Guinea pigs have the sense of smell in between human and dog. They could smell better than human but not as good as dog. It’s their nature life to smell every single thing they counter in order to determine if all of those things are categorized as safe or dangerous. That’s why owners always find their guinea pigs sniffing everyday. It is also the very reason why pine shred bedding is not recommended because pine’s scent would lead to respiratory problem which is the caused of sniffing. Another additional tip for the owners is to use no perfumes or artificial scent when they are with their guinea pigs so their guinea pigs could recognize their original owner’s scent.

In sense of taste, guinea pigs have surprisingly some tastes in food. They could taste until 17.000, meanwhile human could only reach 9.000. That’s why it is important for owners to find out their guinea pigs’ favorite foods by experimenting with all kinds of vegetables. Each and one of the guinea pig would have different liking, some would like to eat tomatoes, the other would not even take one bite. This method could also be used to find out which vegetables owners could use as treats.

Do you know why guinea pigs have whiskers like cat? Those whiskers are their sensor of touch when they couldn’t see with their eyes. Those whiskers work as their second eyes through darkness. So we should not cut them or trim them. Guinea pigs as we know are sensitive animals, that’s also including their skin. That’s why they would not like to be petted at first. They would look more like frightened  rather than enjoying it. But if we could find their favorite spots where they love to be petted, they would feel so comfortable and would purr on your laps.

Despite of being adept swimmers, they don’t really like to get wet. That’s also the reason why they would struggle when we want to bath them. We must never let them in water which is deeper than their height, in some cases, they might be drown. It is also not wise to leave them in the water even though the shallow one unattended. When we wish to bath them, it would be better to have another person to help you instead of doing everything by yourself and leave your guinea pigs unattended.

For the first week or even month, it would not be easy for all of us to handle them and get positive reaction from them. In their perspectives, we are much bigger and look really like predators. That’s why it is already stress enough for your guinea pigs to slowly know you, let’s not push too hard for the first week or month. Let them adapt themselves to their new environment and to you.

Unlike human, who only have 180 degree vision, guinea pigs have 340 degree vision. It’s due to their nature life, where they are easily prayed, 340 degree of vision would enable them to escape and sense the danger. They could avoid well of being picked up by predators. But it is also unlike human, who could see under or depth, they couldn’t see that vision so good. That’s why we have to always put at least their hind feet on a solid place or at least to put our hands on their hind feet while we are picking them up. That way would make them feel secure. If their feet especially hind feet don’t touch anything, and since they couldn’t see what under them so good, they will feel insecure.

In guinea pigs’ world, the images they receive would be more than what we, humans could receive. They could differentiate 30 – 34 images per second, meanwhile humans could only differentiate 20 – 23 images per second. This wonderful skill enable them to see clearly while they are running, meanwhile humans could only see blur images while they are running. This skill would be useful to locate and detect the predators or enemies while they are running. Besides that skill, they could also differentiate some colors, such as red, blue and green. But unfortunately, they couldn’t differentiate all colors, just some of them.

In sense of sound, guinea pigs have the ability to hear 125 – 33.000 hertz of range. This means their hearing is much more sensitive than human. That’s also the reason they are easily startled and would not be so happy when there are lots of loud sounds. One tip for owners when owners wish to approach their guinea pigs, instead of talking out loud, it would be much easier to approach them with a lot of softer voice. Owners would receive more positive reactions from guinea pigs if they talk softly instead of loudly. It is also recommended to often  talk to them so they could recognize their owner’s voice. Although guinea pigs don’t really like loudly sounds, they also don’t really like to be in the middle of no sound. If owners have to leave home for sometime and it would be too silent at home, it is more comfortable for guinea pigs to hear something instead of nothing, example radio.

We have already discussed about the choice of your guinea pigs’ bedding. You can either choose fleece as their bedding or normal bedding. If you think it would be better to choose normal bedding instead of fleece, I would like to give some reference. There are some types of bedding you could use, each and every one of them has its own advantage and disadvantage.

First I would recommend you is Aspen. Aspen is a quite soft, white and low flammability makes Aspen a good choice for guinea pigs’ bedding. It is a good absorption material and since it is low flammability, it is safer to use aspen instead of other material. You will need to change the bedding once every two or three days since it is also a good odor control material. The price would be moderate and some places would sell Aspen with different prices. It would be wise to compare the price first of all before you make your choice.

The second recommendation would be BOXO. BOXO is made from cardboard shredded and compressed. It is also soft material and odorless. It’s also a quick absorbent material which could last for the minimum 3 days and maximum a week. The price would also be variant, but it is said to be lower compared to Aspen. The less thing we could expect is that the material is high flammability. We would want to be careful about that.

 The last recommendation will be Carefresh. Carefresh is an Eco-friendly bedding which is made from wood pulp paste. There are plenty of them; some are colorful, some are plain. They are excellent absorbent materials and also odorless. They would be perfect except for the price. The price is quite high and for owners who look for bedding with economical budget, this would not be the best choice.

Those three options are equally recommended. It would be up to the owners to choose which one is better for their guinea pigs. If those three options are not to your liking, you might want to reconsider using fleece as your option since it is so economical and long-term-use material. Which of the material you will choose, it would be your choice. However, it is highly not recommended for you to choose pine shape or juniper due to phenols which could cause respiratory problem to guinea pigs. Choose wisely for both your guinea pigs’ good and your own satisfactory.