My piggie couples and their home

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Fudgie

Fudgie

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Hi everyone, I'd just like to introduce you to my four pigs (or 'cavia's as we call them :P)

First up, the oldest and longest owned pig: Rupert!
He's about 2,5 years old, almost three. I've had him since he was one year old from a piggie rescue on the other side of the country.

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Then there's his girlfriend, Belle :D She's about 2,5 years old too, a retired pig from a breeder. I got her when Ruperts first girlfriend died and I'm so glad I got to have her, she's adorable. She is currently under treatment for ovarian cysts, she has a bald spot on her back and on her right flank but I'm hoping the hormones kick in soon and she'll get better soon.

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(When this picture was taken she had a fungus infection but the pigture is cute anyway haha)

Then there's Sam, a almost 2 year old boar I got from someone on a dutch guinea pig forum. I love his colour! (and him, ofcourse)
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Sam didn't have much luck with girlfriends, when he first came here, he was just castrated so he had to wait a couple of weeks to get some company. I thought the timing was perfect when I heard one of the members of the dutch guinea pig forum had a dalmation litter coming up. Unfortunately eventualy there was no piggie in there for me, so I went for a cute as a button US teddy who looked like she was wearing a sweater. She died two weeks before I got to pick her up. Then there was another slate blue gold and white sow I reserved, she too died before it was time to come live her. By then I couldn't care less which sow it was going to be, because Sam was at the end of his waiting period and he needed company badly. So I picked up Katie and they were very happy together. After 4 months she suddenly passed away, at the age of 6 months.
It looked like the universe just didn't like Sam very much :(
But then there was Holly, his current girlfriend. They're happy together and I love her dearly! I so hope it all goes well this time!
Here she is!

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Aaand this is their home :D

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I'm switching to Bedxcel this week, the woodshavings are driving me nuts! lol

Edit: Both boars are 'fixed' ofcourse!
 
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Awww gorgeous piggies x) Thanks for sharing them with us!
 
They are so beautiful! thats an interesting unit you have for keeping them in! Is it an "ikea" shelf unit turned into piggie housing? Love the fairy lights too:) I'm a big fan of fairy lights!
 
Aww glad Sam has found a friend finally, thank you for sharing your lovely pigtures, you have some gorgeous guineas.
 
Thanks everyone ^^ The wardrobe is a Ikea pax closet (the 'base' without doors), made pee proof around the edges of the planks with sanitary kit and a layer of vinyl tablecloth on top for extra easy cleaning. The 'glass' is plexiglass.

The cosy on the pigture with Holly and Sam in it is a teacosy, this one was bought online but now I make them myself. They're very popular over here, and quite easy to make.
I bought this one from slaaplekkerzacht.nl , but I don't think they ship to the UK, you can always ask ofcourse.
The tutorial is quite easy and I am willing to translate it for you if anyone is interested :D if you think you can have a go at dutch, it can be found on jollyrats.nl, under 'Huisjes' and then 'Theehuis' Ofcourse that one is for rats so you need to upsize a bit and add some batting, but it's not that hard :)
 
Haha ^^ Well, it's a really popular housing option in the Netherlands since you can have several floors with pigs on the same floor space. The pax closet is 100x60 and 2m high, the floor space is slightly bigger than the recommended size over here (which is 100x50 for two pigs).
I think it's so educational to see how different countries have different trends in housing piggies. For example, fleece and C&C cages are really not that popular over here. Most people keep their pigs in their living room, and quite a few of them are married couples with lovely homes :P so they want some nice looking pig furniture to go with it haha.
I myself live in a 'spacebox' which is a form of student housing consisting of flats of containers, basically, so I have very limited floorspace, about 20m2 in total, so a C&C cage is not really an option. 'Zeugenbakken' or 'sowboxes' :') are quite popular too, many of them are made from a Billy closet on it's back without planks and a thicker floorboard, kitted together.

http://www.caviaforum.nl/show-je-huisvesting/185448-show-hier-je-ikea-caviaflat-pax-cavia.html
I'm not sure if you can see this, but this is the topic on the dutch forum where members can show their Ikea housing :P Quite like your C&C topic here, but with Ikea furniture :D
 
That is fascinating - I'm loving looking at the pictures on that threat you posted! yes, it is interesting to read about the different trends other countrie's pet housing! I have seen fantastic IKEA hamster housing on German forums too!
 
Gosh yes, the germans and their pet housing, it's almost ridiculous haha! I love their wooden hamster cages, with all the different levels, but it's sooo expensive :(
They have awesome piggie housing trends as well, they use different Ikea closets xD but I need a bigger house before I can even consider doing something like that.
 
Do you think that pets such as hamsters and guinea pigs are more popular in Germany and the Netherlands than here - and that it is more usual for married grown ups to spend a lot of money on them whereas in the UK dogs and cats are the "main" household pets, with small furries being mostly children's pets and therefore kept outside or in a small cage in a child's bedroom (I'm not talking about forum members here! I'm just speculating on cultural differnces..... Or are dogs/cats as equally popular in the Netherlands?
 
I can't speak for the entire Netherlands ofcourse, and I'm not quite sure about Germany, but I think they are definetely getting more popular. More and more information is available now about what it takes to properly care for a rodent, since the internet, so that's a good thing. Parents who take a couple of minutes to research the animal their kid wants find out it's quite a responsibility, but the general idea is unfortunetely still 'they are childrens pets'.
I don't know about the UK, but the main thought about guinea pigs used to be that they are dumb, squeeking nervous animals, and that's definetely changing ^^
 
Maybe its to do with the type of housing as well that people live in - perhaps flats/apartments are more popular in other countries and its hard to have a dog or cat in an apartment....

I'm really taken with the Pax wardrobe idea though - do you think it would be possible to put ramps in one to make a multi level piggie housing?
 
Ofcourse it is possible :D Make the hole in one of the corners to make sure the ramp is not so steep, or lower the space between two planks. The plexiglass on mine is 25cm high, with the bottom level being 50cm high and the upper one about 65.

And you are right about the flats/apartments being popular, especially for younger couples and people like students. We live in a tiny country with 16 million people so we have to be creative with our living space xD
 
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