Fun Guinea Pig Facts

1. A male guinea pig is called a boar and a female is called a sow.
2. Guinea pigs are also known as ‘cavies’
3. Guinea pigs are able to fend for themselves from 5 days of age.
4. A new born guinea pig can run after just 3 hours after birth.
5. Male guinea pigs will mate from 1 month of age (and may even start practicing from 2 weeks!) and females can have their first litter from 3 weeks of age (but really they should wait until 4 months of age).
6. Guinea pigs are originally from South America.
7. In the Andes mountains they were sometimes used to find disease in humans by holding the guinea pig against different parts of the body until it squeaked to tell them where the disease was.
8. Guinea pigs live for up to 8 years, but the oldest known living guinea pig lived until he was 15 years old.
9. Happy guinea pigs may jump up and down, called ‘popcorning’.
10. Guinea pigs are around 20 and 25 cm long (8 – 10 inches)
11. Guinea pigs have teeth that keep growing and need to be worn down by eating lots of grass or toys to chew on.
12. In some countries, guinea pigs are considered a tasty delicacy.
13. A healthy weight of a guinea pig is between 1700 and 1200g (1.5 – 2.5lbs)
14. Guines pigs have 4 toes on the front feet, but only 3 toes on the hind feet

To learn more about Guinea Pigs, check out our Guinea Pig Care Guide.

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