A lot of new guinea pig owners are surprised to discover that shortly after bringing their new furry little family member home their home or backyard can suddenly attract mice and even rats.
A mouse or rat infestation is difficult enough to deal with on its own, but when you start to feel like it’s your guinea pig that’s attracting them like a magnet things get even more complex.
But are your guinea pigs really attracting mice to your home?
Or is there some other reason that you’re starting to notice more unwanted rodents.
Guinea Pigs do not attract mice themselves. In fact, guinea pigs do not smell bad and are relatively clean and hygienic pets to keep. However, their bedding and food if not stored away correctly can attract mice and other rodents into your home or backyard. Mice can smell Guinea Pig food from a long-distance away.
Let’s take a little deeper and find out!
Table of Contents
Do Guinea Pigs Attract Mice to Your Home?
Right out of the gate, it’s important to know that guinea pigs can in fact attract mice to your home – even if it isn’t the guinea pigs themselves that are doing the attraction, to begin with.
The cages, the bedding, and the food that your guinea pig needs are ideally suited for all kinds of rodents. That goes for mice and rats, too.
Everything that your guinea pig finds nice and cozy (or delicious) is going to attract mice as well, pulling them in from around your home like a lure.
Are Mice Dangerous when Around Guinea Pigs?
Absolutely!
You need to be hypervigilant about keeping mice away from your guinea pigs, even if the natural habitat for your fuzzy little family members are going to be luring them in left and right.
Mice and rats are incredibly territorial, almost unbelievably aggressive, and not at all afraid to take on guinea pigs that are two or three times as big as they are in a fight for these resources.
They always try to find a way to weasel into a guinea pig enclosure, injure or kill your guinea pig often through stress or harm.
On top of that, mice can also carry some pretty infectious diseases that are easy to transmit to your guinea pig.
Diseases like salmonella, tularemia, lymphocytic choriomeningitis, and leptospirosis just a handful of the infectious diseases that mice can pass along to your precious guinea pig. Worse, the mice don’t even have to come in contact with your guinea pig to infect them with these deadly diseases.
They can pass these infections along through urine and droppings without any trouble at all.
It’s critical that you get on top of any mice or rat issue ASAP if you start to notice them hanging around when you bring your guinea pig home.
What Can I Do About Stopping Mice from Getting to My Guinea Pigs?
Straight out of the gate, the most important thing you can do to prevent mice from being attracted to your guinea pig enclosures is to keep them clean, well maintained, and secured on a regular basis.
Mice and other wild rodents love to find spaces that are dirty, smelly and often quiet and away from humans. Uncared for cages, hutches and backyard areas will attract vermin with or without guinea pigs.
If you’re making sure that the bedding is clean, waste is removed, and there’s no leftover food to attract mice and rats you’ll have a whole lot less to worry about.
Ways to prevent mice
- Store food in airtight containers
- Replace their bedding often
- Dispose of their bedding away from your home
- Use Peppermint oil to keep rodents away
- Get a cat!
You might also have to use mousetraps or rat traps to handle a serious infestation ( But obviously not within reach of your Guinea Pig ) you don’t want to harm your beloved pet guinea pig.
It’s not a bad idea to use a humane mouse and rat traps like these ones on Amazon that catch and don’t kill mice or rats rodents, though. The last thing you want to have to worry about is your guinea pig breaking out and finding its way into deadly traps set up to protect them.
Top tip
Believe it or not, a bit of peppermint essential oil rubbed in a wide perimeter around your guinea pig enclosure can also keep mice and rats at bay. There’s something about the smell that drive those rodents crazy and they won’t breach the perimeter.
The reason you want to do a wide perimeter, though, is that the same peppermint essential oils can make your guinea pig sick if they are breathing it in for an extended amount of time.
Final Thoughts: Can Guinea Pigs Attract Mice?
The answer is not 100% yes, but moreover their living condition and food storage can attract mice into your home or backyard.
The wild mice and other rodents are only doing what comes naturally ( Hunting for food ) The smell of a tasty meal will bring them into your home.
So, don’t blame your Guinea Pig. Look at storing their food in an airtight container and replace their bedding as often as is needed.
