Two cute guinea pigs

Despite their name, Guinea Pigs are not pigs and they aren't from Guinea.  They are small rodents originally found in the Andes Mountains in South America.  Keeping with the pig name, adult females are called sows, adult males are known as bores, but their offspring are known as pups.  Guinea pigs are also known as Cavies

Guinea Pigs are large for rodents, growing up to 10-15 inches in length (with almost no tail) and weighing up to 3 pounds.  They usually will live 4-5 years.

In the wild, guinea pigs are grazing animals much like cows, so their primary food source should be grass and hay.  One important note is that guinea pigs, like people but unlike most mammals, cannot produce Vitamin C.  One of the biggest health problems of pet guinea pigs is a lack of of this vitamin leading to scurvy.  The preventative is to provide fresh fruit in the diet.

If you handle your new guinea pig a lot when it's a pup, it will grow to like it and even treat you as part of it's herd.

Guinea pigs are sometimes very vocal animals.  They have a series of noises they make, each with a different meaning and you'll enjoy figuring out their various sounds.  They are also social animals and like to be kept in a group, although mixed sex groups will lead to much larger groups in a very short time.  If you're going to have more than one, be sure you have enough space, because of their relatively large size.