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Small pets

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Original poster

Just got 2 rescue GPs, think I am much happier than they are :-(

47 replies

ArfurFoulkesayke · 06/06/2013 18:41

Picked up 2 1yo boy piggies from a rescue centre this afternoon. They are litter-mates and have always been kept together - they were born at the rescue centre, homed and then returned after the adopter developed allergies, so not been mistreated but have had a bit of an unsettled life so far. They had to go in a carrier for about an hour for the car journey and then we put them in a run in the garden with a hidey box. They both immediately bolted for the hidey box and wouldn't come out. I've moved them now into their big indoor cage (their main home - can't leave them outside because of foxes and cats locally) and they're just totally still. One is in the hidey box which was in the garden and one is sat next to it motionless. There's water in a bottle and a bowl, gp muesli and a bit of broccoli, as well as lots of hay, but they're not showing any interest in any of it. :(

I'm worried they're totally traumatised and am looking for advice on how to settle them? Do they need lots of handling (one in particular is quite skittish and tries to escape) or should I leave them to it in their cage and just potter about as normal? We have 2 young girls who are quite noisy, so I'm hoping they (the gps) will chill out a bit after they've gone to bed, but any advice is MUCH APPRECIATED.
Thanks!

OP posts:

guineapiglet · 11/06/2013 22:38

70 i am liking the story so far....are you old enough ahem to remember tales of the riverbank?

Thats when i first fell in love with a(talking) guinea......

dotty2 · 12/06/2013 09:21

Given that I'm still slightly worried about my boars' potential for scrapping, I am finding the whole Lord of the Flies image really unsettling and have to stop my mind going down that road...

We tried putting them in their indoor run yesterday (just had the lawn treated and they can't go on it for 10 days). They spent the whole time cowering inside a converted shoe box. So much for exercise.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 12/06/2013 09:38

dotty your boars WILL have issues, it in their nature. In 'the wild' they live in groups and a two-boar scenario isn't tolerable, but bear in mind there are sows in the group (which is why a 2 boar+ sows set up isn't recommended)

Once they settle themselves it is a beneficial arrangement for both boars if they keep their pecking order.
My GP1 runs round shrieking like a harpie if his little brother is taken away from him, but doesn't mind if he leaves GP2. Maybe he thinks "GP2 is safe in the house."? More likely "Ha, I'm getting taken to the fridge, you're not "

Mine are worse if they are confined in what they consider to be an inadequate space. In winter they have their night cage (4'x2') . I cannot give them more space unless I gave them two stacked cages but they were fine last year. I filled a box with hay (fresh daily) their water/veg and a few pellets.
Provided they had room to get away from each other they were happy to cuddle up in their hay. But the choice was theirs.
I've no doubt mine were little gits when they were teens (I got them at a year). Look on GumTree and see how many young boar pairs are up for rehoming

You've got the whole summer for them to be out and about and establish themselves.(Sort out their 'order' )

Boar pairs are lovely and it is so infuriating that so many boars have a singleton life because people either don't know or think they will fight to death.

BTW "Lord of the Flies" is a brilliant book. When I was watching my DS scuttling round rockpools with a bag for shells it was like an image from the book.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 12/06/2013 09:39

And Watership Down was much scarier with General Woundwort and the 'farmed' rabbits.

dotty2 · 12/06/2013 09:55

Thank you for that - I am a conflict avoider in my own life, so find squabbling really hard to deal with. In my children too. I am sure the GPs will teach me some valuable life lessons.

Their outdoor hutch is 5 x2, and it's my plan to get them to spend as much time as possible in an indoor or outdoor run, but yesterday's experience seems to suggest there's no big rush to do that and we could wait a bit until they're more confident. And as you say - there's the whole summer. I'm so pleased we got them now when it's nice to be outside. They're already getting my DDs off the sofa and into the garden uncomplaining, which is something to be grateful for.

FernieB · 12/06/2013 11:10

Boars can be a bother. My little piggie boys went through some awful squabbles and scraps as teens, and again after spending time apart after Smoothpig was injured. They are now back together and have been for a few weeks without too many scraps, although there was a phase when there'd be high-pitched squealing and I'd run in to break up the scrap with parsley. Unfortunately, this seems to have given them the wrong message and now Scruffypig squeals every so often as a way of getting parsley. I've watched him - Smoothpig is fast asleep at the other end of the cage and Scruffy starts squealing as though he's being attacked.

