beluga
Member
Cavy Gazer
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2015
- Posts
- 4
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2015
- Messages
- 4
We haven't had guinea pigs in a while, but when I was at Petsmart buying dog supplies, a pink-eyed white caught my attention. I handled him at the store and he was the calmest guinea pig I've ever held so I took him home.
As I'm doing some research on training, I came across a "giant guinea pig" post on a rescue site. Turns out, our guinea pig is actually a 'Cuy Mejorado' of the Aldina line -- a white guinea pig bred in Peru for meat so they are meatier, larger, less tame, prone to polydactylism, and have a shorter life expectancy. They also come in orange/white and beige patterns. Now that I think about it, he is much bigger at 6 months compared to the biggest adult boars I've had in the past.
We didn't want to take him back since we already fell in love with him and willing to accept the challenge, but we made sure to tell the store that they are unethically buying from breeders who are getting their stock from Peru probably because they are cheaper. Apparently, rescues have been seeing an influx of these guys because they're really hard to tame, they outgrow the largest cages, and are extremely skittish.
Despite his feral traits, I am determined to train him because he appears really curious, smart, and calm when held. He's already responding to his name and has such a character like flipping over his igloo when we're too busy to pay attention to him.
Here are some really useful links for cuy owners:
Cuy Info - https://weecompanions.org/-cuy--information
Cuy Training Guide - https://r.b5z.net/i/u/10116425/f/1-26-2015-Cuy_Training_Plan.pdf
Here is our cuy, Beni Beluga!
As I'm doing some research on training, I came across a "giant guinea pig" post on a rescue site. Turns out, our guinea pig is actually a 'Cuy Mejorado' of the Aldina line -- a white guinea pig bred in Peru for meat so they are meatier, larger, less tame, prone to polydactylism, and have a shorter life expectancy. They also come in orange/white and beige patterns. Now that I think about it, he is much bigger at 6 months compared to the biggest adult boars I've had in the past.
We didn't want to take him back since we already fell in love with him and willing to accept the challenge, but we made sure to tell the store that they are unethically buying from breeders who are getting their stock from Peru probably because they are cheaper. Apparently, rescues have been seeing an influx of these guys because they're really hard to tame, they outgrow the largest cages, and are extremely skittish.
Despite his feral traits, I am determined to train him because he appears really curious, smart, and calm when held. He's already responding to his name and has such a character like flipping over his igloo when we're too busy to pay attention to him.
Here are some really useful links for cuy owners:
Cuy Info - https://weecompanions.org/-cuy--information
Cuy Training Guide - https://r.b5z.net/i/u/10116425/f/1-26-2015-Cuy_Training_Plan.pdf
Here is our cuy, Beni Beluga!
