~ Buying a Guinea Pig ~

How many? - What sex? - What age? - Where to buy? Check their health!! - Pregnant Pigs! - Expected Costs How many cavies? Well...Guinea pigs live in herds in the wild and actually live longer with companions. If you'll be at work or school for a lot of the day, and won't have a lot of extra time to devote to your pig, then it is much better to have at least two pigs. But, the more you have, the more often you have to clean them. There is also the issue of space. The number of cavies you acquire has to do mostly with your personal life style. What sex? Two Males: Yes, two males will fight. But, this usually only occurs if they are introduced to a female or if they are brought together as adults. Males almost never fight if they were raised together, and never smell a woman. The bonus with two males is that they won't produce offspring by themselves, but occasionally they will try. Two Females: Two females will quarrel much less than males, but they do have their hormonal spats. I have seen it happen with our girls. They seemed to fight over Porkchop's love. Two females can't reproduce, obviously, and they won't try like males will. If you don't want cavies to breed, stick with all girls. One of Each: With one of each, you will almost definitly get offspring, unless you neuter one. I don't recommend neutering cavies. They tend to make it through the procedure only about half of the time. There is nothing in the world more precious than baby guinea pigs. Read the breeding section on the Caring for GPs page for details. :) What age? After a cavy has been weaned, from 4 weeks onward, is fine. Be sure they are fully weaned before you buy one. We had to bottle feed our babies because their mother died within a few days of when they were born. It was so cute, but difficult to do, and hard to make sure they were getting the right nutrients. Do you want a baby or an adult? Where to buy? There are four places that you can get a guinea pig: From a 1) Breeder, 2) Petstore, 3) Rescue shelter or 4) From a Friend. Breeder: You can find a local breeder by asking your vet, by looking in newspapers, or even on the web. A responsible breeder will want to talk to you about what you want, and may ask questions about how you intend to care for your new pet. All breeders will sell babies, and some will also sell adults that are too old for breeding (about 3 years of age). The average guinea pig will live between 5 and 7 years, so this is still quite young. A breeder is also the place to go if you want a specific breed, and you may need to travel if you want one of the rarer breeds or for a show quality pig. Petstore: Just about every pet store carries guinea pigs on a regular basis. It would be hard for you not to find a cavy at a petstore. But, be careful. Be sure to inspect their health even more closely and look at the sex yourself. Employees of petstores almost always make mistakes determining sex. Not knowing what sex the guinea pigs are even after looking at them is typical. A frequent comment is "you can't sex them until they are X weeks old", but you can actually sex them as soon as they're born. They just don't know how or don't want to. Petstores vary tremendously, however. Some are excellent, and some are positively cruel. An example of a good petstore is where the person in charge also rescues animals, everything is always clean and tidy, the animals always have clean water, dry food and hay, plus being fed vegetables daily. They will only take baby animals for sale that are healthy and a good size for their age - any that look sickly are immediately directed to a vet. A bad petstore will possibly be dirty, although some are actually very clean, but typical signs include not knowing what sex the guinea pigs are, not separating males and females (guinea pigs can get pregnant at 4 weeks of age and should be separated by sex in any petstore), sickly animals, no pellets in the pens (guinea pigs need pellets at all times), and no water or dirty water. Rescue Shelters: Most guinea pigs rescued and placed in shelters tend to be adults, so if you are looking for a baby, better luck checking with your local petstores. But please don't discount rescue shelters. These are good pigs looking for a loving home. Rescue shelters can also be found in newspapers and on the web. We rescued Salsa from a shelter, and she was one of our sweetest pigs. From a Friend: You may also have a friend whose cavy had babies or they are 'downsizing' their personal zoo. In this case, be sure to check their health, even though they are coming from your friend, and don't feel guilted into a pet you don't want. Other than that, this is an excellent source for acquiring a guinea pig. Most of our babies went to friends and family. :) Check their health!! The main thing is to check that the pig is active and has no discharge from anywhere, including the eyes!! Any cavy that looks skinny, unstable, or has any sort of discharge should be avoided. With most animals you should choose the friendly ones, but guinea pigs are notoriously shy with strangers, so this doesn't apply here. Be sure you get to hold the cavy before you buy one. If it has been handled before it will be happy to be held, even if only for a short time. Some pigs will even settle down in your arms right away! If a cavy scurries hysterically away to escape, don't feel hurt or discount the pig as a pet. It takes guinea pigs a little while to get used to people and being handled. This behavior is very normal. Pregnant pigs! Many people are misinformed by petstore staff and are told they are buying a male, but they are really buying a female. Or they want a female and buy the female, but either way they get an unwanted pregnant pig. I receive e-mails from people on what to do about an unexpected pregnant pig. Guinea pigs can get pregnant at 4 weeks of age and should be separated from the males at every petstore. If the males and females are mixed together in the same pen, you can be pretty sure your pig is going to turn out pregnant. Expected Costs Well, to start out, it won't be all that expensive. I recommend a baby wading pool as a cage. This would be $5-$10. Your first bag of bedding will be anywhere from $5-$15, depending on the size you buy. A large ceramic water dish (something they can't knock over) or a water bottle: $3-$6. You can use any cardboard box as a hiding box, so you don't need to spend money on that. I recommend these before anything they sell at the pet store because guinea pigs like to chew, and if the box gets nasty, you can just simply throw it away and put in a new box. And then of course the cavy: $15-$25. You can also get creative with the supplies you need. It can run you as cheap as $25 or as much as $75. Also keep in mind that glass aquariums get much more expensive. Read the housing requirements on the Caring for GPs page for more details.