Craigslist Sisters

[sillylittle]

Okay, so since looking into getting pigs, and researching and everything, there have been two pigs listed on Craigslist in my area, a bonded sister pair. I had emailed the lister, but warned her I would not be able to adopt them until after New Years because of travelling. I then became pretty suspicious when I noticed two other pigs listed from the same person (same piggy bed and storage bin in the background) and suspected a bit more going on. All 4 were females, 3 were 2+ and the last was I believe 6 months. Also, the sister's posting kept getting flagged for removal, then re-posted, almost daily. I hadn't emailed her other than my first one inquiring, and then this afternoon, she emailed me saying:

"are you still interested in the guinea pig sisters let me know there the last ones i have so anything I have extra you can have that includes food hay nail clippers a second cage with extra water bottles and food dishes and also a play pen"

The first cage would be a 2x4 C&C and then the second cage she mentions would be a petstore cage. I really don't know what to do, I keep waffling back and forth with "maybe she just cant care for them anymore" and "why did she have 4 listed, but separated?" I can't imagine she's a breeder if she's willing to give me all of the extra stuff.... But why does she say they are the last ones she has? I am of the opinion that I would be rescuing them, instead of them going to a local shelter or being put into a bad situation, but I don't want to be supporting a breeder or someone who is mistreating piggies in any way... Blech, I just have NO idea what to do...

Does anyone have $0.02 to add?

[Paula]

Why don't you just ask her? She probably had them listed separately because it's far easier to rehome two pigs than four. The only possible way to get actual answers, or something resembling actual answers, is to stop speculating with no information and ASK for more information.

And you most certainly can't judge whether someone's a breeder by whether or not they get flagged on Craigslist.

[Kieri]

hmm... that does seem strange. if you have a gut feeling about this, your suspicions may be right.

[CavySpirit]

It's quite fair to ask her why she is rehoming them. Then, if you decide to move forward, make sure you go to her home, not some public area. If she refuses that, then forget it. You don't have to make a final decision until you 'see' the situation. It can be hard to walk away if you are emotionally invested, so, don't emotionally invest. INVESTigate instead. Ha! I just made that up. Pretty good. If you don't think you can walk away if it's a breeder situation, then after her response about why she is rehoming, if you suspect breeder, just keep looking.

That's my advice.

However, IF you suspect she is a breeder and you want to invest some time and emotions on stopping the CL ads, then I'd just press forward and go check her out--but only IF you can walk away and want to be more involved in the situation.

[sillylittle]

Thank you everyone, I am planning on asking the poster why she is putting them up for adoption, and I will definitely not make a decision until I see these girls and make sure they're healthy, instead of being a bad case of heartbreak.

Side note for Teresa, earlier yesterday I was reading an article on cages in a GP magazine I got for Christmas, where you were quoted (and I thought to myself that you were pretty awesome), and then I saw you active on the forum and was thinking to myself "wow, this woman is so cool, she's so knowledgeable on cavies" and then you replied to my post (taking the time to read my thread and everything) so I just thought I'd let you know about yesterday's stages of increasing hero-worship-awe

[CavySpirit]

LOL, too funny. I think it's interesting how sometimes little ribbons of connections like that show up in life.

Good luck with your guinea pig hunt.