Why did you guys decide to get guinea pigs?

FiaFlora

FiaFlora

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Jun 11, 2018
Messages
88
Reaction score
32
Points
195
Location
United States
I decided to get guinea pigs because I had a hamster that passed away, and I wanted something more challenging but still in the rodent family.
 
We decided to get guinea pigs becasue we have always ad animals, and my daughter (she was 11 at the time) was desperate for a pet of her own.
She worked hard for almost 6 months taking on various responsibilities around the house to prove she was ready, and so we got the piggies.
Of course as the adult I fully accept that they are ultimatly my responsibility, and I have always overseen their care, but several years later and she still handles them and helps care for them every single day.
 
I didn't decide, I was looking after a pair temporarily and fell in love with the little things!
 
We have only just got our piggies, my daughter wanted a pet & fell in love with guniea pigs during a holiday visit to a farm.. she was ten and we said if she researched for a year about them we would get them on her 11th bday.. every week she would tell us a new fact she had learnt & never stopped wanting them so last week we picked up her 2 girl piggies for her 11th bday xx
 
I didn't decide. My Daughter's friend had a piggy that she wasn't looking after so I took her in :)

She needed a friend, so I adopted Hettie.
 
My very first piggies were brothers, self blacks. I’d never had piggies, never wanted them but then I saw these and it was love. They would sit on my shoulders every night watching tv :love::love::love:
 
I decided a long time ago that I wanted guinea pigs or a dog but I had to think of the practicalities. I had to wait until my children were of an age where they could understand and respect them. Now they are 7 and 3. My oldest is very considerate and gentle and my youngest has a very loving nature.

I looked on some rescue sites and I decided now was the time that I could provide a good home for some guinea pigs! So here they are... Twilight and Heidi
 

Attachments

  • 42698FAF-B992-4496-B616-26A53B0DEB3C.webp
    42698FAF-B992-4496-B616-26A53B0DEB3C.webp
    52.3 KB · Views: 3
I decided to get guinea pigs because I went in the pet shop to get my hamsters supplies, heard the guinea pigs wheeking and decided I wanted some! I didn't get them impulsively right there and then though, I came home and did my research for a few weeks got them on the 4th of June :) they were supposed to both be girls but they ended up being boys!
 
I was helping at an animal sanctuary and started fostering piggies to get them used to being handled. I fell in love, so I decided to get a pair of my own, and one to bond with the single male I was fostering at the time. I had no idea how to bond them, and made a pigs ear of it, resulting in having a trio of boys, and little Pine going back to the sanctuary, where he could be right next to lots of other piggies.....then my son moved out, so I moved out his bed, made a guinea pig room, and got another two. I'm currently getting a price to have my loft converted, so....who knows?
 
Hubby has had guinea pigs for more than a decade before we met 8 yrs ago. Not sure what made him get them (he also used to have tarantulas) apart from he said they are easier to keep than dogs and cats. When we got married, he said as a wedding present for him, we can adopt 2 guinea pigs and I agreed (I love having pets anyway). He hasn't had guinea pigs for more than a year during that time. And now we have had guinea pigs for the past 6 yrs. 😍😍
 
Swissgreys said:
We decided to get guinea pigs becasue we have always ad animals, and my daughter (she was 11 at the time) was desperate for a pet of her own.
She worked hard for almost 6 months taking on various responsibilities around the house to prove she was ready, and so we got the piggies.
Of course as the adult I fully accept that they are ultimatly my responsibility, and I have always overseen their care, but several years later and she still handles them and helps care for them every single day.
Click to expand...

That’s so cool!
 
PiggyPoo said:
I decided a long time ago that I wanted guinea pigs or a dog but I had to think of the practicalities. I had to wait until my children were of an age where they could understand and respect them. Now they are 7 and 3. My oldest is very considerate and gentle and my youngest has a very loving nature.

I looked on some rescue sites and I decided now was the time that I could provide a good home for some guinea pigs! So here they are... Twilight and Heidi
Click to expand...

Aww, so cute!
 
