Frequently Asked Questions About Small Pets

There’s a few things to consider when choosing your small pet. You need to establish if the pet is intended for an adult or child, how long you can make the commitment for and where you are intending on housing the pet. It's important you think about the environment you're bringing your new pet into and that you can find a space suitable for their home.

This depends on the animal you’re looking at. The more expensive kind of small pets to parent are rabbits and guinea pigs, whereas the less expensive kind of small pets to parents are gerbils, hamsters and mice.

 

Primarily, guinea pigs and rabbits live outdoors. It's not unknown for some pet parents to choose to house rabbits and guinea pigs indoors too!. All other small pets are housed indoors.

 

This depends on the animal you choose. Some do, some don’t. Syrian hamsters are solitary and should live alone, mice and rabbits are highly social and require pairs or small groups to be happy and thriving.

 

Yes you can! However, the smaller the animal, the trickier the process can be. The most commonly neutered animal is the rabbit. There is behavioural benefits for neutering your pet too.

 

There are a number of things you can do to keep your small pet healthy; provide them the right diet, the right enrichment, understand and recognise signs of ill health, regular cleaning and maintenance routines and to always register with your local vet as soon as possible.

 

With summer brings sunshine, hot days and balmy nights. There are cooling products you can purchase to aid with keeping your small pet cool, but there are also some ways you can help around the home. Open windows, keep their living area well-ventilated, move them to a cooler area if necessary and provide shady areas for pets kept indoors.

 

This depends on the species. From the lower end of the scale, mice live from 18 months to 3 years whereas rabbits can live up to 10 years or beyond.

 

It varies from species to species, but some principles remain the same. Make sure your handling isn’t a surprise and won’t startle your pet. Being firm but gentle, bring them into your body and support their body weight.

 

Spot clean their living area on a daily basis, taking note of thoroughly cleaning soiled areas. Perform a deep clean once a week, but always retain a small amount of bedding to put back in their space, as that’s a familiar scent for your small pet to return to.

 

Your rabbit ideally needs a space that's 2 meters x 3 meters. You can achieve this by using a combination of hutches and attaching runs to them. Alternatively, a hutch that leads to an open secure space would be adequate for them to exercise.

 

Bonding rabbits requires a lot of patience and can be quite tricky to achieve. You are ultimately aiming for the rabbits to have their own space and gradually come together peacefully. This is done both visually and through scent.

 

The easiest thing to buy is a commercially prepared feed, like muesli or pellets. Pellets stop selective feeding. Rats are omnivores so can eat small amounts of fruit and vegetables, offered in moderation.

A rat cage is incredibly large – the bigger the better. You should be aiming for the look of an adventure playground and you need adequate space to achieve that.

 

Wood shavings are the primary and most used substrate for guinea pig bedding. There are other options, like hay in the winter which helps insulate, and straw too! You can choose substrates like Carefresh which are safe to use for your guinea pig's bed.

 

Their primary food source is hay. They can eat their body weight in hay every day! Choose commerical pellets or muesli. It's important to note guinea pigs cannot synthesize their own vitamin C, so it is very important they are offered a commercial mix and a small amount of fresh leafy greens, fruit and vegetables.

 

Your hamster needs plenty of opportunities to play and exercise, and they love to run. This means they need options for gnawing and grinding their teeth, and things to climb on and dig within.

 

Hamsters can actually run over 8 miles every night so a wheel allows them to get the exercise they need. The wheel shouldn’t have gaps, to prevent their feet getting caught, and should be an appropriate size so their backs aren't bent.

 

Mice are very sociable and need to be kept in pairs or groups at the minimum. Male mice can cohabit if they're from the same litter, but if they aren't from the same litter, you must not house more than one male mouse. They can live with as many female mice as you like, but you must consider getting it neutered.

 

Mice build nests for a range of reasons including ; protecting their litter and themselves, storing food, for insulation and security.

 

Make sure your gerbil is housed in an enclosure as big as you can accommodate. Secondly, you want a secure space outside their enclosure to play and explore. Add various enrichment toys but avoid plastic as they will chew through it quickly and potentially harm themselves.

With the right enrichment like gnawing toys made out of wood and bark, your gerbil's teeth can look after themselves. Mineral blocks work too!