Swiss Pet Shop Pictures

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Swissgreys

Swissgreys

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In a recent thread on guinea pigs being sold in pet shops, I mentioned that the conditions in Switzerland they seem a little better than some other countries (not perfect, but also not as awful as that dreadful picture of a guinea pig in an aquarium :yikes: - I still feel sad about that).
So tonight I popped in to our local pet shop (part of a large chain) and asked if I could take a couple of photos of their guinea pig enclosures.
The staff were slightly bemused as to why I would want to do this, but said it was fine.
Sorry for the blurry picture - I am officially the only person on the planet who can not use a iPhone camera :oops:

IMG_3109.webp IMG_3113.webp

Each enclosure is just over 2 meters long and 1.5 meters wide and can contain a maximum of 6 guinea pigs at one time.
The boars and sows are kept separately, and all of the boars are neutered.

I hope that this might be interesting to some.
 
Definitely interesting!

The whole fact the sexes are separated and boys neutered shows a good amount of responsibility.

The enclosure looks great with loads of hay and hiding places. It's maybe still small fir 6 piggies especially boars but as it's not long term it's way better than the 1.2m by 80 cm things with goodness knows how many tiny piggies in that you get some places here in the UK.

Piggies seem much more respected and protected in Switzerland which is great to see. I wish it was more like that here....
 
Wow what lucky piggies! They certainly seem to take good care them in Switzerland, I wish all the pet shops were like that in the UK, as it would prevent a lot of unwanted litters and help educate the new owners.
 
:D Wow! That's fantastic! :clap: I wonder how many piggies, though, go home to something similar? I know that in my local Pets@ Home, all the piggies (and bunnies) have is a log bridge and wooden box to hide under. :no:
 
Lovely to see! How much approximately would you pay for a guinea pig? I really like the fact that the boars are neutered. I wish all rescues in the UK would neuter boars before rehoming but sadly very few do. I find this really disappointing.
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Lovely to see! How much approximately would you pay for a guinea pig? I really like the fact that the boars are neutered. I wish all rescues in the UK would neuter boars before rehoming but sadly very few do. I find this really disappointing.
Click to expand...

Guinea pigs are usually about 70 Swiss Francs each, or a pair will cost 130 Swiss Francs. They generally encourage you to take a mixed sex pair. They won't sell you a single piggy unless you already have one at home, although I am not sure how they handle the situation if you buy a pig that doesn't get on with the one you already have.
I was told that if there was a medical problem in the first 7 days they would cover the cost of any necessary veterinary bills, which I thought was quite good.
All boars are neutered before they reach sexual maturity (they call it 'early castration'), so even if they do mis-sex an animal, you still won't end up with a pregnant sow.
I wonder how the costs compare in neutering a boar at 2 weeks old, as opposed to neutering an older male?
 
They are lovely photos, it's good to know that they are kept in enriched and large environments for two reasons:
1) because obviously its nicer for them while they are there,
2) I would think it sets a good example to prospective piggy-keepers :)

I recon (but I don't know) yours must be one of the few countries with the neuter policy, but it must go a long way towards helping to prevent so many ending up in rescues.

I must admit, for all it's faults as a chain, my local P@H has two nice enclosures with places to hide and a hay rack they can jump in and out of and tunnel through. The enclosures are large too, perhaps similar in size to yours, but I'm not sure. Sadly though when it comes to selling cages they tend to stock fairly small ones...
 
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