Advice for first piggies,

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Nightowl

Hi,

As said in my introduction currently we do not have piggies - my twin daughters are 5 in September are we planning on getting two then for them, (and me if I'm truthful lol) We have been given a hutch from a lady who owns two males and have a large indoor rabbit cage we plan to use initially with vet-bed bedding and all the cute soft things for them :)(Keeping them indoors mainly) coupled with that we have a spare bedroom we are planning on using to make a nice floor space run using those mesh boxes I've seen all you artistic people have done - (Great idea, I'm very impressed!)

Well anyhow - on to the main question, should we look at re-homing two guineas, or buying two young ones from the pet shop? I worry because my girls will only be 5, how traumatised guineas from such a bad start can be? and how they overcome in the long term? Obviously my girls want to gently cuddle and kiss and do all cute, ahhhs with them although they do know and understand they may have to work with getting piggies to feel comfortable in our home, also should we go for two males or two females?

Really I'm looking for some advice on where to go from here - I love the idea of taking in two rescue piggies, but ........... I'm sure you all get the gist of my concerns :)

Many thanks

Sue
 
Rescue piggies if you get the right ones are better than petshop ones. Petshop piggies are very young and when you first get them there will be scratches etc.. You are better withones that are a bit older therefore used to handling as they don't get much if any at pet shops.

Some rescues will be unsuitable but if you pick the right ones it'll be great! The rescue will let you know the ones that will be right for you having kids.

I have one petshop one and one rescue but would never get a petshop one again as have had problem after problem with fungus and mites from my petshop one!

With regards to the two males / two females it doesn't really matter but try to go for a pair which are already bonded as it is much easier in the long run as it can be hard to bond them.

Goodluck in your search! there are plenty of rescues on this site too!
 
most rescues take into account the age of children and can usually match up animals to meet your requirements.

al
rspca west suffolk
 
Hi, would just like to add I have always had rescue ones, but after my 2 rescue boys fell out (PLEASE do not let this put you off its a rare case!) i got 2 babies from a pet store to try and bond them with, (although I am still hoping they will be able to be re-bonded and have been getting help.) as I couldnt get any babies from a rescue anywhere.
Just look at my threads to see the problems I have had this week.. one of the babies has ringworm, sniffles, an eye infection etc.. not only may he have passed this onto all my other pets (3 other piggies, 2 rabbits, a cat and a dog) but he has now become aggressive to me due to me giving him meds, and it is both distressing and worrying, and it seems I am not the only one to have had these problems from pet shop pets (my cat was also a petshop kitten and had terrible mites) My 2 rescue piggie boys are loving, and being that bit older and bigger are much better for my 2 children to hold and love too.
There are so many rescue piggies needing homes and you also know what temprements they have.

Hope you find some soon, they do make lovely pets, although to me they are like furry children lol xx
 
Good luck with the search.

I would have got rescue piggies had I known there were so many out there that needed homes .... mine came from a pet corner within a garden centre and they are lovely, we have two females and they are now 5 months old and my son Liam who is 7 really helps me with them, they have bought us so much enjoyment.

And beware they are very addictive and I am now contemplating rescuing rolleyes
 
Thank you for the advice so far :) and sorry to hear you are having so much trouble mstori.

Well I have to admit I have been looking at these two and sort of falling for them myself http://www.guineapigrehome.org.uk/gp/moreinfo.asp?GpigID=3944 lol but I can't get any till September when there Bday is! Boo hehe - Can't take the pleasure out of it - they are for the girls birthday after all :x although they do look so sweet - no I must be strong rolleyes Doh .....
 
Nightowl said:
Thank you for the advice so far :) and sorry to hear you are having so much trouble mstori.

Well I have to admit I have been looking at these two and sort of falling for them myself http://www.guineapigrehome.org.uk/gp/moreinfo.asp?GpigID=3944 lol but I can't get any till September when there Bday is! Boo hehe - Can't take the pleasure out of it - they are for the girls birthday after all :x although they do look so sweet - no I must be strong rolleyes Doh .....
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They do look rather scrummy x)
 
Nightowl said:
Thank you for the advice so far :) and sorry to hear you are having so much trouble mstori.

Well I have to admit I have been looking at these two and sort of falling for them myself http://www.guineapigrehome.org.uk/gp/moreinfo.asp?GpigID=3944 lol but I can't get any till September when there Bday is! Boo hehe - Can't take the pleasure out of it - they are for the girls birthday after all :x although they do look so sweet - no I must be strong rolleyes Doh .....
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thanks x I'm having a nightmare.. Neo (the sick one) has got even worse now :(

aww they are soo cute! Ive never allowed my kids to get pets for birthdays or christmas etc. Dont want them to think of animals as presnts if you know what I mean.. so could you not get them as a new arrival rather than a present? when they have a birthday they get so many toys they want to play with anyway and they are really young? Plus lets face it WE are the ones who want them and do all the looking after :) hope * know what i mean lol x
 
