How long has everyone been a member of the forum for?

Tara95 said:
Awe me too. You provide your piggies with such an amazing life! They're very lucky! I think sometimes piggies have to go through nasty hay and a smaller cage so they appreciate it more when they have luxury hay and cage upgrades! 😅 and new toys!
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I feel as though me and the piggies went through it together. When we lived In Birmingham we had little to no money, disgusting flat and my mental health meant the only housework I could motivate myself to do was the piggie cleaning. We've come a long way in a short space of time. But I feel like I've had a cage upgrade myself. It's still a modest lifestyle and there's still space to dream but the piggies always come before me.
 
Hath said:
Interesting topic 😂
So apparently been registered since 2017, but can go months without being on.
Never met anyone, but was aware there were meets. I didn't feel confident going as seen many members are friends and felt awkward crashing the party :))
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If you feel awkward going into a place where you don’t know anyone but want to just put a plea on the forum for some to meet you and go with you.
 
Tara95 said:
Just out of interest how long has everyone been a member of the guinea pig forum for? How did it start off? :) and how many guinea pigs does everyone have? :D I've noticed quite a few people seem to know each other quite well too! Is that through the forum or in real life?! :D just being nosey! 😅
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This forum was started in October 2006 by @furryfriends (TEAS) daughter Elli. We are going to celebrate our 15th anniverary this autumn - for a forum, that is a pretty impressive milestone, and so far, we are still running along...

You can see when members joined on the left, underneath their avatar picture. ;)

I joined in March 2009, became a forum buddy in 2011 or 2012 and was asked to be a mod on here in summer 2013 by @furryfriends (TEAS), who wanted to concentrate fully on her sanctuary. I'd been a mod on acouple of other smaller guinea pig forums since 2011 but my ownership goes back further. @sport_billy and I took over the day-to-day forum management to help get the forum up and running again; especially with the forum being buried in spam, then hacked by the Syrian Army (one of the first things we did once our IT fairies got us out of the black hole was to change the forum provider) and having lost many of our old members.
It was a lot of hard work, especially in the first couple of years, to get the forum back on track again but we did get there despite a lot of people poopooing on our insistence on being a friendly, noncontroversial place. We have added suitable (and willing) members to our modding team as we have gone along as there is a lot work behind the scenes to keep this forum a friendly and smoothly running place. The forum ownership is now in member hand and is financed by voluntary membership donations.

Before the pandemic we used to have forum meets organised by members in different parts of the UK; some regular rescue events would also serve as an informal regional meet-up so over the years, we have met quite a few of the forum regulars in person. The biggest meet was generally the annual Birmingham (UK) one where some members would travel to from further afield to meet in a city centre pub within walking distance of the main railway station.
You can find pictures and posts about past forum meets in this section here: Forums/forum-events
 
I started with two piggies many years ago just a day or two before finding and joining the forum. Now on piggies 9, 10, 11 & 12 :))
I've been to a few of the Birmingham meets over the years as well as events at The Potteries and TEAS. Always been made to feel very welcome. The members on the forum are all so lovely, in fact one (I won't name and embarrass) even sent me a care package through the post when I was having a particularly dark time. I've not even met them but hope to once covid does one.

Now though I'm not allowed to leave :))
 
Lady Kelly said:
I started with two piggies many years ago just a day or two before finding and joining the forum. Now on piggies 9, 10, 11 & 12 :))
I've been to a few of the Birmingham meets over the years as well as events at The Potteries and TEAS. Always been made to feel very welcome. The members on the forum are all so lovely, in fact one (I won't name and embarrass) even sent me a care package through the post when I was having a particularly dark time. I've not even met them but hope to once covid does one.

Now though I'm not allowed to leave :))
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Wow that's lovely and gosh 12! I thought I was bad with my 7 😅🐖💞
 
Wiebke said:
This forum was started in October 2006 by @furryfriends (TEAS) daughter Elli. We are going to celebrate our 15th anniverary this autumn - for a forum, that is a pretty impressive milestone, and so far, we are still running along...

You can see when members joined on the left, underneath their avatar picture. ;)

I joined in March 2009, became a forum buddy in 2011 or 2012 and was asked to be a mod on here in summer 2013 by @furryfriends (TEAS), who wanted to concentrate fully on her sanctuary. I'd been a mod on acouple of other smaller guinea pig forums since 2011 but my ownership goes back further. @sport_billy and I took over the day-to-day forum management to help get the forum up and running again; especially with the forum being buried in spam, then hacked by the Syrian Army (one of the first things we did once our IT fairies got us out of the black hole was to change the forum provider) and having lost many of our old members.
It was a lot of hard work, especially in the first couple of years, to get the forum back on track again but we did get there despite a lot of people poopooing on our insistence on being a friendly, noncontroversial place. We have added suitable (and willing) members to our modding team as we have gone along as there is a lot work behind the scenes to keep this forum a friendly and smoothly running place. The forum ownership is now in member hand and is financed by voluntary membership donations.

