Our new pet

My daughter has been asking for a pet "of my own" for awhile. We begrudgingly gave in only after she was able to demonstrate being able to take care of a pet.

Her check list to complete:

• keep her room clean to Mom's standards

• feed her fish and help clean the tank

• pick up after herself with few reminders

• research her new pet (summer project)

• what does it eat

• how big of a living space does it require

• is it diurnal, nocturnal?

• will it get along with the other pets?

• does it get regular check up or require shots from the vet

• any other cool or interesting things she wanted to include

For X amount of time...we left that open ended knowing that habits take time to form and even as adults we get off track.

In her research she found out that guinea pigs require 8 sq ft of living space, eat unlimited timothy hay + guinea pig food and fresh veggies, require a lot of attention (extremely social animals), and poop a lot (I'm not even sure how something so small can poop 10 times a hour!)

As promised a guinea pig will be joining out menagerie of animals

Before acquiring the guinea pig, we had to decide on a cage. Sounds simple, right? 

Criteria:

• ~8 sq ft of living area

• hard bottomed 

• easy to open/close

• easy to clean

After looking around quite a bit, we settled on this cage made by Living World, which can be purchased here (aff link)

This X-Large cage is 46.9L x 22.8 W (enough room for 2 guinea pigs) and includes: food bowl, water bottle, hay feeder, and a balcony with a hideaway. The metal cage is held on my 4 clips and easily removed to clean the cage. 

Also required for optimal guinea pig happiness: unlimited Timothy hay, timothy hay based food pellets, chew toys, and soft bedding (she chose brightly colored "Birthday Cake" by Kaytee). 

The cage doesn't look that big, right? Here it is set up on a IKEA Linmon 39 x 23 table. 

Yesterday we went to Petsmart and after much deliberation she picked out her guinea pig, Caramel.

Caramel mostly hid under the covered area yesterday evening. Today she has been a lot more active. We have taken her out of the cage several times, she has gotten a tour of the house and a lot of cuddles which she seems to be enjoying.