Talk to me about guinea pigs

I had guinea pigs when I was a kid, and I loved them. We had one male and one female. They mated and had a baby, it was the most awesome thing ever! The female got pregnant again and died, and soon after the male died. I would definitely get my kids guinea pigs if they ask for them!

My son has guinea pigs and they are the easiest pets that we have. Which isn't saying much because our other animals are high maintenance. Lol!

They poop a lot. A lot. They have personalities. And they squeal so cute.

Instead of bedding, which I thought was a messy pain in the butt, we use fleece. Google it, lots of websites about it. Much cheaper and easier. Especially if you catch fleece on sale at Joanns. Or find fleece blankets at discount stores like Big Lots.

I visit the website happycavy.com often...mostly on what is safe to feed them.

We had one years ago and to be honest, although it was cute, I didn't enjoy it as a pet. First, you have to change it's bedding quite often because of the urine/odor. The odor got to me right away (strong nose I guess), so it kind of drove me nuts. Also, it made this high-pitched squealing noise every time it heard a noise that sounded like food was coming (bag rattling, etc.) It was really loud! They are cute little creatures though!

My only comment--be careful if you have a cat.   My son had a friend whose guinea pig got out and the cat had it for lunch!   very traumatic for the boy, who was about 10 at the time.

We had 2 and they are A LOT of work. We had to change their bedding twice a week. We used fleece with towles underneath. Nicer then shavings, but not when you have to wash them every week. They need a large cage and lots of exercise. Pellets, unlimited hay and alot of different veggies and some fruit.
My pigs loved attention. but they poop a lot. So taking them out, plan on getting pooped on. LOL I had to sweep their cage twice a day to keep it clean. Their nails also need to be trimmed.

Every parent I know who caved into their kids and got guinea pigs have wished they didn't. The kids get bored with them and guess who ends up having to look after them (or find another home for them)?

This. I grew up having several guinea pigs and thought they were cute and cuddly, but I vowed I'd never have them again as an adult because of the smell and the need to clean the cage so often.  Maybe it's just me and my really strong nose, but my neighbor has guinea pigs, and although she cleans the cage (a large 4 ft x 6 ft run in their family room) several times a week, and says there's no odor, their house always smells like a stinky cage to me.  (I saw a hairless cavy at the 4-H fair last week.  Really strange.  Kind of like a naked mole rat but bigger!)

When DH and I were first married we got one.  We lived in an apartment and that was one of the few type of pets they allowed.  We used to take him out, close the bedroom and bathroom doors and let him run up and down the hall for exercise.  It was a 2 bedroom with a long hallway.  One of us would sit at the end so he didn't escape.  It was good exercise for him and he would come up to us for scratches behind the ears.  Of course, he did poop and pee a lot so I was always having to clean up the carpet!  Yuk.

We kept him in a 20 gallon aquarium with a screen lid.  I wouldn't suggest that.  It seemed to hold the stink pretty bad, I think because there wasn't much air flow. 

I was particular about cleaning his cage.  We scooped the corner where he peed daily and would also pick out as much poop as we could (I used disposable plastic spoons).  That seemed to help the odor somewhat.

I didn't realize that they need to have alfalfa or timothy hay to help with digestion/pooping.  We didn't give it to him.  Poor guy, he had trouble going as he got older and it would get stuck and be a huge golfball sized poop when it would finally come out. 

We had to have him put down at the age of 8 because he had tumors in his spine and he became paralyzed.

We got 2 more gps as pets for our kids when they were 2 and 8.  8 year old helped at first, then lost interest.  So did I, poor piggies.  We kept them but I wasn't so good at keeping the cage clean.  I only cleaned the whole thing once a week or so.  The chips were loaded with pee and it stunk horribly!

One trick we learned... put baking soda down on the bottom of the cage and then several layers of newspaper so the pig can't get to the baking soda.  Then the bark chips.  The baking soda helped to neutralize the odor.

I have always heard that they are social and you should buy them in pairs.

They are cute little things, but tons of work!  Not very cheap either.  Bark chips get expensive.  Factor in food, cage supplies, hay, treats, maybe a toy or 2... make sure your kids are really into it before you invest!

If you want a really smart pet, a rat is great. They are very interactive and love to hang out with you. Most people get freaked out by them, but they are the most like dogs out the rodent family.

We had a guinea pig named Pebbles. She lived long enough to be enjoyed by my sister and I until one day the new dog jumped into her cage and that was the end of the guinea pig. She went to my kindergarten class. We enjoyed her there too,. I think she was easy to look after. Fed her lots of vegetables and pellets. She used to run away when I was handling her and she bit me on the thumb and to this day I still have the scar to prove it.

>>>>We kept him in a 20 gallon aquarium with a screen lid. I wouldn't suggest that. It seemed to hold the stink pretty bad, I think because there wasn't much air flow.<<<<

We babysat a guinea pig over the summer for a teacher at school. He lived in a large aquarium at school (inherited from a big lizard that passed away), but the teacher loaned us a smaller cage for the summer. The pig was a happy little thing, so he jumped around a lot, sending shavings and mess through the cage bars and onto everything. He was pretty easy to care for, but if we were to ever get one as a pet, I would have to consider an aquarium. The cage was just too messy.