There are a number of commercially made hutches that are suitable for guinea pigs. It’s important to choose a hutch that will meet your guinea pig’s needs for shelter, comfort, and safety.
First, consider size. The more room you can provide for your guinea pig, the better. Buy your guinea pig the largest hutch your space will accommodate. Giving your guinea pig plenty of room to move around will help him stay happy and healthy.
When you’re thinking about the hutch, keep your pet’s size in mind. In general, each adult guinea pig will need a minimum of a hundred square inches of floor space, and more is better. A guinea pig who does not have enough room in his hutch may become depressed. A space that’s too small will be fouled more quickly with feces and urine, leaving the guinea pig to spend more time than he should in unsanitary conditions and making cleanup a bigger hassle for you. (But don’t get a single-door hutch that is so deep you can’t reach into it to clean it. Large hutches should have more than one door.)
You’ll also want to make sure that the hutch is big enough to accommodate a separate sleeping space, either a nest box or a built-in compartment. Providing your guinea pig with a secluded and separate place to sleep will help him feel safer and happier in the hutch. A built-in sleeping compartment should be about eighteen inches long and six inches high and wide.
Larger hutches can also accommodate litter boxes. If you’d like your guinea pig to spend time free roaming with you inside your home, you may want to try to litter box train him and then have him use a litter box even in his hutch. This way, he will be used to using the box and will be less likely to have an accident when he is in the house.
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