Guinea Pigs And Children

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Swissgreys

Swissgreys

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After a few distressing threads recently about guinea pigs and children, I wanted to start a thread focusing on the positive aspects of this combination.

I have both, and owning guinea pigs again has made me realise that properly educated and supervised children can have a wonderful relationship with their guinea pigs.

Children have something to offer that adults rarely do - time.

My girls spend hours with their guinea pigs.
They read to them (apparently our 4 are huge Harry Potter fans), they sit and chat to them, they hand feed them, they cut grass for them when the weather is too awful for them to be outside, they cut branches for them, they sew things for them, and the list goes on.
But mostly they have time to spend with their pets earning their trust.

Lap time today illustrated that perfectly for me.
The guinea pigs are just so comfortable being handled and around the children.

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Please use this thread to share your positive stories and photos of your guinea pigs, and the children that they own :))
 
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My daughter has had her own guinea pigs for three years, she got them for her twelfth birthday.She has learnt to be responsible enough that if I am away for the day or even overnight she knows what they need and keeps their cage spotless.She has helped nurse my babies and gives them loads of time.I suffer from fibromyalgia and she cleans out cages, changes fleeces, sorts out litter trays etc.I would struggle with them when my fibromyalgia is bad .She takes over my rabbits and my dogs including walking them when I can't.I spent time with her teaching her compassion and patience to get the most out of our pets and it seems to have worked.Her friend is the same as she spends a lot of time with us.The animals gain greatly in my opinion from the extra attention and care they receive from my kids.
 
madguinealady said:
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My daughter has had her own guinea pigs for three years, she got them for her twelfth birthday.She has learnt to be responsible enough that if I am away for the day or even overnight she knows what they need and keeps their cage spotless.She has helped nurse my babies and gives them loads of time.I suffer from fibromyalgia and she cleans out cages, changes fleeces, sorts out litter trays etc.I would struggle with them when my fibromyalgia is bad .She takes over my rabbits and my dogs including walking them when I can't.I spent time with her teaching her compassion and patience to get the most out of our pets and it seems to have worked.Her friend is the same as she spends a lot of time with us.The animals gain greatly in my opinion from the extra attention and care they receive from my kids.
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This is such a lovely story.
I think our children are often capable of so much more than we give them credit for.
Your daughter is a shining example of this.
 
Lovely thread. Looking forward to more lovely pics. Sadly my lads have never shown any interest in my piggies, so I have no pics of them with the piggies.
 
My seventeen year old loves my animals but isn't as responsible as my daughter.He helps walk my dogs and will sort the piggies and the rabbits if I ask but doesn't know what he is doing as much as my girl.I got a ten month old dog eight years ago that wasn't, kicked and punched before we got her so was extremely wary of people and couldn't handle being cornered and would snap at you if cuddled.My kids have her the space she needed and the affection on her terms.They are strict with her when they need to be.I agree that people underestimate children, it is how you teach them to deal with animals.All of mine have always been champions of animals, my daughter even want to be a vet.They will not stand for animal cruelty in any shape or form and between us we have rescued two hedgehogs, git a ferret back to its owner that was straying, got an injured bird off the common and to a rescue, saved a feral kitten, brought up a two week old kitten found on the road, relocated several frogs from the road and advised people in the proper care of animals.I have very compassionate children.

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Ignore the third pic, can't seem to delete it.Any mods would appreciate it if you could delete it for me.
 
I love the idea of this thread!
Our guinea pigs are not yet at the stage where my son can hold and cuddle them (they're still very young and very skittish/nervous), but he frequently talks to them. Every morning he goes and says hello to them and every evening before bed he says goodnight to them. When I do manage to get them out for some lap time (always in a snuggle pouch) he will gently try and stroke them a bit. I managed to get one of them out for some "on me" time two days ago (I lay in the (empty) bath so it wouldn't run away and disappear!) and he came and sat with me in the bath and gently stroked her and fed her some carrot and was super gentle. I showed him how to move his hand slowly, let her see it, tell her he's there, then stroke gently and he very sweetly did that numerous times which was just heart-warming to watch.
He struggled a little at first not being allowed to take them out and cuddle them immediately, but he now knows they're scared and has realised he needs to wait.

