Cuys!

[Magician]

Currently I have 2 boars - Aladdin and Lenny - just your bogstandard piggies who were given to me by someone who was unable to look after them and didn't want them to languish in an RSPCA centre for the rest of their days.
However, I've always thought cuy pigs (the really big ones!) looked gorgeous, and thought it might be nice to get a couple of cuys when my boys are no longer around. (Though if anyone has a secret for getting piggies to live forever I'll take that over a cuy any day, lol.)
But they only seem to be available from breeders. I've never bought any animal from a breeder, ever, and don't want to start now. So is it just a matter of waiting and being prepared to travel a long way to get a cuy from a rescue when one pops up or looking on free ads etc.? Do any rescues get them in particularly often? Those of you with cuys, where did they come from?
Love, wheeks and thanks for reading my little essay

 

[Guineapigfeet]

Cuys do not really come up in the UK (can’t see where you are) they also tend to be much more ‘wild’ than domestic cavies and need huge amounts of space. I’ve heard they can be difficult to tame and generally do not appreciate human interaction the same way cavies can.
Although I like the idea of a massive guineapig, I would never get any personally.

Someone with cuy experience (probably from America as they seem to come up there more often) may come along later!

 

[Lady Kelly]

Cuys are still fairly new to the UK and whilst there have been reports of some rescues having them surrendered it is still an uncommon occurrence and it is not clear as to whether these would then live at the rescue for life or be available for adoption. Cuys need different care so I would start reading up on them before holding out for a pair

 

[Magician]

Cuys are still fairly new to the UK and whilst there have been reports of some rescues having them surrendered it is still an uncommon occurrence and it is not clear as to whether these would then live at the rescue for life or be available for adoption. Cuys need different care so I would start reading up on them before holding out for a pair

Yep, researching already - lots of good information on American rescue sites. They sound like they can be tamed, with work and lots of attention, which suits me fine as my piggies live in my bedroom so I see them whenever I go in there.

 

[flowerfairy]

This wonderful uk rescue have some part cuys

Piggies for Re-homing

 

[eileen]

In my experience cuys are difficult to handle they can be very fiesty,With hard work they can be tamed,this ideally needs to be worked on from a young age.you need considerally more cage space than an average piggy.also there life span tends to be shorter,average age is 3years.cuys i believe needs to be with an owner that has lots of experience with cavies.

 

[Magician]

In my experience cuys are difficult to handle they can be very fiesty,With hard work they can be tamed,this ideally needs to be worked on from a young age.you need considerally more cage space than an average piggy.also there life span tends to be shorter,average age is 3years.cuys i believe needs to be with an owner that has lots of experience with cavies.

How much more space than the average gpig? I was thinking triple what mine currently have (2*5 C&C), would that be enough? How are cuys with ramps? (Bearing in mind I don't intend to get any for months at the earliest).

 

[Eriathwen]

I currently have two 1/4 cuys, they have finally stopped growing. Leonard is just under 1400g and Shelly is 1300g. Leonard isn't really a typical cuy temperament wise, he's actually pretty chilled. Shelly however is a different matter entirely. She is ok for chin scratches and taking food from the hand, but if you try to catch her she screams, stomps, tries to climb the bars etc. When people say cuys are not tame like domestic guinea pigs, they don't mean they're skittish..They can be full on bulldozers. They will run and not stop! They are also very strong.
For example, I have..had a set of digital kitchen scales that weigh up to 5kg. 3 days ago Shelly decided she did not want to be weighed. She stomped them so hard she broke them.
Having a guinea pig that screams and tries to climb the bars is also quite heart breaking to watch. I love her to bits and she is fairly comfortable with me, but instinct is instinct. There's only so much taming can do.

Then there's if/when they get ill. Shelly was never as bad as she is now, but I broke the bond/trust she had in me when she got a UTI and had a horrible reaction to baytril. She needed probiotic, syringe feeding, septrin, wiping diarrhoea off her etc and let's say I might as well have been trying to medicate a Tasmanian devil

I had no idea they were part cuy when I was given them, it was only in conversation after that I learned about one of their grandparents. With Shelly being the way she is I can't imagine sharing my home with a full cuy that did not tame down.

If you are serious it is vital you handle them every single day to gain their trust. Without going to a breeder I don't know where you would likely find them, my advice would be to find where they're being bred and contact rescues in that area that should any cuy or large skittish pigs come in, to contact you. Many breeders do not sell them to people who don't know what they're getting into however. So they're luckily less likely to turn up in rescues yet.
While Shelly is an extreme example, that is what you may end up having to deal with, but possibly even worse. While Shelly is big for a guinea pig, she is nothing in size to a full grown cuy!

