Good book for a 10 year old?

Piggy Fan

Piggy Fan

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Hi everyone.

My 10 year old has wanted GPs for months now and has been saving up for a cage. I’ve been waiting to see if she’s going to go off the idea but so dad so good. I’m secretly pleased.

I’ve had GPs myself long ago, so been reading up here and learnt lots (so much more is known now).

So - next step. I want my daughter to ready a book about keeping piggies and be able to answer my questions to prove she’s really thought about it.

Then we will sort her room - some toys need to go to make room for our new fur babies!

Then I plan to approach a sanctuary to rehome two well handled and friendly little guys or girls that will hopefully quickly bond with me (errr sorry I mean my 10 & 14 year old girls). Lol.

Key questions now are

1. can anyone recommend a good book (not too technical) with up to date advice for my daughter to ready?

2. Should we be looking at particular breeds? Are some more suitable as first pets than others, or is it more about personality of individual piggies? I’m sure a good sanctuary will help with this but still worth asking you guys too.

Thanks so much in advance for the help!

Amanda
X
 
Hello Amanda

Welcome to the forum, not sure on books as with guinea pig care ideas move on very fast, hence the forum really and places like Guinea Lynx that are updated with the latest knowledge. I am hoping a member may pop onto this thread with some recommendations for you though.

As for breeds, no breed of piggy is more tame than another... it is often down to the piggy. We have a really tame piggy and one who even after 2 years thinks i am fattening her up to eat her.... I don't think we'll ever get her less skittish but that's okay she is happy and we can hand feed but touching out of question lol
Worth asking the sanctuary you are getting them from if they have any already tame piggies in, rescues often do

I hope you enjoy the forum and good luck on your piggy search!
 
Thank you. I may have to just get her on here then (sorry all). Lol.

Yes intention is to find rescue piggies that are more friendly and happy to be handled. 😊
 
Welcome! I really like the book series that you find in Pets at Home (although they're also on Amazon) while i've admittedly not read/bought the guinea pig one, I do have the crested gecko, corn snake, royal python and more recently, the gerbil one and they seem as up to date as books can generally be, simple to read, nice layout and plenty of nice pictures, plus, they're relatively cheap at about 5.99. I also like the Guineapiglopedia book, while a reasonable amount is quite outdated now, there is quite a large amount dedicated to illnesses and symptoms which is really useful, just as a guide to watch out for, but the forum is also a fantastic resource for health and illness as well.
As for what sort of guinea pig, id personally say you would be better off starting with short hairs, while the longer haired types are adorable and impressive looking when left long, they can be hard work and it can be quite disheartening trying to get to know a piggy that is throwing a tantrum because they need their hair brushing/trimmed but dont like it! But other than that, they're all good. Each one has their own little personality :)
 
The only thick book without being classed as a leaflet i have seen is in pets at home on the rotating racks i think. But i have never looked at one inside..If they are any good then i think most of the staff could probably do with taking one home to do some homework. :doh:

But knowing pets at home the book probably only sais that they have legs and a pulse.
 
Hello @Piggy Fan - I'm a lot older than your daughter (!) but I bought a couple of the Pets at Home books before taking the plunge. There's one called The Guinea Pig published as part of the Good Pet Guide priced £2.99 - apart from saying in section 1 that guinea pigs are ideal for the beginner pet owner and are cheap to maintain and feed :lol!: the rest of it is quite good and certainly very readable for a 10-year-old. The other book is Guinea Pigs by Dr Anne McBride priced £5.99 - it's chunkier but lots of pictures and still fine for a 10-year-old to read - IIRC most of it's okay but there were a few questionable pictures such as one of a very small cage and one of cereal mix food so I would recommend buying the other cheaper book (but cross check the info with this website).

I also got a book out of the library by Peter Gurney (who I gather is rather famous in guinea pig circles!) but it was published 20 years ago so some of the advice has advanced since then.
 
Piggy Fan said:
Thank you so much all. I wondered about the magazine so will do that too. I just want to do this right (or not at all)! ❤️
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Good on you. Your have started perfectly, any thing you need to know, just come here and there will always be someone happy to share their knowledge and experiences with you, and point you in the right direction :hip:
 
I have a couple of guinea pig books (I'm in Canada so it may not be that relevant.) Honestly, the info is less up-to-date than the internet, I mainly bought them for the cute photos! ;)
There really aren't any breeds that are more or less friendly than others, it's up to individual guinea pig personalities. Hopefully you can give a nice home to a friendly pair who are eager to bond with you and your kids!
I have three kids (now in their teens/tweens) and we got our first set of guinea pigs when the kids were between 2 and 7. They have actually been great pets for the kids to grow up with. We have hamsters too, but I find the guinea pigs less stressful... larger, more sedate, and much longer lifespan than other small pets. Plus none of our guinea pigs have been biters (our Syrian hamsters have been nice hammies, but our dwarf hamster is adorable but bloodthirsty with everyone except the daughter who feeds her!)
 
