New GPs

[wellies]

Hello, we are due to collect 2 short haired 6 month old boy GPs from our local animal rescue centre this weekend. We are first time GP owners.
We've bought a hutch (bedroom area and run), straw for bedding, hay for eating, sawdust to absorb mess, food bowls, water bottles, food pellets, an igloo thing. We'll have fresh fruit and veg too - is there anything else we should think of buying?

Thanks :)

I'd leave the straw out for young pigs ( you aren't really meant to use straw, but I use really soft barley straw in winter at the back of the haybox, just to bulk and insulate, they don't eat it. ) Stick with hay for now.They like to sleep and eat in it, mine CBA walking all that way to a hayrack.

Newspaper , shredded paper, Megazorb if you want absorbancy but sawdust and shavings aren't suitable for their respiration .

Give them a house each - a box with no staples or tape, cut 2 doors so they can't trap each other.You can use the igloo and a cardboard box -easy to throw away.

We have 2 boars (a 3.6yo and his newer cagemate 10 months old. The brother died last year so the new one came to live with us at 6 weeks.
They have the most amazing capacity to pee and pooh so bag all the newspaper you can (take out any staples) .

I've been through every concievable bedding- fleece, Megazorb, towels,

What works for mine - rubber car mats (one of those boot liners, brilliant) insulating and waterproof but out of the reach of tiny teeth cardboard and those wooden cat pellets that are small animal safe.
Newspaper and hay.

Have you got an outdoor run?
They love those plastic tunnels to run through.

Roll up the paper + hay every day/2 days depending on how manky they are, then weekly replace the cardboard/pellets.

Boars are lovely, cuddly, noisy, greedy, messy little creatures.
But be aware, you're going to ride the storm of the Terrible Teens.
Give them space,
Somewhere to escape from their cagemate (boars aren't in each others company like sows but they like to know the other one is there)
Enough room between food bowls and water
Enough food to avoid squabbles.

And - protect them.
Draughts, damp, cats, extremes of heat/cold and foxes.
Don't underestimate foxes

Enjoy them.

Cor that was an essay

Try and find out if you can about your boys history, why they are in Rescue. It'll give you a heads up if they are shy or not socialised.

Our original 2 were brothers from an accidental litter, ended up in Rescue.
Our little boy was part of a big group from a breeder put into Rescue.

Brill, thanks for all that info.

My neighbour is a big reader of newspapers and is going to pass it all on to us so we'll have a good supply. No-one warned me about sawdust, it was recommended I get plenty so it's good to get news about that.

So, a rubber car mat to line the bottom of their bedroom area? Then newspaper, hay and perhaps cat pellets (will have to look for those). I thought the straw was to keep them warm and cosy so what should I use instead?

We have a cat but she is very timid and only really goes outside if I'm out too so hopefully not too much of a threat - I am nervous about foxes though as we're on the edge of the village, what can I do to best protect them?

Dh and ds have plans to build an outside run but the hutch has a downstairs run too. The dcs also plan to make a cardboard box house for them to run in and out of/hide.

Terrible teens worry me - I have a human teen already!

They were abandoned in a box at the rescue centre so little is known about them. They seem very well bonded and are thought to be brothers. They are quite good at being handled but one is slightly more shy than the other.

The Terrible Teens boars is when they go into puberty and start to assert themselves (can start at 3 months )
In retrospect, our little boar sort of tipped the older boar off his pedestal very gradually - we were worried that there would be a clash but I suppose GP1 just thought meh let him be boss. As long as he has his space to slope off to (that's why a house each works, If you have the space , one each + a spare is better)

I use the car mats in the outdoor Pighouse - it's my DC old wooden playhouse. I was going to put a hutch in there but I thought "this can be the hutch". We had to do some alterations . It's a nice, airy secure little place with four windows (plastic) one that lifts out to give ventilation . It has the metal bars (fox proof) and fine mesh (flying things) and plastic covered metal mesh (unwanted little visitor proof).
DH made a bix haybox from an old bookcase carcass, the boot liner is a solid rubber with a 'lip' and fits nicely. I can take the whole thing out and scrub it, and it insulates them too.
You can use lino off cuts, lots of GP owners use that.
Just need to make sure they don't chew it.
Some pigs will chew newspaper but they'd rather eat carrot

Hay is best to sleep in and eat, but it does flatten down (and they pee it ) you can use a rack for hay. I use straw at the back of the hay box just to bulk it out (haybox is 3'x3' so takes a load of bedding)

Foxes aaargh they are bu**ers. Get extra bolts on the hutch and you can re-inforce the wire (maybe an extra layer) .Make sure your run can't be tipped over. GPs don't dig but foxes certainly can. Our rabbit run came with tent pegs, we use these to anchor it down (it doesn't have a base so I wouldn't trust rabbits in it)
Don't leave your pigs out too late , that's when they're prowling . We see 2 adults , plus their babies on my neighbours garage. They don't show fear at all.

