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Watercolour Painting of a Guinea Pig from a photo with a description and history of guinea pigs

Send me a photo of your Guinea Pig or other pet and I will paint its portrait on a canvas, which is ready to hang straight onto your wall, for only £30.

I can deliver the Guinea Pig paintings to areas near Aberdeen, Scotland, otherwise they are sent by recorded delivery in protective packaging and wrapping, which is included in the price.

I need at least two photographs sent to the address below.

The canvas size is 20cm x 20cm.

The guinea pig painting above is to the left and the photograph is to the right.

Please send the photograph(s) of your Guinea Pig, which will be returned, with a cheque for £30 made payable to Karla Buswell, and your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address to:

Karla Buswell
Karlascreativecapers.co.uk
PO Box 18620
Peterhead
Aberdeenshire
Scotland
AB42 3WZ

Alternatively I can now accept payment for a painting through PayPal and Credit Cards by clicking on the buy now button below:

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Prices include UK postage and packing and all paintings are sent in special protective packaging.

Information About Guinea Pigs

The Latin name for a guinea pig is Cavia porcellus and they belong to the family of family Caviidae and the genus Cavia with the classified order Rodentia. There are nine species of guinea pigs.

They are burrowing rodent animals found in the wild in South America. They are eaten in South America where they are found roaming the deserts, plains, woodlands, rocky areas and grasslands. They are kept as pets in Western world countries such as the UK.

Guinea Pigs make great pets and are especially suitable as pets for children. They were taken to Europe by Dutch and English traders and quickly became exotic pets, though now they would be called common pets, such is their popularity. They love being stroked and gently brushed and tolerate handling. Guinea pigs are known for their high pitched squeals and squeaking - it is thought that this is why they are known as pigs. They also make contented purring when happy, this is known as tribbling.

A guinea pig can live up to 8 years, though most live for about 3 to 5 years.

They are short dumpy looking animals with little legs, short ears, beautiful hairy coats and cute faces. Guinea pigs have no tails. There are several type of guinea pigs which include short haired, long haired, curly and straight haired. The average guinea pig is about 28cm in length and weighs about 900 grammes. Their teeth are noted for being long, especially the top front teeth. These continue to grow throughout their life and are kept in check by their constant gnawing. They have four toes on their front feet and three on the back feet.

Guinea pigs love to eat grass, certain herbs and other plant and vegetable material. A female is called a sow, a male is called a boar and babies are called pups.

Pups are born with teeth, claws, fur and their full vision and instantly mobile. This is because of their long gestation period which can be as long as 70 days. They will suckle their mother for a few days and then move straight onto solid food. It is common for litters to have from 2 to 4 pups and the mums usually clean up all trace of blood and afterbirth. So much so that it is common for owners to return to a cage to find little pups running around and no evidence of a birth having taken place.

Trivia About Guinea Pigs

Two common misconceptions come from their names - they are neither pigs nor come from the Republic of Guinea. It is thought that traders who brought them to Europe came via Guinea and their name came this way.

Some tribes in South America consider guinea pigs to be collectors of evil spirits and will use them during healing rituals.

The Swiss naturalist Konrad Gesner described the first guinea pig in 1554.

The longest living guinea pig was 15 years old.

Guinea pigs are crepuscular animals and are much more active from dawn and dusk.

Popcorning is the name of the action when an excited guinea pig will jump in the air. They usually precede this with their customary wheek noise.