We got the usbourne book but my son is 4 so might be too basic for her but it was good and explained things in a good way for children :) xx
 
Piggy Fan said:
Thank you so much all. I wondered about the magazine so will do that too. I just want to do this right (or not at all)! ❤️
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I can most warmly recommend the magazine. We have lots of reader pictures, stories from readers and rescues around the world, interesting articles (including a medical one), a question and answer corner and the odd competition. It's fun, but there is also always something to learn. A subscription would make a great present!

Unfortunately, so much has changed and is still in flux that printed books are mostly outdated. We have to constantly work on our guides to keep them up to date. Subscribing to a magazine is a good way of staying up to date as well.

If you want stories - Michael Bond's Olga da Polga stories are rather outdated now, but still very readable and enjoyable as they are based on his own succession of a number of Olgas (eventually joined by an Oxana and by an unplanned son, Boris).
Michael Bond did have a regular column in Guinea Pig Magazine in which he told the story of the real Olga da Polga over a number of issues; they were frankly my favourite column in the magazine and the thing I would always read first! Michael Bond (who is better known for Paddington Bear) has sadly passed away last year.
If you are interested in them, there is currently a back issues sale on, from £1 upwards per issue. ;)
 
I
Wiebke said:
I can most warmly recommend the magazine. We have lots of reader pictures, stories from readers and rescues around the world, interesting articles (including a medical one), a question and answer corner and the odd competition. It's fun, but there is also always something to learn. A subscription would make a great present!

Unfortunately, so much has changed and is still in flux that printed books are mostly outdated. We have to constantly work on our guides to keep them up to date. Subscribing to a magazine is a good way of staying up to date as well.

If you want stories - Michael Bond's Olga da Polga stories are rather outdated now, but still very readable and enjoyable as they are based on his own succession of a number of Olgas (eventually joined by an Oxana and by an unplanned son, Boris).
but Michael Bond did have a column in which he told the story of the real Olga da Polga over a number of issues; they were my favourite column in the magazine and the thing I would always read first! Michael Bond (who is better known for Paddington Bear) has sadly passed away last year.
If you are interested in them, there is currently a back issues sale on, from £1 upwards per issue. ;)
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I remember seeing your tribe in a guinea pig magazine at the cat and rabbit care clinic. Said wiebkes tribe on the front.
 
Skypipdot said:
I
I remember seeing your tribe in a guinea pig magazine at the cat and rabbit care clinic. Said wiebkes tribe on the front.
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I started with some little amusing picture stories for GPM but now write a proper article for each issue. In the last few issues I have written about guinea pig moods from depression to hormone based mood swings and in the coming issue (out next month) I am writing about guinea pig moods in terms of human interaction; mostly about understanding where guinea pigs come from and how we integrate that into our relationship to help deal with common problems in ways that make sense for the piggies and therefore put our relationship on a better footing.
 
Wiebke said:
I can most warmly recommend the magazine. We have lots of reader pictures, stories from readers and rescues around the world, interesting articles (including a medical one), a question and answer corner and the odd competition. It's fun, but there is also always something to learn. A subscription would make a great present!

Unfortunately, so much has changed and is still in flux that printed books are mostly outdated. We have to constantly work on our guides to keep them up to date. Subscribing to a magazine is a good way of staying up to date as well.

If you want stories - Michael Bond's Olga da Polga stories are rather outdated now, but still very readable and enjoyable as they are based on his own succession of a number of Olgas (eventually joined by an Oxana and by an unplanned son, Boris).
Michael Bond did have a regular column in Guinea Pig Magazine in which he told the story of the real Olga da Polga over a number of issues; they were frankly my favourite column in the magazine and the thing I would always read first! Michael Bond (who is better known for Paddington Bear) has sadly passed away last year.
If you are interested in them, there is currently a back issues sale on, from £1 upwards per issue. ;)
Click to expand...

Fantastic thanks so much. I will order some of the back issues for Charlotte so she can start it read up! No piggies until she can answer my GP quiz!
 
Piggy Fan said:
Fantastic thanks so much. I will order some of the back issues for Charlotte so she can start it read up! No piggies until she can answer my GP quiz!
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I wish every parent was like this.Hat off to you. This is how i want to be if i am ever a parent
 
Welcome to the forum
It’s so good that you are planning carefully for Guinean pigs.

I came back to guinea pigs 7 years ago - my first since childhood and I realise just how much we didn’t know back then.

I don’t know about books other than the PAH one already recommended but I have found the forum information threads invaluable.

Hope to hear lots more from you and look forward to pictures when you get your piggies.
 
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