hammocks? [and other questions about first time guinea pig]

[Sarahha]

My close family friends/neighbors are getting their soon to be 10-year-old son a guinea pig for his birthday after much thought on what animal would be the best for him. He is an incredibly responsible kid who loves all animals and would be a fantastic guinea pig owner. His parents and I are setting up a scavenger hunt with toys, food, bedding etc and eventually an empty cage [this one I think http://www.petco.com/product/13394/M...mal-Cage.aspx] with a note in it telling him we're going to pick up his birthday guinea pig. So... we have almost everything planned out but I have a few more questions before we go to the pet store.
1. Other than chew toys, what is fun for a guinea pig?
2. Any good kind of treats [timothy hay is a must]
3. What exactly would you recommend to get otherwise?

Also, I make hammocks for my own and other people’s small animals, but the costumers are usually rats or ferrets. From your experience do guinea pigs like hammocks? If so, what should I keep in mind while making them?

Thanks in advance!
-Sarah

[CaliforniaGirl]

A good web site to visit is www.cavyspirit.com, it will explain what cage size is appropriate and other things like that. Also I'd reccomend getting two, because otherwise the guinea pig will be lonely.

[storminstaffs]

if your only getting one guinea pig id get a male as they normally live alone, hammocks anit suitable, instead why not get a small animal bed, give plenty of veggies everyday

[Jennicat]

Male guinea pigs do not normally live alone. They can be housed very happily in pairs. However, because pet store cages are so tiny, they will generally fight in them. The solution is to build a bigger cage (the instructions at http://www.guineapigcages.com are great), not to make a poor piggie live by himself.

[Sarahha]

thanks everyone for your responses!
They ended up getting 2 very sweet, beautiful girl piggies with plently of vitamin C supplements and timothy hay!

[kathydip]

Oh that is great! If you can take pics and post them we would love to see them.

[mulder]

yay new piggies! cant wait to see pics!