I made a big mistake...

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Shellza

Shellza

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I went to the pet shop for some hay :(, but thats not all...I then insisted on going to look at the pigs...
I've fallen in love! There was a little male aby there (cream and lilac by the looks of it), and he was gorgeous x)! Unfortunately I couldn't have him right then, but I'm really considering going back.
However, the owners said he wouldn't go with my year old girls, would this be the case or would they be able to get along?

I still don't know if I'd be able to have another though and I'd prefer to get one from a rescue to be honest, but he was adorable.
 
NO - they won't go along unless you have that boy neutered when he is old enough, included the 4-6 weeks wait after the op to make sure there are no "accidents". Until then, he has to stay separated, or you will be knee deep in little pigges with all the risks and problems involved in THAT! Your girls are too old for a first pregnancy now and will be at risk.
 
If you got him neutered then he should be ok with your girls - you must wait for his 4-6 weeks danger period to be over before introducing them as pregnancies in females of that age often have fatal consequences - for the sow as well as the babies.

There is no guarantee that they will get on even if he is neutered - not all guinea pigs like each other!

Oh the danger of looking in pet shops!

Suzy x
 
I assumed you meant you'd get him neutered. He should get on with your girls, but you never know, sometimes they don't. But I'd say there's a good chance they'll like each other.

I think you'll know if your heart if it feels right to get him, or to go to a rescue, or if you shouldn't get another one. Let us know either way :)
 
Yeah I would definitely have him neutered if I were to get him, but he still looked so young I wouldn't want mine to bully him. If I did decide to get a boar I think I would go to a rescue though, as then the girls could go on a trial period. Hmm, still considering it, but then I still don't think I have the space and its not really a good idea...we'll see.
 
It is never easy to walk away and let your head rule over your heart - if you can, do so, if you really can't, then by all means get him.
 
The same thing happened to me, I went to P@H to get some hideys, fell in love with a ginger and white puruvian boar, came home and sulked for an hour then went back and got him. Not ideal, I wasn't intending on having more piggies. To make matters worse, I already had neutered boars, one in each of my trios, so I couldn't add him in to an existing group. The idea was that once he was 'safe' I would take a girl from an existing group to pair with him. Instead, I got two rescue girlies from Becklen :(|)

Although pet shop pigs aren't the best place to get a new piggie, rescuing is always favourable, when you fall in love with a piggy, it is hard to get them out of your mind. After all, all piggies deserve a happy loving home. Only you can make the decision as to whether to get him.

As for bonding, you wouldn't know whether your girls would accept him unless you tried it out. If you are ok with potentially having a seperate cage and getting a friend for him should it not work out, I don't see a problem. But then, I now have 9 pigs after only getting my first pair a year ago. Perhaps I'm not the best person to be offering advice inbreeding
 
KimberleysWheekers said:
But then, I now have 9 pigs after only getting my first pair a year ago. Perhaps I'm not the best person to be offering advice inbreeding
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Haha, that made me chuckle. My friend/housemate who also has piggies here was considering getting a male as well, so I shall talk to her about it too ;). Although it would not be ideal I would be able to separate if necessary. We'll see...after the weekend I shall make my decision.
 
Oooh I remember 'that piggy' in the pet shop...oh wait here he is...

IMG_1548.jpg


Saw him last thing on a Sunday, was at the pet shop at five to nine the next day to make sure I got him before he was sold...now he's getting neutered and hopes to pair with another piggy from here, LauraLucy's Cherry!

Nearly did the same today but the stinking, awful, RUBBISH attitude of the staff and the fact they were selling two male golden hamsters to live in one cage (bloodbath anyone?!) made me walk out, not before advising three other customers to shop elsewhere...
 
I know what you mean. I was looking at the piggies today and really wanted another one to go with my two girls, but not sure about whether that's wise.

Also, I know people have often had bad experiences with P@H, but I have to say that I think our local one seems quite good. They all look healthy, they aren't doing anything that they shouldn't with the pets and the piggies get handled lots each day and seem really content. I guess it probably depends on the staff and the ones at ours seem to all have small pets themselves which makes a difference I think.
 
