Superpiggies
Junior Guinea Pig
As I still technically am a child myself, I know a lot of the pros and cons with children owning Piggies. So, here are a few tips, tricks and ideas on how to help your child learn how to take care of a guinea pig.
Loss of interest
Its quite common that children loose interest in their pets. It's usually because of after-school activities or hanging out with their friends. Now, this did happen to me at some point, and now i feel really regretful about it! Here are a few tips, to getting them to look after them properly. Now these could be a bit too much, of course it depends how old your child is, their behaviour ect..
-Go to the local guinea pig rescue, and show them how many pigs need a home, and how bad it is to neglect their piggie, and give them up.
-Do your kids like science/biology? Well, you can try some experiments with your piggies! (Not harmful ones though!) For example: Looking at their behaviour and writing down notes on different movements
-Get your kids interested in entering a small pet show
-Have a small "pet day" where friends can come together and show and give a presentation about their pets
-Let them have a look on the internet, (yeah, we all know kids are on the internet these days) and get them interested into pet forums ect..
-Show them pictures of neglected piggies that need help for example a poor guinea pig thats in a cage, that looks like it hasn't been cleaned out for 2 months.
Also, i know this one is a bit odd, but good. Talk to them about how, you (the child) wants to live an awesome pampered life. Say like when they want candy and stuff like that, they want a good life, right? Say to them: YOLO you only life once, about if you can't live a perfect life, why not try to give someone else a good life (aka the guinea pig a good life)? In my opinion, it sounds like great fun, pampering pets to give them the best life ever!
Tricks to use before buying a guinea pig for your child:
-Give them firm instructions on who is doing what job (This will make them feel very responsible and feel very mature, and be more interested of taking care of their guinea pigs)
-Introduce them to a pet forum (like this one, the best) and it will get them more into the responsibility of owning a guinea pig, its health ect..
-Buy them a book about guinea pigs to get all the needed information soaked into the kids
-Remind the kids that they are LIVING CREATURES and should be handled with lots of care, and that it is not a doll you are playing with!
Do you feel like your child is slowly slipping away from your piggie?
Tips to keep up the interest of taking care of your piggie:
-Introduce them to a pet forum
-Go to the pet shop to maybe buy some new toys and cage accessories
-Let them set up the cage and put the toys and cage furniture in (This makes them interested and makes them excited to what the guinea pig thinks about the new cage setup)
-Take them to a small pet show
How do i know if my child will be responsible and good at taking care of guinea pigs?
Take them to a local friend who has a pet (any pet) and let them be "pet-sitters" for a day. Do they seem interested in taking care of the animal(s)? Are they willing to do more that is needed? Are they happy of being a pet-sitter? Are they doing a brilliant job? Or are you keep having to say do this and that, they aren't interested, they are groaning and moaning and they don't seem at all interested.
Hope this helped lots!
Superpiggies x
Loss of interest
Its quite common that children loose interest in their pets. It's usually because of after-school activities or hanging out with their friends. Now, this did happen to me at some point, and now i feel really regretful about it! Here are a few tips, to getting them to look after them properly. Now these could be a bit too much, of course it depends how old your child is, their behaviour ect..
-Go to the local guinea pig rescue, and show them how many pigs need a home, and how bad it is to neglect their piggie, and give them up.
-Do your kids like science/biology? Well, you can try some experiments with your piggies! (Not harmful ones though!) For example: Looking at their behaviour and writing down notes on different movements
-Get your kids interested in entering a small pet show
-Have a small "pet day" where friends can come together and show and give a presentation about their pets
-Let them have a look on the internet, (yeah, we all know kids are on the internet these days) and get them interested into pet forums ect..
-Show them pictures of neglected piggies that need help for example a poor guinea pig thats in a cage, that looks like it hasn't been cleaned out for 2 months.
Also, i know this one is a bit odd, but good. Talk to them about how, you (the child) wants to live an awesome pampered life. Say like when they want candy and stuff like that, they want a good life, right? Say to them: YOLO you only life once, about if you can't live a perfect life, why not try to give someone else a good life (aka the guinea pig a good life)? In my opinion, it sounds like great fun, pampering pets to give them the best life ever!
Tricks to use before buying a guinea pig for your child:
-Give them firm instructions on who is doing what job (This will make them feel very responsible and feel very mature, and be more interested of taking care of their guinea pigs)
-Introduce them to a pet forum (like this one, the best) and it will get them more into the responsibility of owning a guinea pig, its health ect..
-Buy them a book about guinea pigs to get all the needed information soaked into the kids
-Remind the kids that they are LIVING CREATURES and should be handled with lots of care, and that it is not a doll you are playing with!
Do you feel like your child is slowly slipping away from your piggie?
Tips to keep up the interest of taking care of your piggie:
-Introduce them to a pet forum
-Go to the pet shop to maybe buy some new toys and cage accessories
-Let them set up the cage and put the toys and cage furniture in (This makes them interested and makes them excited to what the guinea pig thinks about the new cage setup)
-Take them to a small pet show
How do i know if my child will be responsible and good at taking care of guinea pigs?
Take them to a local friend who has a pet (any pet) and let them be "pet-sitters" for a day. Do they seem interested in taking care of the animal(s)? Are they willing to do more that is needed? Are they happy of being a pet-sitter? Are they doing a brilliant job? Or are you keep having to say do this and that, they aren't interested, they are groaning and moaning and they don't seem at all interested.
Hope this helped lots!
Superpiggies x
Very constructive. 
Mine have responsibilities, eg. my son does water bottles every day (he is 8) and my daughter gives the piggies and bunny their veggies but I always check afterwards (covertly, so they dont think that I dont trust them) to make sure its been done properly. 