Who has guinea pigs?

[Bernadine]

Tell me all about them, please.  What size cage do you have?  Do they smell?  Do they make a lot of noise?  Where do you keep them?  Do they bite?  How often do you take them out of the cage to play with them?  If you have a cat, does it go after them?

J wants them bad.  I'm 50/50.

[poppyseed]

I want some so bad but my H says no. That's all I have to contribute. They are so cute.

[alzi]

My sister had one growing up. It squeaked a lot and was smelly.

[polka]

@themommymonster

[berbles]

I got bit by a guinea pig when I was 9. It traumatized me.

That's all I have to add.


Oh, and I'm pretty sure they make a lot of noise. But it's mostly cute noise. Mostly.

[bania]

I used to have them when I was a child. I loved them!!! Such amazing pets. I don't remember cage size or anything but they're cute!! Lol.

[jaylea]

We have one.

He is pretty low key. He shrieks happy little squeaks when he hears anyone in the vicinity. He has never bitten anyone but he is a little skittish if you try to grab him. He just gets scared.

If you are in the room with him, he comes out of his little house to talk to you and visit.

His cage is good size - 2x3. Our dogs don't go after him. He does smell sometimes - not him but his pee. We change his cage every other week or so (it gets smelly at the end and we try to do better but... It happens) - they are pooping machines.

I like to call him the professor because he has jowls and looks like a noble old man.

[TC]

I had guinea pigs. They are quite a bit of work, but they are cute and fun if you can't have a cat/dog They need very large cages, no wire floors. They also will need lots of fruits and veggies because they don't produce their own vitamin C and can get deficient. They also purr, like cats. They are not obnoxiously noisey as long as you train them to not chew on their cage bars.

Personalities will differ... I've had one biter, and two sort of in between depending on their mood, and one huge cuddle bug.

Try to get them somewhat reputably, I know it sounds silly, but they can have issues just like dogs or cats. There are guinea pig rescues all over, and 4H clubs breed fairly regularly. They love having a buddy, but if you get two as youngins make sure you get them to an exotic animal vet ASAP to make sure they have been properly assigned a gender and you don't end up with accidental babies. Same thing applies if you get a female from a pet store... they often come home pregnant.

They're fun, usually pretty cuddley, and total mischief makers.

[Bernadine]

Damn, I can't see your pic now, I'll have to look when I get home!

[jaylea]

How do you train them not to bite their bars! Rigby does this. It is loud.

[cabbage10]

I love my guinea pig!!! She is so.cuddly and when she is hungry her little wheeks are so cute. I have her in a 2x4 in our living room. They like to be where you are, I constantly talk to her.

They do poop a lot so I do 2 spot checks to get the poo off her fleece and I have puppy pads under that for moisture. I am so smitten with her

[cabbage10]

My girl chews the bars sometimes. We make an "eh eh eh" noise kind of like you would to a kid. Or I gentley nudge her nose on top.

I bought her some wood chew toys and she likes those now better

[cabbage10]

Apr 4, 2014 14:18:17 GMT -5 kooshball said:

How often do you have to clean?

I clean mine every 4 days. But spot clean day.  My girl is messy!!! She gets hay everywhere but in her mouth it seems.

[cabbage10]

I really wanted to post a picture of my girl. Here she is on a spa day. She got a bath (they only need them like 3 times a year), a nail clipping and brushing.


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[Wrath0fKuus]

I had them. I absolutely loved them.

What I did was give them their own bedroom, with a gated-off doorway, that had an easy to clean floor. The one piggin was litter-trained, but the other two were just not having it, so easy cleaning was a must. They weren't smelly, or unpleasantly noisy at all (they talk to each other, and have this much louder and longer way of "talking" that they do just for humans that sounds like they think we're stupid and a little hard of hearing).

I wouldn't recommend them in a house with cats, though. That would be pretty stressful for them.

[speckledfrog]

My old preschool classroom had a guinea pig and we built a cage for him just like TTMOK mentioned above. He loved his upgraded cage, it had so much more room.

[gozf]

Apr 4, 2014 14:53:59 GMT -5 cabbage10 said:

I really wanted to post a picture of my girl. Here she is on a spa day. She got a bath (they only need them like 3 times a year), a nail clipping and brushing.


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This is pretty much the cutest thing i've ever seen.

[ginger]

I had a guinea pig named noodle. I cried the day I finally realized I was so allergic to him it caused my eyes to swell shut even with benedryl, long sleeves, and gloves. I miss that stinker.

I used what was called a C&C cage. It was easy to keep clean, but they do poop A LOT. I would get him out to play a lot and he loved when I'd take him in the bathroom to play where he couldn't get stuck behind or under anything and could just run and run and run and play, and POPCORN! 

[Deleted]

I had one growing up. I named him Burt. Lol. I love the longhair ones with the little cowlicks everywhere. So cute.

Mine used to crawl up and snuggle into my neck while I watched tv.

[cabbage10]

Apr 4, 2014 15:13:19 GMT -5 gozf said:

Thank you! I do love her so much, I cannot have a cat or dog so she fulfills the cuddle quota!

[jaylea]

Apr 4, 2014 15:09:01 GMT -5 Wrath0fKuus said:

They weren't smelly, or unpleasantly noisy at all (they talk to each other, and have this much louder and longer way of "talking" that they do just for humans that sounds like they think we're stupid and a little hard of hearing).

I literally loled at this. They can be a bit uppity sometimes.

You taught me the best trick ever for nail clipping. I put him in a washcloth and he just side eyes me until I am done.

[blackcat]

We had two growing up, Squeaky and Ginger. They lived to be 8!! They would squeal every time we opened up the refrigerator. lol. They loved fresh greens.

The one huge downside I didn't like was that I couldn't hold them for very long without them peeing and/or pooping on me. Usually peeing. So we'd put newspaper in our laps and then hold them. Kind of lame. :/ Otherwise, pretty decent pet, esp for kids