Guinea pig died this morning

[floaty]

I went out this morning to get the hens and the guinea pigs up and found one of our pair of GPs had died in the the night.Basil ,he was 4 ,as some of you know ds2 is a weekly boarder at the school for Sp LD and he is going to be devastated especially as although he was the most interested in them when we originaly got them Basil was his and Buzz was ds1s.Ds2 has long since taken over responsibility for both and this weekend he spent ages sorting out thier hutch,moving the run and generally looking after them (he was worried that they would feel neglected now that the hens have arrived!)

Of course we will probably now lose Buzz as he has alweays been with Basil,not brothers but came from the same place and have never fought or anything,always been best friends .I don't think we could introduce another GP .

He hasn't been ill at all although funnily enough I did comment to dh at the weekend that Basil did look a little bit older andf was turing into an elder statesman.He was a great pet for the children and was always if I am honest my slight favourite too ,ds2 even has a picture of the GP as the background on his phone,he is going to be so upset.I will tell the other two after school today and perhaps I will take ds2 for a hot chocolate on the way home tomorrow afternoon and tell him then.

[christywhisty]

That's really sad news, I hope your DS is okay.

My DS's GP died suddenly this year (although he was only a year old). DS was very upset as he adored his Rollo. Rollo used to sit on his lap while he did his homework.

however as the other one was only the same age we didn't want him to be lonely, we got some advice managed to get a 6 week old from a breeder within a few days. They have settled together really well and Bruno has been a really good stepdad, although I don't think Muffin doesn't quite have the same place in DS's heart that Rollo had.

[brightwell]

Aaah RIP Basil, my dd was very upset when her gp died,

[northernrefugee39]

Oh floaty- very sorry to here about your guinea.. (we lost one of ours last week)
Hope your ds isn't too upset- myy dd was so weepy when ours went...
We lost one of a pair of brothers in June as well; we moved his run inside the (very big walk in run) with all the others, and he is thriving.
You can get them done, and then have another boy with him I think. You could always try the RSPCA- they may have an older neutered male..

[misdee]

aww RIP basil.

how long do GP live for? as i have had my pair for almost 3 years now, and they werwe a couple of years old when i got them.

[christywhisty]

I think they live anywhere between 4 and 8 years

[floaty]

Thanks for all your kind comments,we will really miss Basil,ds3 has declared that fro now on October 2nd will be Basil Day .I am quite worried how Buzz the other GP will cope,we got them together as a pair at about 8 weeks old ,he has never been on his own,he isn't neutered but we never had any problems .On the one hand I can't imagine replacing Basil but on the other if we cld gi Buzz a companion maybe that would be for the best .But there is of course no guarentee that he would accept another piggy.

[christywhisty]

The advice we were given was to get a baby between 6 and 8 weeks. Muffin was 6 weeks and they have been fine together. Muffin followed Bruno around everywhere for the first few weeks. He is nearly 5 months now and we have less dominance problems than we had with Bruno and his brother. Muffin is a much smaller breed which may help.

[northernrefugee39]

You could always get Buzz done( our boys are done- it's quite a simple operation) and then he could have a girlfriend?