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guinea pig size

Guinea Pig Size: How They Develop Through The Age Ranges

Guinea Pig Size Development

Although they are rodents like mice, rats, and gerbils; guinea pigs grow larger than their rodent cousins. But they will never grow beyond a certain point once they have reached it and won’t grow larger than a specific size.

guinea pig size

The great thing about guinea pigs is that they are very good for children to handle and will never out-grow their small hands. This makes them great to pick up and light to hold plus you can be rest-assured that they will never get too big to handle.

This is one of the reasons that they make great pets especially for young children or elderly people.

How a guinea pig develops

A guinea pig pup tends to measure about 9.5cm long but they have been known to be as small as 8cm.

Guinea pig pups will tend to vary in size due to the amount of pups the mother has produced in the litter. If there are many pups such as between 4-6, they will probably be of a smaller size as they will have had less space to grow in the mother’s sack.

Once they reach 5 weeks old they tend to reach between 13-18cm long.

Guinea pigs grow very quickly as they are prey animals and have to adapt quickly to the environment that they live.

After about 4 months they usually reach 18-23cm maintaining the growth spurt that has seen them develop at a rapid pace.

A guinea pig will reach its full growth by 14 months which will be between 23-27cm at which point they will have reached their full maturity and stop growing. This is the average size of a guinea pig. Once they have reached this stage they will stay at the same size for the rest of their lives.

How to measure a guinea pig

If you want to measure your guinea pig, then just take a tape measure and lay it on a flat surface.

Then take your guinea pig and place it on the tape measure ensuring that the tip of the nose begins at ‘0’ and then take a measurement at the end of its rear.

It may wriggle quite a bit so it will be difficult to get a definitive measurement, but some patience and a little guiding hand will ensure that you get a good measure.

As they grow, getting a measure of guinea pig size is important to track how they are developing and to ensure they are on track.