Just a few more things....

I have a 6 year old sister who Taffy gets along great with. She finds great pride in being able to give him his nightly treat. I'm sure the kids in your class would get a kick out of helping you care for a furry friend!

If you do get a guinea pig, I would reccomend going to cavycages.com to find a cage style you can build at home for pretty cheap. I don't have on of their cages but they look really nice and easy to build.

A guinea pig (or two, they are better in pairs, if you do get a pair get two sows if you can not find 2 boars that will get along, if you are worried about fighting, just get 2 sows because they have less of a tendancy to fight) they would be ideal for a classroom pet. They do need attention just as any other pet would but don't need to be walked every day like a dog or cat. Caring for them is pretty easy. Their diet consists of pellets and one or two fresh vegetable 'salads' a day. They also need an all around the clock supply of timothy hay. (they get timothy after 1 year, but alfalfa while they are young since alfalfa has too much calcium) If you feed them the fresh foods at the same time every day they will start to 'whistle' if you are late with their treat!

Like I said before, guinea pigs do better in pairs or trios. They are very social animals and will bond with you very easily. If you do get 2 or 3 make sure they are the same sex so you don't add to the un wanted population of guinea pigs since in most shelters they don't last long.

I said in my last post that an older one might be better, but it seems to be more the guinea pig's personality. I have met some great 7 week old guinea pigs that love anyone and everything right when they meet and then I have met some that get very shy and tensed up and bite.

Ok, I'm through loading you down with information. If you need any more (which if you do decide to get a guinea pig, your probably will) just PM me. Look at your local library on guinea pig care books. Most of them are pretty accurate. But, don't follow what any pet stores tell you to do! When I got Taffy I was told they only need to be taken out once a month, that they don't like being housed with other guinea pigs, that Taffy was a girl (he is a boy, they sexed him wrong), that they live 2-3 years, and to use cedar bedding. All of that was wrong. Guinea pigs are very social and need companionship, if you aren't able to take them out every day for atleast a half hour they will need the companionship of another guinea pig. Cedar bedding is really bad for them. It causes an internol infection (I beleive that is what I read, it has something to do with the resperitory systom (sp?)) And the reason the petstore said they only live 2-3 years, because they give you the wrong care information. (They can normally live anywhere from 5-8 years with good health and the right care)

Well, good luck on your classroom pet and I hope your find the right one!