Hidey spot for guinea pig?

Question
Hello! I am new to guinea pigs and have a couple of questions that I haven't been able to find the answers for! First, I've read conflicting opinions on having a "hidey house" inside the guinea's cage. I've heard that it's good to have one, then I've heard it can make your pet less sociable. I have also heard that some recommend leaving it out during the day, and replacing it at night. What do you think? Also, this may sound silly, but I was wondering just how much they poo poo...on the average? I'm changing my pigs cage every day because he seems to go ALOT!!   Thanks a bunch!                  Jenn

Answer
Hi Jenn,
in my experience "houses" are good to have for the pigs, but NOT right away. I don't think they get less sociable if they allready are tame and like being part of things, which most pigs do. If you have a place to hide the first few weeks then the pigs might be tempted to hide in it and it takes longer to tame them and they seem a little more timid. Also I prefer houses/hideaways that have big entrances- the pigs get their cozy hidey spot, but they aren't completely shut out. With new pigs you can put down piles of hay. They can burrow in it but they eat and and don't use it the same way as a house.

Guinea pigs do poo alot! Often they have a certain corner/corners that they use (especially for the pee, but poo too to some extent) and using "corner toilets" is a good idea. Then you can easily scoop them out every day to keep the hygene in the cage good but don't have to do the whole thing. The bigger the cage the more spread out the pellets become too. I'm actually changing the cage I got when I got my second pig less than the smaller one I had with only my first pig! I haven't counted the number of poos they do in a day but on a run of about half an hour once I counted about 20.... But that was when they had eating the whole time too. But they do poo alot! :)


Hope this helps,
Nea