Where to buy guinea pigs from?

[smurfgirl]

We want to get two guinea pigs - where is the best place to get them from? We are in E.Yorks if that makes a difference.

Also can we keep them inside? We have a garden but would rather keep them inside and take them outside for a run sometimes.

They sell them in our petshop 'pets at home' if you have access to one of those! Can't see why you can't keep them indoors, just get a nice big cage and like you say you can take them outside for excercise - maybe have a 'run'put outside.

I have heard bad things about buying guinea pigs from pets at home and I always feel so bad for them in their little runs.

Is it better to get girls or boys?

I have found a breeder near us on that website and e-mailed her!

ruby sorry to hijack ,but are you an expert on GP's . I have got 2 boys and I have been to the vets 3 times with 1 of them as he keeps getting a scabby head . Could do with some tips on that and other things . Pretty Please

Rescue places have adults and babies often. At Pets at Home the other day all the animals were scratching like mad!

We got 2 boys last night - they are so cute I bought an indoor cage for them and they are going to go in the utility room. I had heard bad things about Pets at Home so had only popped in for the kit. However they had the nicest ones I'd seen and the staff were lovely and very knowledgable and obviously cared for the animals.

We have 2 boy (brothers) guinea pigs. They are so cute. We have had them for around 2 months.

We got them from a friend of a friend who breeds them. We keep them in a hutch in the garden with a run which can be fixed on to the hutch.

When the weather gets cold they will be going in the childrens playhouse. Does anyone know if we should be putting them inside yet?

Thanks Ruby.
I got drops from the vet called canaural, seemingly they are for dogs/cats ears but work very well on GP's .
I am going back tonight as all the scabs came off last night again and he has a smooth bald spot again ,no scabs tho.

Hi Ruby - slight hijack...

our Gps are generally indoors but we've been putting them out durign the day if dry - but is it ok to put them out in teh morning when the grass is still wet or do i really neeed it to have dried up?

I'm sure I've heard about the wet grass propblem before but not sure.

by the way, if anyone looking to get/make a bigger indoor cage ,we made a fab indoor run/cage from a wire cube storage set!

We put ours out when the grass is slightly damp with no problems, but not when it's soaking. Mind you, they were caught out in a few rainstorms during the summer - and one hailstorm. They were very sweet - kept poking their noses out from their little house and then jumping in the air when a raindrop/hailstone hit them .

Changing the subject - does anyone have two females who have - ahem - tried bonking each other? One of ours had a real spate of this about a week ago. We checked them both against a picture we found on the internet- am pretty sure they're both females. Could it be on heat horniness, do you think? How hard is it to sex a guinea pig? We are about to breed one of them (the horny one) - but it could all go horribly wrong if she is in fact a he

I only just started another thread about GP's

We are off to get our first ones at Pets at Home on Sunday - had a look at the breeder site, but no one (with a website that works) seems to be near.

PaH get GP's in on Thursday here and allow them to be bought on Sunday after making sure they are healthy and eating well etc.

We have a large indoor cage and I will be buying an indoor run as well for the winter.

have you checked any animal sanctuaries? We got our 2 boys from there 2 years ago. They were 4 months old at the time, so had gone passed the tiny stage, but they were well handled and very friendly. Had also been neutered as that was standard sanctuary practice.

RubyRioja - I think that's definitely true. Our alpha pig was the one doing the bonking .

Oh thanks for all the info. We did go to our local pets at home but the piggies there looked so sad, there was a beautiful one all on his own in the pen and we walked all around and when we got back he was just in the same place sort of quivering (someone will come along and tell me this is normal behaviour now!)

Will check out the RSPCA.

Dp is now muttering about getting a cat instead though - endless debate. I think pigs would be better for us but he thinks they are not interactive enough.