Two Guinea Pigs, One Fresh Start: Setting Up Their Home and Getting Food Right

Guinea pigs share something odd with us: they can't make their own vitamin C. It has to turn up in their food every single day, or they get scurvy. 🫑

So red pepper is your friend. Around a cup of fresh veg per pig per day, with pepper, coriander and romaine in regular rotation, covers it nicely. Kale and parsley are brilliant too, but they're high in calcium, so rotate rather than feed daily.

The other 80 per cent of the diet is just hay. Unlimited meadow or timothy hay, topped up fresh every day — it wears down continuously growing teeth and keeps the gut moving. Pellets are a small boring tablespoon, and never the colourful muesli mixes, because pigs pick out the sweet bits and leave the fibre.

On housing: most cages sold for guinea pigs are too small. Aim for at least 1.2 square metres of floor for a pair, and think long rather than tall. They don't climb, they sprint.

Full guide below covers bedding, hides, safe temperatures, what not to feed, and the weekly weigh-in that spots illness before you can see it.