How often should I change guinea pig bedding for two guinea pigs?

Generally you want to avoid pine and cedar shavings as they tend to have a higher dust concentration. Carefresh or aspen pellets are the best bedding for rodents in general. If possible, try to avoid the pine. You can always lay down a towel to wash daily or paper until you can get to the store and pick up more of your usual bedding. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.

You want to make sure to use a dust free bedding. The two that I recommend are Carefresh and Aspen pellets. Good ventilation and low dust are very important for the health of guinea pig lungs. Please feel free to post any additional questions.

I would recommend buying a cage with plenty of room for Daisy and Stella to move around. If they are new additions to the house I would take them to a vet for a good exam to make sure they are healthy. At local pet stores they sell bedding and food for guinea pigs. I recommend handling them often which helps make them friendly and become a good pet

It would probably be best and more successful if you slowly introduced the two guinea pigs to each other. I would start by placing them in separate cages but writhin view of each other. Then slowly move the cages closer together over a few days until they are next to each other. Once the guinea pigs do ok being in close proximity you can put them in the same cage for a short amount of time, under your supervision. Do this multiple times a day for a week or so and once they seem comfortable you can start keeping them in the same cage. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

If your guinea pig is sneezing it could be an indication of an upper respiratory tract infection. These can lead to pneumonia fairly quickly which can be life threatening in guinea pigs. If she is sneezing consistently I would recommend taking her in to see the vet so she can be started on some antibiotics. If the sneezing is just occasional then keep an eye on her to make sure it does not get worse. As far as the smell, all you can do is keep the cage in a well ventilated area, change the bedding frequently like you are doing and bathe your guinea pigs if they start to become smelly. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Hello, and thank you for your question. It is possible for bedding to cause itchiness if the pet is allergic to the material, or if the bag of litter carried parasites such as mites. I would suggest using a paper-based bedding such as Care Fresh: https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/carefresh-natural-pet-bedding It may also be a good idea to swap out the bag of bedding altogether for a new one, and thoroughly disinfect the cage with soap and water in case of parasites. Of course, the itchiness could also be unrelated to the bedding, so if the itchiness does not improve after making these changes, I would recommend visiting your veterinarian for a further workup. They may perform a skin scraping and provide medication if they suspect a bacterial infection. I hope this helps, and that Robert feels better soon!

Guinea pigs are fun, fairly easy pets to own. Clean water daily, lots of Timothy hay, limited guinea pig pellets, vitamin C supplement are important. Guinea pigs also have sensitive respiratory tracts, so changing their cage several times a week to keep the urine smell (ammonia levels) down is also important. Some daily exercise out of the cage is also great! I hope this was helpful!