facts about guinea pigs for kids

50 Fun Facts About Guinea Pigs for Kids

Guinea pigs are some of the cutest and best pets that you could have. If you are looking for some fun and interesting facts about guinea pigs to help with a homework project or maybe you are just really interested in them, then here are 50 Fun Facts About Guinea Pigs for Kids to get you started.

50 Fun Facts About Guinea Pigs for Kids

1. Guinea pigs originally come from the Andes mountains in South America

2. Did you know that the name for a male Guinea pig is a ‘boar’, the name for a female Guinea pig is a ‘sow?

3. Did you know that a baby guinea pig is called a pup?

4. You can tell that a guinea pig is happy because they ‘purr’.

5. Guinea pigs need to drink water to stop getting thirsty but actually get a lot of water from eating grass.

6. Guinea pigs are not actually pigs. They are rodents.

facts about guinea pigs for kids7. Guinea pigs will eat all day and night.

8. They are vegetarians and love green grass and vegetables

9. When they sense their owner is nearby they will squeak to get their attention.

image: flickr rochelle hartman

10. They are very social animals and love the company of others, even humans.

11. They do not bite in defence and will only bite because they think your hand is food.

12. They need a supplement of vitamin c as they do not produce it themselves.

13. Guinea pigs love to be held as they love contact.

14. After they are born, male guinea pigs need to be taken away from their mother’s as they may try and mate with her after a month.

15. Guinea pigs really don’t like the weather when it’s really hot or really cold, they like it somewhere in-between.

16. Guinea pigs are really easy to handle as they are very tame.

17. When you are holding a guinea pig, the way to settle it down if its wriggling too much is to bring your hand under its back-side and it will stop wriggling.

18. Why are guinea pigs called guinea pigs? Some people think that the term ‘guinea’ is actually a mispronunciation of the country of ‘Guyana’ which is in south America where Guinea pigs come from

19. Guinea pigs have the ability to live on their own up to 5 days after being born.

20. The amount of time that a guinea pig is pregnant for is 70 days.

21. A female guinea pig (called a sow) is able to produce a litter of up to 4 young guinea pig pups.

22. They tend to breed in the summer months.

23. Did you know that doctors in the Andes mountains in South America have been known to use guinea pigs to find illnesses in people? What they do is to put the guinea pig up against the sick person and it will let out a squeak when they close to where the disease is.

24. There are places in South America that eat guinea pig for food

25. Did you know that guinea pig pups can run after 3 hours of being born?

26. Guinea pigs don’t have the same number of toes on their fore feet compared to their hind feet. They actually have 3 on their forefeet and 4 on their hind feet.

27. Did you know that another name for a guinea pig is a cavy?

28. When they live in the wild, guinea pigs go around in herds.

29. Did you know that Guinea pigs don’t need to sleep for long periods? Instead they prefer to take short naps throughout the day and night

30. You can tell that a guinea pig is relaxed because they stretch out.

31. Did you know that guinea pigs teeth are constantly growing? They always need things to gnaw on to grind them down so love eating coarse foods like grass and hay

32. Did you know that guinea pig ears are very sensitive to noise and do not like any loud bangs?

fun facts about guinea pigs
image: flickr

33. Guinea pigs need their nails cut on a frequent basis to stop then growing into their foot.

34. The guinea pig has a lifespan of up to 8 years.

35. The world record for the longest ever living guinea pig is 15 years.

36. Did you know that when guinea pig pups are born they have all their fur? Guinea pig pups also have their eyes open, have claws that they can use and are able to eat solid food.

37. Guinea pigs can’t sweat like humans can and so can get heat stroke if they are left out in the sun or become too hot. They love to sit in the shade whenever possible.

38. Guinea pigs are fragile creatures and so need to be treated with gentle hands. If you are rough with them they could break bones.

39. Guinea pigs have a total of 258 bones in their body.

40. Guinea pigs have a very good field of vision and are able to see around them so as to detect predators. However they can’t see anything straight in front of their noses which means they don’t see what they eat.

41. They use touch a great deal to find food and have tactile hairs around the eyes, mouth and nostrils to detect food and and to help moving around in the dark.

42. Guinea pigs were brought to Europe by Spanish sailors returning from south America during their travels to the new world in the 15th century.

43. Another thought to how guinea pigs got their name is that the name may have come from the Spanish name ‘conchinillo’ which means ‘little pig’ as when they are cooked they look a bit like pigs.

