Guinea Pig Information, Guinea Pig Care and Guinea Pig Health. Bambi and Thumper do exist! Guinea Pig Bedding. One of the most exciting things about getting guinea pigs is creating a home for them. No matter how you set up the cage, it’s important to pay attention to the type of bedding you use for your guinea pig. For starters, most owners lay down a pad of newspapers or paper towelling before they ever add anything else.
But keep in mind that no matter how much or little you spend on your guinea pig bedding, you’ve got to change it regularly and often. That will keep it free of urine, and you’ll also avoid unpleasant odours emanating from the cage. Once you get past the newspaper layer, you’ve got to learn that there are several WRONG types of bedding. Wrong Types of Bedding They include corn cobs, cedar or pine shavings, and straw. The corn cobs will get moldy, and the guinea pigs can swallow small pieces of them that are too tough to be digested. People tend to think that all wood shavings are alike, but that’s just not so. Lots of people think that straw’s just the ticket.
Good Bedding Materials. Guinea Pig Toys and Play. What Guinea Pigs Can and Cannot Eat. Why do guinea pigs need hay in their diet? Guinea pigs have unique digestive systems that require a constant supply of fiber to help them digest their food and prevent impactions. Their stomachs go through a double digestion process wherein they eat once, digest their food, create soft fecal matter in a pouch in their rump, eat those, and digest it again. I know that sounds gross, but this is an important part of your piggie's health!
Hay is a staple in a guinea pig's diet. You can honestly never have too much hay. When guinea pigs are babies, they can have some alfalfa hay, which has a different balance of nutrients than the timothy hay that adult guinea pigs eat, but by the time they're full-grown guinea pigs, they should have mostly timothy hay- and lots of it! You can find western timothy hay in most pet stores, but you want to make sure that you find a bag that looks nice and fresh. A great brand to go for is Oxbow. What Guinea Pigs Can and Cannot Eat.