Kids and pigs

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Sharon.Mackay

Sharon.Mackay

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Has anyone else had experience with young kids and guinea pigs? I was just wondering if it was just my boys, but they are so good with them. The kids are lovely and gentle but a little nervous, and it's almost as though the pigs sensed this and were extra gentle back. Yesterday Ted, who is usually grumpy and a squealer :)) sat so nice and calm on my nephews lap, he was obviously happy and gave him guinea pig kisses. He was even nodding off! My other boy was the same, usually with me he wriggles and is mischevious but he sat nice and quiet and let my niece (who is a little unsure of animals) stroke him. It wasnt fear on the guinea pigs part, they were eating cucumber from them and looked very relaxed. Almost just an understanding that these were children and they had to be good. So lovely to see, i was very proud! x)
 
My cousins (now almost 13) have been holding my piggies when they come over since they were about 4 under supervision. Every time they went from hyperactive kids to calm as anything around the pigs! Cuddle time with my more laid back piggies was always fun! Now they've got 3 sows of their own and they love them! :)

I think my pigs were the same, reacting to the twins and being lovely to them, they obviously like them!
 
I have the opposite issue. Guinea pigs are only 17 weeks old and are a little nervy.

I have a 7-year-old son who is VERY bouncy and finds it hard to stay quiet or still. Although, he's getting better at stroking gently with lots of supervision and using a snuggle sack for the piggie.

My 10-year-old son is much more patient and gentle with them so is seeing a bit more trust, but he gets discouraged easily so when they do shy away from him he's absolutely gutted.

Hopefully both children and guinea pigs are tameable in the long term :))
 
My 10 year old daughter has a special way with them, and has our Squeek so tame, that he is more like a dog than a piggy. Even our new piggie, Millie who was extremely nervous now comes out and wheeks, and even comes up to the bars for treats.
She just has the gift to tame them easier than the rest of us.
She defenitely has a special touch when it comes to pigges. She also adores them, and loves anything piggie
 
I don't have children but I got a friend two rescued sows. She has three small children and I spend time with them helping them learn about piggies.

It's very much trying to get the children to understand just how frightened of everything piggies are at first. With such young piggies, they will be scared of every new sound, smell etc. It's not necessarily anything your son is doing but it will take months and months before they run toward him rather than away from him when they're scared.

One of our boars has only just started to do this with my wife and we've had them for over a year. It's nothing to do with us, you have to work to the piggy's timetable and not your own I'm afraid.
 
It is also useful if when dealing with flighty pigs and kids you don't shout 'Shut the hutch door" in the style of a fish wife:x Not that I have ever done that....

I find that my teenage pigs are already a lot better with noises as per above and children hand feeding them. I only allow the children to stroke them in their cosy sacs though but that seems to work well. My little 3 year old chats on to the pigs in a quiet voice and the pigs are quite confident with her but my 5 year old is quite frustrated that he can't hold the piggies yet and the piggies are less happy with him - they seem to detect the vibes:)
 
My children are fantastic with our piggie. :D
Grace( 6 ) will sit and cuddle Sonic for hours on end I always take him out of the cage and place him on her lap. He also licks her nose which she thinks is amazing! She has to hand feed him any fresh veg she takes out to him and he adores the attention!
Owen (5) is also great with Sonic, he cuddles him on his terms and I think sonic understands that Owen is quite nervy and behaves very well for him.
I dont ever let the children take him out of the hutch nor leave them unsupervised with him. Daily cuddles are a must BUT only whilst mummy is there :)
 
My best friend has a 2 year old Josh who's been regularly visiting the piggies since he was 6 months old. She bought him a toy cuddly guinea pig and spend a long time teaching him to stroke him. Now when he comes over he says gentle, gentle as he stokes them then kisses them on the bum!
Last weekend we were out in the garden and he was learning parts of the body and he wanted to do the same with Bob, eyes, ears, bum bum, tummy. I picked Bob up to show him his tummy and cause got, what's that pointing to his nipples, so we told him, what's that pointing to his willy, so we told him. He decided that was worth telling all the neighbours as well and started shouting Bob's willy at the top of his voice!
 
katiepops said:
My best friend has a 2 year old Josh who's been regularly visiting the piggies since he was 6 months old. She bought him a toy cuddly guinea pig and spend a long time teaching him to stroke him. Now when he comes over he says gentle, gentle as he stokes them then kisses them on the bum!
Last weekend we were out in the garden and he was learning parts of the body and he wanted to do the same with Bob, eyes, ears, bum bum, tummy. I picked Bob up to show him his tummy and cause got, what's that pointing to his nipples, so we told him, what's that pointing to his willy, so we told him. He decided that was worth telling all the neighbours as well and started shouting Bob's willy at the top of his voice!
Click to expand...

Ha ha ha! Kids are so funny!
 
My daughter is four and my son in just 18months. Both are brilliant with the guinea pigs (I have two boys) and my guinea pigs don't seem to wriggle half as much when they are on my daughters lap as when I have them rolleyes

They also know that if my son is outside they are likely to get a nice treat of basil as he picks all the leaves off the plant and feeds the piggies through the bars :)) consequently the pot with the basil in is just bare soil now! If they see him outside they squeak their heads off!

Piggies are definitely not stupid like a lot of people think they are. Mine sit beautifully in their hutch when I go to pick them up and then become little whippets when its time to come off the grass and go back to bed!

I think its lovely if children get to be around pets from a young age as it teaches them how to be kind and gentle and how to be responsible for something. My little boy loves brushing them and topping up their food bowl and knows that he has to be careful with them, although he isn't sure about having them on his lap :))
 
I have 3 kids and 4 pigs. The pigs are great with my 3 kids. My 2 boys (6 and 4.5 years) are both autistic, Millie (my DD, 20 months) is just a typical toddler. my baby pigs (Poppy and Daisy, 10 weeks) are GREAT. when the boys open the top of the hutch and speak quietly the babies stay still and let themselves me picked up, we have taught the boys to do so properly and they do. Olli (my 4 year old) has even sneaked Poppy upstairs and she was quite happy running round his room for the 10 minutes we didn't realize LOL
 
I have a 3.5 year old and a 5.5 year old. My youngest is fine, if a little enthusiastic so i limit her contact with them to feeding the piggies by hand etc and shes wonderful at that. My son is fantastic, so gentle and responsible. He helps me feed and clean them out.

In fact he is desperate to have his own pet live in his room. We are pig sitting a friend's female next week who lives indoors so I've said she can live in his room. If he takes responsibility for feeding her, doing her water, cleaning her out (under supervision of course) and never EVER gets her out of her cake without me being there then we've said we'll consider buying an indoor hutch and letting one of our pairs live in his room.

We have 2 delicate dogs (i know you won't think of dogs as delicate, but one is only 6lb in weight and this breed break their legs) and he especially has proven to be so kind and gentle with them I'd like for him to be able to have his own pets and learn more about responsibility.
 
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