Have you ever owned or wanted to own a pet? A cat or a dog, maybe even a guinea pig? Pets can be a lot of fun, but a big responsibility. For my (early) birthday I got two guinea pigs, one named Mocha and one is undergoing a name process, but for now we call her Squirrel or "No-Name." If you are thinking of getting a small animal, specifically a guinea pig, here are some great tips to help you.
Guinea pigs live up to 8 years. The record age is 15 years! If you take good care of them, they should live a long time. They are herbivores, which means that they eat veggies and fruits, sort of like a vegetarian. You should not feed them milk, bread or cheese though. Guinea pigs teeth constantly grow, so they need to have chew sticks to chew on which will help keep their teeth from growing too long. They also don’t produce vitamin C, so you must be sure that they have vitamin C supplements to prevent them from getting scurvy. Some common health symptoms are runny nose, which could also mean an upper respiratory tract infection, (which Mocha had) diarrhea, and lice. They are susceptible to heat stroke, so put the cage in a shady area. It is not a good idea to keep male and females together, because they will definitely have babies. If you get two boys, it is better to get them from the same litter to prevent fighting issues. They are social animals so they do best in pairs. They can grow to 12 or more inches and 1000g which is about 2 1/4 lb. They should have at least 4 square feet of cage space. Guinea pigs spines are different then mice and hamsters. They don't bend back so DO NOT GET THEM A SPINNING WHEEL!!!!! They are about $30, the cage is about $60, and the bedding is about $25 or more, but in my opinion it is best to get a starter kit which includes all necessary items like the cage, food, water bottle, Timothy hay and bedding. I hope this helped if you are considering getting a guinea pig. Do you own any pets? If so, what kind and what is are some interesting facts about your pet?
22 comments:
I do not have any pets. I used to have some goldfish that I got from school but they all died. They all had some kind of tail disease. I do not want any pets since I don't really like cleaning the cage.
Dear Ella,
Your guinea-pigs are really cute.I used to have a fish but it died.Mr.Roels was the one who gave the fish to us.He gave 2 fishes.He has a lot that's why.You are so lucky that you have a guinea pig.My parents don't let me have a pet.
Nice Blog!
Dear Ella,
I do have pets. My family has three fishes and a dog right now. Once, we had two parakeets. In the winter, we put them in the garage. Sadly, both of them died.
Sincerely,
The Plant
-Ella
You are so lucky to have a guinea pig. I had always wanted a hamster, but my mom said they carry a type of disease that are not good for humans.
Right now my family has five fishes. Two are neon fishes, an angelfish, a shimmery tail one - don't know its name, and I think a guppy. In our fish tank we also have three aquatic plants, a bubble machine, and of course a fliter to clean the fishes' water.
My mom has to clean the fish tank about every one to two months or the fish tank would hve a bunch of algae stuck on the glass and you cannot see ther fishes.
The fishes don't have much specialty in them, but they are so silly when I just come to the fish tank and the fishes come to the suface of the water like I am going to feed them even though I am not.
I don't own any pets but I used to have a goldfish called Shiny. He died 2years ago. Some facts I know about goldfish are the oldest ever recorded goldfish was 49 years old. Goldfish have a memory that lasts up to 3 months. Goldfish don’t have a stomach.
I don't have a pet, but I am dying to get a dog. My mom says I can't get any pet except fish witch are boring (sorry fish) until I have a job witch is like a-billion years later.
Ella I do have a pet. They are fish. The only thing interesting about my fish is they get babies fast. After your blog I think I want too buy the starter kit.
I never knew about this. You must have really studied hard to get those guinea pigs. just one last thing to say ...........GUINEA PIGS CAN GET LICE?!?!?!? wow..... never knew.
P.S. cute guinea pigs!
Yes, I do own a pet. My pet is a blue beta fish. It is my only pet. It hasn't been eating very well lately. It eats flakes. We try and take care of it very well.
