Guinea Pigs Love to Climb

In case you were wondering, there is no doubt whatsoever that Guinea Pigs love to climb. For our "teenage" guinea pig Skittles, we discovered he has grown large enough to view stairs as fun, not an obstacle.

This was a bit surprising for Skittles. I had added a small wooden ladder to Skittles's cage weeks ago since climbing is such good exercise. But despite my best attempts to lead him up, he never used the ladder except to chew on. Yesterday he was out running free and playing his "guinea pig games" as my daughter calls them. You know, the Running Game, the Squeeking Game and the Pooping Game.

The next thing I knew, he disappeared. Finally I decided to go upstairs, assuming that I'd go back down later with a flashlight and look again under every piece of furniture. But within a couple of minutes I heard gnawing, and what do you know? He was under my daughter's bed - chewing on the frame. Yummm nice wood bed frame.

This feat of course involved climbing the stairs to get up to the bedroom. Well, I certainly think he got enough guinea pig exercise!

So, if you want to exercise your guinea pig, put some tasty parsely or other pig delicacy at the top of the stairs, point him in the right direction and watch what happens.

Guinea Pig Favorite Foods

Despite the recent posts concerning guinea pig poop, that isn't their favorite food! Oranges are a hit as well as vital to their nutrition. Unlike rabbits and other rodents, they need vitamin C from a food source or can actually die of scurvy! But Skittles loves them as well as green leaf lettuce as you can see. He's a fan of carrots and kale too. We've learned, however, that these little piggies can get picky! At first Skittles ate anything green that we gave him but now he has decided to reject mustard greens and spinach, leaving them to wilt even overnight in order to hold out for his real favorite--parsely! We've also learned that their eyesight is quite keen. While I made dinner for my human family, Skittles was silent as I opened and shut the refrigerator. But the whistles went off went I took out the bag of parsely!

Guinea Pig Gnawing

Guinea pigs love being a little mischievous.

They love gnawing. They'd also love to gnaw on things like electrical chords, sweaters, cloth, newspapers, or virtually anything. The biological reason is that gnawing helps to trim the fast growing front teeth.

I've even seen skittles chew on hair! If you want to keep your hair, try giving them some wood blocks or citrus branches, or other tree branches to gnaw on.

Guinea Pig Care Funny Facts

In nature, guinea pigs hunt out and consume grasses as their primary dietary staple. However, grass does not digest easily to release its nutrients. Some of nature's grass eaters, like cows, try using very large and long digestive tracts or chew their cud. But what about cute little lovable guinea pigs? They cannot have a 10 foot long intestine after all.

Instead guinea pigs use a much more astounding technique. They eat their own feces ... uh that's right poop. However, not just any old poop. They are highly selective. Instead they eat special feces, called "cecotropes" , which are not the same thing as regular feces. Good, that makes me feel a lot better. These poop pellets contain B vitamins and bacteria required for complete digestion of grass . Interestingly, rabbits do the same thing.

So, if you ever see your guinea pig eating poop, be pleased ;) .

Guinea Pig Food Tips - Hay

Guinea pigs love hay, and need it in their diet. One of the first things we did after taking Skittles (our pig) home from the pet store was go out and buy a hay hopper and mini (and I mean really small) bale of hay.

Hay carries a lot of benefit not available from food pellets alone, especially dietary fiber. By "hay" I'm referring to grass type of hay, not alfalfa, which you also see in pet stores sometimes. Alfalfa is rich in calcium, and should be fed to adult guinea pigs in more moderate amounts. The reason is the adult pigs are susceptible to dietary imbalance between calcium and potassium, which can result in kidney or bladder stones.

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