Beautiful Girlhood: Going Guinea ~ Part II

^ Red smooth haired female, Rose.

I have just come in after seeing to the guinea pigs for the night. It was such a beautiful warm day today that I decided to clean and sterilize all three cages before any more foul weather came our way. All the guinea pigs enjoyed grazing in their runs while I and swept and washed and made their beds all cosy.

I was actually hoping to publish this post about a month ago, but due to not having the content ready, I was obliged to post it a month later. In case you haven’t read part one of this small series yet, you can go back and read it here...

Over the past few years we have come to the conclusion that guinea pigs are the ideal small pets for families with young children or for people with very little time to devote to exercising a bigger animal. In this part of Going Guinea, I want to point out a few reasons why guinea pigs make such wonderful small pets for children and adults alike.

^ Snow White. You may remember him from the photographs I shared in part one. He is now living happily with his brother, Wafer in their own forever home.

At one time or another, a child or adult will feel the need to get a pet. But finding the suitable one isn't an easy task...

Bigger animals such as a dogs ultimately mean much bigger responsibilities. They are a costly commitment, especially if something happens to go goes wrong. Vaccination and sterilization bills also seem to add up very quickly and not every person has the time or the finance available for a dog or cat, so what other options are there?

We have never had much success keeping rabbits as once we filled in one hole, they just made another and thus escaped. I can’t even begin recall the amount of times we’ve chased rabbits around the garden! (Many find rabbits to be very sweet pets, so do a bit of research to find out if they may be the best pet for you).

I’ve tried keeping pet rats and I can’t say I enjoyed them much. But there again, find out from others and see if they would be good animals for you.

As small children we were never encouraged to ask for hamsters – they were always just a pet we couldn’t have. And now I have come to understand why. Children want pets they can cuddle and love and guinea pigs thrive on attention. Hamsters sleep all day and wake up only to give a nibble or to run blindly on a wheel.

Guinea pigs don’t burrow or dig – take a look at their feet and you’ll see why. Unlike a rabbit’s, their paws are made up of little toes with claws. These claws should be trimmed from time to time just like a dog’s.

^ Mr Willoughby.

Happily, guinea pigs will also not pass on any disease to a human which adds to their charms. I love giving my piggies cuddles as they have such sweet natures and seem to actually interact with me.

Our oldest male, Fudge, is now so tame that he doesn’t mind how we hold him. When we talk to him it even appears as if he is even listening!

Guinea pigs, also called cavies, will not bite.

I have found that the little baby guinea pigs enjoy nosing and nibbling fingers, but only in play and by discouraging them this should never become too much of an issue.

However, that said, my female, Candy, who died at the beginning of this year used to get much satisfaction out of giving me a good munch which could have hurt had I not been aware of her unfortunate habit. But by choosing a guinea pig carefully, as I will discuss in further detail in part three, and handling it regularly, you should end up with a wonderful little friend which will bring you much pleasure.

Please note that although this post has been written to place these lovely little creatures in the spotlight, I am by no means urging any person to rush out and just buy one. As with any pet, careful consideration is needed before the decision is made to add a guinea pig to your family. Please do as much research as you possibly can – explore the web and search your library for books on keeping guinea pigs. They really are very sweet animals and deserve to be given the best possible care.

Before I end off, I thought I would show you a few of the photos from a shoot I did this morning of Knightly and Jewel and their newest babies. Knightly is a long haired male and Jewel is a smooth haired female. Both have the same markings (but are from completely separate stock), and this is their first litter together. I was very excited to see what their babies would turn out like as both parents are really beautiful. We’ll be able to see what hair lengths they have when they get a bit older...

^ Knightly and Jewel.

^ I’m in love with this family ‘pawtrait’ of the Knightly family! Too adorable! Unfortunately I cannot remember which baby is which as they all look so similar right now, but as far as I know there are two females (Camilla and Cassie) and two males (Biggles and Caspian). They were born on Sunday the 18^th of August.