Guinea pigs as pets

[Livedandlearned]

I'm wondering if guinea pigs would be a good pet for my dc. They are aged 13 and 14 and want a pet desperately. We've had hamsters and gerbils before which I loved more than the kids did, because I wasn't scared to handle them.

Have you had good or bad experiences and do you have any tips?

Thanks

[Fairylea]

We have four and we love them. They make good pets for older children - like yours. They’re pretty wimpy and scared of everything so younger children who are full on usually terrify them!

They make a lot of noise, and a lot of mess! They need a lot more space than people think. Google guinea pig c and c cages! We have a very large cage, tons of hay for them all (essential part of their diet), and tons of hiding places!

They will learn that when you open the fridge veggies are coming and will wheek enthusiastically! They are like mini fridge alarms!

They are quite timid and shy, but if you are calm and gentle they will become tame and friendly.

We absolutely adore ours.

[Fairylea]

I should add - I have one old boy who is neutered and we got the 3 girls when our other old boy passed away. They all get on really well!

[Fairylea]

We got our cage from here - candcguineapigcages.co.uk/

[Keeptrudging]

Lovely pets, easy to handle, not bitey. They're prone to bouts of daftness and they spook easily. They eat/poo copiously, but it's fairly dry pellets rather than squelchy poo. We use vet fleece cage liners with puppy pads underneath. Brush the fleece, machine wash, it helps keep the piggies dry/clean/cosy. We've had hamsters. They're much nicer than hamsters & sleep at night! Feed lots of greens & Timothy hay.

[IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere]

I had guinea pigs when I was a child and through my teens and I loved them.

My youngest had two guinea pigs two years ago when she was sixteen. Now she has four and they have two rooms in the house. So she has two in her bedroom and two in the spare room. She takes great care of them and spends a lot of time cleaning and grooming them and handling them.

The boys don't like to be handled much but they do like a lot of interaction which is fun - if they hear the door of the spare room opening they start yelling because they want attention as well. They come to the side of the cage and beg for food. The girls are more shy but calmer when they are held so they get lots of attention when my daughter is reading/studying. It probably takes half an hour every couple of days to clean the cages - they have big runs rather than hutches - and a quarter of an hour every day to prepare their food - fresh veg and fruit every other day with hay and pellets on the other days.

I think they are great pets and love to spend time just watching them

[IncrediblySadToo]

I LOVE guinea pigs, they’re totally adorable.

However, personally I don’t think any pet is a ‘good pet’ for DC tbh. No matter how much they really want a pet, the novelty very soon wears off and either you nag endlessly or look after it yourself.

If YOU want a pet, then get what YOU want to look after and let the kids think it’s theirs!

If YOU don’t want to be looking after a pet, tell them they can have any pet they like...once they’ve left home!

[BertieBotts]

I think they are brilliant pets. They need quite big living space though - google C&C guinea pig cages, that's more like it than a hutch or a big hamster cage. But they are friendly, they chirrup at you which is lovely, you can give them all the peelings and tops of your veg, and pick grass for them etc (they also love to run around outside if you have the space). They live for about 7 years which is long enough but not such a commitment as a dog or cat.

[Langrish]

In our experience, no. Of course I don’t know your children, but GPs are a bit dull tbh (from an average 14 year old’s point of view) They don’t, in spite of common perception, particularly like being handled, you need to neuter males or they often become very aggressive and can’t be kept together unless you keep a sizeable colony. We had to separate our males, so separate hutches, separate outdoor runs - and they need quite a lot of space and fresh grass, you can’t leave them in a hutch all day. They wee/poop enormous amounts so hutches need changing at least every couple of days and hay, straw and nuggets aren’t cheap, plus fresh veg (mountains of it). With two males, two hutches I’m spending about £15 each week and about an hour and a half cleaning them out.
You’ll gather, I really wouldn’t recommend
Our daughter had a Syrian hamster. It was the most adorable little thing, they like to live alone, really enjoy human company (he used to be carried about in her pocket or sit on her shoulder as she watched TV and on the cynical side if they do lose their lustre in your kids’ eyes, you’ll only be cleaning him/her out for a couple of years: GPS can live for 15 (8 is about average).

[Livedandlearned]

Ok so I love the sound of a cuddly pet that loves attention, and they do seem to fit the bill as long as they are neutered.

However I have taken all the advice given and I'm so wary about getting a pet that has really need to do loads of research.

It will be me cleaning them most probably, i know that.

The size of the cages puts me off. We don't have a lot of spare room.

Thanks all for the reality of owning these animals. I'm going to have a long think on it.

[dontforgettofloss]

I had guinea pigs as a teen, they were lovely pets, and now as an adult, I have two boys- they live in an indoor cage, they're extremely vocal, as soon as I get up in the morning, they're squeaking, they live downstairs, and I'm upstairs, as soon as they hear my feet on the stairs they're squeaking! I'd definitely recommend them as pets for your children

[Aquamarine1029]

Sorry, but I think they are horrible pets. The stink they cause is what really does it for me. They poop and pee constantly, and if their cage isn't cleaned daily it's just gross. Get 2 kittens who are siblings. Cats are perfect pets.

