As a kid it seemed like everyone had a pet except me. We were away a lot of weekends and our parents thought it best to not have to arrange pet-care all the time. But this year we bought some Guinea Pigs for the kids with the thought that it would help teach them responsibility as they cared for their pets.
It worked brilliantly … for a week. Predictably we were left more often than not cleaning cages, feeding and watering but overall we still enjoyed having them in the family and so I thought I would write down some things we learnt in case anyone was wondering about getting some.
Here are some important things:
Cages / Homes
There are several different types of hutches or cages that you can get. The animals need a way to get out of the wind/rain and so you can also buy small plastic igloo type things to put in your hutch which is a good idea. Some of the hutches go on the ground so the animals can literally eat the grass but be prepared to move it a lot or say goodbye to your lawn. We went for a fancy timber hutch up off the ground at first and it looked excellent however it was a 2 person job to clean and that had to happen most weeks … we ended up selling it.
Next we bought a 2 level cage which was way easier to clean and we felt that we saw them more which was nicer. It was also more portable and was on wheels. In addition we bought a small fence structure so that we could put them down on the grass to eat and exercise a bit each day or two.
Definitely think through the cleaning side before buying something.
Food
We fed our guinea pigs a special grain mix from the pet store, vegetable scraps,whole carrots etc as well as a food mix and some hay regularly. I believe that they need the straw to help keep their teeth under control. Overall the feeding was very easy and the more they were down on the grass, the easier it was too … they seem to be eating machines!
Water is super important and especially in hotter areas they are prone to heat stroke. They go through a bit of water so its something to check every day.
Maintenance
Guinea pigs are reasonably low maintenance and the main thing that we found was simply clipping their nails. We bought a pet nail clipper from the pet shop and once you get the hang of that its not too bad though they didn’t love it. Their claws have a blood supply and if you cut down too far it does hurt them. Usually you can see the quick and avoid going too far.
Its definitely harder if you let it go too long so stay on top of them and its much less stressful.
Breeding
This is super important! They make rabbits look celibate … in other words if you mix genders you will have babies. Sons will breed with their mothers within weeks if you leave them together … its insane so always only get 1 gender. Most shops will sell them in pairs as they do like company and are not good solo animals.
There are also different colours and some longer hair varieties so look around and choose one you like. The longer hair can require more care too.
Close Call
In the end it was good for our family but we had to work through a situation where 1 of our pets passed away soon after we got them. That was unpleasant but it was a learning experience for us. More stressful was the time that they overheated and we had to revive them by cooling them and dropping water into their mouths. The situation was that a visiting dog (not in the cage) scared them without us realising and they stayed together inside the little igloo thing until they dehydrated (not that long).
That all ended well but it was very tense at the time.
Should you get Guinea Pigs?
Do some more research but if you want to have a pet that doesn’t demand too much but that can be held/patted etc then they may be ok. They do tend to require a little daily work like all pets. You can buy them at pet shops or from specialty shelters and breeders and the hutches/cages are always on Gumtree or your local classifieds.
