need your help with a question from a reader

Question
Sam, I got this yesterday from one of our readers. It's a question that has be a bit stumped. I told the young lady that maybe you could jump in and give us some insight. Here's her question and my answer.  Thanks for your help. Two heads are always better than one.  Pat

From Amanda 6/16/11

My two male guinea pigs sleep all day and are up all night. Which is opposite of the schedule my boyfriend and i have. They are in our room do to our lack of space in our home. We get up early like at 6:00am and go to bed at midnight. (were college students) and our guinea pigs are always asleep. Is this normal?

Gosh Amanda, this is a stumper for me too. No, it isn't normal behavior.

Guinea pigs are diurnal, which means they are active during daylight hours and not at night. Obviously there are exceptions to every rule, but I've not heard this compliant before.

Have you tried covering their cage with a sheet at night? Generally speaking cavies are a bit like cats, they 'cat nap' frequently during the day. If they're awake at night it's usually for a drink of water or a nibble in the food bowl. Then they settle down again.

Depending on the size of your cage you might be able to put the cage inside the tub or shower at night so you don't hear them moving around. Other than that I honestly can't think of what else might quiet them down. I wish I had a magic answer that would make them stop. But at this moment I really don't.  

Maybe Sam will jump in and offer something more effective.

Answer
yeah she has asked me about it as well, as you say they usually "cat nap" and are most active at dawn and dusk, but really there is not much that can be done other than moving the cage or covering it to feign night. moving them at night would be best, perhaps they could have a bedtime home so rather than moving the cage they can just move the pigs?

nice to hear from you by the way.