Even if you would like to go straight to the animal shelter to pick out cute guinea pigs and give them a new home, you should be clear about how you want to keep them. Outside or inside? What should the enclosure look like? What sex should the animals be? Answer these questions before you take in the guinea pigs.

If you decide on young animals, they should be at least eight weeks old. Guinea pigs usually live to be six to eight years old when kept privately. They are diurnal and sociable animals that suffer greatly from loneliness when they are alone. Even with loving care, humans cannot replace their conspecifics. Because guinea pigs quickly become bored even in pairs, it is best to keep a small group of three to six animals together. Different constellations are recommended for the structure of a group, as the gender composition determines whether there will be harmonious coexistence or brutal territorial fights. Specialists can determine the sex of a guinea pig immediately after birth. The time of sexual maturity varies between four and eight weeks for males, females are sexually mature from around three weeks.

A neutered buck should always live with at least two to three females. Pure female groups also work well, but the group benefits from a neutered buck. Males can also get along with each other. However, you should make sure that the animals have either all been neutered before sexual maturity or have lived together from an early age. Bucks that have not lived together with other males of different ages during the socialization phase are often unable to integrate into a group later on. For this reason, an adult "educator" guinea pig should also be part of the group. In addition, you should not add any females to the group if you keep only males or allow individual males to have contact with a female. This creates unrest and can lead to quarrels and fights. In general, males should be castrated whenever they are kept in groups so that they cannot reproduce.

The German Animal Welfare Federation advises against breeding guinea pigs because there are already enough animals waiting for a new home in animal shelters. Veterinarians carry out castrations from the fourth week of life - for female animals usually only if it is medically necessary, for example in the case of cysts, tumors or changes to the uterus. An important note to avoid surprises: Please note that the bucks may still be able to conceive up to six weeks after the operation. So do not put them back in with the females immediately after castration.

Have you decided to keep your guinea pigs indoors or in an apartment and want to create a species-appropriate home for them? Then bear in mind that guinea pigs want to move around a lot, love the view from elevated places and need plenty of space. In a standard small cage, their muscles atrophy and they suffer - this is not species-appropriate. If you want to keep three to four guinea pigs, you should provide at least two square meters of floor space - with a two-meter-long side as a "race track".

We recommend an enclosure without bars, either made of Plexiglas, wood or a combination of the two. Buy or build an enclosure that is open at the top. This will give you easier access to the animals, it will be well ventilated and lit and you can clean it easily. Please note, however, that it can appear threatening to the animals if you suddenly approach them from above. After all, you could be a bird of prey.

To ensure that the animals feel as comfortable as possible, it is best to place the enclosure in an elevated, bright and well-ventilated location that is quiet. This is gentle on the rodents, which are very sensitive to noise. Make sure that you do not expose the guinea pigs to direct sunlight or place them right next to a radiator. This is because they do not like or tolerate heat. They feel really comfortable at a room temperature of 15 to 22 degrees. If there are other animals living in your household, you should cover the enclosure with a grid to be on the safe side.

Sprinkle the animals' home with conventional low-dust small animal bedding . You can place newspaper underneath as an additional protective layer for the enclosure floor. Straw or cat litter, on the other hand, is not suitable because the animals can injure their eyes on the hard, sharp stalks or easily swallow the cat litter. This can lead to a painful and life-threatening intestinal blockage.

If the animals do not yet know each other well or the group is unstable, these should have two entrances and exits so that no lower-ranking animal gets into a dead end if they chase and attack each other. Cork tubes, roots and branches also make great additional shelters. However, be careful not to use any poisonous tree species. When furnishing the enclosure, always bear in mind that guinea pigs are flight animals. They need security coupled with freedom of movement.

The rodents are also very likely to seek out the roofs of the houses to get an overview. Build them gently sloping ramps so that they can easily reach the raised area and do not injure themselves if they have to jump off the roof or fall off. The basic equipment of the enclosure must also include a food bowl for fruit and vegetables as well as a drinking bottle or a raised, stable water bowl. Place racks for hay and other green food in such a way that the guinea pigs cannot get stuck in them.

