Seeking baby guinea pig

I don't think guinea pigs are good classroom pets. Especially for first graders. They take a lot of care and proper nutrition. Plus they require large cages.

After we got our two guineas, I was talking to my daughter's pre-k teacher about bringing them in for a "show and tell" type thing. She said that she used to have a guinea pig for her pre-k class several years ago. Her piggie was quite happy and lived for over 7 years. I think they would be a wonderful class pet for a first grade class. Providing that adequate care and housing is provided. They need fresh vegetables every day. I think they would be a great teaching tool as far as responsibility goes.

I think it would be hard to keep track of how all the kids are treating the guinea pig. Some children don't understand at that young how to properly handle them, I suppose you can try and teach them but I've seen too much cruelty to classroom pets. When I was in Second Grade we had a classroom hamster and it would get tormented everyday, the cage banged on, picked up and dropped and so on. Some children had no feelings towards it. It would get to go home with a different child every so often. One child poked out his eye with a pencil.
Another thought would be the fresh vegetables and the nail trimmings? Is this something you'd have time to do for them at school?
What about when it gets sick, who foots the vet bill?

Guinea pigs are very skittish (they are natural prey animals) and love to hide. They really don't do well with loud, noisy situations and do not enjoy being picked up. I cannot imagine that they would be happy or healthy in a classroom environment.

Guinea Pigs (along with most pets) do not make good classroom pets, especially first-graders. Kids might accidently (or even on purposely) drop it, on the weekends/holidays the Guinea Pig would have to go to a child's house and you cannot gurantee the proper care of the animal. Classrooms are noisy and definitely not appropriate for a prey animal like a Guinea Pig.

Also, would you have enough room for an adequate cage? Most classrooms aren't big enough to have a good cage size, minimum 2x3. (grids, NOT feet)

No offense, but what do you mean another Guinea Pig in the classroom? Did the first one die?

You may want to consider allergies and cost on top of space requirements (see the main page ). Guinea pigs do best in pairs also.

Their main diet is grass hay. What if the kids are allergic to hay?

Hello! I am a preschool teacher and usually like to have some type of pet in my classroom. I was actually given my first guinea pig years ago for this purpose. However, I discovered very quickly that the little thing was just too timid for that environment. Guinea pigs are usually very shy until you earn their trust. In the end I decided to keep her at home with me because I felt she would be too stressed and scared at school. I wish I had had this website back then.

I am sure someone out there will probably disagree with me but in my experience gerbils seemed to be the most favorite option. They are social animals so I would look for a pair (I usually had 4). I kept them in a very large aquarium (I would go at least 20 gallon although mine was much larger as I had so many) Keep in mind it is cumbersome to clean. I also had a heavy duty top that they could not chew though, had good ventilation, and locked for their protection. The children could not reach them to hurt them or stick anything dangerous in their home. The gerbils came home with me on weekends and holidays. They did not go home with the children.

I hope this was of some help for you. If you do decide to get a guinea pig, please look around this site first. It is full of information on everything a guinea pig needs to have a long healthy, happy life. Many people on this forum are very knowledgeable and have a lot of experience caring for guinea pigs.

I must admit I don't understand the thinking behind teachers getting classroom pets. If it's to introduce children to proper animal husbandry, it's a strange way to go about it, because proper animal husbandry for a guinea pig would demand a calm, stable environment, which a classroom full of small children most certainly isn't.

Often times it's putting the human's feelings and wants above the needs of the animal. If you can't provide an ideal environment for an animal you want to care for, don't bother getting one. It's not fair to them.

Get a class goldfish.

Pulsepoint129 said:

Get a class goldfish.

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A fish deserves proper care, too.

Why not a classroom plant? So they can all see it growing and take care of it. We used to have a veggie garden when I was in first grade. It was tons of fun and the teachers taught us a lot.

I don't know...I have two pigs who are very very friendly and would do really well as a classroom pet, though I agree most would not.(My pigs love when I have lots of people in the house and love to watch them and wheek at them for attention and chin rubs) Most pigs are not like that though so perhaps a fish tank or something that doesn't mind noise would be best.

I don't think being friendly is a factor really.

I have seen many class pigs be kept in too small cages, neglected (poor diet and health issues ignored) , rehomed due to allergies, cost , no one to care for them over summer, etc. Rusty had scurvy and a broken leg due to being kept on a wire bottom cage.

blackarrow said:

I must admit I don't understand the thinking behind teachers getting classroom pets. If it's to introduce children to proper animal husbandry, it's a strange way to go about it, because proper animal husbandry for a guinea pig would demand a calm, stable environment, which a classroom full of small children most certainly isn't.

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You would be amazed at how many children have no contact with animals ever. These children continue to surprise me with the misconceptions they have. Many believe animals can not feel pain and are disposable objects. The children are not born believing this, they learn it and pick it up from others around them (usually adults).

I think it is very important that children learn how precious animals are and that they deserve to be cared for and protected. However, I also believe that if a teacher chooses to have a classroom pet she needs to do it responsibly. The safety of the children and the pet are vital.

However, not all pets make good classroom pets and many classrooms are just not set up to allow the proper housing of a pet. These should be considered. Some classrooms should not have pets period.

One of the schools I worked for required teachers who wanted classroom pets to complete a inservice workshop first. Teachers had to be knowledgeable about their pet, what was needed to care for the pet properly and how to keep the pet safe before being allowed to have them in the class. I think all schools should have this training before allowing pets in their classrooms. Many teachers were very surprised at how much they did not know about certain pets and their needs.

I think it is very important for children to learn how special the animals are in our world. They are the ones who are going to be caring for them when we are gone.

GuineaLove said:

You would be amazed at how many children have no contact with animals ever. These children continue to surprise me with the misconceptions they have. Many believe animals can not feel pain and are disposable objects. The children are not born believing this, they learn it and pick it up from others around them (usually adults).

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Which is precisely why the typical classroom animal arrangement, where the animal is taken home on weekends by some random child, is a terrible idea.

GuineaLove said:

I think it is very important that children learn how precious animals are and that they deserve to be cared for and protected. However, I also believe that if a teacher chooses to have a classroom pet she needs to do it responsibly. The safety of the children and the pet are vital.

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I would agree, but don't agree that a classroom environment is a good one in which to teach a child such a thing with a living animal.

I have to say, for a classroom project, you cannot match redworm composting. It is fascinating and educational. The kids can play around with the worms and add vegetable and fruit food scraps from the cafeteria and home. They can see the cocoons and baby worms that hatch out. I set up a bin at the local school and it rotates from classroom to classroom. The children love it and can't wait for their turn to have it in their room. It does not smell and the food scraps are turned into rich vermicompost which is added to the school's vegetable garden.

PiggyKat said:

I don't know...I have two pigs who are very very friendly and would do really well as a classroom pet.

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That's a very small part of the problem. That they would either be unattended on weekends/holidays or ferried back and forth to some other household is a bigger issue.