Auto feeder & water for guinea pigs

If you're away regularly and have guinea pigs at home, getting the water and feeding setup right is genuinely important — guinea pigs can't skip meals the way some pets might manage. Before I point you toward anything specific, a quick note: guinea pigs are social animals and should always be kept in pairs or groups, which it sounds like you've already sorted. And space is the most consistently underestimated requirement — most cages sold for guinea pigs are simply too small for two. So: how many guinea pigs do you have, how old are they, and is it specifically the automated water and food side of things you're looking to sort out?

Good — two adult Rexes is a solid pairing, and two to three days is manageable with the right kit. The key risks are a water bottle running dry or a food hopper jamming, both of which happen more than people expect. For water, a large-capacity gravity bottle like the Choco Nose No-Drip bottle is reliable, but for your situation I'd actually pair it with a second backup bottle on the same cage — simple redundancy. For food, the product I'd point you toward is the Ferplast Hay Feeder combined with a measured portion hopper. But tell me — are your two Rexes housed in a C&C cage or a more traditional hutch-style enclosure? That affects which feeder mounts will actually work.

Perfect — a 2x4 C&C is a genuinely good size for two guinea pigs, well done. For that setup, my clear recommendation for the automated feeding side is the Trixie Automatic Food Dispenser for Small Animals (available on Amazon UK). It has a programmable timer, holds enough dry pellets for several days, and the portion control means you're not relying on your neighbour to measure anything out. It attaches cleanly to C&C grids with a small clip or you can stand it inside. For water, run two large Choco Nose bottles side by side — they're leak-resistant and a 500ml bottle each gives you real buffer for two to three days. Hay is the one thing you'll need your neighbour to top up daily regardless, since there's no reliable automated hay solution. If they're topping up hay once a day, the feeder and dual bottles cover everything else.

Fair concern. The Trixie one has a better track record than cheaper generic dispensers because the dispensing wheel is sized for small pellets and doesn't jam as easily. The main failure mode with any hopper is using pellets that are too large or too powdery — if you're using a fine-crumb mix it can clump. Stick to a uniform small pellet like Science Selective or Oxbow Essentials and it runs cleanly. I'd also do a dry run before your first trip — set it up, leave it running for 24 hours while you're home, and check it's dispensing correctly. That gives you confidence before you actually rely on it.

Good call. To recap: Trixie Automatic Food Dispenser for the pellets, two Choco Nose 500ml bottles for water, and your neighbour's daily hay top-up covers the rest. Run the dispenser for a day before your first trip to make sure it's set to the right portion. Your Rexes will be well sorted.