How did you ‘get into’ guinea pigs?

Freya1234

Freya1234

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Not sure if there’s already a thread like this, but i was thinking about my piggie journey and since everyone’s piggie journey is different I wondered how everyone ’got into’ guinea pigs?

For me we’d had guinea pigs all my life growing up usually living with a rabbit (obviously we now understand why that wasn’t good), and after i’d successfully shown responsibility with fish and a hamster and an empty hutch became available outside I decided I wanted to get some guinea pigs to call my own, as previously they’d been family guinea pigs. So off we went to pets at home (🤦🏼‍♀️) where there were just two pigs in the whole shop left, the worker told me they had some out the back that weren’t ready to be on the shop floor yet and he could take pictures of them and i could reserve some, and a family came in at the same time looking for guinea pigs (so glad i got there first!) but I was adamant i wanted these two since it felt like it was meant to be and so Smudge and Smokey came home with me🥰. I took the role of piggie slave very seriously and gradually started doing my own research, moved them into the piggie mansion inside and gave them fleece and the second generation of my piggies are now in a 5 star hotel!
My piggies now even have their own thread Freya’s piggies!

Please add your own piggie journey, and thread if you have one!
 
I had a piggy years ago when I was a child. Looking back I was a rubbish owner. I’m sorry Monty.

When my two children were old enough we got two boy piggies, Biscuit and Blackie. Then the pet shop said we could add two more boys. Sunny and Stripes. Well obviously they all ended up falling out and we had four separate cages outside in a shed.

Then Stripes stopped eating and passed away so we adopted Wilbur.

Once they had all left for the rainbow bridge we had a long gap.

Then Covid hit and we decided to get piggies again. Percy and Pippin. Pippin only lived until 4months. So we got Pepper. Then Percy passed from a bladder stone so we got Pebble.

Here’s their thread

Two spoilt pigs 😊
 
When I was about seven or so my family adopted two massive (or maybe I was just tiny lol) boars named Rocky and Apollo. After they left for RB, there was a gap of no piggies for five or so years. Then when I was 17, I rediscovered my love for these beautiful creatures and adopted baby Daisy and Mocha and later, Jewel, after Daisy passed away young. This is just the beginning of my piggie journey as a fully responsible slave, and I hope there will be many more years of piggies down the track😊
The Furtatoes ♡
 
We got into piggies as my daughter fell in love with them.
I wasn't keen, so I made her research everything, costs, housing etc. almost hoping it would put her off but she did as I asked and a year later for her 10th birthday spaghetti and noodle joined us and I found this forum and realised we still had a lot to learn!
Then I saw a post on here for Pig looking for a new home, previous bonding hadn't worked out but they were close to me so seeing as these little poop machines had wheedled their way into my heart off we went and brought him home.....a few weeks of living alongside we had fallen in love with him, bonding was not successful but we had the space in our hearts and home to keep him instead of sending him back to live alone or to keep trying. So there we were, 2 girls and a neutered male living side by side. They have their own shed, complete with greenhouse heaters in the top of the hutches, power and lighting Inc their own microwave in there for heat pads. Sadly last weekend we became 2 piggies but🤞 we have bonded Mr Pig and Noodle today to live together.
 
When I was a child, I always wanted a dog ... or a cat ... or a dog. But my dad wasn't keen on pets, so I had two budgies and later mice. A childhood friend of mine had a guinea pig and she was just about the most boring pet ever. So I wasn't real keen on guinea pigs.
But when my mum suggested a guinea pig, I thought: "Okay, a guinea pig, not a dog, but bigger than a mouse. This is going in the right direction." ;) That's when I met Molly and the rest is history.
More than 30 years later, I'm still living with guinea pigs, I still didn't get a dog. But I love those little fluffy creatures with their big personalities with all my heart.
My piggies' threat is this one: Furbabies' Adventures
 
When I was 12 a school friends guinea pig had babies. My sister and I had one each, a miss sexed pair!
When my children were small I rehomed an unwanted pair of young sows from a neighbour. There followed a succession of piggies until 2008 when my circumstances changed and I decided to no longer have any pets. In 2014 we had a dreadful year of family ill health, sadly my partner lost his mum and I lost my dad. I was retired by this time and realised if I was ever going to fulfil the dream of having piggies again I should do it, life's too short to just talk about it! As my partner said last week 'I can't imagine us ever not having piggies'.
 
