The Guinea Pig Paradox...

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1
So, a friend and I were walking in the street when suddently we saw a petshop, in it among all the animals there were... Guinea Pigs... I enter the Shop to ask how much would it cost to have ONE Guinea Pig, and the employee answer if I already have one, which I answer to that with a simple no... She told me that I should get 2 instead, since according to the law, "Guinea Pigs should always live with a partner since there are quite social pets..." and that might be the case that someone could visit your house to check if your pets are all right and so on...

I said thanks and that I was going to think about it anyways, while we were walking away I started to do some simple thinking... IF you have 2 Guinea Pigs, and then suddently one of them dies, you will have to buy another one, so one of the first wont be alone... but then, when this one dies, the 3rd one that you bought will AGAIN be alone, and THEREFORE you will have to buy the 4th one... and son, and on and on and on...

We got to a conclusion that if you ever have to buy a Guinea Pig, you will have to buy infinite Guinea Pigs for the rest of your life.............................................. .....

(Friday post came early this week... )

2
I always bought them one at a time, as they were bought as food for the boa I was babysitting for two years (8.5').

Pet shop dude even sold them to me at 70% off!

Tom

3
Guinea pigs rock.

4
I thought the idea was that one bought a pair of Guinea pigs, and thereafter one had an endless supply with no additional effort.

Or was that hamsters?

5
I believe that's actually illegal to do in Switzerland.

6
They both have more sex that anyone in this forum...

7
i would be more worried about exponential growth

8
Hhahahaha yeah, in my scennario I was just thinking of same sex guinea pigs... but yeah, didnt even tought about THAT other scennario... hahaaha

9
Why are they even called Guinea pigs? They are not pigs but rodents and they are not from Guinea but from South-America. To me it is as dumb as finding a new species of Marsupial in Australia and name them "Swiss Owls"

10
455.1 (TSchV) , Art 4.3.a-c:

Art. 4 Fütterung

3 Lebende Tiere dürfen nur für Wildtiere als Futter verwendet werden. Vorausset- zung dafür ist, dass das Wildtier normales Fang- und Tötungsverhalten zeigt und : (my emphasis)

a. die Ernährung nicht mit toten Tieren oder anderem Futter sichergestellt werden kann;

b. eine Auswilderung vorgesehen ist; oder

c. Wildtier und Beutetier in einem gemeinsamen Gehege gehalten werden, wobei das Gehege auch für das Beutetier tiergerecht eingerichtet sein muss.

11
Pigs is Pigs:

http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/171/americ.../pigs-is-pigs/

12
You can borrow one from a GP breader until yours die.

Or you can light up the BBQ... so many options...

13
Because of the taste.

Tom

14
Apparently it's all Swiss naturalist Konrad Gesner's fault.

15
Our Ferda was a single and happy chap. Is that the paradox? We did build obstacle courses for him every day, took him out to grassy area, gave him ton of good food, etc.

Just a note, it is so cold now do if you have your guinea pigs outside on a balcony or a terrace as a few folks I know, they took them inside for the time being. Don't forget your Ferdas outside.

16
Some people have a deadly allergic reaction to guinea pigs. You can test it out on people you would like to get rid of.

17
They dont taste that great. I had a barbecued one in Ecuador. I didn't feel guilty about it though.

I adopted one as a child in Thailand and according to my parents it acted strangely and died one day, I remember searching for it for ages. Apparently they sent the carcass off for testing and it was Rabies positive, so I had to undergo the full barage of Rabies innoculations and blood tests. It explains a lot about my disliking for the rodents.

18
Did you know that there are online play lists of music for guinea pigs?

For those who have them at home, can you draw it and post it here? We watched some short draw-your-guinea-pig vids last week..just makes me want to get another Ferda. And I can't.

19
(Getting serious for a moment...)

There have been numerous posts on EF ridiculing the Swiss rules for keeping pet animals - but I would ask y'all to take a moment to understand why those rules are there in the first place:

It is the duty of the pet owner to provide the animal with a life that is in keeping with it's species' basic natural and instinctive needs, within the context of your human environment.

The 'kept in groups/pairs' rules comes out of that.

In their natural state, some species of animals are solitary, these may be kept singly as that is what they prefer.

In their natural state, some species of animals are social. Forcing a naturally social animal to live alone, bereft of the companionship, security, stability it derives from living with conspecifics, is actually quite cruel. You are depriving the animal of something absolutely fundamental to it's being. Hence, the law says these animals must be kept with others of their species.

The BLV website discusses what is required for many common pet species. Look under 'Sozialkontakt' on the page for the species you are interested in. Here's the page for guinea pigs:

https://www.blv.admin.ch/blv/de/home...hweinchen.html

Now it should be said that there are always outliers. You may find an individual within a species defined as social that actually doesn't seem happy living with conspecifics.

If you run into a situation where, after trying to meet the requirements for a social species, it becomes clear that your individual animal is unhappy living socially, an exception to the rule can be obtained. Afterall, the goal of animal welfare legislation is to provide for the welfare of the individual as well as the species. In such cases, start by speaking to your vet.

Key is to understand what your pet needs in order to live a happy artgerecht life, and to provide it.

/sermon

20
but it wouldn't be alone, you will also have to live with the furry potato!