I forgot to talk about the polydactyl feet too.. if you thought nail trimmings were difficult with a regular piggy, cuys can have double the amount of toes! So that's another thing that might crop up, I'm extremely grateful my 2 have the normal amount of toes! Nail time is already stressful enough haha

 

[Magician]

I currently have two 1/4 cuys, they have finally stopped growing. Leonard is just under 1400g and Shelly is 1300g. Leonard isn't really a typical cuy temperament wise, he's actually pretty chilled. Shelly however is a different matter entirely. She is ok for chin scratches and taking food from the hand, but if you try to catch her she screams, stomps, tries to climb the bars etc. When people say cuys are not tame like domestic guinea pigs, they don't mean they're skittish..They can be full on bulldozers. They will run and not stop! They are also very strong.
For example, I have..had a set of digital kitchen scales that weigh up to 5kg. 3 days ago Shelly decided she did not want to be weighed. She stomped them so hard she broke them.
Having a guinea pig that screams and tries to climb the bars is also quite heart breaking to watch. I love her to bits and she is fairly comfortable with me, but instinct is instinct. There's only so much taming can do.

Then there's if/when they get ill. Shelly was never as bad as she is now, but I broke the bond/trust she had in me when she got a UTI and had a horrible reaction to baytril. She needed probiotic, syringe feeding, septrin, wiping diarrhoea off her etc and let's say I might as well have been trying to medicate a Tasmanian devil

I had no idea they were part cuy when I was given them, it was only in conversation after that I learned about one of their grandparents. With Shelly being the way she is I can't imagine sharing my home with a full cuy that did not tame down.

If you are serious it is vital you handle them every single day to gain their trust. Without going to a breeder I don't know where you would likely find them, my advice would be to find where they're being bred and contact rescues in that area that should any cuy or large skittish pigs come in, to contact you. Many breeders do not sell them to people who don't know what they're getting into however. So they're luckily less likely to turn up in rescues yet.
While Shelly is an extreme example, that is what you may end up having to deal with, but possibly even worse. While Shelly is big for a guinea pig, she is nothing in size to a full grown cuy!

I forgot to talk about the polydactyl feet too.. if you thought nail trimmings were difficult with a regular piggy, cuys can have double the amount of toes! So that's another thing that might crop up, I'm extremely grateful my 2 have the normal amount of toes! Nail time is already stressful enough haha

THIS POST is amazing. So, so useful. Sounds like I need to improve my set up anyways, and cuys are a future thing (my boys aren't going anywhere, I adore them, but they are 5 and starting to show their age, so I do need to have future plans - cuys is one, fostering for a rescue is another!).
I will look round at rescues and speak to any near me; I'd rather not go super far afield for something that skittish as I imagine a long journey would be even more traumatic for a cuy than for a regular piggy. Out of interest, do yours eat lots more? Do you give them a similar amount of pellets that a normal pig would receive? Do they get floor time or are they too skittish for that?
Polydactyl feet sound cute to look at but a pain to deal with. Have you ever had to bathe your cuys? What about vet visits, how do you deal with those? Also, what do you use as a carrier as I imagine a bogstandard cat carrier wouldn't be sufficient?

 

[Eriathwen]

THIS POST is amazing. So, so useful. Sounds like I need to improve my set up anyways, and cuys are a future thing (my boys aren't going anywhere, I adore them, but they are 5 and starting to show their age, so I do need to have future plans - cuys is one, fostering for a rescue is another!).
I will look round at rescues and speak to any near me; I'd rather not go super far afield for something that skittish as I imagine a long journey would be even more traumatic for a cuy than for a regular piggy. Out of interest, do yours eat lots more? Do you give them a similar amount of pellets that a normal pig would receive? Do they get floor time or are they too skittish for that?
Polydactyl feet sound cute to look at but a pain to deal with. Have you ever had to bathe your cuys? What about vet visits, how do you deal with those? Also, what do you use as a carrier as I imagine a bogstandard cat carrier wouldn't be sufficient?

