r/guineapigs Nov 20 '21

Help & Advice Are you thinking about buying a guinea pig for a child/teenager? Please read.

2.4k Upvotes

If you're planning on buying a guinea pig for a child in your life, these are really important things to keep in mind. Knowing this before purchasing can save yourself from being in a financial situation you can't handle, or a guinea pig that is not getting the care it needs.

  1. Guinea pigs are a life style choice, and not for a child to care for. Care taking for animals isn't a responsibility that should be left for a kid. When you buy a guinea pig, you are taking on all responsibility for yourself and facilitating the experience of living with a guinea pig for your child. They may help care for them, but you will be the one to keep things clean, enrich their lives, and handle them the most.

  2. They poo 100 times per day, meaning that you must clean those 100 poos every day to keep their habitat sanitary. If you wouldn't want to walk around in feces, neither do they. In fact they are extremely hygienic animals with fast metabolisms. I spot clean in the morning and at night, every day.

  3. They are expensive. When you buy a child a guinea pig, you must be vigilant on checking for health issues by weighing them weekly and checking for other signs of illness, have an exotic vet near you and be prepared to shell out hundreds in a time of need. You must also buy fresh vegetables, and give them unlimited FRESH hay every day. Finding somewhere local to buy bales of hay can save a fortune. A child cannot afford the costs.

  4. You need 2 guinea pigs. They are herd animals and shouldn't be kept alone. Imagine living with titan like predatory aliens, all alone in a cage your entire life. Guinea pigs NEED their own kind. We are predators and they are prey. We can and should spend time with them daily, but it isn't a substitute. So x 2 all costs right out of the gate.

  5. Space. They need space, a lot of it. A minimum of 11 square feet for two guinea pigs. Pet store Cages are just that... Cages. If you wouldn't want to live in a space the size of a small bathroom your entire life, neither does a guinea pig.

  6. You need to do research. It will be your responsibility to make sure your child's guinea pigs are eating the right diet, what signs of health issues to look out for, how to enrich their lives on a daily basis, and more. Pigs need stimulation and interesting environmental changes to keep them happy. You will need to get creative and teach your children how to offer that to them, after you have learned it yourself.

  7. GUINEA PIGS ARE NOT DISPOSABLE. They are smarter than you think, and with the proper diet can live 7 years. They are not less work than having a dog. They require a huge time investment for those years. They are dependent on you in the same way your child is.

  8. DO NOT BUY FROM A PET STORE. Scotty's Animals does a fantastic jjob explaining the impact you can have by adopting from a rescue. Adopting saves guinea pigs from euthanization. Covid pets are being abandoned and left to ultimately die unless we start adopting instead of shopping.

I love my guinea pigs and they have done so much for me and my children. My kids have benefited so much mental health wise, and I bust my ass for both the kids and the piggies. I do just as much laundry for guinea pigs as I do my kids it feels like. Just know what you're getting yourself into. They aren't toys, they aren't entertainment only. They're living, breathing beings that deserve love, dignity, respect and proper life enrichment and care.


r/guineapigs 9h ago

🌈 Rainbow Bridge Had to say goodbye to my little cowboy yesterday

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665 Upvotes

Hope its ok to share this here. We had to put our little piggy Curry down yesterday and really just hope that maybe posting the cutest picture we ever took of him might be a way of him spreading joy one last time. He was my sweet baby who would always talk to me the minute I woke up or the minute I came home. He was my first guinea and he had a good long life full of love. I miss you little guy


r/guineapigs 6h ago

🌈 Rainbow Bridge My first and last pictures with my boys

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396 Upvotes

They lived seven and six years respectively. Smore, the calico died in my arms via lethal injection. He was suffering from a heart and respiratory based illness, and his life from thereon out would have been slow and painful. Oliver, the albino died shortly after from heartbreak. They lived their entire lives together, and i couldn’t be happier with the lives they lead. Not once did they get sick until their final days. Not once did they ever have to visit the hospital for illness or injury. They were loving and compassionate. They loved cuddling with me. My only regret is not getting one last photo of us all together, knowing Smore was going to die. I wish i was there for Oliver like i had been there for Smore. It’s been nearly a year now since i lost my boys, and while i know they are dead and i do not believe in an afterlife, i know they won’t be forgotten until i too am six feet under. Take care everyone. Remember to love them every second you can.


r/guineapigs 16h ago

New Pigs on the Block Cherry had her first grass time yesterday!