Spaghetti & Noodles said:
We got into piggies as my daughter fell in love with them.
I wasn't keen, so I made her research everything, costs, housing etc. almost hoping it would put her off but she did as I asked and a year later for her 10th birthday spaghetti and noodle joined us and I found this forum and realised we still had a lot to learn!
Then I saw a post on here for Pig looking for a new home, previous bonding hadn't worked out but they were close to me so seeing as these little poop machines had wheedled their way into my heart off we went and brought him home.....a few weeks of living alongside we had fallen in love with him, bonding was not successful but we had the space in our hearts and home to keep him instead of sending him back to live alone or to keep trying. So there we were, 2 girls and a neutered male living side by side. They have their own shed, complete with greenhouse heaters in the top of the hutches, power and lighting Inc their own microwave in there for heat pads. Sadly last weekend we became 2 piggies but🤞 we have bonded Mr Pig and Noodle today to live together.
Click to expand...
That’s so lovely and Miss Noddle and Mr Pig are bonded 😃
 
We talked about having a pet through the covid lockdowns. OH suggested a dog- we quickly decided that would not be good with our working hours. I suggested a tortoise- we decided that perhaps we didn‘t quite have enough experience for a tortoise! Somehow we decided on guinea pigs, after a lot of research, we adopted Hector and Hamish from a rescue. I had never had a pet guinea pig before, my OH had piggies as a child.
I have fallen in love with these little furry potatoes and their giant characters.
They have taken over the house & really are in charge at ours now.
 
I started my piggie journey a long time ago when I was around 10. A boy who lived over the road had lost interest in his rabbit and guinea pig and I offered to take them. I had to split them into two hutches as the rabbit was so much bigger and was constantly humping the poor little guinea.

When my son was around 8 we two boars called Bill and Ben from a local pet shop. We had had gerbils and hamsters. It turned out these two gorgeous piggies where a mis-sexed pair and babies arrived soon after to our utter delight.

When we retired and moved down to Cornwall I did think about getting some more guinea pigs. A couple of years later I became quite poorly and there was a risk that I could loose all my sight overnight. I think this altered my viewpoint on life to some extent and I decided now was the time to get piggies. Along came Bill and Ted, then Posh and Ginger and Hector and Kiki. I’m so glad I made that choice, if I hadn’t been ill I probably wouldn’t have started that journey again. I cannot imagine our home without a couple of piggies now
 
We had a guinea pig called Goldie when I was about 10 and a few years later I was given a pair of my own, Scamper & Pepi.
We gave them the best care we knew how to but this was the 1970s and I realise how little we knew about proper care.
Fast forward to 2011 and we moved to Marlborough. I went into PAH to get my nephew’s Christmas present and as well as stuff for him I came home with Titus & Philemon, two unwanted red eyed whites from the adoption centre.
So began my adult piggy journey and the piggy parade of Tamar, Merab, Keziah & Jemimah, Priscilla and Phoebe, Micah, Naomi and Ruth.
Earlier in January Micah passed away and as we needed a break as we have a very hectic year and some major life changes ahead Ruth has gone to live with @PigglePuggle and Piggy Daddy.
My life feels the emptiness of losing the piggies but one day life will settle again and there will be more piggies.

Ruth is settling well in her new home so shortly the Merab’s Herd thread will be closed.
 
I think I was about 11 so well over 20 years ago now 🤣 I had a big book of pets that I liked going through and had seen a red footed tortoise and decided as kids do, to start asking for one.
My parents said absolutely not (probably wise in hindsight, they were very expensive and I didn't really have a clue how to look after one) but they discussed what I could have instead. As a child my Dad had guinea pigs which he very much enjoyed, building hutches from old boxes taken from the greengrocers, and some bits from the pet shop he worked at after that.

So like most people we went to Pets at home after buying a rubbish, small hutch. Badger and Fudge were of course not the 2 girls we had asked for and lots of mis sexing and a few litters later I had everyone settled into correct sexes or alone to stop the cycle. I also took in a few rescues, stuck my nose into a show and came home with another couple, a few more from various other pets at homes until we ended up with 16.. I had these guys until my early 20s, the last one passing a few years after I moved from Buckinghamshire up to the west midlands over 12 years ago. I took a 3 year break after losing Maggie, the final piggy, before once again ending up in a Pets at Home and deciding 3 years was enough. And here I am now with my current herds, thankfully cared for much better than my childhood piggies.

Its a long running family joke now that they should've just got me the tortoise 😂
 
My first exposure to guinea pigs was as a kid. We had a class pet, a guinea pig named Caramel. The teacher's husband had an allergy and my mom was friends with the teacher, so we used to take her home with us for summers and school breaks. I loved her but somehow never ended up with a guinea pig of my own. I was always a big fan of rodents and small animals, though... as a kid I mainly had pet mice and eventually in my late teens got a hedgehog (Hawthorne), who I absolutely adored and that kicked of about 12 years of hedgehog ownership, as we had Hawthorne, then Bramble, then Thistle. Thistle was actually a rescue who we got as an adult... she absolutely was a 'look, don't touch' animal. When she passed away my husband really didn't want another hedgehog and we had kids at that point and wanted a pet that they could interact with more (they often tried to be affectionate with Thistle and got spiked in the hand for their efforts!) For a variety of reasons we couldn't have a standard dog or cat... we wanted something that was large enough that the kids would be able to interact with, so we came up with either rats or guinea pigs, and ended up deciding on guinea pigs because on average they tend to live longer than rats. So that's how we ended up with our first pair of pigs, Linney and Frenzy, in about 2008, and we have had pigs ever since.
 