Hi there. I would say rescue too. I do have a pet shop piggy who I brought to bond with a rescue piggy but sadly the rescue piggy died 6 weeks ago. I have since adopted another piggy from a rescue and although she is still a little nervous, she has been here for a little over 2 weeks and she has already settled in. I love my pet shop piggy to pieces and wouldn't swap her for the world but rescues are more rewarding as in you have 'rescued' them. When it comes to sows or boars, they are all lovely. Boars tend to have a bad name sometimes but they are equally as friendly as sows. There tends to be more boars available in rescues as there are more people wanting sows. The girl who is fostering Clive and Sid is actually a member on this forum so may be you could PM her for further advise and to see how long these boys are available for. Her user name is grommit so have a look under members list and you should find her profile in there xx
 
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mstori said:
thanks x I'm having a nightmare.. Neo (the sick one) has got even worse now :(

aww they are soo cute! Ive never allowed my kids to get pets for birthdays or christmas etc. Dont want them to think of animals as presnts if you know what I mean.. so could you not get them as a new arrival rather than a present? when they have a birthday they get so many toys they want to play with anyway and they are really young? Plus lets face it WE are the ones who want them and do all the looking after :) hope * know what i mean lol x
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Hi - Yes I do know what you mean, but the way I see it is, it's quite costly to get everything set up and they know this will be a main present (In other words they will hardly get anything else) They are already around hens and a dog (who's now 15 and still acts like he did when he was 2!), plus my mothers small animals a lot lol and because they have actually chosen and expressed great interest over the past 3 months is the main reason, (they've been turning the computer on and actually logging into youtube to watch piggies in the mornings!) still 4 months till their bday! - so yes if by then they change their mind as kids do, I will prolly just get them for myself haha :D But normally I would agree 100% - believe me this is a one off :) There will be no more pets for a good 5-6 years after these lol. I prefer to do it this way while there is still a lot of time because it allows us to think long and hard and for my daughters to think about other things too - rather than just go out on a whim one day and buy one without thinking if we have everything right, if you know what I mean :)

Hugs to Neo :(
 
Yeah, know what you mean about cost, haha,, (glad you knew what i meant too lol) Ive now got 4 outdoor hutches and 2 indoors (plus 2 on loan) then all hay, igloos, toys, food etc. Aww, they will love them, and there is never a short supply of rescue piggies unfortunately. I let my daughter choose ours at the rescue (she was 6) and she thought she was soo grown up! plus we re-named them (stevie and comanche-she is obsessed with saddle club lmao)
Doubt you will stick to them being your last.. I say that every time.. hehe,, I would absolutely lurve degus, rats and sugar gliders but my OH said NO! I'm working on him when we move to a bigger house :)

Thanks for the thoughts, I'm getting really concerned about him now, his eye is really bad, dont know what happens when its a weekend, emergency vets etc or if I'm over-reacting, probs am.. I'm such a softie!..

Youtube is fab! I always go on with my kids, thats where i first saw sugar gliders.

Not too impressed with one of my rabbits though.. dont know which one (and luckily they not hurt!) just chewed through mine and my bfs laptop charger cables! have aprox 20 mins of battery left! arghhh... dont know what to do! x 8...
 
I actually think that pet shop piggies are often more traumatised then rescue ones. They are treated like goods rather than living beings and god knows what they must go through when being shipped to the pet shop and while being at the pet shop. Rescue piggies are more used to being handle due to the excellent work of caring people. Some will have have had a really bad start in live, but some might have been born at the rescue and not have known anything else but loads of cuddles and love.
 
Best of luck in finding your piggies when the time comes. I have a rescue coming in a week or so (he has just been castrated so waiting to make sure he has no infection etc). Out of all my piggies he is the friendliest and easiest to handle. I believe this to be because the people in rescue care about the animals, they are not just a sale ;)
Also be prepared to fall crazy in love and want to have more and more (I planned to have just two and now have six) :))
 
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Lol thank you all so much for the advice, it's really given me a lot to think about. I think I'm swaying more to rescue piggies even more now lol ...... I just can't allow myself to get addicted! hehe - I had a gerbil when I was in my teens (I'm now 33) and unknown to us she was pregnant - I spent months hiding them all in my bedroom lol mother had a shock when she saw how many there were and wondered why I was on the search for a larger cage! Amazingly they were all girls and even she couldn't part them and I was allowed to keep them all.... but saying that my age now I think I would have kittens if we brought home a pregnant piggy!! ;)
 
Hoshishi said:
I actually think that pet shop piggies are often more traumatised then rescue ones. They are treated like goods rather than living beings and god knows what they must go through when being shipped to the pet shop and while being at the pet shop. Rescue piggies are more used to being handle due to the excellent work of caring people. Some will have have had a really bad start in live, but some might have been born at the rescue and not have known anything else but loads of cuddles and love.
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I have to agree. When I went to P@H, Eliza was the only one in the pen. She was quite big and I am sure she was the one that nobody wanted because of her red eyes :( She has never been a cuddly pig but since Connie died and she was on her own for 2 weeks, it is amazing how cuddly she has became. It was quite obvious when we first brought her home that she wasn't handled much xx
 
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