Many of us have been there, believe me!

I'd been planning to look at a rescue for guinea pigs when I fell for a couple of big sad eyes that belonged to a little shop sow that was bullied by a bigger girl... Seven weeks later, the number of my guinea pigs had doubled as said girl promptly had babies at the worst possible time and I ended up taking my babies to a rescue instead of rehoming from them. mallethead
 
toddletts said:
I know what you mean. I was looking at the piggies today and really wanted another one to go with my two girls, but not sure about whether that's wise.

Also, I know people have often had bad experiences with P@H, but I have to say that I think our local one seems quite good. They all look healthy, they aren't doing anything that they shouldn't with the pets and the piggies get handled lots each day and seem really content. I guess it probably depends on the staff and the ones at ours seem to all have small pets themselves which makes a difference I think.
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its not always the condition of the babies their its the condition of the parents and where they have come from and who they were bred frominbreedinginbreeding and the conditions of where they came from as normally they are not good conditions by far a case of males loads of them in with females and breeding out of control and what happenes to the parents when they are not fit to get preg again and are know longer able to make money? they are normally killed
 
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I only ever look at the boy side of our local Pets @ Home, knowing I could never add any more. I don't test how much I can resist temptation by looking at the girlies :))

As for if he would get along with your girls, once he was neutered he *should* be okay with your girls, but that said, there has been quite a few piggie marriages on here that haven't worked out recently :( so I guess more than anything it all depends on the characters of all three.

Boris (my neutered boy) is the youngest in my group - he lives with three girls. It was touch and go with him and Pippa, my dominant girl for a short while at the beginning. Now though they are all very happy together and he shares hidey-houses with the girls (something which they never previously did between themselves)

It's a toughie (but he does sound gorgeous though drool ;) )
 
clairelove said:
its not always the condition of the babies their its the condition of the parents and where they have come from and who they were bred frominbreedinginbreeding and the conditions of where they came from as normally they are not good conditions by far a case of males loads of them in with females and breeding out of control and what happenes to the parents when they are not fit to get preg again and are know longer able to make money? they are normally killed
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Three of mine came from P@H but I couldn't do it again - was in there today and one had a bright pink ear, I mean magenta/slightly red race for life style pink. I asked an assistant why and he said 'oh they just come like that sometimes, he was like it wen we got it'

I asked if they had taken him to a vet, and got told 'no guinea pigs do just have bright pink ears at times' to which I replied 'well in 14 years and quite a few piggies I've not heard that one before!'

pow-powpow-pow
 
Doeylicious said:
Three of mine came from P@H but I couldn't do it again - was in there today and one had a bright pink ear, I mean magenta/slightly red race for life style pink. I asked an assistant why and he said 'oh they just come like that sometimes, he was like it wen we got it'

I asked if they had taken him to a vet, and got told 'no guinea pigs do just have bright pink ears at times' to which I replied 'well in 14 years and quite a few piggies I've not heard that one before!'

pow-powpow-pow
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same here my first sow in a long time came from pets at home she is now 5yrs old and i know i would never buy from a pet shop again even though she was ok...

Since starting the rescue i have also broken down and brought a guinea from a local pet shop but its something i could never do now and has hard has it is i have to walk away:(
 
Wiebke said:
Many of us have been there, believe me!

I'd been planning to look at a rescue for guinea pigs when I fell for a couple of big sad eyes that belonged to a little shop sow that was bullied by a bigger girl... Seven weeks later, the number of my guinea pigs had doubled as said girl promptly had babies at the worst possible time and I ended up taking my babies to a rescue instead of rehoming from them. mallethead
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I don't think I'd ever get a sow from a pet shop knowing what I know now. We bought two 'girls' but they turned out to be a mixed pair. She got pregnant whilst with us, I should have noticed earlier malletheadmallethead However, that said, I would notice earlier now, but I couldn't be sure that the little sow wasn't in with the males before I got her. Males, on the other hand, you don't have that worry.