However, it isnot enough just to offerthe animals food, water, a shelter and bedding, otherwise boredom is inevitable. Provide variety and offer different, constantly changing materials. These can be unsprayed fruit tree branches, hazelnut branches, roots, pieces of wood and bark, rough stones, hammocks made from kitchen towels, pots with home-grown grasses or herbs. The guinea pigs can gnaw on these, sharpen their claws and keep themselves occupied.

They also enjoy tricky tasks such as foraging games. Try it out: For example, hide the food in paper rolls, skewer it on thin branches or hang it up in grid balls that are more difficult to access and watch how the animals solve the tasks.

It is also a welcome change for guinea pigs to explore your home. However, make sure you eliminate any potential dangers when you allow them to run around in your home. Typical sources of danger are, for example

• Electrical or telephone cables that the animals gnaw on
• Long-fiber carpets that the animals can get their claws stuck in
• cleaning agents
• poisonous bouquets, flower arrangements and houseplants
• other pets running free

It can also happen that the animals nibble on or soil furniture, wallpaper and carpets. In general, you should not expect your guinea pigs to be house-trained. On the contrary. They urinate and defecate very frequently and do so everywhere in their environment. However, if you give them enough space, they should prefer to do their business around the edges of the enclosure. Therefore, clean the frequently visited toilet areas as well as the water and food bowls daily. You should clean the entire enclosure once a week. This is because rodents only feel really comfortable in a clean home.

Due to the sweltering summer heat or snowy winter months, many pet owners are reluctant to keep their guinea pigs in an outdoor enclosure. However, under certain conditions, this form of husbandry is animal-friendly in the local climate - but it is also demanding and costly. Keeping them in a conventional cage or exposed to the sun would not be in the best interests of the animals. It is best to set up a large enclosure in the garden where it can be half in the sun and half in the shade. Plan a base area of at least four square meters for three to four animals and extend it by half a square meter for each additional animal. Make sure the enclosure is burglar-proof, i.e. covered and dug in, so that the guinea pigs cannot disappear unnoticed and are protected from intruders such as dogs, cats, foxes, birds of prey or martens.

Structure your animals' habitat with a covered feeding area, a spacious, weatherproof sleeping house and numerous hiding places and obstacles. If possible, the sleeping house should be divided into several chambers so that each animal has its own space. A hollow roof over the flat roof prevents the enclosure from becoming too hot in summer and heat build-up. Conversely, you need to take additional measures against the cold in winter: Insulated sleeping areas that are kept dry are essential. Give the animals new, lukewarm water regularly so that it cannot freeze and the animals are not dehydrated. Provide plenty of vitamin C from the fall onwards and make sure they have a varied diet of fresh food in winter too. You can also keep guinea pigs on the balcony all year round if you consider all the needs of the small rodents with regard to their enclosure and pay attention to the climatic conditions as described above.

Of course, you can also keep guinea pigs indoors and outdoors throughout the year. However, even if the animals only live outside during the warm season and spend the rest of the time indoors, neither habitat should be temporary.

Rabbits are not much bigger, just as cute, eat greens and would therefore surely enrich the guinea pig group?! This is a misconception. Even if you have a soft spot for rabbits and would like to keep a mixed group, you should not do this. This is because both species have very different behaviors that are difficult to reconcile in a shared enclosure.
For example, rabbits seek physical contact, whereas guinea pigs tend to keep their distance. Rabbits prefer elevated places and are also active at night, while guinea pigs seek shelter in hiding places and are mainly active during the day. If you were to keep both species together, the animals would probably live side by side in a community. However, they cannot replace each other as conspecifics and will not form "friendships". Instead, they may even jump on, bite and, in rare cases, kill each other.

If you absolutely want to keep both species together, this is only possible under the following conditions:

• Keep several of each species.
• Design an enclosure of at least ten square meters that is suitable for both guinea pigs and rabbits.
• It should also have several levels and boundaries so that the animals can get out of each other's way.
• Numerous nooks and crannies must offer the guinea pigs places to hide, while the rabbits need enough open space to be able to make hooks.
• Do not place guinea pigs with rabbits afterwards, as they defend their territory very fiercely.