• DONATIONS NOW OPEN! TGPF relies on donations to run. If you'd like to donate towards running costs you can find out more HERE
  • Fresh grass and lawn tips to avoid springtime deaths Click here for details

Price of Guinea Pigs?!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Goldie

Goldie

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
May 26, 2008
Messages
3,301
Reaction score
405
Points
645
Location
West Country
I went to a large local garden centre today who have a really nice pet section ... basically a popular, well run garden centre in North Somerset.

Everything is always really clean in the pet section and well staffed. Lots of rabbits today ... healthy and really pretty.

They only had three guinea pigs ... all baby sows ... under the hay.
The price was £35 each or £50 for a rex/long haired! :o I was shocked!

But if that makes people think seriously before they buy guinea pigs, then well done. But I was very surprised at the price!
 
Wow, i thought £16 each in my local pet shop was expensive!


I hope it makes people think before they buy one, say its not just a spur of the moment thing like "i want something to cuddle now, ooh a guinea pig less than the £20 i've got, i'll get that!" like it is in my town.
 
Blimey. I think that's more than I've seen them going for in Harrods. I think they were charging about £25.00 each.
 
Yes I've seen guineas, bunnies, hamsters, rats, fish, cats and puppies at Harrods.
 
Our local but huge garden centre sells guinea pigs for £50. It might put people off altogether but my worry is that they will only buy one :( and it will spend its life alone.

This Saturday is one of the busiest days of the year and hundreds of rabbits and guineas will be bought on a whim all over the country :(

I hope it rains all day and nobody visits the garden centres/petshops. (sorry to anyone who wants some sunshine)
 
SunshineAndTwinkle said:
Yep they do, I was shocked! They had a lion once, not sure if thats true! rolleyes
Click to expand...


It was true- Christian being the most famous one, who was returned, successfully, back to the wild. They also sold other captive bred "wild animals" but the selling of "exotic pets" (ie leopards, lions, gorillas etc) stopped in the early 70's *i think*
 
Last edited:
When I got george from P@h it was 19.50 per piggie or £25 for two if they were same breed - this is a joke as who knows what mxsed up breeds they are.

When I went to get george I fell in love with a crested blond girly but she looked like she had a bit of a scabby face and I didn't know much so didn't want to buy a poorly one (now I would purposefully buy a poorly one to rescue it) anyway there was only her and then loads of smooth shorthaireds. I only got one but if I got two and got her would have had to pay £39 as they didn't have two with crests. I think this is a complete scam!
 
The only problem with those sorts of prices is that it might put people off buying them in pairs - £100 for two longhaired guineas?! That's madness really.
Harrods pets are really well looked after, they sell puppies, kittens and lots of small animals but they homecheck and need ID before they'll even interview you for the pups and kits, plus the department closes throughout the day to give the animals a rest.
 
At small animal auctions they go for as little as 50p

Pets at Home £25 per pair -used to be £18 per pig and £35 per pair, so I guess it's encouraging buying in pairs which is good but would rather they were more expensive to put people off.

I don't like longhaired piggies being sold in petshops especially, as they're too cute and people have no idea how much maintenance their coats will require - especially as young long-haired piggies are nowhere near as hairy as they will be when grown up, so they don't realise what their coats will be like. I don't like any piggies being sold in petshops but the longhairs really are specialist pigs. Longhaired piggies from a breeder would cost £25-£35 depending on so-called 'quality'

Garden centres here sell sows for £12 and boars for £9.

And of course, lots of free-to-good-homes piggies all the time on Preloved and the freeads!

Sophie
x
 
yeah, i got my four sows before i knew rescues existed, pheobe and ruby were £30 for the two and bethany and maggie-may (longer haired) were £45 I think? though to be honest i would of bought them double the price and then some as i'd fallen for them!
 
Niki said:
It was true- Christian being the most famous one, who was returned, successfully, back to the wild. They also sold other captive bred "wild animals" but the selling of "exotic pets" (ie leopards, lions, gorillas etc) stopped in the early 70's *i think*
Click to expand...

Here is the story of Christian!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...he-incredible-story-flatmates-raised-cub.html

I am glad they (guinea pigs) are expensive in some places too, hope it puts people off buying them. Thing is, what happens if they are not sold? :(
 
In my local P@H last week (where there have been no guineas for ages) The adoption centre had 3 pairs! One pair said: Reason - Had an infection, now better but 'too old to sell' and they were still very small. So don't know what they do with piggies they don't sell before a certain age? x
 
I paid £50 for Truffle & Cookie the other week (both Rex's). They only sold in pairs.....the males were £45 for a pair.
I decided to buy from the local farm / visitors centre (white Post Farm in Nottinghamshire) as our local petshop had mixed sex's all in 1 cage! :{
Having said that I'm slightly worried about my 2 now but thats for another post!
 
Yes, on one hand it's a good thing they are more expensive but like what has already been said - more people will only buy one. I just hope it puts them off altogether.
 
nutmeg said:
In my local P@H last week (where there have been no guineas for ages) The adoption centre had 3 pairs! One pair said: Reason - Had an infection, now better but 'too old to sell' and they were still very small. So don't know what they do with piggies they don't sell before a certain age? x
Click to expand...

that's scary D= i've always wondered what happened to them... it's a shame they don't have like a "spotlight pet" so that if they did get past the normal age of selling them, they'd make sure they got a good home. like the little adoption centres some P@H shops have.
 
sophiew said:
At small animal auctions they go for as little as 50p
Click to expand...

Mmm, I've seen some at a small animal auction that sold for as little as 5p. However, the Wednesday just been, I saw some go for £29 per pig. I can only presume it was due to Easter. :0 I wish it was the same for chickens!

The average price around here is about £5-15 per pig.
-Rose.
 
Tracyxx said:
I'd so love to rescue some of these pigs from animal auctions :(
Click to expand...
The animal auctions are terrible and I'd try to avoid them.

Carrot, Berry, Mama Ginger and the babies came from a animal auction. Carrot and Berry are both pregnant, a few weeks left! And the babies are about a weekish old!

The animals are left without water for nearly 12 hours. [Travelling from their old home, at the auction and travelling back home causes this]

And, depending on the place, are placed next to the ferrets [which stink!] and rabbits.
The rabbits would be put into cages.
The ferrets are in the boxes the previous owner put them in.
And generally the guinea pigs are placed in small cardboard boxes with a few holes and placed next to the ferrets! 8...
 
thats ridiculous! mine were £16.50 each, i know a pet shop that sells them for £10 but not sure id buy from them, p@h are 2 for £35
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top