I might have lost my mind....a Guinea pig for Christmas?

[BriarfoxinWA]

OP you've gotten some good advice. We had 2 that we dearly loved. Be aware that they can live quite a while. One died at age 5 and the other at almost 7 years old. It is definately a commitment.

 

[Teejay32]

I was in your shoes once and I think I polled the DIS as well. My DD was so young, and so set on a guinea pig that we ended up getting her one for Christmas. It's not a course of action I'd recommend for everyone, but we're a rescue-type family, and DD at age 6 was a big part of it - we took the chance. That was ten years ago, and I have two other DDs, so naturally we acquired more and have one still. Our first guinea pig lived for five years.

They are pretty good pets, and I have to agree that for small animals they have big personalities. They're sociable and they will make demands on your time, and let you know when they feel ignored. At the moment we have just one, but she gets a lot of attention. It's good to give them the maximum amount of cage space you possibly can. Check http://www.guineapigcages.com/ for some great ideas. A big space gives them running room to exercise; it will accommodate another piggy if you're inclined to add one, and also, with enough space they will tend to use only a part of it as a litter box, which cuts down on overall maintenance.

We use Carefresh bedding, which does not smell, and I would never go back to wood shavings. I'm thinking about regular delivery from Petco but having signed up for it yet. Our piggy has food pellets all the time, timothy hay in the morning, and "supper" at suppertime, meaning fresh carrot, cucumber, apple, celery, grapes, green pepper...whatever. By now it's just a habit for me to collect cucumber peels and veggie pieces after making a salad or stew or something, and not really an extra expense or inconvenience.

Last time I had to take one to the vet was six years ago, and it was considered an exotic pet visit - a little more pricey, just FYI. But we've only ever had two vet visits for all five piggies we've had; they rarely get sick.

Hope this was helpful.

 

[cornflake]

About the produce expense thing.

I was once buying a bunch of fresh carrots in the market, took the tops off, went to toss them away and was stopped by a woman who was collecting the discarded tops of carrots and beets (and like, outside leaves of cabbage and lettuce and etc., that people pull off before they bag the stuff to take home) for her bunny.

A lot of people just put the greens back on the produce if there's not a trashcan right there, and now that I know she - and she told me others do the same thing - looks for them, I just put my greens back on top of the carrots, in the back so market employees don't toss them too quickly to keep the area uncluttered, and if I see someone else tossing, I tell them the bunny people come for the stuff.

So... look in your market, you might find a lot of free snacks for your furry little pals!

 

[sue and co]

We had piggies - three at one point and they are sociable creatures so it is not recommended to just have one. DD's looked after them, they used to take turns cleaning them out and used to bring them in to sit on their laps and watch tv sometimes. Only once did one bite a friend when she was holding it and I think it was something she did as they never bit us. We sometimes used shredded paper in the bottom of the cage (which I got free from work) which reduced the amount of hay needed although we still got through a LOT of hay. The neighbours would often give me their vegetable trimmings which helped as they do like to eat and they absolutely loved corn on the cob - when they realised they were getting that they would squeak like mad.
If your daughter understands they will be a responsibility for some years I would say go for it.

 

[disneylandkitkat]

my boyfriend had one in high school... they are cute but really loud at night. Sometimes it would keep me up all night so i started not wanting to spend the night over there. Just think of the noise on school nights.