My family owns two cats, but one is my sister's. Some interesting facts about Phoenix (my cat) are that he is a big cat, but he is actually scared of my sister's small cat, Rose sometimes. Rose looks like a helpless, fat furball, but she can be so mean sometimes) Normally he shoves her away when eating, but if Rose bats him away, he'll wait until Rose is finished. If there's a fight, Rose will always win. Rose doesn't like dogs. Once I brought her to look at my neighbor's dog, Jayla. She hissed and tried to swipe at Jayla, claws out. Jayla sure had a scare. She ran away.
Great post, Ella!
Nice guinea pigs! what I always wonder is that guinea pigs aren't pigs.Are they pigs from New Guinea, or are they just called that be cause that is just a weird name.what are you going to name those guinea pigs?
I like guinea pigs because they give you company. I don't know how to entertain it though. I don't have any pets. If I would have a pet, I would like a dog. I don't know why? If is just AWESOME!!!
Ella,
I do not have a pet. I don't really want a pet, except for a fish. A fish is the only pet I want. I don't want a big pet because you have to do much for them. Not that I don't like large animals. I like all animals. If it weren't for animals, we probably wouldn't be standing on the planet Earth right now. Nice blog, Ella. Your guinea pigs are so cute. Which one has the runny nose? I can't tell.
I don't have any pets. I used to have three goldfish, but they all died. One of them lived longer because he was really fat. I don't want pets because they are a big responsibility.
I guess your convincing skills worked! I hope Mocha feels better soon. You got some nice guinea pigs. I had pets in India. My relatives in India had and have two turtles, two dogs, and several fish. Here in the USA I have none. You're lucky you have a pet. I wish I had one. Any ways, great post Ella! (:
I used to have a pet guinea pig, but it ate so much that it was not able to walk and died. I also had a fish, but my brother (who was three) fed it a tomato slice and it died. I am most likely going to get a pet this weekend or next week. I want to get a hamster because they can be very fun to play with but they are very hard to catch so we have to be careful!!!!
Great Post Ella!! I don't have any pets. I'm dying to get a GUINEA PIG but my parents are weird and won't get me one. I love to play with dogs. Any pet interests me a lot. Thanks ELLA!!!!!!!!
Hi Ella!
Love your blog! I LOVE pets! You know what you should call "Squirrel"? Have you ever heard of the book The World According to Humphrey? It would be so cute to call it Humphrey! A few more names are Ellie, Amazon, and Penelope. I got them from www.lovingyourpet.co.uk/pet-names/guinea-pig-names/ For cute names, it says Annie on it! I babysit a guinea pig before and it also had a runny nose. It wasn't anything bad, so I just used a tissue and wiped it. It was gone for the few days I babysit it. It was called Collar. I have two birds: The new one is called Chi and the other one I may rename it Chao.
Nice Post!
Hi Ella,
Great blog. Hope Mocha gets better soon. Happy Birthday to you (and me)!! ;)
I have four goldfish, and my mom says I cannot have a dog until I get better at caring for the animals. That is such a bummer since I really, really want a dog and so does my brother.
Nice Blog Ella,
To answer your quetions, I only have some fish. They are: Neons, Red eyed balloon, goldfish, guppies and some ghost (see through) shrimps and some crabs. But that seems a lot but they are only fish (not a lot!!!). I am DYING to have some other type of animal!!!!! Any type, dogs, cats WHATEVER!!!!
-Ella
I have had a time when i wanted a dog now my cousin has a dog named Nemo. He is a mix but he barks a lot. So far i have fish there are two I will really remember. The big Goldfish and the,small goldfish i've had them from the end of first grade so i'm hoping they can make it till the end of forth grade. I never thought guinea pigs could get lice.
Great Blog!
Dear Ella,
Happy Birthday I do not have any pets but my family used to have a beta fish, we named the beta fish beta because in our language bets means son! I like how a Gecko looks like and such animals but since you have to clean it's poop and give it food that are like flies I don't like it that much. Nice blog post- Shrirang and happy birthday!!!
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