Nuts, I tell you!!
They'd never seen a guinea pig before and yet here were these real-live adorable, softy and cuddly little animals that would sit quietly in the children's laps. They were SO much better than stuffed animals because you can feed them like a baby!
Well, the kids started to ask if they could have a guinea pig. Every day they asked. Pictures that they would paint would have an overwhelming theme of guinea pigs.
Guinea pigs! GUINEA PIGS!
Eventually, after several loonng weeks, the infatuation with guinea pigs faded away. Guinea pigs were nowhere on our radar until last week when Elizabeth checked out a guinea pig book from her school library and the fascination has begun anew. At night, Carolyn our #1 animal lover has asked if we would please (please please please please please please please please please please please please PLEASE!!!) get her a guinea pig. PLEASE. She would feed it every day.
She would play with it every day.
She would clean it's cage.
She would be the best guinea pig owner in the entire world!
Carolyn is actually a wonderful pet owner. Of all our children, she will happily take Louie for walks and always makes sure he has clean water in his bowl. She's probably too good of a pet owner since she also will take CLEAN blankets and DOWN pillows off her bed to make him a cozy place to sleep.
At night before she goes to bed she'll ask, "Mom. Tonight can you talk to Dad about getting me a guinea pig?" In the morning, before the sun is up, she's climbing in to bed with me and will sweetly ask, "So? What's the answer? Can I get a guinea pig? TODAY? Or ... maybe we should just go to the guinea pig store and look...."
Right. Like that's going to happen.
I was born at night, but not LAST night.
Earlier this week, I came home from work to find the girls making a guinea pig house out of a cardboard box. They had taken half a bag of cotton balls and made it a bed. They filled a small bowl with water and broke carrots and apples in to small pieces that they put in a little "trough." They'd even created a tunnel so it could pass from one box to the next. I didn't get a picture of it, but the next day they painted it and plastered princess stickers all over it.
The perfect home for a guinea pig.
The only thing that's missing is a guinea pig...
That poops and I hear can be quite stinky.
The best pets are guinea pigs. They don't stink, imho, and as you saw are the friendliest little guys. My only complaint is that they don't live very long. But they are the most loveable little pets ever.
ReplyDeleteWe have a guinea pig and they are honestly the sweetest little things! It took me awhile to get past te whole "it's a rodent" thing, but once I did I was hooked! They do poop a lot, but they don't smell at all. Our cage is in the living room and you would never know it's there. We clean the cage once a week and give him a bath about once a month. They are the easiest pet ever and so cute and cuddly. That being said...it's still a pet and we has to make arrangements when we are out of town,etc...which can be a pain but would happen no matter what kind of pet you had.
ReplyDeleteYes, you've got that right....they're stinky! Does she have any zhu zhu pets? They are ADORABLE, and they dont smell! :)
ReplyDeleteVery, very cute pictures, btw.
Oh they are so sweet! they stink if you don't clean the cage weekly and you would be the one doing it:) They are kind of fragile so do some research on them. I have had many many piggies, I recommend getting a female since the boys have a tendency to have issues with their "boy parts" getting clogged up:)
ReplyDeleteKelly, Karen & Lynda: It's good to hear this feedback - - I'd heard mixed things about guinea pigs (from the comments on my prior post.) I don't think it would be a problem to clean it's cage every week, the challenge is where it would go? I don't want to put it in their bedrooms because I'm afraid they'd try to sleep with it / them. Living room ... I could maybe see that for us, too.
ReplyDeleteOur cage is on wheels so it can be easily moved from room to room. We keep it in the living room 90% of the time because I feel like he is less lonely there! We wheel him to our office for parties, etc...And we've had ours for over a year and I have never, ever cleaned the cage. My twins do it every Sunday and it takes them about 15 minutes. And they honestly NEVER complain about that chore. They are so glad we finally let them get a pet they aren't about to complain!!! I read the other comments about them smelling, but I can honestly say I have never, ever smelled ours. We have a fairly big cage (a rabbit cage, we just don't use the metal grill part) though and only one guinea pig, so maybe that is why.
ReplyDeletewe have our cage in the office. She can hear the fridge and kitchen sounds and loves it.
ReplyDeletealso our last female lived to be 7!
ReplyDeleteJust something to think about. . . Louie might be very excited about having a guinea pig too, but, being a dog, he might not see it as a pet. Not that eliminates you from getting a guinea pig, but you might need some rules about when it can be out of its cage (i.e. only when Louie is in his crate, etc.) for its safety. You can work with Louie on being nice to him, or maybe he'll be good with him right away, but it may be a little extra work you hadn't thought of.
ReplyDeleteWe had the class guinea pigs over Christmas break one year. That was enough for us. People who have guinea pigs think they do not smell. People who do not have guinea pigs think they do.
Not sure about guinea pigs, but we also had a hamster stay at our house over a Christmas break. Everyone wanted his cage in their room until they found out he was nocturnal and ran on his noisy squeaky wheel - all night. His cage ended up on the counter downstairs after the first night. Yeah - he was pretty stinky too.
Lesa in WI
When I first started teaching in 2006 we had a guinea pig in our class. When the teacher who bought Sissy left she left Sissy with me. I loved Sissy but was some work. The cage does get stinky and needs to be changed weekly which is not a big deal but when you are teaching all week its another thing on the to do list. Sadly to say Sissy passed away last year and it was very sad. I cried because I loved her and she was always their squeaking at me when I walked in the room. I have thought about getting another guinea pig. I have hermit crabs in my classroom
ReplyDelete