"DADDYYYYYYY! Can I have a GUINEA PIG - PLEEEAAAASSSSEEE!" ; (Guinea Pig)

Member Name: hugnluvable

Product:	Guinea Pig
Date:	16/03/01 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Pets, easy to look after, teaches children responsibility

Disadvantages: Time Consuming! Also rather upsetting when they die :-(

These were the exact words I said to my dad at nine years old, in hope that he might just give in to my whinging for a long wanted pet (or two!).
"But you said you wanted a rabbit a few minutes ago" my Dad replied,
"Yeah, but Uncle Alan said a Guinea Pigs smaller and better to keep" I replied. And 'Uncle Alan' then said -
"Yeah - oh go on - buy Erica a Guinea!" And so... on that Saturday morning my Dad gave in and I was an adopted parent to two GORGEUOUS Tortoise shell Guinea Pigs.

Its best to get two, or more, Guinea pigs so that they can keep each other company. And if you don't intend to create a family of Guinea Pigs GET THE SAME SEX! Also if you have pet males -make sure they are brothers or else they'll start to fight. We walked into the pet shop and had to choose out of the twelve or so Guineas that just started running and squeaking as soon as we set our eyes on them. I chose the two that were looking straight at me, squeaking their cute ikkle faces off! The last thing that the pet shop owner said to us was "DON'T FEED THEM LETTUCE!!!" it was like some sorta Gremlins scene when they say in horror to not give Gizmo any water after midnight! My nasty brother was intrigued to know why they shouldn't eat it but I NEVER EVER LET HIM TRY and find out. In fact it's because lettuce contains large amounts of vitamin E which is poisonous to little Guineas. I decided to call them Coa and Pepsi (I can remember why!) but we started to all Pepsi Gizmo cus he looked like the furry animal from Gremlins.

My "Uncle Alan" (as we like to call him) kept ferrets and he built his own hutches and runs for them. So good old Uncle Alan gave us a hutch (he made the holes between compartments bigger!), and a really long run so we could put our pet on the lawn to have an exercise whilst we cleaned his/her hutch.

Guinea pigs *LOVE* celery and grass. I used to hold C
oa or Pepsi and hand feed them Celery or Carrots. Cola was rather independant and was usually reluctant to being hand fed but Pepsi loved it. Its best to place them on on a towel when handling them cus they arent shy to wee on you (believe me - it happened to me on several occasions, but its quite funny when they do it on your Grandma! lol :-p)

One thing you need to be careful of are mice... It was a really cold winter and we decided to put the hutch in the Greenhouse for a few weeks. And then we found mice! And it SCARED THE PANTS OFF ME when I found one running around inside the hutch with my Guinea Pigs panicking as well!

We kept our Guine Pigs at the end of our Garden during the Autumn/Spring/Summer and kept a thick carpet on top so we covered the hutch in the evening with it. During the Winter we kept them in the Greenhouse. We used woodchippings rather than sawdust in the compartments and used newspaper underneath the woodchippings and hay to absorb moisture even more (plus its easier to clean the hutch out this way).

I had loadsa good times with my Guinea pigs. I knew their personalities inside out. They made certian calls and noises depending on their surroudings. They used to make a "wheek, wheek" sound when they chased after birds in their run, a vibrating "MmMmMmMmMm" sound when they felt/heard something new or something they didnt like.

But one December's night when I put their cover over the hutch and gave them extra hay I heard a different noise; I heard one of the Guineas making a wheezing sound (sounded a bit like Gizmo in Gremlins!) It was Pepsi, the smallest out of the two and I panicked and grabbed him out of the hutch to see if he was ok - he looked fine but gave me such a sad look. I thought it was probably a noise that they made anyway but I've never heard it before.

I was so upset that December morning when I was in the front room of my house and my Mum came in an
d said - "Erica? love, there's something you need to know". I just knew what was up; I ran to the bottom of the garden and looked at the hutch. The sad thing was that Cola was stuck in the sleeping compartment and trying to push his brother out between the gap that separated the living area and sleeping compartment. YES! Pepsi was dead and I couldn't touch him to take him out of the hutch. My lovely Mum did it for me as she saw how distraught I was. Although I hate to say this but Pepsi was my favourite, and so there I was, 16 years old and I cried my eyes out ALL that SATURDAY!

Cola lasted another year; sadly on his own because us children had all grown up so couldn't take care of any more. When I saw him lying there, dead, he looked so peaceful, I didn't cry this time, Cola lived for a good 7 years and I didn't know what I'd do if both my Guineas died at the same time!

Now both Guineas are buried at the bottom of our Garden, and our neighbours wonder why my Mums plants grow so nicely! Although I loved my Guinea pigs I think my Mum misses them the most, she was always at home during the summer gardening and watching them in their run, and she looked after them when I was away from home. I think Guinea Pigs are excellent pets to keep. They are very time consuming, I cleaned their hutch out every other day, fed them every day, changed their water twice a day, gave them hay twice a day and went to see them and cuddle them every spare moment I had - but having a time consuming pet gives children responsibility and can make them feel rather depended on. If you're lucky you can spend a good seven years with these lovely creatures and enjoy every moment you have with them.

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