Before the pandemic we used to have forum meets organised by members in different parts of the UK; some regular rescue events would also serve as an informal regional meet-up so over the years, we have met quite a few of the forum regulars in person. The biggest meet was generally the annual Birmingham (UK) one where some members would travel to from further afield to meet in a city centre pub within walking distance of the main railway station.
You can find pictures and posts about past forum meets in this section here: Forums/forum-events
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The forum has definitely been through a lot and changed the lives of so many guinea pigs 💞 Have to do something special for the 15th anniversary :) and yes I've noticed on some older threads for example when I've searched up a particular health issue that there are alot of old members who haven't returned. The forum is definitely something to be proud of and is very unique too! :)
 
I joined in 2015 after having lurked for about a year. Sometimes I had questions but never joined to ask them until one day I did. From then on, I would sort of pop in when I needed something (usually from the health section) and then pop back out. I suppose I’m the type to only speak when I have something to say - that and part of one of my developmental disabilities is something called rejection sensitive dysphoria. Sometimes it can hold me back as something as much as a blunt response can trigger it, even if there was no ill intention behind it. I also find myself a lot of the time writing replies to things only to delete them without posting because of it too. It really doesn’t make any sense, but we can’t change the way our brain works.
I joined the forum when I was 15, I believe the age limit has been raised since then which is a shame - but completely understandable. The forum has been a blessing on mine and my piggies lives over the years and as a teenager with a parent who didn’t want to understand about welfare guidelines like cage sizes and vet trips, I very much appreciated all the advice I ever got from here. Over time, my mum came to understand the forum was a credible source. She, a lot of the time, never thought vet trips were necessary and after not long, she would say to me ‘well what have they said on the forum?’ and then listen to whatever advice the members had given me. Until eventually she trusted me when I said I had to go to the vets - not sure why that was even a requirement I had to meet as I paid all the vet bills and I got myself to the appointments, but that’s neither here nor there.
I really feel like on the forum, we all mean well. We all want to help each other as much as we can. I know it was a hard journey for the mods to get the forum to where it is now but it has paid off!
 
i joined in 2013,due to having two boars that decided they did not like each other,after 6 months.got both neutered and had girlfriends.at present i have 16 guinea pigs,4 herds,and two boar pairs.everyone is very friendly.the meets are fun,no cliqieness.
 
As what it says on my profile, I joined in May 2014. I was only a lurker first and looking at infos in case there are threads that could help me with my sick piggy that time, Timmy. Eventually I did post when Timmy passed away. The forum was also the one who directed me to Cat & Rabbit the following year when another one of my piggy, Meemee, had dentals problems and suffered after a couple of bad dental work from 2 vets.

I only met Debbie @furryfriends (TEAS) and Becci @alpacasqueak from this forum. I met Debbie when we needed to board my piggies for our upcoming holiday that time. Because Meemee had dental issues, we needed her and our other 2 piggies to be close to Cat & Rabbit and Debbie was the only one we can trust for that. She has always been a blessing for us ever since everytime we needed emergency boarding. ❤ So everytime we have an appointment at C&R, we always make it a point to treat Debbie for a lunch and also see her guinea pigs and the lovely Priya. That's why it was so weird not seeing her this time, when we had to take Rocky to C&R for dental. We can't go to her place for a chat because of the current situation.

Becci, we luckily met at Cat & Rabbit while waiting for appointments at the same time. She was with her lovely and the famous Pedro (chinchila) that time and we started talking when I saw Pedro. I was grateful she let me carry and pet Pedro that time. He was so lovely and would never forget that time. ❤
 
I joined in July 2013 but had been a lurker for a couple of years. At the time I had RB Sheepy (the alpaca, hence the name!) and RB Jess. I was on and off a bit really, not annoying everyone constantly like I do these days! :)) I’ve had 8 piggies now, currently have 4.
I’d been helping at a rescue (cleaning piggy cages) where I live in Rugby and met lovely Debbie at a fundraiser many years ago, then lovely @anyar.dris with my Pirate Ped the chin like she says for a cuddle! :D And met her gorgeous piggy Cookie :love: Ped was the reason I stayed on the forum ‘full time’ really in October 2018! He’d been poorly and I couldn’t find a chinchilla forum that was anywhere near as great as here, everyone was so nice too, so he took over the ‘other pets’ section of the forum with his one-eyed escapades! And
Since then I’ve met the lovely @eileen when she brought my lovely Aliona to me and me and my good friend @Gem789 have done 3 of our own (socially distanced) meets, when we were allowed! But looking forward to the proper forum meets hopefully in the future to meet other lovely forum guys! :D
 
