Anybody here ever had a guinea pig?

My girls have been hounding me about getting a cat, and I said no way. We had a dog, until last night! Don't know if she's coming back, but we're looking for her. With Christmas coming up, and the dog gone, this might be a good time for a new animal.

PLUS....

I might be able to work it into an act, although I'm not sure about that....

Has anyone here worked with either them or rabbits? Just wondering about the possibilities and problems...

I have had both as pets. Guinnea pigs tend to be a little more ready to bite people than rabbits. I also found some rabbits could be trained to do tricks. Never tried with Guinnea pigs though.

I'd go with the rabbit. Make sure you get a dwarf. If you you start doing magic A lot of production tricks don't work well with big rabbits. I have to admit I prefer cats. At least for indoor. pets. Don't get me wrong I like dogs too. I just haven't found one I liked well enough to own. If I had one training it for tricks would be great. To be able to do some of Lou Jacobs stunts that he did with Knucklehead (his Chiauaua) would be a blast.

I grew up with rodents of all sorts, I had mice, gerbils, hamsters and guinea pigs...

I had a horrible time with guinea pigs, every day at 5a.m. they would get up squealing so loud and they'd wake up the whole house, they are a bit noisy, and yes they do tend to bite. I eventually had to give my guinea pigs up as my dad said "It was me or them!" and I don't think he would have liked a guinea pig for a daughter, so I decided to stay.

I'm so sorry to hear about your dog! I'm a dog lover, I own two male Boxers that are my heart and soul, I love em to death.

Cats arent a bad pet either, less work then dogs and more quiet then a guinea pig!

Good luck in your new pet ventures!

Tinks

the only livestock I ever used in an act was a black molly fish. I performed the ink to water & goldfish trick. One time, I had the fish loaded i the gkass set inside my trunk on the grond. As I was performing some other feats of Magic, I happened to look down and noticed the fish had jumped out of the glass and proceeded to flop its way down the driveway (outside event).

Luckily, the kids hadn't seen him yet and their view was blocked by my trunk so I continued on with the patter while non-shalantly waslking over behind my trunk, retrieving the litle pal and moving on with the show. The kids never knew what went on and I continued as if nothing ever happened.

Never worked with any other animals
-SWS

Thanks for the info guys...

I'm still looking for my little pooch, hopefully she'll turn up.

In the meantime, I had a co worker say that she has a friend that has a male and female rabbit, and lo and behold, they had babies! Who woulda thunk? :)

Anyways, I was leaning more towards the rabbit anyways, and if I can get one thats free, that's a no brainer. I need to find out how old they are, because I've heard you have to start handling them at an early age so that as they get older they are used to it.

Wondering what kind of tricks I could teach them? What tricks did you teach yours Gilbert?

Stick with one rabbit Bips we had two 'the same sex' but we think one must have sneaked off one night and got a sex change because it wasn't long before we had lot of rabbits! Always remember Rabbits only ever have one hobby!!!!

i was thinkin of getting a ferret for my act they seem to be good pets although illigal in california and a few other states without proper licenses. however in oregon i know they are legal and alot of ppl have told me that they are good pets and can learn things. anyone here ever had a ferret?

As far as house pet, you can litter train a rabbit, but they do like to chew , ie power cords.
Hamsters are neat as long as you only have one sex, they mutiply more than rabbit, but have little oder and only live a average of 500 some thing days so if you get bored you not stuck with them too long. Presently we have one dog, [thinks he's a child], 1 cat[who knows he's boss} and 1 turtle [that's just happy in his little pond].

Your brave, I don't think I could every attempt magic with animals, Or course it would problably be funny because they'd all escape and I'd be chasing them down in costume.

WE have two gerbils, but I dont thinkyou could possibly train them a tleast not ours, they are stupid.

I have a chihuahua that travels with us, but she is not part of the act - just a pet. Although she did get aggravated at certain parts of our act and try to jump in a couple times. She is like a third child to us, and definately rules the house. (Maybe I should get a cat and watch the ensuing chaos as they battle for leadership)

Rabbits are fairely easy to care for, I raised them when I was in high school and had fun doing it. But, beware, they can outnumber you rather quickly. They do tend to get cranky and may bite when they grow older. But if they are handled often that shouldnt be too much of a problem.

I am sorry to hear about your dog. I am still upset about my dog that was stolen over a year ago. He was an outside dog - a large golden retriever - but he was my bestest friend. It was heart wrenching to find him missing that day and I keep looking for him to come home some day, but we fear he was sold to a testing facility or somthing. I think there should be a special corner of Hades for people who do mean things like that and make clowns cry.

If you decide to get a rabbit, get yourself a dwarf. If you use it in illusions a lot of the animal tricks have a very small load chamber.
A friend of mine who is a magician has some of the largest production boxes around. because he uses a red satin rabbit.