Little Piggles said:
I only ever look at the boy side of our local Pets @ Home, knowing I could never add any more. I don't test how much I can resist temptation by looking at the girlies :))
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My local P@H don't have the pens marked up! How sneaky of them! Although they are split into sows and boars, they don't have a sign saying which is which.
 
clairelove said:
same here my first sow in a long time came from pets at home she is now 5yrs old and i know i would never buy from a pet shop again even though she was ok...

Since starting the rescue i have also broken down and brought a guinea from a local pet shop but its something i could never do now and has hard has it is i have to walk away:(
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I honestly think things were different a few years ago - my girls are 4 so would have got them a year after your girlie and it just seemed so much better in there then...ah well...

It makes you want to buy them all to 'save' them but then of course they will just get more in, so it's not really helping at all...at least they don't sell them with rabbits, that's one small mercy.
 
KimberleysWheekers said:
I don't think I'd ever get a sow from a pet shop knowing what I know now. We bought two 'girls' but they turned out to be a mixed pair. She got pregnant whilst with us, I should have noticed earlier malletheadmallethead However, that said, I would notice earlier now, but I couldn't be sure that the little sow wasn't in with the males before I got her. Males, on the other hand, you don't have that worry.

My local P@H don't have the pens marked up! How sneaky of them! Although they are split into sows and boars, they don't have a sign saying which is which.
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I have gone strictly rescue since that first pair! The pen wasn't marked, and Minx could have been as much a boy as far as I was concerned. It was a pretty steep learning curve without the benefits of a forum! On the other hand, I wouldn't have my tribe now if she'd been a boy... :))

PS: Minx got pregnant during the transport from the rodent farm to the shop where all piggies were thrown together.
 
Thats another thing about the pet shop I went in, they had one little sow in with 3 rabbits :(. They were only small rabbits but still...and she was so pretty as well, I just couldn't have another girl. I only ever go in there to get hay as they do it really nice and quite cheap, but I hate looking at the animals like that. Just want to save them all.
 
Shellza said:
Thats another thing about the pet shop I went in, they had one little sow in with 3 rabbits :(. They were only small rabbits but still...and she was so pretty as well, I just couldn't have another girl. I only ever go in there to get hay as they do it really nice and quite cheap, but I hate looking at the animals like that. Just want to save them all.
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Oh don't say that, I'm now looking at the hutches wondering how we can make four turn into five... when will people get the message rabbits + guineas = BAD NEWS mallethead
 
Doeylicious said:
Oh don't say that, I'm now looking at the hutches wondering how we can make four turn into five... when will people get the message rabbits + guineas = BAD NEWS mallethead
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Haha, sorry.
Some people just don't realise do they mallethead. Especially pet shop owners, all they really care about is making money in the end. Although saying that there are bound to be some that actually care for the animals they sell, but these seem to be few and far apart. I will see what I can do, there may be someone who wants a little sow. I know someone who's been having problems with boars falling out, so could suggest her ;)
 
I won't buy from pet shops that stock animals now, even if that means I have to order stuff online.

It's so heartbreaking seeing them all, I decided I couldn't do it anymore. The one where I used to get my hay from had the piggies and buns so you had to go over to them specifically and you could ignore them, but of course you want to go and have a look.
The other thing I struggled with was seeing people buying them and the tiniest cage for them as well.
I thought I was going to get thrown out of P@H once when I saw someone looking at the buns so I went and told them about rescues and how they'd probably be healthier.
 
Bailey said:
I thought I was going to get thrown out of P@H once when I saw someone looking at the buns so I went and told them about rescues and how they'd probably be healthier.
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Don't worry I do this all the time apart from at my very local one (where the staff are pretty guinea savvy and asked me loads of questions before they would let me advertise boarding with them as they wanted my customers to be safe!)

So far not been thrown out, but had a lot of glares and seen the staff gossip about me! Oh well who cares lol
 
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