Caring for your Guinea Pigs

Origin

Guinea pigs are considered part of the rodent family. Their scientific name is "Cavia Porcellus." All guinea pigs are originally from the mountainous regions of South America. They have been around as early as 1000 BC.

Life Span

Guinea Pigs have an average life span of 5 – 7 years.

Physical Characteristics

There are three types of guinea pigs.

The Common Guinea Pig has short, straight fine hair.
The Peruvian Guinea Pig has long, straight, silky hair.
The Abyssinian Guinea Pig has rough, wiry, curly hair.

Sexing

Male guinea pigs are called "Boars" and have obvious testicles and the penis is present inside the skin between them.
Female guinea pigs are call "Sows" and have a Y shaped tissue depression with the anus located in the back of the Y.

Behavioral Characteristics

In general, Guinea pigs are gentle, friendly animals who like love and attention from people. Since guinea pigs are animals that are prayed upon in the wild they can be fearful if they feel unsafe. Since each guinea pig has a unique personality they each react different to various stimuli. As a result it is important to be observant and to watch, learn and know what makes your guinea pig feel safe and comfortable as well as his/her likes and dislikes. When guinea pigs feel unsafe they usually freeze or run away.

Helping your guinea pig feel safe

Here are some of the conditions which can help guinea pigs feel safe.

Controlled Environment (people, other animals, cage and room they are in)
Consistency (handling, diet, schedule)
Love and Attention (gentle handling, attention)

Here are some things which may make some guinea pigs feel unsafe.

Loud noises
Indifference (handling them with out talking to them)
Inconsistent surroundings
Traveling
Inconsistent diet
Dirty environment
Inconsistent handling

What happens if a Guinea pig becomes afraid?

There are three basic reactions guinea pigs can have to fear.

Fight
Flight
Freeze

All guinea pigs will react in one of these 3 ways to fear. These are characteristics which are a result of instinct and the genetic code. There are no bad guinea pigs. If a guinea pig is afraid enough it may bite (fight response to fear). Even if we don’t like an animal’s behavior (and the behavior is “bad”), the animal is not bad. Of the three responses guinea pigs can have to fear, let’s look at each one and see how they affect our guinea pig.

Freeze

Guinea pigs that freeze stay very still. Sometimes they even hold their breath for long periods of time. They can continue chewing or stop chewing. If you see this (and you probably will), just notice it. If you are observant you will start to notice what you can do to help your pig feel less scared.

Flight

This is when a guinea pig feels unsafe and runs away. Some guinea pigs freeze first then when the time is right they run away. Since guinea pigs can run from fear chasing them makes them more afraid, so if you can its best to give them the space and let them come to you. Some guinea pigs will do this quickly; some may not come to you for weeks to months (or longer). But it always helps to know its not you but simply that your pig is afraid. Don’t feel bad or guilty or wrong, just notice when your guinea pig is the least afraid and interact like that.

Fight

This is third way guinea pigs react to fear. This presents itself in the form of chewing or biting. These animals are not bad, they are simply afraid and this is how they deal with it. Unfortunately, it can be challenging in a household to have guinea pigs that react to fear with a fight response. Since they are simply afraid (just like guinea pigs who react with freeze or flight) if we are emotionally hurt or offended and fight back (hitting, yelling, etc) this will only make them more afraid.

The way guinea pigs operate.

When a guinea pig is afraid they can react in any of the three ways we discussed, but there are several interesting points.

Which ever way they respond (based on instinct). They will probably always respond this way. This is why it helps to know your guinea pig.
They can respond in more then one of these ways. For example some guinea pigs will always follow this pattern. They become afraid and they run (flight) then as they become even more afraid they eventually get afraid enough to go to the next level (fight or freeze).Usually fight is the last part of their pattern, but once you know their pattern you can always predict it.

Why this is vital information is because you can notice where your guinea pig is and you can make changes (put your baby down or pick your baby up or stop petting or change the environment- what ever it takes to help your guinea pig feel more safe.