Hi and officially welcome after a rather intense first days. It is great that you want to join our community.
I am Wiebke. It's my real first name and pronounced something like Veebker. I am Swiss with Northern German roots (hence my Friesian name) but live in the UK with my Welsh husband (hence the Welsh name theme for my Tribe guinea pigs). I live in Coventry (UK).
My guinea pig story goes way back to my childhood/teenage piggies over half a century ago. I have come back to them again as an adult after I moved to the UK. By now, coming up to 100 piggies have passed through my life. The vast majority have been rescue adoptees or assorted private intakes of second-hand piggies, mostly from caring owners who wanted to stay in touch or they have been local emergency boarders who have stayed with me for a few months.
Since the pandemic when I ended up with 13 mostly pair cages, I have been trying to gradually downsize both piggy and cage numbers due to age concerns (my hub is older than me) and now also more urgently for health reasons as we may need the piggy lounge as a care bedroom either for my husband or me in the not so far future. I currently have 13 piggies but the most I have had was (very shortly) 31 piggies at once, which was over my limit, so I kept it at the level I could cope with from then on.
The rear of my piggy journey is brought up by my dumped Cornish family, which was reported l living rough in dog walking wasteland, caught by a local forum member and which I have adopted wholesale, including all resulting babies from both the mother and the sister being pregnant from the boy when arriving in rescue, so I ended up with 7 piggies from the three rescued ones. Adopting a readymade family or group is the last of my piggy dreams fulfilled.
Hence why my current piggies are mostly looking rather similar - half of them are closely related although not necessarily getting on, with four of them (now all neutered) boars. They are my youngest and are all turning 4 years this year.
These are the Cornish parents who were the ones who were rescued. Because of their ordeal, they have stayed together as a closely knitted but somewhat cantankerous trio.
Top to bottom: Dad of 3 sons and one daughter Barcud ('Red Kite', pron. Barkid) with his mother Modron ('Mother Goddess') and at the bottom his sister Millyn ('Sweet Violet', pron. Mikhlyn) who is now the boss. Please forget the 'sweet' in Violet; she's not. You'd rather not put a paw wrong around her whenever she's in a bad mood!
Baeddan ('Boar', pron. Bythan) and Blodyn ('Flower')
They are half-siblings. Baeddan is Modron's son and Blodyn is Millyn's only daughter. She is about 6 weeks older than Baeddan and was born at the rescue I adopted them from. They live on a table cage. Baeddan has the same unusually small eyes as his aunt Millyn. But he is my cuddle boy and the friendliest of the family.
Here are the rest in one glance.
Front left pen: Brangwyn ('White Raven' pron. Braan-gwyn) and tiny Lleian ('Smew' - a UK native small white duck; pron. Tkhlay-anne). Lleian is actually a year older than Bran, who is Baeddan's litter brother from Modron (who you can just see on the left in the adjoining pen); the brothers were born here. Bran is the one whose ego is twice his body size and has always been. He wasn't even 24 hours old when I heard him dominance rumbling!
Lleian and her cousin Llinos are going to turn 5 in summer; they were born a week apart in the same rescue cage. Their closely bonded mothers were rehomed together. Sadly, the cousins are no friends.
Front right pen: Merlin, son of Millyn and litter brother of Blodyn. The smallest of the Cornish boys now lives with big blonde Sulwen ('Blessed or Shining Sun Goddess', pron. Silwen - formerly Sisu), who is an emergency intake from a former forum member and is pretty much a year older than him. Merlin (birth name Boncath 'Buzzard' because he loved to buzz away) is the six weeks older but smallest of Barcud's three sons and lived for a time as a companion with a succession of another former forum member's widowed boars, the first of which was Odin, hence his mythical - if still Welsh - adult name. Like all my boars, he is now neutered. He's the most companionable of the boys.
Back pen: My widowed elderlies group: Black Beti (formerly Betty a bereaved vet surrender in desperate need of a new home just before the Christmas holidays 2022, now 6 years); brown Esme who is the last surviving piggy of
@Claire W (coming up to 6 years); blonde Llinos ('Linnet', pron. Tkhleenos; first cousin of Lleian, the same small size and just a week older, now coming up to 5 years) and pale lilac Macsen ('The Greatest'), who is currently my oldest and has just turned 7 years.
Llinos has joined the Golden Oldies just recently after a rebonding attempt with Lleian failed in the wake of her beloved ersatz-mummy Drwy 'Wren' dying from old age. By the way, the girls were the rescue's choice and I adopted them pretty much sight unseen.
This is my Cornish family in 2022 once all babies were born:
Merlin (son of Millyn and litter brother of Blodyn) - dad Barcud - his sister Millyn - shared daughter Blodyn - newly born sons Brangwyn and Baeddan with their mother/grandmother Modron
Just a few hours old: Bran and Bron (now Baeddan). You can clearly see the difference in their eye size.
Dad Barcud with his three baby sons. Sadly, with all having a strong personality they are not getting on with each other. Boncath 'Buzzard' was Merlin's baby name and Bronrhyddyn 'Robin' was Baeddan's until, with having the smallest bird name as the youngest, he grew into the biggest boar of them all and it just no longer fitted him. Figures...
And when it got a bit livelier
But that is why I have come by so many similar looking piggies. Red or blonde and white abys are my favourite breed, so when a whole bunch in need of a good home comes along by chance right in the middle of the worst string of piggy losses (22 piggies in 24 months between August 2021-August 2023) to help counter too much nonstop grieving than you can process, so yes, by all means go for the dream you have had since you were a teenager!
Sadly, lots of inbreeding in the Cornish family going back further up the family tree, seeing how small the variation in the babies is. Merlin and Blodyn have only got one grandmother and one (unknown) grandfather because their parents are litter siblings (they were not yet fully grown when I adopted them), while Bran and Baeddan's mum is also their grandmother; so three quarters of their DNA is from just her.
I am aware of the risks, having adopted a number of piggies from uncontrolled multiplying (i.e. hoarding) situations over the years. By now, they are all halfway through an average lifespan, so we are doing well.
If you are interested in my piggies:
Here is my blog (admittedly not the busiest):
Wiebke's Tribe: Sows and the City Boars
This is a list of all my Tribe (Forum time) piggies with a picture and a little bio:
Wiebke's Tribe Photo Gallery
A tribute to my most special piggy ever (from pre-forum times):
Minx: It Is 10 Years Today...
And here is my own blog since I broke my hip in a fall in November 2024 and it all turned into a proper saga with stage 4 cancer and an inoperable brain tumour. The support I continue to receive from forum members is helping me a lot and being active on here, unless I am too unwell, gives me something constructive and meaningful to do with my life:
Wiebke's Journey
PS: We occasionally have inofficial regional meetings in a pub, organised by members, and we also have zoom meetings once or twice a year so members abroad and those who struggle with travelling can also have a chance to get to know each other better and have a chat. Or even just lurk and watch the others chat if they feel shy.
I don't have exact ages for any of them but they're all roughly 2½-3 years old.
