Guinea Pig Routine

This is the routine we follow at the Nest; it’s a guide for working out what is best for your set up. Piggies soon learn new routines and let you know if their veg is more than 2 minutes late!

Morning

• Top up hay
• One handful of pellets per piggie
• Change water
• Sweep poo

Lunchtime (if you’re at home)

• Check hay
• Grass or forage in summer

Late afternoon

• Selection of 3 veg, one leafy green
• Top up hay

Bedtime

• Top up hay
• Top up pellets of piggies are under 1 year.
• Treat, e.g. piggie pick ‘n’ mix – from our shop – or a sprig of parsley (try keeping a living parsley plant so you can pick a spring as needed)

This routine would also need handling and floor time, which would ideally be every day. In summer they would go outside in the run, from 1-8 hours, depending on the weather.

Handling new piggies should be done little and often, so 5 minutes every step of the routine would be perfect with one longer cuddle or floor time.

Weekly

Full cage clean, disinfect, wash bedding and cosies, rearrange everything in the cage for enrichment.

Monthly

Check claws (probably need trimming every 6-8 weeks)

Record weight – this is important, so you have a baseline to check against if they are poorly. As a general guide, a piggie is around 1kg, but they can vary from 800g – 1.6kg, which is why it’s important to know what ‘normal’ is for your piggie. A change of up to 50g, either way, is nothing to worry about.