Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Small pets

Mumsnet does not check the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you're worried about the health of your pet, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

1 little guinea pig

13 replies

andrea315 · 18/02/2013 14:49

The rescue center near me is ful of single pigs that can not be homed with another pig due to fighting mainly boy pigs do you think I should give one a chance I have two bunnys it could be in contact with through separate runs and houses and would have lots of love given, I know they say get two but in this case one must be better if it gets a home they are over run with them?? The rescue has tried many friends it says and they just want to be alone some are three years old :(

OP posts:
lljkk · 18/02/2013 16:30

Sounds like a good plan, go for it.

BonkeyBeadyMollocks · 18/02/2013 18:18

Ok, forgive me for being skeptical...but....if there are that many male pigs being kept alone I would think it wasn't the best rescue.

Yes, some don't get on (I have first hand experience of this - my two are happier apart - but they would ultimately be happier with another if this was possible - I think anyway Grin ) , but to have a rescue full of single boars just tells me they either don't have a clue or haven't put enough effort in to matching some up. If they were really all that bad then they would be having lots neutered and matching up with some sows! They do not (in general) prefer to be alone.

I personally don't think a single pig would be happier next to rabbits than he would be next to a few of his own kind. My two may not like each other but they love chatting and playing through the bars. They are lost without each other just a bloody shame they can't get on living together Hmm .

All my opinion here - I will be interested to see what some others say :)

harryhausen · 18/02/2013 18:38

I got my 2 boars from a rescue centre. They were brothers. Unfortunately, one of them was constantly trying to escape and a few years ago, he slipped the run (when I forgot to close the run latch firmlyHmm).

I went to the rescue centre to ask for advice and they said they could try and match him with another boar but lone pig looked very healthy/happy and was not too traumatised. They advised me to leave him as a lone pig.

If you give him lots of love and make sure he's not sharing an actual space with the rabbits - I don't see what harm it can do to tryGrin

Original poster
andrea315 · 18/02/2013 19:00

It's tameside rabbit rescue so I don't think its a bad rescue and I do think they will have tried they are a very good rescue from what I hear !!

OP posts:
Original poster
andrea315 · 18/02/2013 19:12

Oh and cavey heaven has single ones to that can't live with others one is a girl I think :)

OP posts:
BonkeyBeadyMollocks · 18/02/2013 19:32

I compleatly get that some prefer to live alone, I really do - it just seems odd to me that a rescue has so many un-matchable pigs.

I have had a lone boar and he was miserable when he came home - in come LittlePig and he is compleatly different!

Even now they are separate they are both still very content to have each other near, they fret when they aren't in the same room.

Original poster
andrea315 · 18/02/2013 20:38

Maybe that's why they are in a rescue a not a loving home like mine :)

OP posts:
70isaLimitNotaTarget · 18/02/2013 20:53

andrea I had a look at the Tameside Rabbit Rescue site.
Oh, the stories of some of those guinea-pigs Sad Angry
Left in boxes, left in fields, unhandled.
Maybe those guinea-pigs are too traumatised and damaged (mentally) to really adapt.
(They do have a trio of brothers that are 5-6 months old and say in the write-up that they'll need LOTS of room to avoid fighting. So they're right in that respect)
They probably don't get alot of very tiny boars to try matching them with so these boys don't really get a chance to bond. And they might not be able to afford to neuter them to match with sows.

If you do rescue a single pig and they aren't happy then it's traumatic to send them back. At least with the other Rescue Guineas they can hear them and chat even if they can't be together. With rabbits it's a completely different language (like me being confined with someone who only spoke Russian)

They've got some boar pairs- you'd be best getting an established pair. (And rescued boars are soooo lovely and grateful - crosses fingers behind back and gets ulcers on tongue from fibbing Blush )

BonkeyBeadyMollocks · 18/02/2013 21:02

Ah maybe I should have looked ... try and avoid it though tbh.

70 makes some good points . Its the rehoming alone thing that I don't like - at least offer two with the condition they can speak to each other??
It would be like 70 said - taken away from loads that you can hear chatting and understand to being somewhere quiet with two Russians. Just because its a rescue doesn't mean they aren't cared for and well. Most are very happy.

But again I am surprised they have a boar trio - very rare!

If you can offer the space (bloody loads of it) then are they a option?

guineapiglet · 19/02/2013 12:58

I think it just takes time and a lot of patience and effort to integrate guineas, but I am convinced it can be done over time and not over night, - they need to see each other, get used to each other and spend small periods of time together which as to be built up gradually - of course they will be hostile and arsey towards each other to start with, particularly boars from the sound of it, but over the years I have integrated at least 6 new ones to the 'herd', one of which was very time consuming and frustrating, but with will ( and lots of spinach/hay and grass to distract them) it can be done. You just need lots of space, and lots of willpower. As 70 says, some of them may be just too far gone and traumatised, and may just appreciate a quiet space, a warm and cosy hutch and lots of human contact, over time, they are not going to adapt to your timescale, only theirs!

Original poster
andrea315 · 19/02/2013 18:14

Might just home a pair and leave the really traumatised ones for more experienced owners just feel sorry for them.

OP posts:
RedToothBrush · 22/02/2013 09:56

rescue full of single boars just tells me they either don't have a clue or haven't put enough effort in to matching some up

I don't agree with that actually. It depends on what age they have gone to the rescue. If you have a lot of males who are quite old who are taken because they have started fighting then it would be difficult. You are more likely to have the more difficult males in a rescue by the very nature of their piggie personalities. Not to mention, people are far less likely to adopt a single male meaning it doesn't take too long for the rescue to be stuck with a good few.

We recently took on two single males. They were brothers who had lived with each other but they fought and had to be separated. They had been at the rescue for 9 months. They now live as neighbours in separate areas and spend all day winding each other up talking to each other and seem very close to each other.

The lady at the rescue was over the moon that we took two single boys as most people want a settled pair, especially females.

People are reluctant to adopt boars in this way, but in truth it doesn't take up any more space as you should give a pair of boars living together the same about of space anyway.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 22/02/2013 12:15

I had a look through Gumtree ( I know it's a regularly discussed topic on here) and so many of these pigs are singleton boars, some 6 months - 4 years.

Most give no reason for selling. But they certainly seem to want to profit from the sale of their pigs.

Maybe some of these pigs in Rescue are ones that the owners couldn't sell, so have surrendered to rescue ?
And because of their history of being a lone-pig ,they haven't tried matching them (alot depends on if there's a suitable pig-partner)

New posts on this thread. Refresh page