Where Is The Best Place To Get A Guinea Pig?

Leah123

Leah123

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Is the pet store the best place to her a guinea pig? Will they be timid if they are from there?

Where did you all get yours?
 
We will always recommend a rescue over anything else. If you add your location we can help direct you, or you can use the rescue locator at the top of the forum.
 
Flutterby said:
We will always recommend a rescue over anything else. If you add your location we can help direct you, or you can use the rescue locator at the top of the forum.
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Ok! Thank you so much!

Will she/he be timid if I got she/he from petsmart?
 
:agr:

This forum recommends rescues for many reasons. Here are a few...

1) there are so many guineas waiting in rescues for a forever home.
2) rescue guineas are fully health checked before you adopt them
3) if you adopt a pair from a rescue, they are properly bonded
4) rescue guineas are used to being handled before you adopt them

Sadly, this is not always the case with pet shop guineas
 
As said above, we highly suggest rescuing a Guinea pig but with that in mind I can't exactly say YOU MUST RESCUE because both Mo and Steve aren't from a rescue- though they aren't from a petshop either.

However,I would advise against petsmart because I've heard of many people obtaining guinea pigs who are already sick and die only days after purchase.

Rescuing a guinea pig allows you to know the piggies health background,favourite food and personality. They are likely to be tamer and healthier and some come already bonded so need for the worry of introducing a new guinea pig. It also allows you to know that you've given a guinea pig a loving home who needed one.

Petshops stock young,baby guinea pigs because they are cute and SELL with it being a SHOP they want to make money and many don't know how the animal should be properly kept. Many get the baby guinea pigs from cheap breeders who usually mass breed and sell them on at a cheaper price. Thus many come sick to the petshop and therefore to their new home ill. However, some people get guinea pigs from petshops that are healthy and they get too see them grow etc and tame them themselves so I can't say every petshop is the same.

Breeders are much like petshops there's good and there's bad. Some breeders again do it only for money and don't care about the guinea pigs welfare. They breed purely for money and sometimes even interbreed with guinea pigs from the same family leading to faulty genes or sick babies. Some accidentally get babies from getting a misexed pair of guinea pigs or buying an already pregnant guinea pig and wish only that the babies go to good loving homes. In my case I trusted the breeder because I had had a sow from him before and though I did feel guilty going to a breeder as opposed to a rescue I did feel better knowing that I trusted the breeder and knew he wasn't in it purely for the money and genuinely cared for the guinea pigs welfare etc.

So first I would say try a rescue- I know that though I haven't got my current pigs from one my next piggies will definitely come from a rescue and I have rescued other pets before and know how loving etc they can be.
 
Most of mine are from rescues.

Romeo- RSPCA Manchester & Salford
Claudia- Tameside Guinea pig Rescue
Pandora- Tameside Guinea pig Rescue
Paris- Tameside Guinea pig Rescue
Delores- Tameside Guinea pig Rescue
Olive- Tameside Guinea pig Rescue
Sabrina- Tameside Guinea pig Rescue
Lottie- The only one from a pet store.
Matilda- Private Rehome
Fleur- Private Rehome
Digby-Private Rehome
All 3 skinnies have come from a breeder, after contacting quite a few rescues to rehome some, but most rescues don't rehome skinnies and keep them at rescue.
 
Would you know the age of the guinea pig if you got it from a pet shop or rescue?
 
Leah123 said:
Would you know the age of the guinea pig if you got it from a pet shop or rescue?
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A rescue would either know the age or be given an estimate. Whereas a petshop I suppose it would definitely be an estimate or just a blind guess if the breeder or supplier had not said. A breeder (at least a good one) would know the age. A rescue is much more likely to have an accurate age then a petshop and please know that rescues have young piggies too.
 
Jesse's pigs said:
A rescue would either know the age or be given an estimate. Whereas a petshop I suppose it would definitely be an estimate or just a blind guess if the breeder or supplier had not said. A breeder (at least a good one) would know the age. A rescue is much more likely to have an accurate age then a petshop and please know that rescues have young piggies too.
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Ok! Thank You So Much! I'm Going To Look Up A Local Rescue!
 
Also, is Craigslist a good place to get them?
 
My two lovely wonderful sows are from a local rescue. Bonded sisters and very hapoy. I then fell in !ove with a young boar from an online selling page called gumtree. He is due to be neutered anfter his 6 week wait I will bond him with my sows.

Getting rescues takes out the hard work and stress of bonding. Many good rescues here in the uk will neuter boars to increase their chances of finding a companion.

So rescues are a good place for bonded pairs and for health checked and properly sexed guinea pigs.

Online selling sites are a risk ...

Follow your heart but dont lose your head!
 
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