This Guinea Pig Went To Market, This Guinea Pig Went To Sea… How My Love For Guinea Pigs Started With A Lie

“Someone lied to me”

These were the first thoughts that came into my mind when I first got a pair of Guinea Pigs.

Unlike other children, I was expecting a pair of porkers to play with who would eventually grow fatter, bigger and taller than me. Pets I could roll around in the mud in and basically feed anything. As someone who grew up on a farm, I was constantly exposed to pigs. There’s nothing cuter than piglets running around playing with each other or trailing behind their mom begging to be fed.

So when they said I’d be getting Guinea pigs for Christmas, I was fully expecting to fill up the pens I’d just constructed out back with adorable porkers to take care of.

The rodents in my hand and the look on my face told everyone how dismayed I was.

Thankfully, those little rodents changed my mind within a couple of minutes. 

Guinea pigs are rodents and they don’t come from New Guinea. They come from the Andes mountains and the closest thing that would earn them the name “pig” is their ability to squeal like a newborn piglet. You also call that squealing sound as “wheek”.

Guinea pigs are perfect pets for children as they’re mostly very clean animals whose docile nature and curiosity to the world around them provide hours of entertainment for the young ones.

Guinea pigs are herbivores. This means they eat a plant-based diet. Not just any plant though. Try feeding them green leafy vegetables. They love that. Fresh hay is also good. To further complement their diet, you can add these into the mix.

Every now and then, introduce hard nuts for them to crack. They love those and the hard shells will help wear their teeth down. You can also place a designated gnawing block of wood for that specific purpose.

A bowl of clean water and a salt lick should complete their dietary needs. 

Vitamins and minerals in powder form spread on their food should keep them healthy. Make sure you get calcium powder from us or your local pet shop.

As soon as I set them down on the table, these two curious nuggets started wandering off and they may look slow because of their big bellies but don’t let their chubby appearance fool you. These little critters are fast when they want to be. Their small size also lets them escape into holes and hard to reach places. Keep a watchful eye on these guys.

For their home, we started out with a cage large enough to house the pair and eventually installed tunnels to connecting cages so they could have some fun exploring. 

I did get to roll around with my pets when they grew older but with the help of a guinea pig ball for short periods of time and I took them with me to explore the world outside. I never got to wrestle with them in the mud. They don’t seem to like being dirty.