Guinea Pig Chewing On His Cage?

I'm sure it's annoying to listen to that all day long, but as opposed to spraying him to stop the behavior, I'd look at what's causing the behavior to begin with. Does he have sufficent play toys, tubes and wheels to run in, and possibly a mate to to keep him entertained? Solitary pets in confinement are often lonely and bored and develop nervous ticks and habits as a way of expressing it. (Bears have been known to swim continuously till exhaustion without proper stimulation when in captivity.) Perhaps a more central location or extra human attention would help also.

Just a suggestion! I know from experience that if an animal's bad habit is caused by the above problems, "punishment" makes it worse, and while they may stop THAT habit, they will quickly develop another...

Good luck!

A guinea pig chews cause it needs to. Their teeth are always growing and they need to chew hard things to wear them down. One of my old pigs teeth started to grow in a circle almost back to the roof of its mouth befor I noticed it. His mouth wouldnt close right, they had to be filed at the vets. He was in a wood sided cage and had no place to chew. Maybe if you put in a large piece of branch or make him a wood house that he can nibble on and hide in too. I know that annoying sound you mean, my guinea now tattles her tip of the water bottle and it goes thump against the cage. Good luck.

I have raised guinea pigs for many years. We even had a mother /daughter set that lived to be 10 and 9 1/2 yrs old.what mant people do not realize is that guinea pigs have two sets of teeth both which grow constantly, they need to chew all the time so that the teeth do not grow into each other causing the pigs to not be able to eat. They are not chewing to be annoying, they need to hone their teeth down. giving them chunks of wood to chew on..placing a brick in their cages,and giving them hard foods like carrots all help somewhat..Always make sure they have something hard to chew on, and do not feed them things like iceberg lettuce which is nothing more than feeding them water...it has no nutritive value.Also adding liquid vitamin C to their drinking water helps keep them healthy.

Your guinea pig needs a nice chunk or branch of
fruit wood (never wood which has been treated) so
that he can keep his teeth worn down enough to
continue eating. The teeth never stop growing, and
if they are not worn down, they will actually cause
your pet to starve to death.

If you find this is not the case, then he just needs
more attention, something or someone to play with and maybe a wheel for exercising as well as some
nice interesting toys. They have feelings too.

Good luck.
Julia in Orlando, FL

My two guinea pigs chew on their cage alot. Should I do something about this?

Hi people, i have had my guinea pig for 2 years and although he plays with my little dog, he still seems very lonely. Do any of you know what i could put in his cage to cheer him up, because sometimes he looks so fed up and i feel pity for him. i do let him out, but he makes so much mess, as you can imaging. I dont know if he will go in a wheel, to be honest he probably wouldent know what to do with it.

Any suggestions???

im planning on getting a guinea pig can anyone help me!

I actually let my guinea pig chew on doggie treats and he loves them that's how he wares down his teeth. I also use hard toys that he chews on.

i have six guinaepigs i love them well we starded with one and she was nice but i felt that she was lonely so we fond some guinaeapigs for sale and they said it was a girl so we got it and put it with the other guineapig and about three weeks later we sow that she was very big and about two mounths she had three babys and so we was not hopeing for some guineapigs and we don't know that a hour she could try to have anther liter so before that we don't put them in different cages so we gave two a way and keped one and she had some more about two mounth later and she had six babys and one was dead at borth and two died some days later but we love the ones we got we love them so much thay are part of the family

Well I am not sure but I think they can also chew on metal, I think it helps there teeth to be wore down. Hope it helps.
Good luck

Guys- guinea pigs should not have wheels! Wheels are only for hamsters/rats (they have no backbones- guinea pigs do and wheels will seriously hurt them). It worries me that so many of you guys are letting your pigs use a running wheel!

It's is alright for a guinea pig to chew on his cage but you should try getting him some wood from a local petco or petsmart and also the one that seems lonely get a female guinea pig.

Thomas

October 8, 20090 found this helpful

Sometimes a guinea pig will get lonely I agree but maybe give it some things to chew on if he doesn't chew anything but the cage then he may be lonely so give him lots of attention or get another guinea pig. Get a female instead of a male for company for your guinea because 2 male guinea pigs will sometimes fight.

Robyn

May 4, 20130 found this helpful

The guinea pig will chew on things, it is better to put things in there for him to chew on, like cardboard toilet rolls, and timothy hay, and these will help him keep his teeth from growing through his head, they never stop growing.

They need a hidey hole, they are instinctually trying to hide from overhead predators. They need an upside down box with a hole in it for them to get in or an upside down ice cream bucket. Anything for them to hide in. This reduces their stress.

Here is a link to a good article with great resources:
www.squidoo.com/guinea-pig-care-4