44. They have evolved to avoid predators and prey animals and not attackers.

45. Their natural habitat is grassy plains.

46. When they are in their herds they rely on each other for safety. For this reason, there are more eyes, ears and noses to sense out trouble if it comes their way and the predator has a harder time catching a herd than individual guinea pigs.

47. Guinea pigs are fast and agile and can turn without pausing.

48. They are able to memorise their tracks and grass tunnels so as to escape their predators.

49. They are able to get into very tiny cracks and crevices so you need to be careful when making a home for them as they can escape through small cracks.

50. Guinea pigs squeal when they are frightened however they may also go totally silent when frightened as well. Guinea pigs have also been known to sing by rubbing their teeth in an unusual way which indicates that it is very scared.

If you got here, well done on taking in all 50 Fun Facts About Guinea Pigs for Kids! What was your favorite fact? Let me know in the comments below.

153 thoughts on “50 Fun Facts About Guinea Pigs for Kids

      1. i have 2 guinea pigs and it was fun to read about how other guinea pigs live in the wild and other fun facts about my 2 pigs Hobo and Midnight. And i guess you could say they learned something, they were reading this with me 😀

        1. These facts are great but it would be helpful if someone could say what kind of guinea pig makes the best pet thanks for the facts though

          1. Hi if you’re looking for a first guinea pig then a smooth haired guinea pig like an American GP is best.

          2. American guniea pig i have tw diffrwnt breeds but the american guniea pig is the easyest to tame and open up better to humand i have learned

      2. Did I really work because I getting a ginina pig for crismas and i learning a lot about them so if you could . Could you give me some lesson on not what to do

        1. i have a guinea pig just being on this website for two minutes i learned so much hint hint boys pee every where so get a girl first then a boy if you are ready for another one

        2. Don’t:
          1: drop it
          2: stop playing with it for an extreme amount of time
          3: feed it food you aren’t sure if the guinea can eat it or not
          3: chase it around your cage with your hands, you need trust.
          I hope this helped!

        3. Don’t try pick them up when they don’t want to be, they would prefer to eat out of your hand. It’s a great trust exercise. Get a large cage but put hiding spots and LOTS of hay. They need unlimited amounts of hay! Guinea pigs are loads of fun, mines 5 going on six in 2016.

          1. My 2 Guinea Pigs are in Guinea Pig Paradise when it comes to hay! They are 2 years old and they are turning 3 on Febuary 22nd, 2016! They have loads of hay in the corner where we hide treats in them sometimes! I have had my Guinea pig for 3 years about and I just love plating with them!

        4. These facts are great and thanks I now no what to do with my guinea pig and what not to do I am very thankful that you guys provide these facts

        5. You can always ask google or even YouTube, hope that helped! My favourite fact was that Guinea pigs can turn without pausing, that would be so cool if we could do that!! :). Thanks for this page @ChrisPerkins I don’t actually have Guinea pigs but hopefully in the future I can! (I’m 12)

          Bye!!!

    1. Wow! Thank u so much I just got a guinea pig today and it helped me for what I need to do to take care of her. Thank u so much this really helps me!

    2. I lost my Guniea Pig in 2nd grade I wish I had more time to do what you just told me she had cancer when I went off to school and came back she was gone before you knew it. That explains why she stopped drinking her water and vitamins and stopped eating her corn and carrots I miss Katie so much.

      1. I know! My twin sister and I have 4 guinea pigs, 2 abbies named Cinnamon Fuzz and Genevieve, (Avery’s), a teddy called Starbucks, and a crested named Starlight. (Mine). I used to have another crested called Shooting Star, she was bought with Cinnamon, but she died last year. So sad! : (
        Now Cindy is the oldest, she doesn’t have much life left. : (
        Anyway, some of these facts I knew, but the rest are awesome! It’s always great to learn new facts about the amazing, misrepresented, guinea pig!
        (Chickens rock to)!!!!
        ( ^ ; )3

  1. Great Thanks, Know Most But Some I Did Not Know, Very Helpful, Some to Be Posted On My Facebook Page. (Guinea Pig Owners And Lovers – Page.) Cheers! 🙂

  2. Thanks for the advice it will help me for my own guinea pig.I wonder were you got all of these cool facts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    1. I’ve been working on getting my mom to buy me a guinea pig. You should look up websites and videos on how to get your parents to buy a guinea pig.

