Well, I don't think it's wise to skip CL all together. A lot of good people rehome their pigs there. Some people on CL treat their pigs better than some rescues. I think there are exemplary folks as well as exceptions to everything. So, I'm going to keep posting CL pigs in case you fall in love. I'll post my warning and then my list of tips which is a start to safely finding a healthy pig from CL:
Here's an old disclaimer, sorry if some of it is pedantic;
No excessive eye discharge (they naturally produce a milky discharge for the purpose of cleaning)
No wet nose
Normal bald spots behind the ear are the only representations of hair loss/hair thinning
Nails aren't curled under or excessively long
The guinea pig isn't frequently scratching itself (could be mites, which are easily treated)
If a female has a prounounced aerial pear shape, she may be pregnant
Remember: pet stores frequently missex guinea pigs. Check
here to make sure you're getting what the ad implies.
Make sure the teeth are even and not overgrown. Check
here to see what to look and look out for.
Read more about how a healthy piggy should appear
here. All of GuineaLynx, including its forums, is an amazing resource for guinea pig care.
(oh, and where ever you adopt a pig from, take him/her/them to the vet within the week. It will be good for your vet to know what your pig is like when he/her/they are healthy too, for comparison).
This is my standard warning: If responding to a Craigslist ad meet in a public place, or go with a friend. Google the phone number of the poster to ensure it matches the name he or she gives (cell phones make this a little harder).
But I think it might be a good lesson to your son about how every homeless guinea pig needs a home--boy or girl, long hair or short. And their personality is what makes the difference in falling in love with them and loving or liking a particular pig. I compare being determining to adopt a particular look of pig to going to a shoe store with the exact shoe in mind. Maybe that analogy only works for me though--I'm a grumpy shoe shopper!
And I don't have kids, so who am I to tell anyone about good lessons. I think if I had a 9(?) year old son I'd probably still be going on about two years of diapers, so you get points from me!
And curious, are you near another state (RI?) that I could check for you? I just checked NY CL ads so far today, and nothing is up yet. But they'll start popping up by about 6 PM
