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Sexing How do you trust the sex of a pig when adopting (not from a breeder/store)?

Pomegranate

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Just curious, I've never adopted a pig from someone else's house before, and whilst I'm not looking to get any new pigs right at this moment (just had a trauma of some of my pigs dying), I am interested how people go about it.

I saw a single female pig for adoption really close to my house, I showed her to my husband and he asked 'how would you know if it's a girl?' - if there were two of them, I'd believe they were probably two girls, and not both been males wrongly identified, but with one, well I wouldn't know how to be 100% sure.

I haven't visited someone else's house to view a pet before, I don't think I'd just go and pick their pig up in my hands and look at its bits. I'd just think 'hmmm really no idea what it is!' and I'd say 'OK I'll take her!'. I suggested to my husband that we could adopt a single one and put a divider between them, if it's a male pig he'd be excited for my two females - but then I'd be stuck with a male pig.

Just curious, there's many single pigs always up for adoption near me, I think when I look to get one, I may consider adopting one lonely pig, but honestly, I don't know how to trust the gender!! Most listings are from just usual pig owners, the kids are grown up, they're moving house, they've bought a cat etc - NOT breeders. So it would just be trusting the advice they would have been given at the store where they bought the pig - and whilst I know what guinea bits look like, I know in that scenario where I'd pick up an unfamiliar pig up to have a look, they'd be wriggling around and I'd have no idea what bits they have!!
 

HannibalLecter

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I would ask to personally check the gender, it's what I did with my newest sow as I wouldn't trust others to do it properly.
If it's a wiggly pig the owner could turn the pig over in a gentle but firm grip, while you check it's private parts. Press two fingers gently just above the genital area to check if you feel the ridge of a penis/a penis extrudes.

https://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm
 

PandaPiggle

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I'm with @HannibalLecter - Learn to check the gender (the Cavy Spirit page is my favorite!) and then just go and check before you bring the piggie home. I always tell the people that I'm only looking to adopt females and I'll have to double check, so then when I get there they usually hand me the pig knowing that I'm going to check her sex, and I flip her up to check her bits. As long as it's not a baby piggie, the bits are usually pretty clear.
 

pinky

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I'd ask them to hold the guinea pig so you can check. If you're not used to handling them, it might be hard for you to hold them while checking. I always check any guinea pig before I bring it home and ask questions about the type of bedding they used, food and hay they fed so I'll know if it had proper nutrition, etc.
 

pigmommy89

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You have to check for yourself. A lot of people have no clue. Plus, it's usually really obvious just by glancing at an adult pig what sex it is. My Rocky was supposed to be a female but when I got there he was clearly male. I still brought him home because he was in bad shape.

Just the other day I actually had a person (who was breeding his pigs) tell me that he knew two of the babies were boys because they had red eyes like the dad and the other one was a girl because it had dark eyes like the mother. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! On what planet does eye color have anything to do with the pig's sex? He basically told me I was stupid and he knew what he was doing. From other parts of the conversation you could tell he knew nothing about pig care or behavior either.

Sorry for the rant, but my point is, don't trust what people tell you.
 

CavyHouse

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I had someone bring me their piggy for bonding. She said their vet was "80% sure that it was a male". I said I'd double check. Well, I took a look and found out that Sylvester was a female. And this was a veterinarian that told her that. So it's good to learn for yourself.
 

AnnikasMommy

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I had someone bring me their piggy for bonding. She said their vet was "80% sure that it was a male". I said I'd double check. Well, I took a look and found out that Sylvester was a female. And this was a veterinarian that told her that. So it's good to learn for yourself.

I would have had to find a new vet!

We just recently went to look at a "male" on CL I was thinking of adopting. I got there with my daughter, asked all kinds of questions and then went to sex the pig. Well lo and behold said "male" was a female. Needless to say we didn't adopt because I since I have boys in my house.
 

PandaPiggle

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Needless to say we didn't adopt because I since I have boys in my house.

I like that! I won't have boys under my roof because I've got girls, and I don't want to have any chance that a petsitter or visitor could accidentally put a pig in the wrong cage and have it result in pregnancy. I haven't found a missexed pig yet, but Bridget was adopted pregnant because someone put a boy in the girl cage, and Clarissa is on pregnancy watch because at her former home a child put the male in her cage for an afternoon.
 

Lagertha

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This is the video I used to learn how to properly sex a guinea pig was this one:
https://youtu.be/pFTeb1kI07k

It's fairly easy (if they are older that 3 weeks!) It's pretty tricky sexing newborn pups :p
 
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