Holiday - least stressful option for gpigs?

[Wheredidthesummergo]

Hello, our new additions will only have been with us about 2.5 weeks when we're due to visit relatives - not something that can be put off due to time off work.
Which of these options would be least stressful in your opinion?
A) enlist a neighbour to come in and give them food and drink. They may or may not interact with them (I suspect would) but not likely to handle them.
B) take them for a 1.5 hour drive to pil who again might not handle them, but did have a pig as a child.
C) take them for a 3 hour drive followed by a 2 hour ferry to come with us. Would have own cage with us.
I am worried about stressing them but also that they will have forgotten us when we return if we leave them. Before buying them I only thought of their physical needs rather than "bonding" needs!
Or I could leave two members of the household behind but my elderly parents would massively miss seeing their grandchild.

Don't take them on the long drives-they'll hate it.

How long are you away from them? I'd enlist a neighbour. They've got each other for company. They'll few fine even if they don't have the normal level of interaction.

If we're away for a while our local pet shop does small animal boarding very cheaply.

depends how long you are away for. 1-2 nights for healthy pigs everything topped up they'll be fine at home.
Any longer then a neighbour is the best bet, they'll get interaction, as long as you feed them then they're happy and the minder I'm sure will chatter back to the pigs as they sqeal for food (impossible not to imo!)

Thanks for such quick replies! (Are you all up playing with your pigs?)
It's 5 nights

I could set them up with the cage and the pen attached together to have more space. I expect they will be completely feral when we return though!

Enlist the neighbour. Job done.

Yeah I agree leave them at home and get someone to check in on them. They would become quite stressed being in a car for that long as well as being in a different enviroment with different smells, it would be too much for them. They will be fine at home. How long are you going for?

Nah, they'll be fine. As long at they're fed and watered with a bit of someone talking to them they'll be happy. They won't forget you.

..I did ask a local Petshop who do do boarding but all full for the summer.

Oh 5 nights they will be fine!! Guinea pigs are usually quite sociable anyway so that won't cause any issues in that sense. Just give them a couple of treats when your home and they'll soon love you again.

Brilliant
I must say having lurked here for a while, this is a lovely friendly part of mumsnet

A neighbour sounds good to me too - then lots and lots of cuddles when you get back!
We do regularly take our pigs down to Devon with us when we go to visit family for a week or so - which is a 3.5ish hour drive and they settle down very well in the car, and love their time on the rich, Devonshire grass - but they are fat, old ladies who don't generally seem easily phased! More expert pig owners - have we been doing a Bad Thing?

It depends on your piggies deep-our girls are terrified of the car and just sit wibbling the whole time but mr pig loves it. Mr pig and I drive about 45mins-1hr each way to a specialist vet about once a month for teeth filing (him not me!). He mostly eats during the journey.

Thanks Purple :-) Ours settle down quietly and sleep quite a lot of the way, so I'm assuming they are happy enough. They also come on trips to our allotment (15 mins in the car) at least once a week or so, so are maybe car-hardened. They sit between the dc on the back seat (strapped in, natch) and get a lot of fussing and feeding through the bars between their nap breaks, so hopefully we haven't been stressing them too much over the years!

Welcome.
When we go either for a day or overnight to relatives in Newcastle our NDN 2 girls (and their day) look after the piggies. This is quite frequent and now the pigs recognise the NDN and wheek to them if they hear them in the garden*

Infrequently DH and I have to be away at the same time separately for work and then they've been to a local 'bunny hotel' .. but the cost is huge.

However, we go 'home' to Norfolk about every 6 to 8 weeks and because I am bonkers the girls come with us. It is about a 3 hour drive but everything we have here is replicated their at my brother's. It would be a real mare and faff to have to take hutch, outdoor run etc etc. We've done this with all our pigs and most are fine, only one hated travelling but I wouldn't really recommend taking them on holiday - we've no DC so I can be with them all the time we travel
Would say NDN for short time, board out for longer periods away

• One time the NDN were piggie sitting, they had unbeknownst to us, a birthday party. Mollie and Sadie became the star attractions at 'the best ever party' for a group of 6 year olds. So much so, a while ago the pigs received a party invite through the door!! Pigs have potential for better social life than me 😃

All the children in the Close save bottle tops for me for work. They save loads, i think the incentive is piggie cuddles. Mollie is the daftest, most gentle, amenable pig ever. She'd happily be cuddled to the end of time 😃 and if being carried and not having to expend energy using her legs is thrown in, she's a friend for life 😃😃

Should read NDN and their dad !

That's a lovely account Eastmids They should have their own fan club!

I've been looking today at how to attach my wire pen to the cage, so I could leave them set up together when we're away and they'd have more room. I have seen this done with a cage on Amazon, but it seems impossible - the cage base slants a bit and although the pen panel could be attached to the wire part of the cage, it will leave a gap at the bottom where the base is that a wiggly pig could easily find their way through!

We had planned to do this but since a rat got in our hitch out options have been more limited as they'd definitely get into the run at night.

We are lucky as this week a friend is popping up, we go away again though and all friends are also away, not sure what to do about that!

My boys go off to a small pet boarding and love it - they are spoilt. I'd always advise visiting one first though as I saw a couple of places that were not great. Local rescues may offer boarding too as they're always in need of funds.

When DH wins the lottery I plan to set up a piggie hotel for discerning pigs and owners .. sadly he's not managed it yet, so cannot help with holidays this year

That's my plan too, only for pigs and buns. I'd need a lot of land though as they'd all have to have big indoor runs plus lots of outdoor space.

I'd also say neighbour. We have a guinea pig boarding very close to us at only£3 per night, and they're spoilt!

Just to update - had our trip away, the lovely neighbour came in every day to do food/water (and have a wee chat I suspect) and sent photo updates to me even! They had their cage and pen with a bridge.
They are absolutely fine being handled again once we returned, so all good.
Thank you for all the advice, really glad I didn't take them away now!