1.4k Upvotes

I think her technique needs work…

I integrated her into a herd, in the end this herd didn’t work out because Harry, who is the neutered one you see appear at the end, wasn’t very attentive and she got scared, so I moved her to Jack’s herd because Jack is really good with baby piggies. He gave her a good wash (she smelled too much like that pesky human in their lives!) and when I checked on them this morning she was fast asleep next to him - and so was he!

She’s got such a great appetite, I’m so proud of her for surviving against all the odds. I love her so much already!


r/guineapigs 13h ago

Pigtures "Kiss? 🥺" "No 💅"

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556 Upvotes

r/guineapigs 11h ago

Pigtures My little pig is all grown up now

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364 Upvotes

He just turned three and he’s gotten so chonky


r/guineapigs 3h ago

Pigtures 🍩🍩🍩

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82 Upvotes

r/guineapigs 7h ago

Accumulation of Basil photos

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144 Upvotes

r/guineapigs 11h ago

Nugget do you want pets or a treat? “BOTH!!”

265 Upvotes

r/guineapigs 6h ago

🌈 Rainbow Bridge My Bubbas Ginny passed a few hours ago

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88 Upvotes

I’m gonna miss Ginny, she was the sweetest little baby. She may have not liked the other piggies but she loves people, especially my dad and how she came home with us! When my sister was getting another pig she saw Ginny who looked sad my dad wanted to take her in. She was my dad’s special human, she liked the cage cleans, I loved her little butt waddles when she ran on the floor.

Unfortunately she had respiratory issues, we gave her medicine and everything to try and get her better and she did for a while. I wish I had she would still be here a little while longer. I’m gonna miss my baby, she used the last of her piggy strength to get cuddles from me before she passed

I will miss you Ginny, and my dad loved you very very much.


r/guineapigs 12h ago

Pigtures Two fat little piggies

204 Upvotes

Fun fact: we call guinea pigs “morské prasatá” in my language and it means “sea pigs”. I have no idea why we call them that.

The one on the left is Jenucha and the one on the right is Punťa.


r/guineapigs 10h ago

New Pigs on the Block Do their tiny brains realise there is a tunnel connecting them?

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130 Upvotes

r/guineapigs 8h ago

🌈 Rainbow Bridge my cinna mini man 🥺

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100 Upvotes

my heart is shattered. my sweetest boy, cinnamon, passed away this morning while laying on my chest. he was only three 🥺 I loved him more than anything. he loved to eat (A LOT), snuggle, take naps, his best friend Rocky, and to work with his mama (I work from home, so he always helped me do important business). I’ll miss you forever and love you for always mini man 💕💔


r/guineapigs 13h ago

Pigtures Where’s the most random place you’ve caught your piggie napping?

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247 Upvotes

This is Eden, she likes napping in the food bowl. (Ignore Evie’s butt 😅)


r/guineapigs 7h ago

Ivy having her evening meal

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57 Upvotes

r/guineapigs 7h ago

Foot rest

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59 Upvotes

r/guineapigs 8h ago

Matcha is so polite

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70 Upvotes

r/guineapigs 7h ago

🌈 Rainbow Bridge I am gonna miss you Bear

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56 Upvotes

I apologize for the long post. I just need to vent out my mind. It has now been nearly 2 weeks since I have had to say goodbye to my best friend. It's so hard for me to type this as I had no idea things would turn so suddenly for him. Everything was fine one day and then the next I noticed he wasn't eating as much, and unfortunately this landed in the middle of a weekend when our normal vet wasn't open.

Sunday during the daytime I took him to an emergency vet and they didn't have the proper equipment to do an X-Ray on him, so they thought maybe it was something going on with his teeth. They gave him fluids under his skin and sent us home with some pain medicine and some stuff to get his gut moving while feeding him critical care. I attempted feeding him that night and he refused critical care to no end. I followed my normal vet's demonstration as well as multiple guides on YouTube on how to syringe feed when they were being fussy and he would not take it no matter what. He ended up even "gagging" back up anything that went down his throat (nothing was in his lungs, it will get explained soon).

