Guinea Pigs...anyone know much about keeping them?

[SparetheDetails]

We're thinking of getting two guinea pigs but know nothing about them

Do they live indoors or outdoors?
What do they eat?
Are they ok with young kids? (say from the age of 7)

anything else we should know?

guinea pigs are really easy to look after - just like rabbits. I kept mine outside. They need an outdoor run. They eat guinea pig food! and like carrots, apples etc.
They are fine with kids, but need a lot of handling to make them nice and tame.

We have 2 girl guineas who live inside
I think there is a pic on my profile
They are great with my 2 girls (6 and 2)
They are v easy to look after,just keep them clean,dry food and fresh veg and fruit and hay.

Guineas are gorgeous.(We have 9 (!) in a big walk in run)
I think they're much easier than rabbits, - need less space and are less scrabbly for young children to handle.
They're very easy. In or out. Ours prefer to be outside.
They love access to a grassy run, and graze like little sheep.
Lots of hay for bedding, need company, not good on their own as they naturally live in colonies.
Eat most fruit and veg- ours have a craze on avocado and corn on the cob.
They're really amenable to being cuddled and brushed, I don't think ours have ever bitten.

Two boys can live together if they,ve been brought up together- or are brothers. But fight if there are girls around, even if they've been done. Any number of girls can live together; ours live with a "done" male.

Good luck- I bet you get really fond of them

we have two male guinea pigs and their fab, thay make lovely pets because they love to sit on your lap and be stoked.

Ours live outside in a big hutch. They eat guinea pig food and carrots, apples straw.

We have two boys and they live indoors because I'm too soft to leave them outside! We were advised to buy two because they like the company. They eat rabbit food, greens, carrots, apples, cucumber, peppers etc. They love my DD(3) even though she used to screech at them! The only thing about keeping them indoors is that it can all get a bit messy with the hay and you have to clean the cage very often because they start to whiff a bit but apart from that, they're lovely!

They don't like dogs. Or being barked at. Ours used to live in the shed (a very big one) and the dog used to stand outisde their cage and bark at them. One of them died of terror, the other followed a few days later of a broken heart. Sad but true. Up until then they were quite easy: they don't do much but they 'enjoyed' being moved around the garden in their run. We had a lovely patchwork lawn with lots of fertile squares on it.

We have 2 boys and they live outside although they come inside for lots of cuddles. We have a portable run and they spend most of the day in that. One of ours died in July, we think he had a heart attack. We managed to get a 6 week old boy 2 days later and thankfully they get on fine.