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Help With Finding Sow For Freddie Please.

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Critter

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Hiya, as some of you know, Snowball died on Saturday, leaving her husboar Freddie on his own.
Freddie cannot join my other sows, Sunrise and Penny, as Sunrise and Freddie end up fighting. Properly fighting, mainly because Sunrise will not tolerate him. Sunrise and Penny are a perfect personality match for each other and there is no way that I would split the pair up.

So. Freddie is on his own and it is affecting him. He wheeks for attention and wants me close (but he isn't particularly cuddly - just wants me near), but I'm not really what he wants. He is restless and he doesn't know what to do with himself.
Today I put him on the grass and instead of popcorning about and showing off, and basically then having a parade up and down and then a happy stroll-and-munch, he is just hiding under one of the tunnels, sniffing the air, not quite brave enough to come out. He has lost confidence since Snowball passed away.

I wanted to go to a rescue, but my local one in Swadlincote have recently rehomed all of their sows, which of course is good news for the sows. She has one lone neutered boar though if anyone is interested?

I have checked on Notts Nibblers pages and they do not have any guinea pigs at all right now. The Potteries don't seem to at the moment but they are not contactable until next week anyhow.
HonneyBunnies in Leicester only have one single sow and I don't really want to travel all that way on the off-chance that the two of them hit it off - I would rather him have some kind of choice.
I know there is Avalon, and I have not ruled them out, but let's just say we had a break down of communication, and I am not confident that they will attempt to set up a proper dating session for Freddie.
RSPC Walsall don't have any suitable on their website.
I don't want to be impatient, but I do feel that for Freddie's sake, the sooner he has a new partner the better.

Does anyone know of any other rescues in the Derby area and not too far from Derby? Some of these rescues I have mentioned are a bit far to be honest, but I have looked at them anyway.

Does anyone local to me have a lone sow that they would like to have a go with pairing up with Freddie? If so are you willing to set up a trial date?

Freddie is gentle. I don't think he will put up with a sow wanting to be head over him as he wouldn't back down to Sunrise, and yet once bonded it was clear that Snowball called the shots, and he was very respectful of her. He made a sweet husboar.

I never thought I would say this but I might, just might even be willing to let him go if someone has a lone sow/sows that he gets on with well and they have a large enough enclosure for him with plenty of enrichment. Freddie needs things to do and lots of space. He loves being able to rummage in hay, enjoys variety in hidies and tunnels, likes to be able to push things around and loves floor time. He's an active piggy who likes his enrichment and space, so I apologise in advance but I would only be willing to let him go if his needs for a large and interesting enclosure are fully met. He needs a large C&C type cage or equivalent.
I don't want to let him go, but I just want his needs to be met, and if I can't find a sow for him to live with me then I will consider letting him go to live with a sow, if that makes sense.

The other option is a local breeder, I do know some good ones, and perhaps some of them would be willing to set up a date for him to choose.

If anyone can help with finding a local rescue or has a sow that needs a new home, please let me know. Must be local to the Derby area - sorry.
 
Have you tried Cavy Corner in Doncaster or Barnsley Animal Rescue Charity (who have a fosterer in Sheffield for help with dating)? They are both on our list of recommended rescues. I would recommend trying Cavy Corner first for a single sow companion. Milhaven in Keighley may be your last resort, but yet another very good place where you will be in safe hands.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/pages/guinea-pig-rescue-locator/

@pig in the city, who fosters for BARC
@Dindypig, who fosters for Cavy Corner
 
I went to Milhaven when I needed to find a companion for Max. It's not the nearest rescue to me -but was easy to get to by train and taxi.
 
Feel free to delete my post, I was just trying to help, not every one can travel miles to adopt guinea pigs sadly.

I hope you find a friend for Freddie @Critter :)
 
Have you tried Cavy Corner in Doncaster or Barnsley Animal Rescue Charity (who have a fosterer in Sheffield for help with dating)? They are both on our list of recommended rescues. I would recommend trying Cavy Corner first for a single sow companion. Milhaven in Keighley may be your last resort, but yet another very good place where you will be in safe hands.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/pages/guinea-pig-rescue-locator/

@pig in the city, who fosters for BARC
@Dindypig, who fosters for Cavy Corner

Cavy Corner, on their website, like to do a home visit and then invite the prospective adoptee over to them to learn more about the pigs. As someone who already owns pigs they may forego that second step, but perhaps I am too far from them for a home visit? I did look at them yesterday, but really some of these rescues are quite a distance, and that is a bit of an issue for me I'm sorry to say. My husband hasn't driven long distances since a nasty shoulder injury that he is still getting pain from, and my Dad already does a lot of running around taxi-ing for myself and my lads, so I don't like to ask, plus I think Freddie would be a bag of nerves going all that way. I know it sounds like excuses, but I was hoping to find a more local solution if possible :) But thank you.
 
We cannot recommend either of these rescues.
True, true, but having looked at the most local recommended ones I am considering finding out if I may have some success with one not on the list, so unless someone here knows for sure that there is something really off about any of the rescues more local to me I am grateful for those links. In fact Bramcote may be a solution....
But I do appreciate where you're coming from on this Wiebke with regards making sure that I know that some of these links are not endorsed by the forum :)
 
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Cavy Corner, on their website, like to do a home visit and then invite the prospective adoptee over to them to learn more about the pigs. As someone who already owns pigs they may forego that second step, but perhaps I am too far from them for a home visit? I did look at them yesterday, but really some of these rescues are quite a distance, and that is a bit of an issue for me I'm sorry to say. My husband hasn't driven long distances since a nasty shoulder injury that he is still getting pain from, and my Dad already does a lot of running around taxi-ing for myself and my lads, so I don't like to ask, plus I think Freddie would be a bag of nerves going all that way. I know it sounds like excuses, but I was hoping to find a more local solution if possible :) But thank you.

I have tagged @Dindypig ; he's based in Bolsover and has done home checks etc. on behalf of Cavy Corner before, so that it is not so very far from you. ;)
 
I remembered another when googling.. http://www.bramcote-rescue.co.uk/contactpage.html Don't know how close they are to you mind.

Also I found http://brinsleyanimalrescue.org/ Don't know if they have any piggies atm, but they do have a FB page.

Bramcote is looking like a good possibility at the moment, and indeed they ask that people bring their existing pig along to see how they get on with those in the rescue - i.e. dating. It's local enough and although I've not contacted them yet it looks like the have a variety for Freddie to be able to choose. I realise it isn't endorsed, but it still could be a good solution :)
Thank you :)
 
No problem, I tried them before for Storm but they said they don't do boar - boar dating. (At least that's what they said when I called them).
 
Just phoned Bramcote. They HAD quite a few sows, they have all recently gone! Good news for the sows of course.....
However they are expecting more to be up for adoption next week once they have come back from being checked by the vets, so it could be worth phoning them again next week for more details.
 
Doh and yey at the same time LOL. Cross fingers for next week! At least they check their piggies first... some don't.... not saying who... lol.
 
I have spoken to Dindypig; he should be contacting you within a day hopefully after having spoken to Cavy Corner.
 
Good luck in your search, I hope you manage to find a the perfect friend!
 
My husband has just said if you need help with transport to the Sheffield area his offer still stands x
 
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