  3. Thank you for the 50 facts…my 8 year old liked the fact about when they squeal. I’m glad we decided to get our female guinea pig after all!!!
    Thank you

  4. When you are holding a guinea pig, the way to settle it down if its wriggling too much is to bring your hand under its back-side and it will stop wriggling. That helped me a lot to know what to do when my cavies wriggle

  5. I may/may not buy one for my birthday, i am reading all about them everyday. This one is the best because it has all the facts in one page. Thank you~Chris Perkins (:

  6. My daughters were each given a guinea pig for Easter(2 females), and we were told quite a bit of this, but some things we were not told, like the vitamin C def, and cutting their nails. What is a safe way to cut them? And we were also told they may not have separated them from their brother in time, and a few weeks later one of them had a litter of 3, but killed every single one! I was told they are one of the few rodents that DON’T attack their young, so what would make them do that? I need to know, because I believe the other one is about to have a litter, and don’t want a repeat. My daughter was devastated!

    1. I have heard of them killing their young but only in very stressful situations. Maybe now they have settled down with you they will be more relaxed? Difficult to tell why they would have done it though as it is very rare 🙁 do you know if it was the mother or her cage mate who killed them? I assume you know they were killed rather than stillborn? I would suggest you separate your two girls for the duration of the pregnancy and for a week after the new pups. You can then try and introduce them again. I would also take them both to be checked by a vet as they may have a serious illness which is causing them stress which you have not noticed.

    2. Hi I am Bella and I had the same thing happen with my kind of, ok so first about the nails yes you need to cut them at your pet store you will see a pet grooming kit every thing in there is good to use it will have nail cutters just cut them to were they would not curl. And with the baby’s you will have to take them out of the cage put them in a shoe box with bedding when they are done eating and put them back in when you think they are hungry. HOPE YOU THE BEST!

  7. Thanks alot! me and my sister each have a
    Guinea pig and my sister’s is pregnant! I’m
    doing a project and i’m telling it to my sister, mom,brother, and my brother’s gf.I really liked the fact about when their pregnent and that fact also really helped my sister alot. So thanks again!

  8. When I was a child I had two Guinea Pigs. Heman and Cricket. Cricket gave birth to six at one time. Heman had a tough time staying away from Cricket.

  9. These facts are amazing! I recently bought a guinea pig & I’m trying to learn more things about her species before holding her. I have tried getting her but she squeals & now that I learned about calming her down I will try it. Thanks! (:

  10. enjoyed reading and learnt a lot. just got a guinea pig its great, but should no.26 be the other way around 4 toes at front and three at back.

  11. this is awesome my guinea pigs name is Humphrey and he is sitting next to me and purring! I love this im only 9 so im so thankful to have one:)

  12. this is the besy facts ever for my girl scout homwork since i like gunea pigs i chosed gunea pige because i go crazy about them and my dariy cover is gunea pigs.

  13. this is funny because it says guinea pigs do not bite out of anger, well i have 2 female pigs, and one is great, the other is an a**hole, she bites all the time, kicks, head butts, everything, as mean as she is, we still love her. lol

  14. I’m doing a five minute speech on guinea pigs and this really helped I have a guinea pig at home and his name is Simon
    Thank u so much

  15. i was reading the comments and i think Jaelynn gave a really good question it would be cool if you had a youtube channel i think if you put you,r mind to it you could do a great job on a youtube channel of you,r own if you wrote all these grate facts about guinea pigs i bet if you do create a channel on youtube it will be awesome P.S grate facts

    1. i agree lots of people dont know a thing about guinea pigs and then they get one without knowing the facts and then the pig gets hurt or neglected

  16. I’m Saxony and I used to have two guinea pigs, but one died at the age of five. So one is still living.Thanks for the advice it really helped.

  17. i have a guinea pig of my own and i did not know they ad so many bones compared to a human!! i mean maybe im just being a blonde but wow!!

  18. Thanks for all the fun facts, they really helped me know a bit more about my Guinea pigs. If you haven’t got a Gunea pig, I suggest you get one since they are amazing!

  19. Thank you so much! Now I know how to look after a guinea pig better. I had a guinea pig but It died in 1 year. I shall try andlook aafter one better??

  20. thank you for the facts because in getting a guinea pig next month and i did not know how to handle it so,please if anyone could give me some information that would be great O.0 thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  21. We are a homeschool family, and we just got our 5 year old and 7 year old guinea pigs. My 5 year old wanted to do a project about guinea pigs, and this has been so helpful! Thanks super bunches!!

  22. I lover my pig so much he is so I am time. He was a. Shelter let and he hashelpe x methu. So many hard timess they are an amazeing animal that t get the credit they deserve

  23. i really liked number 47 because it reminded me of my guinea pig Bongo. When she runs she waddles with her bum in the air and darts everywhere wen I try to catch her.

    Byron from Perth Western Australia. 🙂

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