This is a pic of him with a guinea pig that belongs to one of our neighbours up the road:
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What a lovely thread! My two girls adore our piggies. They know not to lift them out of their cage but will put their hands in and stroke them. They love taking the veg up to hand feed them, and sitting in the run with them when they are out on the grass. They are very gentle with them and the piggies are very relaxed around them. Even when they hear the girls upstairs playing and making noise it doesn't bother them at all, whereas if a stranger enters the piggie room they run and hide lol. I think children learn an awful lot from having animals around. Also one of my dogs were terrified of kids until I had my own. When my nephews and nieces would have came she just went somewhere and hid to stay away from them, now that she is used to having her own human kids she never hides anymore when children come to the house and is happy for them to stroke her :) X

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I would say I've not had any negative experiences with kids and guinea pigs, I've found even an autistic child will come out of the shell for the guinea pigs...or any animal for that matter.
 
I don't have children (yet) but I remember when I was a child, I always loved animals and made friends with them easily. There was a sort of petting zoo place where we used to live, and you could access the animals easily and I loved going there, there was a ginger guinea pig who I would cuddle for aaaaaaaagesss, such a pretty thing. I also rememeber when my dad's friend's kid got some guinea pigs and I cried because I thought they would be sad cause she was loud and not an animal person.
I think children, like adults, are either animal people or not, and those who are will be good with them and love them and care for them. Of course to teach about how to look after them, but those who are not animal people will never really "get" it, and as a result, the pet will never have the best of lives.

Looking back on it, I realise the petting zoos of my childhood were pretty bad in that anyone could just pick up whatever animal they wanted. But as a child, it was amazing and wonderful to be able to cuddle the animals without some bossy adult telling you off or a fence in the way XD
 
image.webp I don't have photos or kids of my own (only 19) but my nieces are 7, 4, and 3. I've taught them all not to touch the guineas without my permission and supervision and they are all extremely gentle with them. My two boars are still quite young and don't like people moving around a lot and being noisy and my nieces are absolute dolls and just sit on my bed and watch them run around and very gently stroke them when they get curious enough to climb onto a lap. When I first brought Milo home he actually grew attached to my eldest niece and sat atop her lap and let her stroke him before he would even let me do that! I also have a dwarf hamster named Gizmo, I got him before I got my piggies and they are even able to hold him. They never squish him or scare him or anything. Albeit he is apparently the tamest dwarf anyone has ever met. Little guy actually sprawls out in your hand to be pet and will rub his nose on your face if you let him. Above and below are pictures of little Gizmo. image.webp
 
I love this thread! Here are my two girls with our two girls, Angel and Rosie Posie.
Not only is having children and piggies good for the piggies but also its good for children.
Of course the responsability and care of the piggies has to fall on an adult and i do believe they are not pets for young children to care for.
But that doesn't mean they cant participate in the fun things, my girls sit with them for hours, reading them stories, making toys out of paper rolls and hay, they have the patience to hand feed them, talk to them...wich is all great for the piggies but how good is it for my girls? They learn so much, patience, caring for another being, they get creative and get so excited! My eldest (5years old) loves washing lettuce and and helps me prepare their veggies, and at lap time they have had to learn to be gentle and patient, especially hard things to do for a 3 year old! So having piggies is a great experience on all sides.
Here are a few pics of them feeding them breakfast this morning, i apopologise for the lack of shirts, but it was ealy morning and it is really hot here!IMG_20160822_100238.webp

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@Solspiggies ^^ I love this - and thanks for including their ages. My son (4 - almost 5) really wants to hold and cuddle the piggies but they are still so nervous and I really struggle to get them to come out of their snuggle sack at all during lap time (which I do in the empty bath so I don't lose them!). So I haven't yet put them on my son's lap, and each time he tries to sit with me to stroke them etc he just moves SO much it's like impossible for him to sit totally still, so I get nervous and land up snapping at him and I think he loses interest so fast then and it's not really a great experience. I really must try getting him to sit like that with a blanket on his lap and see if I can manage to pick one up enough to actually place it on his lap. He's soooooo gentle with the guinea pigs he's held at the petting zoo and also the one he held that belonged to a neighbour up the road, so I have no doubt he'll be gentle, I think i'm just way too over-protective of my piggies and terrified something will happen. Will maybe ask him if he wants to try the evening veg like this tonight.

ETA: how old are your piggies? They look similar in size and fluffiness to mine (just over 2 months). I keep thinking maybe adult piggies would have been better, but obviously it's a bit late for that now...
 
