where did you buy/get your guinea pigs from

[andrea315]

Hi we are looking at getting two little piggies and just wanted to know where people got them from and would you say boys or girls thanks

BigPig came from a shop.
Little a few weeks later came.from a breeder.

I will never buy front shop again! Advice was crap . Breeder? I could.not shut her up!

However - i would go to a rescue next time without a doubt!

Boys v Girls?

I have two boys and tbh I wish i had got girls because i think they must be eaiser.
I have had trouble with fighting with my two and they.now live separately side by side.
They have been.more stress than i bargained for .... however they are the most loving , full if character, funniest animals and u would.nite ever be without them now!
BigPig is my chunky 'i won't let you stroke.me.until im sat on your neck' boy, who hates to be picked up, loves Emmerdale, likes to pee down my top, and likes to sleep!

LittlePig ...well LittlePig just has a screw loose somewhere. . He sings, escapes, has to be rescued from behind washing machines, chews everything,digs at water and then flops down on my lap for a snooze --but only after he has licked.my hand clean just in case of remaining parsley juice.

I think they are happy and i am pleased that i can give them a good home when they may not have had such a good outcome (especially BigPig who was sold to.me.alone under advice if shop ) . I fear my chunk would have ended uo at the bottom if a garden on his tod :(

I loves my boys

We had 2 girls, twice, from a breeder. She gave us loads of advice and her whole huge garden was turned over to piggies-she bred some but kept loads. She used to board our girls when we went on holiday!
I'd definitely recommend a breeder over a shop, at least they stand some chance of having had some human contact and interaction

Thank you will look for a breeder nearer the time or a rescue we went to pets at home today and I nearly cried at all the poor little animals in the adoption center I wanted to home them all lots of piggies and bunnys.

I'd say it depends as well on what age you are after too.
When I got my first era of GPs (when I was 9yo I got my pig up till I was 22 yo) Ours were Petshop (there were no rescues really) some were home grown efforts because our 2 sows ,erm, weren't.
One was already pg when I bought her.

My DD , just over a year ago, decided she wanted "a pet". She was thinking of hamsters (but I persuaded her to Guinea-Pigdom).
She wanted a boar.

I looked on some local rescue websites and found a local one (it was actually Rabbits but I thought they are bound to have guinea-pigs sent there too).
We reserved two one year olds. Got the accomodation finalised . And here they are.

So if you want adults- go rescue. They might have some young or babies if they've been given a pg sow. But there might be a waiting list if people want a tiny boar to match up.

If you want baby pigs, try a breeder. You'll see the parent hogs. You can get loads of advice.
Just be doubly doubly sure that they sex them correctly (not always 100% though).

Don't go to Pets @ Home- I want the Adoption boars too "Oh you could live in my Pighouse couldn't you" But my boars wouldn't take kindly.

And Gumtree/Pre-Loved "I want a good loving home for my family guinea. Much loved pet" (I only want £80 for him and his tiny cage). So it's the money, not the home really.

Boars or sows?
My DDs boar is a great big bolshy hunk of love. GP2 is quieter and cuddly.
But they need more space and a bit more understanding when they hit the teens (about 6 months). Mine had to seperate last winter (inside at night) fine in their Pighouse by day.
This year, we put them together but in a quiet room to sleep. And so far, so good.
And dare I say it. They're a bit whiffier. You need to clean them daily very often

Thanks for all your advice we have already bought them a very large double Hutch and a big c and c cage so I guess I will see which little pigs pick us nearer the time looking in April for my daughters birthday, we already have a bunny and hamster fish and dog so animals are not new to us just guineas we haven't had before :)

It's January, you've bought the hutch and are doing the research. A fiver says you'll have guinea pigs before April . This could almost be my story.

It was February. I had bought the book on how to look after guineas and asked at most local pet shop for names of good breeders. The intension was to just look at babies that would be ready for their forever home at Easter. But Old Boy nosey from the start had his face up the front of his hutch very curious to see what was going on. DD1 spotted him and that it, he had to come home he was 9 weeks old. We picked another of his litter brothers and collected them the next day after hastily buying a hutch.

The breeder did give us loads of advice. Boars do have big personalities but that does mean they can have big bust ups too.

When we lost OB's brother, we got 2 sows from a pet shop. They are not related, and roughly 4 months when we got them. They had been kept in a large pen and were used to each other. We got them because OB was getting depressed without his brother. Pairing up a lone boar can be done but not always successful or easy.

Guinea pigs are lovely rewarding pets. Let us know when you've found your piggies .

Ha ha I know yes but the Hutch was half price in the sale and the c and c cage was a ebay bargain.I would get them now but we are away twice in march so don't really want to leave them with people when they are so new to us so I will try to hang on :)

How exciting! And good for you for planning ahead and getting them well equipped, I am sure they will find you! Don't know where you are, but do try the local guinea rescues if you can, or animal sanctuaries, breeders can often be unscruplous and exploit the poor hardworking sows into constant breeding. You could also put the word out to your local vets, who will be in the know about pregnant sows possibly, so you can get them direct. There is a wonderful guinea rescue near us and the owners are very knowledgeable...
Looking forward to hearing about them when you get them, and keep your eye on these threads as there is always brilliant advice and help, guinea owners are a nice type of people!!!!!:)

PS read fortifieds comment above, told you the guineas choose us and not the other way around!

