Which rodent to get?

[Georgia163]

This was only what i was told when i purchassed my GP's. I still think they need lots of room though , outdoors or indoors because in the wild they have fairly large teritories and we only want the best possible life for our animals am i right?

[Jennicat]

Guinea pigs in the wild are very different from domesticated guinea pigs. Wild dogs are called wolves, and have to chase down caribou and elk, but they do fine in our houses eating dog food, so it'd be silly to insist you only own dogs if you have deer outside for them to run down an eat.

I do agree that they need lots of room, though. I build cages like at http://www.guineapigcages.com. I prefer at least 10 square feet for a pair (though once they're adults, they rarely do a lot of roaming around, they prefer their cuddle pillow near the hay rack)

Just edited to add, I've seen way too many sad stories of all types of animals -- guinea pigs, rabbits, cats, etc -- meeting sad ends while living outside to ever recommend it. In the summertime, the heat index easily reaches 110 degrees each year, and small animals have heat strokes. Inside they're cool, cared for, and happy.

[Georgia163]

We let my guinea pig out of his run today, for a run around in the garden (which he loves and we have trained him to go back into his cage at around about 7ish at night..- just as it drops dark). It was quite warm this afternooon but we leave trays of water all around the garden from which he can drink. Also they tend to stay in the shade anyway.

[Jennicat]

I certainly take my pigs out to enjoy the grass when the weather is nice, but they stay inside when I can't supervise them (I've seen cases of hawks taking pigs, raccoons and coyotes breaking into hutches, even people stealing them or doing cruel things!).

[Georgia163]

Yes we only let him out when he is supervised. This we learn't from the sad incident when we got home to find black fur on the garden, two of our guinea pigs had gone.. To this day we don't know what had happend to them. But as my mum says atleast they had a nice life out, free in our garden.

[Chinchi]

The domesticaded dog is said not only to come from the wolf, but also from other types of wild dogs
(other wild dogs could be animals like the fox, the african wild dog, the hyena and so on)

[Jennicat]

Huh, guess they haven't updated the nomenclature, since it's still classed as a subspecies of gray wolf.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog

The dog is Canis lupis familiaris, a subspecies of Canis lupis, the gray wolf.

[Georgia163]

but there is more than one species of dog.. do they all come from wolves ??

[Georgia163]

But there is more than one species of dog.. do they all come from wolves ?

[Jennicat]

The domestic dog is all one species, canis lupis familiaris. Every breed of dog (German Shepherd, chihuahua, pointers, etc) are all the same species, they just look different. Sort of how petite people and basketball players are all human beings, they just have a lot of physical variation.

[Georgia163]

woops =]

[Georgia163]

cool..