Pets - guinea pigs?

[Elfthaygotaway]

We are considering purchasing guinea pigs as family pets.
They would be cared for by dh and I, and involving our ds age 4 (under very close supervision).
I totally understand children quickly get bored of pets so dh and I need to be fully on board with caring for these animals for the next 5-8 years, and we are trying to think things through very carefully before we commit.
As I’ve be never had guinea pigs before I’m just interested in others experience of what they need to be happy. We would probably get 2-3 same sex Guinea pigs as I know they need to live in groups to be happy.

The situation would be, that dh works full time, and I work 30 hours. Most days the guinea pigs would be on their own 9-5. But they will have a large run in the garden, and a large hutch and run in the garage if it was too cold to be out through they day.

Overnight I would probably bring them in to a smaller cage/hutch indoors, particularly in the winter.

We would be able to have them in the house for a couple of hours in the evening to play with/socialise.

I’m not really sure if this is enough for guinea pigs or if really we would need someone at home more.
Some sources I’ve read have said they need as much attention as a dog. But as they will be living in groups I don’t know if they’d be happy through the day with their own company?
Just wanting some insight before we make a decision.
Thank you .

Perhaps they're wondering why you haven't bothered to install a stairlift for them yet.

The one who could jump out of the hutch was an unusually clever and inquisitive guinea pig; I think she was keen to explore. She was also very tame so it wouldn't have been a major problem — she wouldn't have run away and hidden or anything — if it weren't for the precipitous drop the other side.

(Unusually clever for a guinea pig, that is… God love 'em but they're not the brightest of the bunch when it comes to pets!)

We have two female guinea-pigs and they're great pets. We have ours in a large indoor cage, though they do go outside in a run during the day in Summer. They need exercise and environmental enrichment, but don't need as much space as rabbits (which need a LOT of space).

Keeping guinea-pigs indoors means they get very tame. They are very friendly, interactive and vocal, especially when they hear the fridge being opened!

For their size, guinea-pigs can consume surprisingly large quantities of green vegetables. They make a lot of mess- ours need a full cage clean every three days. Unlike rabbits, you can't toilet train them.

It isn't a problem to leave guinea-pigs by themselves during the day, provided that they have a companion, and plenty of hay, water, food, toys etc.

One of our guinea-pigs has longish hair, which tends to get a bit mucky, so we need to give her a bath every couple of weeks. Luckily she enjoys this!

Also, we have a 4 year old DS, and he is gentle when handling the guinea-pigs, but pretty loud generally. Having grown up with DS, the guinea-pigs aren't remotely concerned, and come out to watch him when he is playing on the floor nearby!

This thread is making me miss my pigs! We had pigs for years and they make the best pets, but yes, they need a lot of room. Our setup was very similar to MrNobody's. All of ours would let us know when they needed a wee, one in particular used to pull at our clothes with his teeth. He was a very special pig, I had major surgery that took a long time to recover from, months and months. He'd lay on me most afternoons, sound asleep while I dozed and often I'd come to with him licking my nose. He'd also follow me about round the house and call out to come for a cuddle. I still miss him so much and it's been ten years since we lost him.

mrnobody you're set up is similar to mine and mine don't jump out either but put their paws on the side and peek over when they see me first thing to feed them as if to say Good Morning but really it's Where's our breakfast then?! I know that they can jump over as when they've had floor time and cuddles and had enough they jump back over into their cage!

We had C&C indoors and our piggies never tried to jump out of it . I think it's how they view things , they might try a solid wall but not something so open.

Our GP3 was a big (1.4kg when he was castrated) fit solid boy ( Rex boar) . We took the pigs down to their pighouse in a blue plastic lidded box ( the ones that have the handles that click the lid on) with airholes drilled in.
It was about the height of my knee .

If we didn't take him out first (he had two sows with him) he'd leap out of the box like Pegasus . (We always put the box on the floor and clear space round him thankfully ) You just don't expect that level of athleticism from a lardy boar