I chose Bigpig because if his color it was it of him and a brown huge thing.
Assistant.gore them both out. BigPig just gave me a look and then a nibble and that what it.

LittlePig was chosen by BigPig. I had nowt to do with it!
There was at least 10 babies in that pen and two older ones. BigPig chose the nutter .
Or maybe i got conned . Maybe the breeder just knew that get was goingvto be a fluffy devil and wanted rid....

Blame the phone for the fact that's un readable.

We got ours from the local rescue. Just went to look...hmmmm.
DD wanted a ginger one so we ended up with big pig, a huge lardy boy with attitude and his sidekick Gary, who is more nervy and sits on your shoulder.
Have had girls before but the boys have more character despite their smelly bits!!!

We are in the stockport area and will take our time to find the right pigs we looked at loads of dogs before we picked ours (he picked us ) loads of hamsters and he is adorable as for the bunny she is lovely but my what a grump but that's just her :)
Will be back for advice when we get them !

Quick tip about choosing a piggie.

Where ever you decide to get them, I would tend to look for ones which show interest in humans if possible. Pigs that aren't cowering in a corner and look up at you a good bet. They will still be scared, but the ones that are least scared from the word go tend to be easier to win the trust of. And IME they've also tended to be the ones with the biggest personalities.

I much prefer boys. They are sadly demanded a lot less, but have bolder and bigger personalities. I've also found that the boys were've had have been considerably more tidy than girls. They had a poo pile and stick to it. Loads easier to clean. Whereas the girls just go anywhere. I have no clue why.

Friday do you just have one? I always hear that boys fight so isn't one boy a good idea seeing as a lot have to be split up ? Prob will get two girls but thought I would ask.

Sorry just re read you have two !

ColdintheSun ,bonkey and Friday have your boys always got on ? My dog and hamster are boys so I prob would have gone for boys but don't fancy the fighting.

You CAN get two boys living together.

They do not ALWAYS fight, and this myth is why they are less wanted by owners.

We've had some live together and be brilliant. Others haven't got on and we've had to separate - which hasn't been too much of an issue with using a C&C set up. They still can see each other and have interaction. Thus they don't get lonely nor do they try and kill each other.

They really need to be young when they are placed together; the problems come when they hit maturity as they fight for dominance after that. If dominance is established before that point, they don't have the same problems. If you are going to get some at a rescue, they may already paired as they are older and this may be less of a risk than getting younger ones who are still to go through that stage.

The biggest thing with successfully paired boys is to make sure they have space. Lots of it. It means you are less likely to have problems in the future (that and not having girls within smelling distance).

Well our Hutch can be split into two different separate levels and the c and c can be split in half so i guess we will just pick the piggys that pick us.

I think my hit ratio on boys getting on has been about 50 - 50.

I'd say, that in each case its worked there has been a very boisterous one and a very placid, laid back one. The difference is quite marked. Where its been two boisterous personalities has been where it hasn't worked.

In that case, if you have a plan that you can put in, should thing not work out between boys thats great. Its worth the risk if you ask me, simply as they are a lot less timid and I've never had a girl be as affectionate. I may be biased.

BTW girls can also have problems with bullying other pigs and fight. We've had girls that had to be separated because they fought and drew blood. Its a lot less common but it does happen as the scar on DH's fight will testify to.

Mine aren't brothers. I tried to match - it failed. But they did have a few happy weeks before LittlePig hit the arsey stage and decided that he wanted to challenge BigPig for the boss role. He failed - miserably - twice . The last fight was really bad and I just can't bring myself to try again!

When we got LittlePig he was 5 weeks and BigPig was about 16weeks I think. When LittlePig hit 12 weeks, the problems started!

It is possible to have two boys happily living together. Try and get brothers that have been together from birth. watch them like hawks if anything changes - living arrangments etc because thats when they will need to re-establish roles. Normally a quick hump and its done.
Boys need lots of space to be happy and have the space to get away from each other if they need to!

I have them side by side which is a complete pita for space but thats the way it has to be for now!

Our boys were one year old must-go-as-a-pair rescues.
TBH I wouldn't have picked 2 boars but my DD wanted a boy and neutered boys aren't that common.

Our boars found us because they were there and we wanted them and they needed us (they just didn't realise it)

Ours have had scraps but it's been mainly space issues (they need lots of space because they don't really cuddle together) and a coriander binge (banned substance now in our house)

At the moment they have gone back to the cage after a cuddle and a play. They've got 2 boxes of hay but have crammed their lardy arses into a small box together

(Mine are brothers but they are so different physically. One is smooth and the other is a fluffy not quite Abbysynian about 60% his size.

But it was the little git GP2 who started the fight, so don't be fooled

Yeah, all the pairings we've had which have all been brothers have had one very large pig and one thats a lot smaller.

The strangest set we had was three brothers who got on until they were about 18months. Then one fell out. Of the two brothers that stayed together the smaller one was boss. But he was Smart Pig and worked out he could assert dominance by standing on a box and so he could then sticking his nose higher than his brother!

The third brother went to live by a Rescue gp we had who was very unsociable when we got him and nipped everyone and anything that went near him (he'd been put in the rescue after being attacked by the family cat and has a torn ear as a result). The difference it made to both was brilliant. They both calmed down and were much happier. When the 3rd brother died, Rescue Pig was distraught (He's a new neighbour now). He's lovely now though and follows us round if we get him out. He's over 7 years old, so not doing too badly for Cat Victim.