[floraloctopus]

Guinea pigs are great pets, friendly and they really interact with you. They start to learn what noises mean food and they will have you pandering to their every need: we have a small patch of the garden where dandelions are allowed to thrive as they are a favoured snack. When you clean the cage out you can make great compost too, we use fleece and puppy pads but any hay is removed daily and composted.

[Livedandlearned]

@Aquamarine1029 I would kill to have a pair of kittens or cats, I love them. But we live on a busy road and I'm scared they will get run over.

[Livedandlearned]

I must admit that they sound a lot more fun than I imagined. I had then down as a boring pet.

The space is an issue and I'm very mindful of treating them properly and fulfilling all their needs.

[Aquamarine1029]

Just keep them as indoor cats. All of mine are and they are very happy. I trim their front nails every week and I have never had any damage to furniture or anywhere else. Get them a scratching post and a cat tree and they will be happy as clams.

[Livedandlearned]

Just need to convince dh!

[floraloctopus]

We let ours run around the lounge, they go back to their cage to pee and poo as they can climb in and out when we let them - it's a C&C cage and we remove one of the squares to give them access.
They go and sit at the garden door when they want to go out, smart little things don't go and sit there when it's raining

[WhatOnPlanetEarth]

We were guinea pig vs cat when trying to choose a pet. We got an indoor cat from a rescue. We’ve had guinea pigs before and people underestimate the space they need.

[Fairylea]

I’m surprised by the comment saying they smell. We’ve had lots of different pets over the years - hamsters, rats, dogs and cats - and guinea pigs definitely smell the least! The cats were the worst for smell for me- and they jump all over everything and all over work surfaces etc which used to drive me crazy! I guess we all like different things and have different noses!

We put newspaper as a base layer, then puppy pads from poundstretcher and then lots of wood shavings and then lots of hay. We change them every 3 days or so. I did try the whole fleece washing thing that others like but couldn’t get on with doing that so this way seems fine for us.

They really do need a lot of space though. Our cage takes up the whole length of one wall of the large kitchen diner we have, we also have a custom built 6ft by 12ft run that they go outside in when the weather is decent (if it’s not too hot or too cold - if you keep them inside most the time you need to be a bit careful, Guinea pigs can get heatstroke like dogs so they need lots of shade and space to hide from the sun).

[Missingstreetlife]

Get two females or neutered before you buy. They are prolific breeders even before they are weaned. Quite sweet, like to be outside in good weather. Make a lovely noise (Google guinea pig/Brussels sprouts). Don't live too long but better than hamster as awake in the day

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

They are lovely , I kept piggies from when I was 9yo to 22yo then my DD and I kept them from when she was 9yo to nearly 17yo (the last of our piggies who died 2 weeks ago )

They do create a lot of mess , I was constantly sweeping and hoovering up hay , it gets everywhere. They need a load more room than you;d imagine. Mine had their own Pighouse (wooden Playhouse) and the small bedroom.
They need protected against everything and are vunerable .


They don't jump.climb,kick, lunge their head round, act aggressively , scratch or bite , but they are the most un-protected animals ever.

Very sweet natured as a rule. Noisy, chatty, greedy, cuddly, great characters.
We wound down our piggie herd over the years eventually bonding our last female with our middle aged neutered boar so they could have a few months of married life till he died and we kept her indoors till she died .
There was an ongoing spiral of adding more piggies over the years . But my DD is getting to late teens and I cannot get the little toads out of the run without risking injury to myself so we didn't continue rescueing pigs .

It is sad when they get old and they die , I miss the noise and chatter and still go straight to the Veg aisle in the supermarket .


Do not rely on your DC to do the care . It is YOUR responsibilty as the adult . My DD and I did 50/50 but there were times when she was away , busy with homework or unwell and it all stopped with me (and DH)


I owned half of the pigs so feeding her pigs and tidying all the bedding was no big deal . But she did her share .

We've had (over the last eight years) 4 sows , 2 neutered boars , 2 entire boars in various mixes . I would recommend boars TBH , their temper is nicer but they need to have their housing requirements met to be harmonious.

[floraloctopus]

We have boars and they each need their own little tunnel to go in. They know which tunnel is theirs and stick to it except one who is a stirring little monkey and will go in just for the hell of it

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

floral when we had adult boar GP1 and tiny piglet GP3 , we gave GP1 a wicker hedgehog house to escape to (in winter he had hay inside then a load of straw on top with a rubber trug over the house to insulate ) . It was his Adults Only House (GP3 had the entire haybox)

GP3 used to pootle into the hedgehog house , GP1 went in , we held our breaths thinking Bum there's going to be a squabble .....GP3 pootled out , chortling .
I;m sure he just went in to nosey and break wind .

[user1497863568]

We just had one die today Be prepared for heartbreak. They are adorable but very messy little creatures.

[floraloctopus]

Sorry to hear that user
I wouldn't be without our guinea pigs.