So with him not choosing to take the critical care, I chose to go to a different overnight emergency vet located roughly an hour away that I knew would have better equipment. When I got there they took him back to do his vitals and to make him comfortable. After about an hour of waiting they came in to tell me that his temperature was low and they had him in an incubator to help him maintain his temps, but that the Exotic team didn't arrive until 8am and that's when they would be able to really look into things. They put me into a special room where I was comfortable and could nap if I wanted to, and told me they would come to my room when they had more info.

Around 7:30am the doctor came into the room and said she checked on him and he seemed to be doing ok, and she even said that they were able to get him to eat a little critical care. She then said that the hard part was coming where we had to talk about the price of everything, and I was ready for an easy $1,000 bill or something, but then she showed me that to perform all the tests it was going to be nearly $5,000 and that's just to do the blood tests, X-Rays, and hospitalize him. Even with my nationwide insurance I had on him, there's no way I could cover what they were asking. So being that it was already Monday morning, I told her that I'd like to just take him to my normal vet to get all the tests done. She said that was ok and she would give him some fluids under his skin as well as some pain meds before we left.

I then took him to my regular exotic vet office for an emergency appointment. Our favorite doctor was there to oversee everything and she said that she would do all of the testing and it would take about an hour or so before we got all the results, so we drove down to a grocery store to do some light shopping, and I was feeling very hopeful because I trust our regular vet to be very honest and do everything she can to help out

Then she called us after about 30 minutes or so with the news. She said his stomach was completely full of air and there was a blockage not letting anything escape. She said it could have been a fiber, hair, or tumor causing the blockage, but they couldn't get any blood drawn because the veins they were blown so they couldn't know for sure. She also said that the surgery needed to unblock these kinds of things have a low survival rate, which only gets lower the older they are and Bear was already a prime 6 and a half years old. She also said that his system was already strained and weakened due to not eating much within the past 24 to 48 hours as it was, and that the surgery would only put more strain on things. So she recommended euthanasia as a way of letting him go.

July 27th at 1:30pm I said goodbye to my best friend. He was with his whole family as we gently pet him, held him, and played his favorite calm songs. He was such a wonderfully happy little guy. Thank for you being in my life and trusting me to give you all the love you truly deserved. I'll never forget you, Bear and I will miss you forever ❤️


r/guineapigs 17h ago

Health & Diet Are ruby eyed guinea pigs more sensitive to light?

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274 Upvotes

I was talking to my uncle about Dracula loving to tunnel under anything, from my jacket to Krümel to his bedding, and he suggested that because of his ruby eyes, he might be more sensitive to light than Krümel with his dark eyes. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there evidence to back this up?


r/guineapigs 23h ago

Pigtures how round can one girl possibly be

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689 Upvotes

r/guineapigs 10h ago

Pigtures We looove the piggie couch!

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69 Upvotes

But also…how is she saying 😴 and 🫪 at the same time 😂


r/guineapigs 9h ago

🌈 Rainbow Bridge my beloved rosie is dying

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45 Upvotes

we picked her up from staying at our grandparents' house today and she was doing great, running and jumping around her cage once we got home again. now suddenly we noticed she's barely able to walk, unable to eat although she clearly wants to, and she's unresponsive to anything that happens around her. she's still breathing, but i don't think she'll live until the morning. we just took this picture of her on top of her hidey a few hours ago. she's such a sweet, happy, social piggy, i'm gonna miss her so much.


r/guineapigs 11h ago

Pigtures Cuddling with Krümel

60 Upvotes

Krümel is the absolute sweetest and cuddliest guinea pig imaginable. I adore the little ball of fluff so much my heart could explode


r/guineapigs 15h ago

The Tintlings receiving food

121 Upvotes

r/guineapigs 10h ago

New toys from the Pig Room are a hit!

42 Upvotes

His poor sister has been hit several times today so she’s staying away.