The basics
The life span is usually 5-7 years, but 8-9 years is not uncommon if given the right care and conditions.
Summer housing - hutch and run, minimum 4 ft hutch and a run at least 4 ft long.
Winter housing - indoors if possible otherwise in a well insulated heated shed. A garage is not suitable unless it has natural light, heat and is not used for a car!
Special indoor cages are ideal, minimum of 1.2 metre/48 inches, e.g. Nero 4 and Rabbit 120. Currently zooplus.co.uk have good value indoor cages (Ferplast 120).
Temperature range - easy, if it's too hot/cold for you, it is for them.
Food - Guinea pigs MUST be fed guinea pig food, not rabbit food with vit C added. The vitamin, mineral and nutrition levels are very different and lifespan will be shortened. Please do not feed lettuce - it has very little nutritional value, can cause the runs and in large amounts it causes liver damage. Favourite veg are carrots, broccoli and cauliflower leaves.
All guinea pigs are rehomed as a non-breeding pair or trio, or as a companion to your lone guinea pig. I never rehome guinea pigs as companions to rabbits. No guinea pigs from this centre are to be used for breeding. If, for any reason, you cannot keep your guinea pigs I will welcome them back to the rescue.
About the rescue
Set up in '03. Started because I felt guilty sitting on my backside watching animal rescue programmes feeling sorry for the animals and had the knowledge and experience to do something about it! So I got off the sofa and started organising. Had a shed built, constucted cages and runs, read and learnt as much as possible and let local rescues and vets know about me. The first guinea pigs arrived very soon and since then the rescue has grown every year.