Guinea pigs are actually amazing animals, and even though they are becoming a more common choice for pets, there are many interesting facts about guinea pigs that people tend to overlook.
For example, are you aware that a guinea pig is a member of the rodent family. This is absolutely true, and in spite of this, people still want guinea pigs as pets. Another interesting fact about guinea pigs is that they do not have tails that are visible to human beings. Instead of having a tail, they have tail vertebrae.
Guinea pigs, unlike many other animals, are born with fur, and with their eyes open. They are far from helpless when they are born, and are typically eating solid food within hours of being born, although nursing is still important to them. Although the reason that they are called guinea pigs is not known, guinea pigs do actually eat a lot of food. Many people mistakenly think that this is where they get their name. However, even though we assume that the guinea pigs are eating a lot, it isn't that they are always eating. In most cases, it is because they are gnawing. Their name is actually derived from what they used to be sold for a guinea.
Guinea pigs are originally from South America. They were not always domestic animals. In fact, the Incas are the people that domesticated these creatures. Guinea pigs like to gnaw because their teeth are constantly growing, and this is their way of keeping the teeth down to a normal size. If they don't do this, eating will become difficult for them, at best. Most people don't realize that there are approximately twenty different breeds of guinea pigs. Instead, they mistakenly think that one guinea pig is just like the next one, and this simply is not true.
Not all guinea pigs are pets. Unfortunately, in the United States and Canada, they are often served as food for snakes. In Peru and Bolivia, guinea pigs are used as a source of meat for humans. This is why if you must find a different home for your guinea pig, that you choose your guinea pigs new home carefully.
Guinea pigs are sociable, but at first, they are quite shy. They must be given time to adjust to their new surroundings ?and the new people in their lives. Guinea pigs can breed at just three weeks of age, although this typically is not healthy for the guinea pig, or the litter.
If you think that vitamin C is important to humans, you should note that vitamin C is especially important to guinea pigs. If a guinea pig doesn't get enough vitamin C, he can at the very least get scurvy, but at the very worst die.
Again, guinea pigs are very interesting animals, and if you have one, it won't take much observance to learn more interesting facts about the species, as well as interesting facts that are specific for your pet.