Thankyou! Glad I could be of help
Yeah personally I wouldnt trust a C&C cage for them, I have them in a 120cm petstore style cage at the moment (wasnt expecting them to be so big!) but she's the main reason I am upgrading most of the girls to a 7x3ft wooden, solid sided pen, one of these days I can see her climbing the bars and getting a leg caught or twisting her spine awkwardly.
They do eat more, but it's mainly hay that they eat more of, I usually give them the same amount of pellets as the others, I have a little scoop that came with some probiotic pellets I bought and I use that, id say itd be about a teaspoons worth, maybe a little more. I dont tend to feed all that many pellets to any of them to be honest but Shelly probably gets a few extra purely so her companion Ivory can get to some before she hoovers them all up they often get a little extra veg too for the same reason.
Leonard does get floor time, he likes to have a cuddle while he's out but isnt too keen on running around. Shelly and Ivory come out as long as Shelly is feeling amenable and walks into her cardboard tube, otherwise I leave her be, she doesnt really like being accompanied for floor time like Leonard does so I pop them on the bathroom floor, shut the door and leave them to it for a few hours instead of putting them where everyone else goes.

I've had to bathe Leonard once, purely because he also had a UTI late last year and he got a little impacted so needed a soak, he dealt with that quite well..I use unscented baby wipes for Shelly, I dont think she would tolerate a bath very well!
I do have a cat carrier which can cope with my 6.5kg cat so it works for them, as it's larger and sturdier than a lot of others. I also have a wooden box that was given to me with them, I'm not sure if it has a proper name but it's a wooden box with a hinged lid...I think they're for showing. But anyway..thats really helpful as it's top opening so it's harder for them to shoot out while you reach in to pick them up

Vets are generally not too bad, they dont like to travel that much but once they're at the vets Shelly tends to freeze which is helpful, albeit a little sad as shes obviously scared. Leonard doesnt care at all, in fact one of the locums said he was the most docile, chilled pig she had ever met!

This is actually Shelly at the vets a while back, one of the few pictures I have of me holding her because she's also pretty scared of cameras and phones..but as you can see, not too impressive size wise but boy can she damage a set of scales!


and well, I guess it's only fair to stick one of Leonard up too lol

 

[Magician]

Thankyou! Glad I could be of help
Yeah personally I wouldnt trust a C&C cage for them, I have them in a 120cm petstore style cage at the moment (wasnt expecting them to be so big!) but she's the main reason I am upgrading most of the girls to a 7x3ft wooden, solid sided pen, one of these days I can see her climbing the bars and getting a leg caught or twisting her spine awkwardly.
They do eat more, but it's mainly hay that they eat more of, I usually give them the same amount of pellets as the others, I have a little scoop that came with some probiotic pellets I bought and I use that, id say itd be about a teaspoons worth, maybe a little more. I dont tend to feed all that many pellets to any of them to be honest but Shelly probably gets a few extra purely so her companion Ivory can get to some before she hoovers them all up they often get a little extra veg too for the same reason.
Leonard does get floor time, he likes to have a cuddle while he's out but isnt too keen on running around. Shelly and Ivory come out as long as Shelly is feeling amenable and walks into her cardboard tube, otherwise I leave her be, she doesnt really like being accompanied for floor time like Leonard does so I pop them on the bathroom floor, shut the door and leave them to it for a few hours instead of putting them where everyone else goes.

I've had to bathe Leonard once, purely because he also had a UTI late last year and he got a little impacted so needed a soak, he dealt with that quite well..I use unscented baby wipes for Shelly, I dont think she would tolerate a bath very well!
I do have a cat carrier which can cope with my 6.5kg cat so it works for them, as it's larger and sturdier than a lot of others. I also have a wooden box that was given to me with them, I'm not sure if it has a proper name but it's a wooden box with a hinged lid...I think they're for showing. But anyway..thats really helpful as it's top opening so it's harder for them to shoot out while you reach in to pick them up

Vets are generally not too bad, they dont like to travel that much but once they're at the vets Shelly tends to freeze which is helpful, albeit a little sad as shes obviously scared. Leonard doesnt care at all, in fact one of the locums said he was the most docile, chilled pig she had ever met!

This is actually Shelly at the vets a while back, one of the few pictures I have of me holding her because she's also pretty scared of cameras and phones..but as you can see, not too impressive size wise but boy can she damage a set of scales!
View attachment 80822

and well, I guess it's only fair to stick one of Leonard up too lol
View attachment 80823

Damn they really are big beasts aren't they. Lush though.
I'm not even sure what it is I like about cuys...but there is definitely something. Probably because it's about as close as I'll ever get to owning a capybara