What happens to the ones they don't sell?

[LordOfTheFlies]

DD and I went to a large multi-chain petshop today ( Pets @ Home) to buy some bedding for the GPs. There were probably 15 baby guinea-pigs (between 2 enclosures)
Same with another branch 2 weeks ago when we went to buy their bowls and pellets.

We've got 2 one-year old boars that were from a rabbit rescue.They are lovely,messy, greedy little devils. One is definately alpha male.When we clean the pighouse he strides in, wees in the bed area and wipes his bum on the floor paper (I presume territory marking)

The baby GPs were tiny, very fast and skittish. Luckily DD is so besotted with her boys she wasn't fussed beyond looking.

I am a hard hearted old bat, so wouldn't even entertain buying them. When I got home, DH said "we could easily fit another 2 in our cage" .Not helping there DH!(I have checked, my pighouse is twice the recommended size but I wouldn't put more pigs in)

But what happens when they stop being cute and little.How many people will suddenly want GPs. (Though getting near Christmas they might do )

We had a couple in with a rabbit and then later when the rabbit got bigger and we separated them, the GPs continued to toilet in one corner of their hutch. Was interesting :)

Tis quite sad to hear about all these small animals in pet shops :( I had always naively assumed they bought them in on a supply/demand basis, not a set number.

We popped into P@H today (DCs wanted to see the baby GPs which are seriously cute in a daffy way)

In their re-homing section they had several hamsters, a couple of rabbits (most unsold, a couple returned) and 4 fairly large GP boars.

because the cute babies will be the ones to sell and there will be a neverending stream of new ones.

The boars are more difficult to place anyway.

Had to step away, my 2 boys would not appreciate an interloper at all.

I bought two baby pigs (P@H) to go with my two adopted girls. One of my baby pigs died for no known reason at all a few months later. Just look like she went to sleep :(

I am usually pretty firm, but almost caved when I went into our local pet shop for some supplies and a wee sow came running up to the bars and squeaked at me! Reminded me of one of the pigs I used to have who was the most friendly girl :)

I won't be getting any more pigs once my three are gone, as there are no breeders locally and my baby pig dying like that put me off shop bought, + I am so soft and get very upset when I lose one. They are wonderful pets :)

Ilovetiffany we had a similarly ugly gp that no one wanted (albino and red eyes) and he was the best GP we ever had - really nicely natured and such a character. We used to take him for walks and he'd just follow us squeaking around happily

Can I just ask, when we used fleece for a few months, it managed to properly clog the filter of my washing machine with all the little bits of hay that were left on it.

Does anyone have an answer to this problem, as we've gone back to hay and shavings and I hate it

In answer to the OP< we just bought two older rabbits from P@H, against my better judgment I must say as I loathe pet shops who breed - but they were in the 'adoption' bit, or clearance maybe as they were too old to be cute any more apparently.

I bought them both and took them home and they are fantastic, but they were being handled very very roughly by the assistant so I had to do something. plus we needed company for our grieving female bun, and they were very beautiful. I've been looking for a male for weeks.

So that's what they do - reduce them and give some of the money to their 'charity' I think. I wish they were a bit careful with the peoplethey employ to 'care' for these animals though. I could have slapped her.

I'm the lady who runs www.cavycozies.com. I found this thread because people were directed to my website through it.

In answer to your fleece question, I have never had a blocked filter, but I brush my fleece with the brush from my dustpan and brush set before I wash it. I hold the fleece in the air with one hand and let the hay, hair and poos go on to the floor of the cage. I would also recommend washing the fleece inside a pillow case or duvet cover.

Clean your washing machine by washing on the hottest wash with a mug of white vinegar once a month.

Thankyou very much! That's a great idea. I used to give mine a shake, but will try washing inside a pillowcase in future.

I think it was the little bits of hay stuck through the fleece and towels that caused the problem.

One thing I find very very good is having a thick piece of vinyl glued to the floor of the hutch, using a decent spray on flooring adhesive (it doesn't give off fumes once dried, within a couple of days, so obviously, air the hutch before you put the pets in)

It makes it so much easier to clean out and doesn't absorb any liquid like wood does so especially good in the winter when the last thing you want is a damp hutch floor that refuses to dry out.

I still use shavings and hay on top of this, at the moment, but fleece and towels is even nicer isn't it

You can get offcuts of vinyl for almost nothing at carpet shops, our hutches are both 6x2 so I got a piece of very good acoustic vinyl to fit both, for a fiver.

My GPs have fleece blankets to cuddle up in (they don't tend to cuddle up together, but maybe they do when I'm not watching). The Tatty Teddy pink fleece attracts the least debris, and the boars don't let it cramp their style.

I use car mats- rubber not carpet- on the floor, then cardboard.I can get boxes from work to replace daily.
And even though they don't seem to drink, they have bladders with the capacity of a camel's. Hmmmm.

I was in P@H last week. Had a sneaky peek at the baby GPs (as you do)
One of the males had a suspiciously 'rounded' shape to it. Slim head and shoulders but a bit chubby at the sides.

I did try to look at it's undercarriage but possibly it's a girlie but now pregnant?
Someone will get a surprise!

Oh no! Perhaps they need to set up Pigmumsnet at Pets at Home. :) It's not really funny though - very irresponsible and frustrating. I try not to go there unless it's an emergency (you can order lots of stuff on line cheaper!) but yes, can't resist checking out the babes when there. I guess it's better than it used to be when they had pigs and buns together.

Anyhow, thanks for the tip about washing things in a pillow case. Supremely simple and clever!

takes a bow

I'm currently revamping my website with a valentine's theme, but please do stop by and have a look. I have lots of photos as well as advice on using cozies and I'm adding products to my on-line shop daily.

www.cavycozies.com

I was in P@H today and took the DCs for a look at the 'baby' guinea pigs but was quite surprised how big they all were and two of them were mating! Had to get the children out sharpish...

DD and I went to a P@H last week (not our usual ) and their GPs were big.
They had about 12 boars, some were similar colouring, so maybe 3-4 different litters.
2 black and white ones were getting arsey and climbing on the other ones. (Definately no mating going on )

One tipped the food dish up and let it wallop on the other ones head .
DD wanted to buy them to let our 2 boys teach them some manners.
That'll be a no

When I was a kid, we got two female pigs from a garden centre pet shop. They were both definitely females, but a couple of weeks later one was noticeably rotund and sure enough gave birth soon after, so had obviously been in with a male in the shop - the other wasn’t pregnant, surprisingly. We kept the baby (a boar - we had him neutered which made him put on a lot of weight, but meant he lived a shorter but happy life with his mum and “aunty”). My grandma was very pleased at the “bargain! Buy one get one free”! 😆

We went to buy two guineapigs but p@h had only trio of girls. Our cage was only big enough for two but the worker was very keen to sell the bonded sisters together. Finally we took all of them and when they grew too big for their cage we bought a new big cage. Sisters are happy together and dd said she would have been really upset to leave one behind.