SconeInSixtySeconds · 12/06/2013 11:17

at sneaky smooth pig!

dotty2 · 12/06/2013 11:24

I am growing a big tub of parsley in the garden. It is only knee high to a guinea pig at the moment. Let's hope it gets big enough in time for deployment!

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 12/06/2013 23:12

Fernie my DD and I saw a baby wild rabbit a couple of weeks ago. We were so close to it, nearly touching distance.
I thought it was a rat at first, then realised it was a little bright eyed binkying bunny. (I always worry if wild buns are too tame in case they have myxie ).

DD was enthralled (she was away from her pigs so probably wanted a SuperFurryAnimal fix) it was really sweet

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 12/06/2013 23:15

And @ ScruffyPigs underhand tactics to get parsley.

GP1 was very interested in DH opening a Toblerone today, he had a real giraffe neck .
Sent DH to the salad drawer and scolded him for tomermenting a little boy.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 12/06/2013 23:17

tomermenting? 'tormenting' possibly

MrsFrederickWentworth · 12/06/2013 23:33

Our late lamented boars went in for boar glue in a big way. Euuh.

BTW, when running my eyes down the title of this thread, I wondered how awful the NHS had become and whether the OP's action wild be replicated in every surgery.

FernieB · 13/06/2013 09:00

Wild rabbits can be fairly tame depending upon their location. There's a colony living on a roundabout at Manchester Airport that I see regularly and they're not fussed by people or traffic.

Scruffypig has been told that his squealing will not be tolerated - I don't think he was listening as he was eating parsley at the time

guineapiglet · 13/06/2013 09:06

Hi fernie hope you are ok.... Those wild rabbits on the roundabout were quite a well known 'landmark' utterly oblivious to everything going on around them,!

Just been reading about scruffy's devious theatrics to get your attention, most impressive behaviour who says they have little brains....

dotty2 · 13/06/2013 11:28

I wonder if there's a market for rescuing the medical kind of GP. My sister is one and but I don't think she needs rehoming - just a very large glass of wine on a Friday night. And maybe some parsley?

FernieB · 13/06/2013 12:40

At rescuing GP

dotty2 · 27/06/2013 11:14

So a quick update on my boars. They have been with us nearly 3 weeks now and are getting much less timid - they still run away to their sleeping compartment when they hear us coming up to the hutch but will then generally poke their heads out to say hello. They still don't like being caught but once we've got them they will sit placidly for a cuddle rather than squirming to get free. They've been on the lawn in a run a few times when it's been dry enough (but not as often as we'd hoped). We've got a paddling pool lined with old rugs and towels to use as an indoor run but when I put them in that they hide in their tunnels or boxes and don't move a muscle, so not much point for exercise. Oh - and they don't like parsley, but do like mint. Thanks for all the advice, everyone. How are you getting arfur?

FernieB · 27/06/2013 19:52

Keep putting them in the paddling pool - they'll get used to it eventually. It is useful to be able to give them a run indoors in winter.

Glad the boys are settling in and you're enjoying them.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 28/06/2013 19:43

don't like parsley what kind of demons guineas are they?

They sound like they're settling nicely - they will still do they run and hide taxtic. They are prey animals and it's all part of the game for them

My GP2 scurries into the little housie and he's impossible to prise out. He seems to push his front legs out to wedge himself in , I have to put my hand in the other door and smack tap his rump.
Little git .

dotty2 · 03/07/2013 16:07

Well, you know, they'll eat a bit of parsley but they sometimes leave some and it's mostly only radishes and green pepper that get that treatment. I was sad about the green pepper - I thought I'd found a use for the green pepper in a 3 pack which no human likes, but it turns out the gps prefer the tastier ones too. I will inform them they are expelled from the MN GP hall of fame on that account.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 03/07/2013 17:14

I buy the Tesco mini peppers (orange/red/yellow) because we have the "don't like the green peppers" in our house.

And they say rescue animals are grateful.
No they are Entitled

But we luffs them, they know this.

FernieB · 03/07/2013 20:18

Send all your green peppers to Scruffypig - he only eats green fruit/veg.

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