Excess boars

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Poppy'sMum

Poppy'sMum

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Dear old Blighty UK
This may be a silly question, & I hope I am not breaking any forum rules but I have a question I have been burning to ask ?/

I may be starting to think about some more piggies & am looking firstly at the rescue option, but I have browsed around other options too, & it strikes me there are so many boars bred & are "surplus" to requirements. What I don't understand is why when they sell boars & sows, lots of places say the sows are reserved for so-and-so or "staying". Now surely if they stay, they are eventually going to be inbred with their own relatives?

And also if they do stay or are sold to other breeders then what is the purpose of breeding them anyway if they aren't sold as family pets? There can't be a lot of money being made if the piggies never actually go anywhere else?

I am confused lol! :{
 
You're largely right - the majority of piggies sold in pet shops are male, as the breeders that supply the pet shops keep the females for breeding. Far too many people impulse buy pets at pet shops, and it's these that then end up in rescues, which means that there's a high proportion of boars in both rescues and pet shops.

Have you tried looking around on the forum? Specifically the Rescue and Rehoming section. There's often many piggies available, all with their own stories, and people are usually willing to help out with transporting if you aren't near by!
 
Oh yes I am certainly looking as I am missing the wheeks when I open the fridge door :( I would like a pair of sows, simply because I've only ever had sows, & I am slightly put off by the things I have read about boys; smells/extra bits/anal impaction etc lol! It's what I'm used to I guess. I'm not worried about babies, just would prefer ones that are a year old or younger & fairly healthy, I don't want to lose anymore just yet as I get too attached to them so would like a few years to enjoy them. I just lost my oldie aged 7 & was devastated 8...
 
Poppy'sMum said:
Oh yes I am certainly looking as I am missing the wheeks when I open the fridge door :( I would like a pair of sows, simply because I've only ever had sows, & I am slightly put off by the things I have read about boys; smells/extra bits/anal impaction etc lol! It's what I'm used to I guess. I'm not worried about babies, just would prefer ones that are a year old or younger & fairly healthy, I don't want to lose anymore just yet as I get too attached to them so would like a few years to enjoy them. I just lost my oldie aged 7 & was devastated 8...
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Tell me about it - I have four boys rolleyes I'm picking up my girl on Friday though :(|)

Where abouts are you located?
 
When I first got guinea pigs there was this big myth going round that 2 males would fight, which as we all know isn't strictly true especially if they are litter mates. Hence why pet shops at that time had an overstock of boys and girls were like gold dust. This was about 12 years ago though, perhaps longer.

A lot of people who breed keep girls because they can just be added to an existing group. Whereas any boys have to be kept alone if they're going to be bred from and from a breeders point of view this takes up 'space' as cruel as it is. If you want to maximise breeding potential you keep as many girls as possible and maybe a couple of males to interchange the lines. You'd probably rehome any male babies to pet homes or other breeders. You might let a girl go if she wasn't a particularly good specimin. You would constantly be retiring older females to pet homes after a couple of litters too. You can't really be a big time breeder and have much of a heart.

Breeding guinea pigs never strikes me as terribly profitable either. The price you'd sell at to a pet shop wouldn't be particularly high, you might get more selling privately especially if you were breeding fancy piggies.

Anyway without getting into any sort of debate I'm sure it's clear what we all think of breeding. On the topic of boys, they do make lovely pets, sometimes they do smell a little bit more but nothing major. I guess some female piggies can have bad personal hygiene too just depends on the pig. With the anal impaction, I currently have 3 boys and only 1 suffers from it. They have all been treated exactly the same so it appears there isn't much pattern to it. It's not awful to have to deal with, just check down there every day and pop out anything which is building up. Takes literally 2 minutes and my boy doesn't wriggle/squeak when I do it so it's obviously not too uncomfortable for him.

In terms of rescuing, it might be nice to have a pair of boys for a change or maybe a female/neutered male combo.
 
I wouldn't mind a neutered male with a female, do they erm get up to stuff the same though ? :red Mind you my last two girlies constantly chased each other & there was a lot of mounting going on, one of them used to pee in the others face lol! :))
 
Poppy'sMum said:
I wouldn't mind a neutered male with a female, do they erm get up to stuff the same though ? :red Mind you my last two girlies constantly chased each other & there was a lot of mounting going on, one of them used to pee in the others face lol! :))
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if you can travel i would highly reccomend wingwhistle warren...
shes based in gloucester...
i got my neutered bore form alice...
and when i was there a couple weeks ago she had a couple of lovely neuterd bores waiting for there wifeys for lifey... :))

oliver still humps my lot occasionally.... but its more dominance then anythng else... haha... yes with my herd we have lots of squriting...!
x
 
why did i read leicester not lincoln...!
lmao... windwhistle is about 4 hours from you...!
lmao...
x
 
Poppy'sMum said:
I wouldn't mind a neutered male with a female, do they erm get up to stuff the same though ? :red Mind you my last two girlies constantly chased each other & there was a lot of mounting going on, one of them used to pee in the others face lol! :))
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I can fullheartedly confirm that my neutered boar Hywel, currently looking after 11 girls, is definitely up to "all that stuff" - and that includes generating lots of testosterone like any normal boar, especially when he meets a new girl or several girls are in season at the same time! The only difference is that there won't be any babies and there is a lot less bickering amongst the girls. rolleyes Rumblestrutting and mounting is part of the dominance behaviour and is practiced by all piggies. It is not linked to gender or neutering.

Cross gender pairings are probably the most stable pairing. Not every rescue has the funds or the policy of neutering boars, though. Most reputable rescues take care in bonding their boars - an age difference between them often does the trick to keep a boar bond stable. You are much more likely not to have any fall outs by rehoming a bonded and stable pair from a rescue.

There are also some rescues active on here that rehome further afield, provided a pick up can be organised. Have a look through our rescue and rehome section!
 
I was watching your video of Hywel earlier, talk about a piggie Hugh Hefner lol!

I will do, thanks for that info. :))
 
Whereabouts in Lincs are you? Is Hull Animal Welfare too far? They are in South Cave. They often have piggies.
 
I can safely say boars are no different to sows.

Yes boars bicker and squabble, but so do sows. There are SO, SO, SO many boars that are in rescues due to this reputation - so please consider a bonded pair :)

I love my boars and I am SO glad I have them to look after :)
 
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