Tara95 said:
Just out of interest how long has everyone been a member of the guinea pig forum for? How did it start off? :) and how many guinea pigs does everyone have? :D I've noticed quite a few people seem to know each other quite well too! Is that through the forum or in real life?! :D just being nosey! 😅
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I joined in April 2018 the day we brought Piggle and Puggle home... but I'd been lurking for a while planning to get piggies, seemed everything I googled about piggies the forum was always top of the search list, so we joined as uncertain newbies with 2 new baby piggies and lots to learn... fast forward 3 years and we have 8 piggies and this is my only social media thing! :)
 
eileen said:
i joined in 2013,due to having two boars that decided they did not like each other,after 6 months.got both neutered and had girlfriends.at present i have 16 guinea pigs,4 herds,and two boar pairs.everyone is very friendly.the meets are fun,no cliqieness.
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Wow 16 guinea pigs sounds amazing! Thought I was bad with 7! 16 sounds amazing though. X
X
 
PigglePuggle said:
I joined in April 2018 the day we brought Piggle and Puggle home... but I'd been lurking for a while planning to get piggies, seemed everything I googled about piggies the forum was always top of the search list, so we joined as uncertain newbies with 2 new baby piggies and lots to learn... fast forward 3 years and we have 8 piggies and this is my only social media thing! :)
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Hehe this is my only social media thing too. Although I do have instagram but rarely use it these Days. and wow 8 piggies, I have 7 ❤️
 
I love this forum! Had a trio when I first joined. Now have a herd of 5 (was 7 for a while as I adopted 2 bereved sows at different time both of whom were happily accepted by my lot).

Really want to go to a forum meet. Will be so good to put faces to names.

I also love the rabbits united forum. Similar atmosphere to this one.

Been on here since 2013 and ru since 2012.
 
I joined in 2017 having been a lurker like so many others.
I gained a lot of information from the forum and it seemed a good place so I joined.
My piggies have a much better life because of the forum.
I’ve been to the Salisbury meets when we lived in Marlborough and have made some lovely friends.
Through the forum I found a 5 ⭐️ hotel for my 4 piggies when we moved up to Wirral @PigglePuggle .
I managed to get to one Potteries Rescue Christmas fair, and had planned to go to a Birmingham meet but the trains were all cancelled due to rain 🌧

I’m looking forward to being able to meet up with forum folk again.

This is the only social media I do too
 
I joined in January of 2016 after a 3 year break from guinea pigs, the loss of my last piggie of the 16 id had as a child hit me quite hard and so I swore off them...it didn't last long! I had decided to get a pair of girls and they were having issues with ringworm.
However many years later and I now have 20 and mainly take in neglected piggies or those with extra needs.

I havent managed to work up the courage to go along to any meets yet, although the cabin fever of lockdown may be the kick up the bum ive needed 😅
 
Mrs Sport_Billy said:
I joined nov 10th 2010 when we needed advice for pitch our dental piggy. My account got hacked and taken over and then got a load of extra buttons when it was given admin permissions so I had to start a new one.
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We would love to meet you finally in person, you know. So far, every doubtful forum member has returned home hale (if likely somewhat hoarse from all that chatting) and relatively sane (or at least no insaner than they have arrived at the meet)... because you simply can't just sit there and NOT speak about piggies, yours and everybody else's!
New members are always welcome, but new 'regulars' even more so. :)
 
flowerfairy said:
I love this forum! Had a trio when I first joined. Now have a herd of 5 (was 7 for a while as I adopted 2 bereved sows at different time both of whom were happily accepted by my lot).

Really want to go to a forum meet. Will be so good to put faces to names.

I also love the rabbits united forum. Similar atmosphere to this one.

Been on here since 2013 and ru since 2012.
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I haven't been on RU since I lost Ronnie and Mary. :(
 
Looks like I've been here for 5 years....I had to check. I've only got one of my original girls left from the herd that I started with and brought me to the forum. I had looked on the american forum for guinea pigs as that what came up first back then.
The forum has helped me to understand my piggies better and to give them as much as I can in terms of making their lives more. It's a really friendly forum and it has helped myself in the last year of lockdown/covid-19.
 
alpacasqueak said:
I joined in July 2013 but had been a lurker for a couple of years. At the time I had RB Sheepy (the alpaca, hence the name!) and RB Jess. I was on and off a bit really, not annoying everyone constantly like I do these days! :)) I’ve had 8 piggies now, currently have 4.
I’d been helping at a rescue (cleaning piggy cages) where I live in Rugby and met lovely Debbie at a fundraiser many years ago, then lovely @anyar.dris with my Pirate Ped the chin like she says for a cuddle! :D And met her gorgeous piggy Cookie :love: Ped was the reason I stayed on the forum ‘full time’ really in October 2018! He’d been poorly and I couldn’t find a chinchilla forum that was anywhere near as great as here, everyone was so nice too, so he took over the ‘other pets’ section of the forum with his one-eyed escapades! And
Since then I’ve met the lovely @eileen when she brought my lovely Aliona to me and me and my good friend @Gem789 have done 3 of our own (socially distanced) meets, when we were allowed! But looking forward to the proper forum meets hopefully in the future to meet other lovely forum guys! :D
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Sorry being useless there, I’ve also met lovely @Elthysia when we were both at Cat and Rabbit too! And I was a crying mess with my Jess! Sorry dozy yesterday @Elthysia and thanks for calming me down! x
 
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