Shop has got baby living all alone.

C

CTWC

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I have read on here many times how important a baby guinea pigs nursery weeks are I recently went into a shop not sure if I can name it on here and they have a baby that they purposely left alone by selling his siblings in a small boxed area with no interaction with any other guinea pigs is this allowed? They have him labelled as up for adoption!
 
As awful as it is, this is a pet shop. We don't know how many guinea pigs they had in, what ratio males to females, and how many were purchased in pairs, trios, quads. While having a baby alone in a shop really isn't ideal, it's not the same as one of us keeping a baby alone in quarantine.
 
Can you ask them what’s happening? has he been isolated due to a previous illness and is now ready for adoption? It sounds very sad to me
 
They said he was the remaining one left as the others got sold leaving him alone so they've put him in the adoption box to allow them to put the ne intake of babies in the main display 😥I said to them that I thought they weren't meant to sell them if it meant leaving one alone and they didn't really answer 😥
 
They do it all the time. Whilst it's not desirable it's not illegal. My local shop only buys babies in in even numbers but sometimes an odd one gets left for various reasons (a trio of sows sold, a sick baby left behind, too old by the time it's well to be paired with a new intake). In my opinion it should be illegal for shops to sell animals but until that happens they will do it.
Pets at Home welfare conditions have improved a lot over the last few years which is something! I've noticed better diet, less pellets, more hay. They no longer sell babies from the pairs. Which I do applaud but that works both ways, it has made it difficult for people like me who lose a piggie and don't have any rescues within several counties that do bonding. A shop baby was always a back up in an emergency.
 
Such a shame, hopefully someone piggy savvy adopts him and he doesn't end up alone forever. That's how I got my Dylan, he was one of about 4, they added in the new "stock" and all hell broke loose, he got quite badly beaten up. One of the girls took him and one of the others home after the other 2 were sold, she decided to keep one and once he was all healed, Dylan went into the adoption area by himself.

I had lost one of my neutered males so he was just what I was looking for, as they are no longer allowed to sell singles and local rescues didnt seem to have any single males at the time. I took him home, got him castrated and now he's living his best life with his 7 ladies.
 
Eriathwen said:
Such a shame, hopefully someone piggy savvy adopts him and he doesn't end up alone forever. That's how I got my Dylan, he was one of about 4, they added in the new "stock" and all hell broke loose, he got quite badly beaten up. One of the girls took him and one of the others home after the other 2 were sold, she decided to keep one and once he was all healed, Dylan went into the adoption area by himself.

I had lost one of my neutered males so he was just what I was looking for, as they are no longer allowed to sell singles and local rescues didnt seem to have any single males at the time. I took him home, got him castrated and now he's living his best life with his 7 ladies.
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That's a great story he is loving the dream 💙💙
 
Went to check last night he is still there I just want to get him but I'm not confident enough about how he'll get on with the others 💙
 
i agree with Piggieminder and Eriathwen.As i would like to think that shops should stop selling pets.Also some do not have a choice.I'm finding it harder to get single guinea pigs,when a piggie passes away in a group,as single piggies prefered to be sold,adopted as two.
 
@CTWC , it sounds like you are talking yourself into getting him!
If he's very young then bonding shouldn't be a problem but as you already know there's no guarantee when puberty kicks in.
 
The problem with a lot of pet shop 'left over' singles is that by the time they are available they are teenagers, the worst age to bond. I've had some in the past and been lucky with bonding them to my bereaved boars but it's not for the inexperienced or faint hearted! I hit a snag last summer with Bertie who at 5-6 months old and separated at 6-8 weeks was impossible to bond. 9 tries later with the help of a rescue, he now lives next door to a friend. A compromise but better than living in a home as an only piggy, it worries how often that must happen.
 
fluffysal said:
@CTWC , it sounds like you are talking yourself into getting him!
If he's very young then bonding shouldn't be a problem but as you already know there's no guarantee when puberty kicks in.
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Oh absolutely that's why I'm trying to resist 😂 as you say easy bond to begin with but once those hormones start 💣💣💣
 
It's worth considering though, now I think about it, that a lot of the "stock" from this store carry mycoplasma, its well known they usually break out in ringworm, URIs etc but mycoplasma infections are for life and will likely be transmitted to the others even if theyre not actively showing respiratory symptoms. My population had already been exposed so bonding Dylan into the group wasn't much of an issue and it didn't impact his ability to go under aneasthetic, but it will effect them all differently and of course if your own pigs have not been exposed to animals from this store before, it may be something you wish to avoid.

Just some food for thought from my own vet who worked in one of the vets inside these stores. It's something they do see a lot of.
 
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