Pet Guinea Pig

COMMON NAME: Guinea Pig or Cavy

SCIENTIFIC NAME : Cavia porcellus

DISTRIBUTION : South America

HABITAT : Originally, the rocks on Andean and other hillsides, but Guinea Pigs have been domesticated for many centuries

ADULT SIZE: 25 cm (10 in)

GENERAL: These strange little rodents have been kept by South American Indians for centuries to use as food, and they are still treated as such. However in Europe, Britain and North America they are kept as pets and show animals. There are various types and color varieties available, and the animals are gregarious so they should be kept together.

Guinea Pigs are highly strung animals so they must be approached and handled with care. They are also strange in that many of the common antibiotics prove fatal to them, which mean that there may be considerable difficulty in treating them if they become ill. Never keep these animals in a garage as car fumes will kill them. They also suffer from heatstroke, so keep them out of the sun.

FOOD : Hay and a proprietary mixture of concentrates, or else suitable pellets, form a good basis for a Guinea Pig diet. But they cannot synthesize vitamin C, so have to have a daily supply of fresh fruit or vegetables which must not be wet or frosty.

HOUSING : Commercial Guinea Pig hutches are not adequate on their own, though they can be used in conjunction with an attached outside run which must have a weld mesh floor or the animals will burrow out. The whole thing can be moved periodically to a new part of the garden. A slab of concrete should be placed outside the hutch door, otherwise the claws will become overgrown.

BREEDING: Females come into season once a fortnight, and if mated at that time they will give birth 60-74 days later to a litter of two or three babies. They can breed as early as four to five weeks so one needs to separate the sexes at this time. It is best not to mate animals earlier than about four months.

It is important to buy young animals as the life span is less than three years.