I had just gone through a very acrimonious divorce and for some reason on my day off work I wandered into P @ H where I saw a white male guinea pig on his own in the adoption cage and instantly fell in love with him. At the time I had no idea how to look after piggies and was not told they should not live alone. I called him Bertie and he was an amazing personality. He lived to be 3 years old and I was devastated when he made his journey to the rainbow bridge. My house was too quiet after Bertie so I was told of a local rescue and went to visit. This was my next mistake as there were only 3 baby male brothers left (I think piggies were being bred there too). I was told they would all be fine together and as I didn't want to leave one piggie on his own I had all 3 but, of course, they had a fight. I separated them, buying buying more cages, but hadn't room for 3 and didn't want them to live on their own, so made the tough decision to ask a reputable to rehome one male. The two I had left, who I named Wilf and Wilbur needed a friend, so after having them neutered I adopted Tilly and Millie. Tilly lived with Wilbur and Millie with Wilf. Millie needed surgery after only having her just over a year but she passed away in my arms 2 days later. Wilf became withdrawn so I adopted Annie from Cavy Corner and he was besotted! She was a sweet tiny little girl and they were inseparable. After Annie went to the rainbow bridge I adopted Whisper and following Wilf's passing I adopted Daphne. Last June I saw a post on this forum about a young male piggie needing a home, so I then adopted Chunky Russell who bonded well with Whisper and Daphne after he was neutered. They are a lovely threesome in their C&C home in my living room.
After Wilbur had to leave Tilly for the rb I adopted Coco and Tabitha as friends for Tilly, making me 6 piggies, until last December when I lost Tilly under very traumatic circumstances.

I am now besotted slave to 5 piggies and have learned a lot since the early days of Bertie. I will never forget any of them ❤️ 💙
 
It is 20 years nearly, since I got my first pair of pigs.
Here's how it happened...I had a horse, he was lovely but old. He was declining, and I spent hours each day with him, massaging, dosing, and generally making a fuss of him. But then he died, and there were all these hours in the day that I suddenly had to fill. A colleague wanted to sell her rabbit hutch & run, and I thought I wouldn't keep a rabbit in it, but maybe I could have guinea pigs instead. I got a book out of the library about how to look after them and read it about 6 times. Then I rang up the RSPCA and yes, they had two pigs who needed a home. I went to visit them, armed with dandelion leaves, and we all agreed that they would come to live at mine.
I've learned a lot about piggies since then, and they now reside in my living room rather than in the garden or the shed. I've learned about syringe feeding, how to give a piggy a bath, giving medicine, nebulising, claw trimming, making cage furniture, piggy haircuts (OK I wouldn't win any prizes for that one!) and I have enormous muscles from carrying home the vast amounts of food they get through :nod: I know every dandelion patch around, and where to find grass in winter.
I will say that I read the Olga da Polga books when I was small, and I think this may have been an influence.
 
My health started to decline about 18 months ago and I was quite low. We had always discussed getting a dog but our situation was never quite right. One of the shops we went to regularly was by p@h and we liked going in to look at the small furries, not the rabbits though as I am phobic! Also we eat a lot of fresh vegetables and used to joke about getting guinea pigs to feed the trimmings to.
I reluctantly gave up working and really didn't know what to do with myself. Hubby came home one day and handed me a p@h box that contained two little gorgeous boars and within a few days we were both utterly smitten. I was straight on Google to make sure I was looking after them properly and found this forum, I was a lurker for many months. Caring for them was definitely much more than we expected and living with them is so much more rewarding than I could have ever believed possible ❤️
 
My first 2 piggies was when I was about 8, and they made a massive imprint on my heart. Then about 30 years later I got another 3,one from a farm shop and 2 from a breeder, she wasn’t gonna breed from the 2 female’s,so was letting them go, they where the happiest little piggies. My daughter has been wanting some piggies for a few years and recently struggled with her mental health, so thought it was a great idea to buy her 2, will give her something to focus on and for something for her to love. We got her 2 for Christmas from a breeder and I forgot how much I needed them in my life lol my daughter adores them and there always making me laugh. I’ve had many many different pets through my life and there is only 2 that have made such a huge impact and that’s piggy wigs and my dog, he’s a newfoundland
 
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