Reenie said:
I was helping at an animal sanctuary and started fostering piggies to get them used to being handled. I fell in love, so I decided to get a pair of my own, and one to bond with the single male I was fostering at the time. I had no idea how to bond them, and made a pigs ear of it, resulting in having a trio of boys, and little Pine going back to the sanctuary, where he could be right next to lots of other piggies.....then my son moved out, so I moved out his bed, made a guinea pig room, and got another two. I'm currently getting a price to have my loft converted, so....who knows?
Click to expand...

That’s great lol
 
In 2008 we got Lenny and Gizmo as my eldest 2 boys had always wanted pets and at 10 and 12 they were old enough to take on the responsibility of owning them. Well the usual thing happened after about 6 months they got fed up of cleaning the out each week and it was Mums job! I fell in love with them then. They lasted around 5 years so I must have been doing something right.

Two years ago I was looking online at dog rescue sites when I thought that getting a dog would be too much responsibility so I mentioned about gps to my OH and he said yes it would be lovely to have them again and wasn't it a good idea of his! So I got the old cage out of the garage the next day, double checked that he actually meant it and went straight to P@H and bought Velvet and Betsy (didn't know you could get Piggies from rescues then). Velvet turned out to have 3 on board so we ended up with 5.
 
I had wanted pets for some time and I was looking and researching about guineas and rabbits(mostly rabbits) towards Christmas aroung 3 years ago.My parents said I shouldn't get anything until the next spring because then it would be more fair.but my friends Guinea pigs had babys and my mum and dad secretly got them for me for Christmas
 
I had hamsters for over 20 years as an adult.
I’d had guinea pigs as a child but didn’t think I could cope with the demands of piggies so switched to hamsters when I settled into work.
Then one day in PAH, having gone to buy my nephew’s Christmas present, I saw 2 gorgeous boys in the adoption centre. No-one wanted them!
I have since learned more about PAH but that was ore forum days.
Suffice to say I came home with the nephew’s present and 2 guinea pigs.
I fell in love with them all over again and now have 3 beautiful girls.
 
I was suffering severe depression and hadn't had any pets in a year or two since my last hamster died. I thought I wanted a pet to cuddle but in hindsight I was looking for motivation to get out of bed in the morning and function. I went from two to four in the space of a year and have maintained a number around four ever since
 
We hadn't had a pet for a couple of years since our 22 year old cat passed away and i fell in love with some skinny pigs i saw in an exotic pet shop (i would never buy from a pet shop now but i didn't know any better at the time). I researched their care for a few weeks and we eventually bought Dora and Ginger in December of last year. They were supposed to be 2 girls but turned out to be a boy and a girl, thankfully there were no babies.

I found the Guinea Pig Forum shortly after we bought Dora and Ginger and have been given a great deal of help and advice when i have come across problems that i wasn't expecting (see above).

Last month we also adopted Mavis and Peggy (haired piggies) from Little Pips guinea Pig Rehoming, We saw their photo here on the Forum and just felt they were right for us. , So (after passing the adoption process) we found ourselves driving from Manchester to Devon to bring them home to join our little family.
 
A friend of a friend had a lone guinea pig living in a hutch at the bottom of their garden after her kids had lost interest. I adopted Connie and brought her a friend a few days later.

The obsession just grew and 10 years later, I am still being owned by piggies
 
I had fond memories of having a part-time guinea pig as a child (she was the class pet, I got to keep her in the summers.) For years, my husband and I had African hedgehogs. Our last hedgehog was a rescue who was not accustomed to people and lived six years without ever warming up to us... by then we had children who wanted to interact with the pets but were stymied constantly by Thistle's spines and the fact that she hated being handled, so after she passed away we decided to get something more docile that the kids could also enjoy. We settled on guinea pigs because they were a comparable size to the hedgehogs with a longer lifespan for a small animal (I've had a ton of rodents over the years, love them dearly, and the short lifespan is the only thing that could stand improvement. We also have hamsters, but I have to say the two or three year span kills me. It's just too short and watching their speedy little 'bouncy baby to senior' lifespan play out over a couples years is really hard for me.) I honestly really love the guinea pigs and can't see myself not having a pair. They're great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top