Pablo-My First Guinea Pig- from my midtown terrace in Manhattan-pre Claudette

Guinea Pigs are more like a tailless and more cuddly rodent than a pig. They originated in the Andes of South America and not from Guinea which, if you didn’t already know, is on the west coast of Africa just north of Sierra Leone for our geography enthusiasts out there.

Regardless of their origin and misnomer, they can be very cute pets for any age range.

Many school rooms will have a pet guinea pig for the class mascot. I discovered that because, when I realized I couldn’t take my pet Guinea Pigs on the flight with me as I was moving from New York City to New Orleans, that’s where I sent mine.

Prize-winning lilac-and-white Silkie

Guinea pigs come in quite a variety nowadays with short hair varieties to long haired ones.  For More on All of the different Guinea Pig varieties I have provided a link to the wikipedia page for you to click here.  To the left is a picture of a prize winning “Cavy” as enthusiasts refer to Guinea Pigs. They are usually loveable and cuddly and great for teaching kids how to take care of living things. They do require cleaning and a bit of nurturing like any mammal. They are not climbers, but they are very curious and have a look in their eyes that is quite engaging. It’s like they know they are cute. They also make little squeaky, squealing type noises. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend taking them on a walk on a leash, but that wouldn’t be too far of a reach of what you can do with these cute little critters!

Even though they are a lot of fun, before getting a guinea pig, one must realize that they live a long time for a rodent. They have an average age range of five to eight years. That is a lot of litter cleaning and cage cleaning, water bottle filling, treat giving and hair removal from your clothes and such-much like a dog, or a cat. Because of the commitment level of these pets there are many folks that realize it was too much. Having said that, last year, Petfinder.com listed over 10,000 guinea pigs looking for forever homes. So, adoption would be a good way to get started for many prospective guinea pig owners.

If you wanted to add a companion to your single guinea pig, make sure of the gender and the size of the container that you will be keeping them is large enough. Two males together do not mix well from my experience. My first male guinea pig had a long flowing hair on the back that fanned like a rooster tail as shown in the first picture compilation in this article taken from my midtown Manhattan terrace. Once I introduced another guinea pig that I was sure was a female, but might not have been in hindsight, my first guinea pig became unfriendly to me. When I say unfriendly, I mean they have a very serious bite!  He used to be so fun and cuddly until I brought in Claudette. Maybe I should have called her Claude, as it might have been a “he”. One must figure out the room in the house or backyard and provide at least four feet by two feet per guinea pig.

What Claudette aka “Claude” in hindsight looked like-male champion Abyssinian cavy

Claudette aka Claude in hindsight looked like the guinea pig “Cavy” to the left.

Guinea Pigs are a lot of fun. They can be quite endearing like any mammal can. They hop around like a bunny sometimes when they are happy and cuddle on your shoulders and nudge your neck and face like a dog, or a cat would. They are a low cost and enjoyable pet to have. Keep them in mind and all of the points I mentioned in this article if you are in the market for a new pet. Also, consider adopting.

I hope you enjoyed this article. I have included some more information below and some links to some favorite sites that, as a pet owner, are good to be a member of including this one. 🙂

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