GPcrazy said:
@Solspiggies ^^ I love this - and thanks for including their ages. My son (4 - almost 5) really wants to hold and cuddle the piggies but they are still so nervous and I really struggle to get them to come out of their snuggle sack at all during lap time (which I do in the empty bath so I don't lose them!). .
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Do you have a run or a floor time pen that he could sit in?
That might also work and then he could try and tempt the piggies over with some tasty treats?

I have to say though that we started with all of our in a cuddle cup at lap time, and moved on to just a blanket on the lap.
The older 3 (7 - 8 months) are now very calm and settled, but Oreo (3 months) is a like a rocket during lap time, and so far I am the only one who is allowed to handle her until she calms down and I am sure the kids will be safe with her. Sometimes it just takes time (which is hard when you have kids I know!).
 
Swissgreys said:
Do you have a run or a floor time pen that he could sit in?
That might also work and then he could try and tempt the piggies over with some tasty treats?

I have to say though that we started with all of our in a cuddle cup at lap time, and moved on to just a blanket on the lap.
The older 3 (7 - 8 months) are now very calm and settled, but Oreo (3 months) is a like a rocket during lap time, and so far I am the only one who is allowed to handle her until she calms down and I am sure the kids will be safe with her. Sometimes it just takes time (which is hard when you have kids I know!).
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I do floor time (and usually lap time) in the bathroom so that I know there's no chance of one of our cats grabbing a quick snack.
I have tried having him sit in there with me, but he moves/fidgets so much the piggies won't come out of their hideys! I tried getting him to sit in the bath so they can't see him move, but then he plays with his toy cars and ships and those make a noise :doh:

He doesn't move around a lot, like huge movements, but his hands move a fair amount and that movement is enough to scare the pigs away. Ironically, the only time I see him sitting still is at the petting farm when he has an animal on his lap. Even in bed at night there's constant fidgeting and quietly talking to himself or his toy bunny etc.

I took them out to their garden area the other day, and he sat in with them for a little bit there, but again, keeps moving his hand with grass in it hoping they'll eat from him. But he keeps moving it closer to them which makes them run away. The area is not yet secure enough for me to use often so they've only been there once.

His main movements seem to be his hands moving to try and feed the guinea pigs. He wants to keep moving the food to where they are, which just makes them hide more. He hasn't quite grasped the fact that if he just keeps his hand still in one place they're more likely to come to him.

I should probably try the bathroom floor again though, they were quite confident in there the other day when I had them out, even coming right up to me to sniff my clothes! Seems to definitely work best at veggie time. Think I'll try put them there fore veggies tonight, and see if he wants to sit in there too, then put the veggies in his lap (if he sits with his legs open wide or something).
 
GPcrazy said:
@Solspiggies ^^ I love this - and thanks for including their ages. My son (4 - almost 5) really wants to hold and cuddle the piggies but they are still so nervous and I really struggle to get them to come out of their snuggle sack at all during lap time (which I do in the empty bath so I don't lose them!). So I haven't yet put them on my son's lap, and each time he tries to sit with me to stroke them etc he just moves SO much it's like impossible for him to sit totally still, so I get nervous and land up snapping at him and I think he loses interest so fast then and it's not really a great experience. I really must try getting him to sit like that with a blanket on his lap and see if I can manage to pick one up enough to actually place it on his lap. He's soooooo gentle with the guinea pigs he's held at the petting zoo and also the one he held that belonged to a neighbour up the road, so I have no doubt he'll be gentle, I think i'm just way too over-protective of my piggies and terrified something will happen. Will maybe ask him if he wants to try the evening veg like this tonight.

ETA: how old are your piggies? They look similar in size and fluffiness to mine (just over 2 months). I keep thinking maybe adult piggies would have been better, but obviously it's a bit late for that now...
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I feel you! Its really hard to keep kids enthusiasm down,, they mean well and just want to hold and cuddle and that's exactly what the piggies don't want!
Like I've noticed today after our 1st lap time with the girls, the piggies are not as close to confident to take food from my hand in their cage... It's like one step forward two steps back.
But it's been like that all the way so far, try something new and they retreat for a few days till they get used to it, and then on to the next new thing.
I get my 3 year old to sit on the bed, place the blanket on her lap and if she's not still and ready there will be no guinea piggies cuddles... It took days for her not to jump up and down in excitement or loose interest.
As I said before, patience is key and my girl's are learning it daily now.
Ps. I also sometimes wonder if I should have got older tamed piggies
 
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