Solitary guineapig on the Archers last night...... sob!!

[guineapiglet]

Do any of you listen to the Archers? I have been a fan, for ahem. over 25 years. and last night one of the main characters bought their son a single boar, in a cage, no hutch or run..... I am already worrying about him. Mainly because I think it will encourage people thinking about Christmas presents for their children to think that this is a good idea as a present solution..... am tempted to write to the Beeb to say that someone should buy the poor little mite a friend - don't they do their research? A couple of years I had an ongoing rant with the Beeb about their esteemed programme Serious Andes, on which they gave the children (about to embark on a trek in Peru) a box of guinepigs which they had to kill and eat..... it was the most horrible and insensitive thing I have ever seen, the kids were so distressed, and many of them had guineas as pets and were distraught....... as you can imagine the pc letter I got back from the Beeb droned on about 'cultural sensitivities taken into account' or some similar kind of wording.... I was appalled.

[fridayfreedom]

write to them again!! nothing to do with cultural sensitivities involved...I live in the country and we keep GPs in pairs or more!!!

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

The Archers guinea-pig will be a sow that is pg, so there will be baby GPs for Christmas I'll wager

I was last week at a Mail Online report about a woman buying a sandwich with a dead mouse in it. They saw fit to do a little article about eating GPs in Peru .
"Upsetting to animal lovers" it had as it's tagline.
TBH, the eating of GPs in Peru doesn't offend me any more than the eating of chickens in the UK., because they are a food not a pet.
But I don't really need to have it so graphically displayed in a UK newspaper when it's really not relevant to the mouse and lettuce sandwich

[fortifiedwithtea]

Has the guinea pig got any squeaking lines

I wonder if its played by an actor or soundman.

[TheBonkeyMollocks]

Shall I put forward LittlePig for a audition for squeaking lines?

I am trying not very successfully to get him to 'speak' on command!

[mad hatter emotion]

[EdMcDunnough]

Yes I agree a complaint is in order. Sadly the BBC rarely seem to act on them though.

What do you do though, when you have got only one left? Our large piggy died in the summer. They're both about 3/4yo. We have her little friend, still, and don't want to get another as surely when this one goes it'll be left alone too.

Is there anything we can do? I am so sorry for her on her own in the huge hutch. I think she has a friendly wood mouse for company some nights. But it's no life really.

[guineapiglet]

Yes, I think we should hold auditions! Everyone do an audio of their guinea plus photos and we will chose the one most likely to be a regular on the Archers!

Ed - i know how you feel, we were left with one sad solitary girl in the end, afte being with 6 others, I think she pined away and died of a broken heart. I guess one option is to ask a local rescue if they have any older singletons who may want a home for a short while, it is very hard on the one left, and you do feel very guilty about them not having a companion, but as you say, it can become a perennial problem then, constantly getting another one for the one left. I guess all you can do is give her lots of attention and cuddles, bless her - at least she is not being eaten!!!!

70 - I think your prediction may prove correct, lets hope there are lots of guinea babies squeaking all through the Archers over the next few weeks, lots of job ops for our guineas!

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Hmmmmmm auditions,eh?

GP1 is a strikingly handsome golden agouti with a Brian Blessed style voice.He'd be perfect.

GP2 is a black rough coat with a fatty eye- radio wouldn't show his doleful little porqupine face. And he doesn't squeak or wheek. ever.
Even when they were in at winter, GP2 threw his food dishes around (rioting) but never squeaked, though he purrs.

Design fault?

[guineapiglet]

70 - it sounds like GP1 would be ideal for the film version? A rugged Daniel Craig, James Bond type character! GP2 is obviously more of the 'silent type' - but he does sound like a sweetie - we had a girl who never ever spoke ( She was rescued and she was blind) - I found it really sad- - she became very ill and I knew I would have to take her to the vets to say goodbye, which I hated doing. The night before I took her I made a huge fuss of her, gave her all her favourite food, lots of cuddles and prayers. As I turned to go, she let out the biggest, shrillest wheek I have ever heard, it was like a goodbye - makes me tearful to think of it! They are much cleverer and intuitive than we could ever be for such little souls. Lets hope they get the characterisation they deserve on the Archers!!!!

[KRITIQ]

Oh yes, definitely write in, quoting lots of evidence from guinea pig welfare sources.

I think the Archers was created as a way of instilling modern agriculture techniques - woven into the story line. They had and I believe still do have specialists to advise on farming issues. So, I would hope they would also be interested in "setting a good example" with pet keeping in their story line.

Seriously Andes? Was that supposed to be entertainment? I haven't had a tv for about 8 years now and I'm agog at some of the things that they seem to try and pass off as entertainment these days.

(turns into my grandmother :))

[fortifiedwithtea]

Oh my dayz, OB has the perfect look for radio. LOL . He's a little runt mismarked chocolate dutch. Baggy balls. Pee stained legs restaint to bathing and is going bald. Bless him. But his piggie girlfriend loves him .

[mumnosGOLDisbest]

some gps are happy on their own. we had 2 boars (brothers). this summer the bossy one died. since then his little bro has really come out of his shell. we were considering a friend but i thi.k hes happy on his own.

[DizzyHoneyBee]

We have a single male guinea pig, I wanted to get him another GP (we have the chance of a rescue male GP if he survives) but all the advice we have been given is not to try and introduce another male so he carries on living alone.
He shares a room with my teenager so has company all evening but is alone all day. Has anybody successfully put two boars together?

[KRITIQ]

Dizzy, I started out in 1998 with one boar from the pet shop. Having done some reading around, I realised that a loan pig isn't ideal, so found a 6 week baby boar from Peter Gurney (RIP.) Since that time, I've had 6 further boars, each introduced when one of a pair has passed. Five of them have been young boards with one an adult, who was matched by Alison Coulson in Potters Bar (who's a specialist on this sort of thing!) I've never had any problems with introducing wee bubs to adult boars, and every pig I've had has had a different personality.

There's some good advice on introducing boars here www.guinealynx.info/records/viewtopic.php?t=37

I really don't understand why there is this idea that you can't introduce a new companion to a male guinea pig. I do know you can't do that with smaller rodents like gerbils and hamsters, but with guinea pigs, it's totally different. All I can think of is pet shops can't be bothered with advising purchasers how to do it, so they just tell them to keep a pig alone, and that's not good.

Best of luck!