rabbit which doesn't probably leave the house. We're not talking a random wild bunny or a series of bunnies but rather one that lives in the same home and most likely doesn't have a respiratory issue. Odds are occupying the same space as long as the rabbit isn't aggressive is just fine - both animals can eat hay - and most rabbits aren't that aggressive with guinea pigs. Use some common sense and you should be fine - a 2-4lb gentle bunny and a 2 lb cavy should be fine sharing an exercise space from time to time - it's not like they're really living in the same cage.

But he is spending 24 hours a day in there. She said he gets out for maybe an hour every 2 days.

Personally I think its way to small and I also think its unfair that he has no time outside in the grass.

Considering the 4H handbook my sister got when she was showing her hamster said that the basic cage size for a Guinea Pig was 1'x1' (or maybe it was 1'x2'), that isn't saying much.

But, if you look at it from a livestock perspective, I tend to agree with you. Animals that are kept commercially obviously can't be kept in huge enclosures. How you judge the effectiveness of your enclosure is based on the productivity/health of the animal and the behaviors they show. If a Guinea Pig is healthy and isn't showing any behavioral signs of stress/unhappiness...then even if we would like to say otherwise, the cage is fine. Maybe not ideal, maybe not great, but it's fine.

But from a pet perspective, especially if you don't know what behavior/health signs to look out for, it is always best to go above and beyond. If you have the animal for enjoyment/companionship, why not make its enclosure go from "fine" to "super special awesome"? My ferrets would probably do fine with only a hammock in their cage and aspen bedding as substrate. But they definitely much prefer having lots of blankets and beds, and the look of utter contentment on their faces when I gave them a big plushy dog bed the other day was priceless.

I kept a piggy in a 75 gallon aquarium (with screen top) successfully for years. I didn't know she had to have hay and the like (and she was fed a junk diet and was kept on pine bedding), so she ended up passing around four years of age after getting sick. When I adopted Lucy, she was very happy in her 2.5'x4' cage. (She was not so happy in the small cage she came to me in.) After Lucy passed and I adopted Louie and Dot, they were in the same 2.5'x4' cage, but when I was no longer able to give them out of cage time every day (which Lucy almost never had), Louie got cage stressed. That was one of the reasons I ended up rehoming them. They went to a family that had a 10.5sq. foot cage for them (C&C) and planned on giving them out of cage time on top of that.

Thanks for the feedback as it goes now,I dont really want to scare Elif vecause theres nothing she can do.I think.for christmas ill help her make it a bigger space,were thinking of.building under the desk she has(it goes along the bedroom wall).Then were going to keep part of it free of all the hay stuff and then line the floor with fleecy stuff.That way when its her birthday we can also add on!
Oh and she does get a run around everyday(BUT my sister is very scared of her hurting herself....since all Moo does is run and hide)however she doesnt go.outside because we dont have a garden.....only a shared patch of concrete....
Oh and I really am working.on.my mum....trying to.persuade her that we need another g.pig....so i may buy her one for christmas(if i can afford to)