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Published: 04 February 2020

Guinea pigs learn what is "food" and "not food" during the first 10 days of life. This means that the foods that they are exposed to as young piglets will be preferred throughout life. It is best to expose piglets to a reasonably wide range of foods and then when they are weaned and go out into the world they are more likely to find familiar foods and thrive, thereby boosting the reputation of your caviary!

This is the reason that you will so often hear someone say " my guinea pig loves............." and the next person say "mine won't touch it"!

The largest recorded guinea pig litter contained twelve piglets. We are not told how many survived. Piglets born less than 50gms in weight rarely survive.

The oldest recorded cavy lived 14 years 10 months. He was named Snowball and owned by M A Wall in Bingham, Notts.

Cavies' teeth, unlike yours and mine, grow continually throughout life.