Lots of things you'll have indoors - boxes to make a Guinea-Pig Village. Paper bags (Primark bags here)
Veg / Fruit you'll already buy.

@ left in a box - but at least they were left at Rescue not dumped in a field or a park. Hopefully they were pets that weren't wanted (possibly because they were out of Cute Piglet Stage and entering The Teens)

Go onto Google and find some GP sounds and body language sites. They are enlightening.
There used to be a Barmy 4 Boars site but I think it's gone .

The Rescue will give you some of their food (if you want to change it , do it gradually. We use Burgess Excell, easy to find and a pellet, not a picky museli )

And they'll tell you what they can/can't have, but I'll start a thread on what GPs like.

Any more questions, we're all here.

(Just to correct the first sentence- male pigs are fertile at about 4 weeks, that's why they need to be weaned away from Mum/Sisters. But they start to show their funny little boar ways about 3-6 months)

DD was very excited when GP3 did his first cloudy pee.
And got boar bollocks (proper ones)

I have a teen DS going through puberty.
At least my boars eat their veg and don't have spots. Or BO . Or attitude.
Or are taller than me

Hello wellies, did you get your GPs this weekend?

Can I join in with your thread - we got two lovely 6 month old female guinea pigs from a rescue this morning. They have been named Tiara and Pinky by my DC . They are currently hiding in a cardboard box in the bedding area of the hutch, I put lots of hay in there so hopefully they will be happy enough.

I'm thinking of getting a pop-up ball pool so that they can have some space to run around indoors, the weather is very wet at the moment so I don't think they could go out on the grass.

A question for 70 - when should I start handling them? Some websites say to leave them for a few days, some say to start picking them up from the beginning.

Hi Piggie and welcome to Tiara and Pinky

At 6 months they will be a good size but as you say they'll need some settling in time.
Maybe for the next day or two, let them take food from your hand (they are quite greedy bribeable so you can get on their good side)

We scooped our boars up from Day One (they were a year old when they came to us) and they always did a token protest - GP1 used to give an ear shattering shriek, but he did this in the Rescue so we knew it was him. GP2 used to scuttle round like Benny Hill )
When we got GP3, he was 6 weeks but DD couldn't resist cuddling him on Day One (and he was a little bu**er to catch)

They still can do the runaround, you need to be positive and scoop them up. (I send DD into the run, she has to corall them into a box to ensnare them)
Once they're captured, they'll settle for a cuddle, you might want to wrap them in a towel first to make them more secure and bulky (and the pee )

Maybe let them get their bearings tonight, then tomorrow pop them in the ball pool, let them get used to your voice. When they associate you with nice things, you're there .

(Compulsary y'know)

Here's a photo, in the carrier when we brought them home. I haven't got any of them in the hutch as they hide as soon as I go outside. They ate some of their evening veg, not all of it, and don't seem to have ventured out to eat anything/much from the hay rack, but they had hay in their bed too. I've been putting little pieces of veg in their bed next to them but they won't eat it when I'm there, they go into freeze mode. Have given them their normal muesli breakfast so I'll see if they eat that. It doesn't look like they've drunk anything.

I've ordered a ball pool so when that comes hopefully it will help them get used to us.

Hello, yes our boys arrived yesterday and seem to be settling in well.

Dd was unable to resist them and has had several cuddles and even ds has enjoyed holding one on his lap. They have eaten most of their fresh food and explored their hutch. Today they are spending most of their time hiding within the cardboard box which came with them from the rescue centre but they are making little squeaks from within it and come out for more cucumber every so often so I guess they're happy.

Oh and the poo - so much poo!

I'll try to get a picture without the dcs in later to post here :)

Oh lovely colours and they look lovely and chunky

WRT water - offer it 24/7. Change daily. Make sure the bottle or bowl is clean.
Mine don't drink water even with all the care. But they pee loads so it must be from the veg.

Here are our boys :)

Awww lovely boys - who could've put them in a box and abandoned them