We want an interactive pet - especially for our eldest piggies are chatty and wheeky especially for food , and unlike rats keep their feet on the ground and unlike rabbits like being cuddled . But not being caught , they like to give you the runaround but it's their game ,
Can guinea pigs be good for children with ASD?
If yiur child is gentle and quiet with the piggie . If your DC likes routine , pigs thrive on it. They like to know when their next meal is arriving .
Do guinea pigs smell? Not if you keep up with cleaning ( we cleaned
our cages every day . At one point we had 5 piggies in two cages . Even when we were down to one piggie she was pushing it going 2 days , when she was on fleece she needed daily changes)
Its the hay that smells - make sure you check for allergies - hay and fur are common allergies in children. My DD developed an allergy to our 3rd pig and it got worse with GP6 (both were coarse coats)
Do they like to be cuddled? By and large yes , you get the odd rogue one
Do they bite ? Very rarely , but they are rodents and they can bite . My GP5 sow was a bit toothy . My GP7 licked my fingers while we were treating her eyes ulcer . She could've bitten but she didn't .
How many do I need - two, three or four ? 2+ . Depends on the mix and the size of your cage.
Boars - only two, Trios are hard work no matter what the sellers tell you.
Group of sows , there will always be a bossy alpha sow
Neutered boar + sows . Lovely mix . Only one boar in the group though
Boys or girls? You will find a lot more boars especially in Rescue . Many rescues neuter the boars . It doesn't change them, but it makes them easier to match with sows (and saves the dreaded impaction )
We plan on keeping them indoors in a very large cage with wood shavings to line the cage . Hay to eat
No shavings or sawdust . It dries the skin and feet and can cause respiratory irritation. You can get Megazorb or Auboise which works well. Nothing scented , their little faces are right in the bedding.
Hay is the staple , you need a pigs bodysize per day/per pig. Pretty unlimited really
.
I’ve read guinea pigs can be prone to mites - do these come in the wood shavings and hay ? Can be . Some oigs host a mite population which only causes trouble if they are stressed . Mites can cause major irritations, they scratch till they bleed and can have fits .
One of my pigs caught an infestation of lice from a well known PetShop Hay . There were a couple on my other pigs but she (white Himalyan) caught it worse.
I’m reluctant to have an infestation in the house the main worry is ringworm, it can pass to humans . Thankfully I've never had a ringwrm pig
Are they noisy at night ? They pootle about , they're crepuscular which means active dawn/dusk. I used to feed am/pm, and out a cover over the cages (like a parrot) . Ours were in the next bedroom to us , so we heard them chew cardboard, rattle the water bottle , purring , just general pig noise . Sometimes I went into their bedroom and told them off "Bloody Hell pigs, I have to be up for work in 4 hours"!
They were What-eva. 
They are great fun, I am now without guinea-pigs are over 8 years . I do miss them but my DD is getting older and she is the one who was sent into the outdoor run to catch them. So we decided to let the numbers dwindle naturally till our last girl died last week .
They live average 5 years, maybe more .
You will be responsible , legally, morally , financially .
My DD always did half (we shared the Pigs) but there were times she wasn't here , was ill, was busy with homework , so I did her share (but I told her she was on duty over the weekend to catch up)
They need a lot of space , look at C&C cages .
One level is better
And you need to protect them from everything.
Heat/cold extremes. Draughts. Damp.
Predators .
They are lovely but not the sharpest tools in the shed 