Guinea Pigs (Guinea Pig)

Member Name: 6rosco9

Product:	Guinea Pig
Date:	24/04/09 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ver easy to handle and excellent first pets

Disadvantages: you do need to keep on top of their nails

The Guinea PIg or Cavies as they are sometimes know, are one of the best pets to have especially if you have younger children. They are very docile animals although they can be very timid and get frightened easily. They are very loving animals and tend not bite, unless of course you have been handling something they find tasty, easy handle as they are not as small as hamster, which can be quite fast and they are not as large as rabbits.
Guinea Pigs need to have extra vitaimin c which they usually get in the special museli type food that you can buy from the pet shop or supermarket. You can also buy the vitamin c suppliment for guineas which you can put in their water. Guineas love fresh fruit and veg, but you must be careful not feed them "wet" foods such as lettuice, plums things like these as it tends to give them an upset stomach which can cause quite a messy cage fro you to clea. They generally sleep in a "house" and like to hide in tubes. Sawdust is the mainly used as the bottom lining for cages but some guineas have quite sensitive skin and may need shreed paper instead of the saw dust. Usually hay is put in the cage which guineas usually munch on and this keeps their teeth down, or if they re like mine they sleep in it.
Caring for you guinea pigs nails are a must and you will need to invest in a pair of pet nail clippers, these are cheap enough to buy, but this can be a very fiddily job and sometimes you may cut their little toes. We take our two guineas to the vet to do this evey 6-8 weeks, this usually costs us about £12 for the pair of them, but wioll obviously vary from vet to vet.
Guineas like to get out for a run about and generally love the grass.

Where to keep your guineas: i personally keep my two insde but this is more from the fact i live in a top floor flat and dont have a garden more than anything else. They are able to be kept outside, but you do need special outdoor hutches to keep them in and keep the foxes out, but generally for weather like in britain i would bring them in in the winter to just to be on the safe side.

Guinea Pigs are very loving pets and i would recommend them as a first pet.

Summary: lovely animals and easy to keep