Where Are Guinea Pigs From?

If you hav a guinea pig as a pet, you might be wondering where guinea pigs come from.

Guinea pigs usually live in groups of around 10, and they live in burrowed holes – either dug by themselves or other small animals.

Guinea pigs are nocturnal animals that come out at night to feed on a variety of vegetation.

The earliest record of guinea pigs being kept as domesticated animals dates back to 2000BC in the Andes of South America. The area is currently named Peru, and Bolivia.

Originally, guinea pigs were kept as a food source, but it is possible some may have been kept as family pets.

Guinea pigs were not often bought, but were given as gifts. Guinea pigs would be kept in the homes kitchen, where they would run around freely.

During the time period around 2000BC, guinea pigs were believed to be evil spirit collectors, and so, were used in healing rituals. THe guinea pigs would be rubbed over the body of a sick patient, and used as a “detector”. If the guinea pig started to squeak, it detected the affected area. If you had a black guinea pig, it was considered very holy. This is because pure black guinea pigs are very rare. Most guinea pigs are born grey, or multi-colored.

During the 1700s, Dutch and English traders brought guinea pigs to Europe from South Amrica where they became popular pets. Guinea pigs were likely named after where most people believed they were form. On the way back from South America, the ships stopped off at Guinea. This made people believe that Guinea Pigs were from Guinea.

The Queen at the time (Queen Elizabeth 1) owned a pet guinea pig, which was likely one of the reasons they became popular pets.

Right now, Guinea Pigs are popular pets all around the world. They are very friendly animals that have no tendency to bite, or scratch.

They are also very healthy animals, and if you take care of them properly, they will have very few health issues.

Here is a video that can tell you more.