Indoor Housing
Top tips for housing your guinea pigs indoors
Guinea pigs can happily live indoors or outdoors. The trick to indoor housing is adapting their environment for the great indoors. Get this right, and you’ll have a lovely experience with your fluffy squeaky housemates.
Setting up an ideal home for your indoor guinea pigs
Always on the alert, easily startled, curious and active, there are quite a few things that your guinea pigs require to feel safe, secure and happy.
You’ll need to find a quiet, calm and safe area
In your home away from dogs, cats and other pets they may see as threats.
You can provide them with indoor housing
With an indoor run or you can put them in a guinea pig-proofed room of their own.
Ensure flooring is non-slip
As slippery floors can cause injury and stress.
All areas that your piggies have access to should be fully guinea pig-proofed
To ensure that they’re protected from hazards. For example, all electric cables should be covered to stop your piggies from chewing on them and any house plants should either be safe for guinea pigs or kept out of the way.
Provide a toilet area
Which is separate from the sleeping area and exercise area and give your guinea pigs plenty of enrichment opportunities with toys, tunnels, hay and grass plants.
Your guinea pigs should also be kept away from radiators
And their space should be kept well ventilated. The temperature for your guineas’ housing should ideally be kept at between 17-20°C – some warmer areas of your house may be too hot.
Water bottles & bowls
It goes without saying that giving your guinea pigs easy access to water bottles or bowls with clean fresh water is crucial to the environment
Options for indoor guinea pig housing
There are a number of different options for indoor housing. The best ones are those that are flexible enough for you to build your own indoor guinea pig set-up, depending on what type of space you have.
Blue Cross advises using ‘modular housing' to provide a safe space for your indoor guinea pigs as it gives you lots of different sections to piece together in whichever way you like. As with outdoor housing, your guinea pigs’ main living area should be no less than 1.5 long by 1m wide.
You can then furnish the area with a cosy bedroom hutch and lots of tunnels, nest boxes and shelters with deep piles of hay so your guinea pigs can move around confidently and be able to explore and hide if they want to.
Creating an indoor exercise area for your guinea pigs
If your indoor guinea pigs aren’t able to access outside space, they’ll need a space no less then 1.5 x 1m for exercise, where they can run free without supervision. Along with providing tunnels, hiding places and deep piles of fresh hay in their exercise area, make sure that:
All doors are closed
There are no escape holes
Other pets, such as cats and dogs, are kept out of the room
Did you know?
Around a quarter (24%) of guinea pigs are put in a good mood by social interaction, while 68% are put in a good mood by being given food and treats...
Essentials for creating the perfect indoor set-up for your guinea pigs
Whether they live indoors or outdoors, guinea pigs need constant access to a large exercise area. Guinea pigs don’t usually have one long night-time sleep, preferring to take several short naps throughout the day and night, and so need to be able to choose when they want to go to bed and when they want to be active.
A gnaw-proof ceramic bowl
Water bottles
Guinea pig toys
Hay racks
Cosy and absorbent dust-free paper bedding
Lots and lots of tasty fresh meadow hay to tunnel in and munch on
Nutritious grass-based indoor guinea pig nuggets
Guinea-pig safe cleaning products