Guinea Pigs

[kiloyd]

Talk to me if you have had some.

I had some in my vet class way back in high school. They don't seem very complicated, just need daily attention I know.

[domesticzookeeper]

Originally Posted by kiloyd

Talk to me if you have had some.

I had some in my vet class way back in high school. They don't seem very complicated, just need daily attention I know.

It's been a while since I've had GPs, and I know that a lot of their husbandry standards have advanced significantly since then. I know that they're very social and feel secure with a buddy (or buddies - same sex, of course). They need a fair amount of horizontal space to live in and move around, since they're solidly ground-level critters.

This is a good care guide: https://www.guineapiggles.com/how-to...-a-guinea-pig/

[twoplustwo]

My BF got 2 "girl" guinea pigs for her boys as pets.

Then they found one of the girls was mis-sexed when the only actual girl got pregnant. So she separated the mom and babies from the now known boy guinea pig and eventually found ALL the guinea pigs and said never again.

Thats all I got.!

[KarenBoo]

My daughter got a pair for free about 6 months ago. First of all, the cage was so huge that we had to buy her a loft bed to put the cage under. She fed them twice daily, including cutting up a cup of fresh organic veggies for each of them daily.

They smelled AWFUL!! So we bought more fleece so she could change out the top level every other day. Full cage wash and full fleece wash weekly.

Then there was hay all over my house. Her room started to smell terrible. She could not really do anything with them other than feed them. They did not enjoy being picked up or held much.

Then there was all of the laundry from all of the fleeces, and hay in my washing machine. And the hair!

Monkey never once complained about all of that work, but I was very tired of the stinky stink in her room, plus she just was always doing all of that work and getting very little enjoyment from them.

We all did enjoy their adorable squeals when it was feeding time, and she did enjoy sitting with them and hand-feeding them.

In the end, after about a month, we gave them away. I used ozone in her room several times, and yet, the stench remains. It's been 6 months, and her room still smells like guinea pigs.

So that's our experience. I joined a few guinea pig FB groups, and so many people really enjoy theirs. But I just honestly don't get it.

[kiloyd]

Thanks!

Well....we're adopting one next weekend. Why you ask one? Because this rescue, just got this one from someone two weeks ago that wanted to get rid of him. I asked her if she was SURE he would be okay by himself. She said he's been alone, (he's about 1.5 yr old) and if we wanted to add one we could go through her and get a baby to bond with him later.

We went to Petsmart to all hold one to check for allergies. I was smitten!

This is for my 10 yr old, with my supervision of course.

We've been watching gp care videos and I joined gp FB groups. I cannot believe the amount of people wanting to get rid of their gp!

So, I'll update when we get him.

[ViolaMum]

The Head Children's Librarian at our local library loves guinea pigs and always has a pair in the library. They come exclusively from a local rescue. They are fun to watch.

[kiloyd]

Got the guinea pig this past Sunday! He's all black. Jason chose the name Zeus (unless I come up with something else he likes better).

Taking name suggestions for a black male friendly gp! I can think of all kinds of cute girl names.

So far we are figuring out his(our) routine. My mom is going to make two fleeces with water proof material in the middle layer for the cage. Right now we have puppy pads and/or washable water proof pad under the fleece, just have 2 of those right now.

Thankfully, he is mostly (but not all!) pooping and peeing in the shoebox we have lined with newspaper and then hay in it.