Giant guinea pigs?

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CiaraPatricia

CiaraPatricia

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Sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything about it. But does anyone have one of those giant guinea pigs? The ones that are like 2 or 3 times the normal size?

I've seen one once in a pet shop, it was so so huge! I would have bought it but it was male and I only had females. :))
 
They are called Cuy Guinea Pigs. I just googled and all I got was how to cook them, never seen one before :(!
 
Thanks :)

Yeah I just got how to cook them too. :(

The one I saw was so handsome, it'd be very cool to have one that big, but imagine how they'd eat and how much mess they'd make :))
 
i thought Cuy was the southamerican word fo guinea pig? and cosiderin the southamericans eat them i would jsut consider them guineas selectivley bred for size - thus producing more meat? hmmm
 
Hmm, maybe it means both? I've seen some ones on TV in south America (on that show on MTV where they sent the spoilt 16 year olds to poorer countries!) and they didn't look that big, but maybe I wasn't really looking at their size that well . . . though those pics were just all running around the hut the people lived in, so not being selectively bred anyway. :) I guess other people probably would selectively breed them though.
 
i wonder if there bred on a massscale for food in south america? i know this sounds awful but i should imagine they are bred on a largescale for snake food? (similar to battery chickens maybe?) and knowing what farmers are like i should imagine they always want the biggest "higer producing" individuals, but this is me just guessing really
 
Yeah, I guess maybe they are bred for snake food. I'd love one as a pet though, but then again it'd probably bully the normal sized ones :)
 
ok i really thick :)) so how big are you talking ? ive never seen giant piggies before:{
 
I remember somebody had one not on this forum but somewere and there were pictures I can't find them now though Boohoo!

I would love one though, doubt rescue get many :))!
 
omg my maggie isnt much smaller than the first pic of the cuy the man is holding !!!!
 
well she is about to have lil piggies so it could be that but to be honest i adopted her pregnant so not sure of her normal size lol once babies are her il see an post a pic x
 
The one the guy is holding in that photo is huge! The one I saw was big, but not that big!
 
Tommy and Ronnie don't honestly seem that much smaller than the piggies in those pics.... :red .... I'll have to get some current pigtures!

I've never heard of these giant piggies though.
 
Oooh I've never heard of these. I thought you meant Capybara, which I've always wanted and did see for sale the other day on another forum. But I've never seen/ heard of these Cuy ones. It's set me off now!
Sorry didn't do the quote thing but the original poster said they saw one for sale, in a pet shop? Where? How much was he? Sorry for spluttering out questions, I'm getting all excited now! :)p
 
gosh i got the food ones too, it upsets me to see that but even harder is seeing the piggies being held around the neck area with no bottom support :(, I'm just glad all of our piggies never have to know that life xx
 
DandelionPatch said:
n't do the quote thing but the original poster said they saw one for sale, in a pet shop? Where? How much was he? Sorry for spluttering out questions, I'm getting all excited now! :)p
Click to expand...

It was in a country/animal supply shop near where I live (in Cork in Ireland) and they sell a few guinea pigs and rabbits and birds there too. I didn't ask but I guess he was just the same price as the other pigs which was €20. I said to them "wow, he's so big" and they didn't say he's a special breed or anything, and they didn't seem to know much about guinea pigs!
 
The pet cuy is not uncommon in Sweden, it's not as big as the meat cuys, just double the size of a regular piggy, around 3 kilos.

The rescue lady has had a few, they are not very suitable for rehoming. She says they are double the size, live half as long and are four times as skittish as a regular pig. Eva, one she had had from a baby in her living room, who died two months ago aged 3,5 years (the oldes she has had) never once took a veggie from her hand.
 
I'm quite glad I didn't get one so . . . he was so handsome though :)
 
Oo my i never knew you could get a piggie that size it's huge i think my boys are attempting to be that size with the way that scoff down their veggies in the morning teehe! :)
 
Cuy, (pronounced 'coo-ee') are a seperate sub-species to our piggies at home. They are very much a 'herd' animal and like to live in social groups and they tend to be more active at dusk and dawn. They are really very different in their behaviour to the ones we have at home.

Their 'wilder' type nature seems to remain even if they are handled from young babies. Its not that they are unfriendly animals, but they are a lot shyer - they are handleable by people that they know and are used to, but will run away and hide from unknown people and loud noises!

As for lifespan, they are like most 'giant' types of animal, and commonly live for between 2-4 years. Unlike our piggies, they don't climb at all, but they can jump vertically! and they are very fast!

Some cuy have larger numbers of toes on each foot, up to about 8! so pretty big feet.

All in all, not one for the average piggie owner, as they do need carefull handling!

Hope this helps a bit!

Ali xx
 
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