Hi, I'm Julia and have been a gp lover ever since I got my first piggies 5 years ago. I got them from a pet store (I know I know but we all have to start somewhere) called Dolphins Pet Village. Dolphins is actually pretty good for a pet store, I was surprised when I went there later and they knew so much about every animal in their care, and their piggies were healthy and in clean, spacious, (for a pet store) same-sex cages, popcorning around happily. A staff member walked around with us, showed us all the animals, and let us hold them, and they were all very sweet and hand tamed. They bred their own reptiles and showed the eggs in a quiet, dark area.
Then my friend purchased 2 girl rats from them. They
were both girls (believe me, it is
not difficult to tell the two sexes apart in rats) but they were not tame at all. Dolphins said that they didn't hold the rats because they didn't want them to bond to the staff. What a lame exuse, but they actually believe it, as they held all the reptiles. Then, one of the rats seemed to be growing by the day. Yep, she had pups about a week after coming home. The store said that she was probably left too long with her brother.
Sorry for that very long story, I tend to ramble.
One of the boars I got from Dolphins is still alive and hasn't had one health problem in his 5 years of being with us. His brother, Micky, died about a year ago. We got a baby boy from a friend who had an accidental litter, but he died from unknown causes.
My boar, Sir Squeakums, is in a 2.5x5 C&C cage, which I thought was pretty good until I saw all the cages on this website with multiple levels and such. Sir Squeakums is very sweet and silly, and runs to the front of the cage whenever we get home, hoping for a snack. He isn't the easiest to catch, but if I gently scoop him up and put him on my lap, he calms down and starts making hungry wheeks since he always gets treats when he sits nicely on my lap. Luckily, he lives in the kitchen which closes off at both ends and has tile floors, so he gets to have the whole, large kitchen for free range time. One of our rats, Burrow, gets free range time all over the house since she is litter trained (it doesn't really matter though because rats tend to not go to the bathroom outside their cage) and comes when called, and she likes to visit the piggy. They are very sweet to eachother, Sir Squeakums was even a little interested at first since she's a girl (crazy pig) and they chase eachother around and play. Don't worry, Burrow is very gentle with the piggy, she does not nibble his ears, or anything that isn't food, as rats are the least nippy of all rodents.
Soon, Burrow will not be S.S.'s only animal friend though, because he is getting a buddy in one week! I have been browsing on craigslist and there was an ad for a lone boar that needed a home because his owner was moving. That has got to be the most common exuse for surrenduring an animal. Sir Squeakums went through a move
and a divorce and he's still with us .
The boar is an adorable, sweet, chocolate peruvian with a yellow smudge on his nose, and I can't wait to get him!! I am not the best at introducing though, even though I follow all the steps, so I'm a little nervous.
Sorry, that was a pretty long post. Well to wrap it up, I'm really excited to join this forum, and hope to be an active member when I can squeeze time in!
Introductions
05-06-07, 06:54 pm
Hello! 
