I have referenced this a few times and thought I should share why NOT to get a guinea pig or pigs in our case.
I am an incredibly responsible pet owner, and I think all pets from fish, rodents, reptiles, cats, dogs, horses...whatever you have should be cared for right. So my son swore to me if I got him a guinea pig he would care for it. He was turning 9 and I thought why not, he's definitely old enough and takes care of the fish with supervision so this should be good.
So I read as much about Guinea Pig care as I could find. Found out they are very social and two pigs are better than one...so of course I got two. Found out that their cage needed a specific amount of sqare feet so I had my husband build a custom one. Also found out they needed to run around a certain amount of time so we got several guinea pig playpens and put them together so the kids could have enough room to sit in them with the pigs and they could run around. Got all the toys, best food, hay, hammock, liner, tunnels, etc. This was going to be done right if we were going to do it.
The only part I had a problem with is that I'm terrified of rodents...yup I don't know why but I am...even rabbits, I won't touch them. So in order to get these things my son and husband promised me they would handle them enough each day and I was ok with that. Went to the pet store (I know but until after this incident I didn't know about Guinea Pig Rescue) made the girl verify that the two I was getting were of the same sex (if you push them in a certain spot their penis will poke out if they are male) so home came Bruce and Alfred...because batman was big in our house two years ago.
The kids are playing with them and I notice they are pooing and peeing as they walk...huh?
No where did I read this about them...why was that left out of all the guinea pig sites? Then I come to find out that they do this in their cage as well...they will actually sleep in their mess...eeeewwww!
Ok I figure I'll have to learn to live with that and will just clean the cage way more than it said I had to.
All was great the first few weeks...then the trouble started. The "Did you play with the Guinea Pigs yet?" nagging and nagging. These were babies when I got them and after threatening to bring them back to the pet store my son promised he would play with them more (my husband was the only one touching them at this point). So he goes to take them out and one bites him (probably because he hasn't handled them in a while) and now he's terrified to touch them. So this lasts for another two weeks (my husband still the only one handling them) and decide I can't keep them if they aren't going to get enough attention and since I'm afraid to touch them, well I really couldn't help in that department. So I found a home for them where they live in their luxorious custom cage with all their accessories and are handled regularly.
So the reason for not getting Guinea Pigs is not because they don't make good pets or because they poo and pee everywhere, it's because no matter what they say your kids will not be the owners of said Guinea Pigs...you will!
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