Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2014 11:04:08 GMT 1
Well, Tinkerbell asked so I thought this might interest some readers.....
Really, this begins with our French friends Andre and Therese. Their's is yet another long story, suffice to say they and their children now live in Australia where Andre is a married Roman Catholic priest.
We went to Andre and Therese's flat in St Hilaire for an exchange of conversation. An hour of French and an hour of English. They quickly became friends and guided us through entering the French social security system. A few months after meeting them they got a guinea pig, followed quickly by another. In a short time they had about half a dozen without the need to buy any more LOL.
We were offered one of the litter, so we took on Bafreur. Debbie researched and found they were herd animals and he needed a companion. So, Andre arranged for the breeder (who sold them at the weekly market in St.Hilaire) to meet us at his flat with another GP (it's easier to write GP from now on). She actually turned up with five to choose from. They were very inanimate, in fact Debbie was convinced they were really ill. It was a very cold Winter with severe night frosts and we wondered if this was affecting them. Anyway Debbie felt we couldn't leave them like this and bought all five. We called into the vets on the way home and he informed us that they were quiet because some of them were either partially or totally blind, a result of inbreeding.
After talking to Andre on the phone he informed Debbie that not only was the breeder keeping them outside she was selling some to the Reptilarium near Mont St. Michel as live food. He also mentioned she was finding it difficult to cope with them all. Debbie was always a supporter of animal rights, I think that was why she was vegetarian and we made up our minds to go and rescue as many as we could.
The conditions in which they were kept were really bad. Open ended hutches outside in -10C with frozen water and frozen carrots. We took all the young GP's and the pregnant females. I think there was about 15 or 20 in all. We couldn't possibly take them all, especially as the breeder was charging us for each GP (even at a discount). We cleared out a bedroom, put down a tarpaulin, laid down a bed of straw, erected an enclosure and co-opted some cat carriers as temporary housing. There were I think five pregnant females who gave birth to three or four GP's each plus the other young ones. After more research we became adept at GP sexing (GP's can become impregnated again soon after birth so it's imperative to seperate the males and females).
We advertised them for rehoming and got a really good response from both the ex pat community and the French. We were left with about 10, I seem to remember. They became part of (and to a large extent took over) our lives. We purchased cages and later on a large hutch, for their winter quarters which we moved into our large sun porch. We collected some concrete rabbit hutches, erected them on the lawn and constructed a covered run for them. This became their warm weather home. Mucking out was at least a weekly task, as were health and dental inspections. Debbie became more and more expert in GP diet and health, more so than our local vet. (Some of you may recall her postings on AngloInfo on GP matters as "Nutty Ma")
Eventually their numbers dwindled as we were determined to keep the males and females separate. However, when Debbie passed away we still had about 8. Sarah (Debbies daughter) took the last two males back to the UK with her and I think the last female died about a year after Debbie.
In all this, if a child showed an interest in a small caged animals, I'd recommend these over hamsters. They don't bite and a friendly creatures who will sit on your lap quite contentedly. I miss their 'wheeking' when it was food time but don't miss the mucking out....
I'll try and post one or two GP photos as well....
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Really, this begins with our French friends Andre and Therese. Their's is yet another long story, suffice to say they and their children now live in Australia where Andre is a married Roman Catholic priest.
We went to Andre and Therese's flat in St Hilaire for an exchange of conversation. An hour of French and an hour of English. They quickly became friends and guided us through entering the French social security system. A few months after meeting them they got a guinea pig, followed quickly by another. In a short time they had about half a dozen without the need to buy any more LOL.
We were offered one of the litter, so we took on Bafreur. Debbie researched and found they were herd animals and he needed a companion. So, Andre arranged for the breeder (who sold them at the weekly market in St.Hilaire) to meet us at his flat with another GP (it's easier to write GP from now on). She actually turned up with five to choose from. They were very inanimate, in fact Debbie was convinced they were really ill. It was a very cold Winter with severe night frosts and we wondered if this was affecting them. Anyway Debbie felt we couldn't leave them like this and bought all five. We called into the vets on the way home and he informed us that they were quiet because some of them were either partially or totally blind, a result of inbreeding.
After talking to Andre on the phone he informed Debbie that not only was the breeder keeping them outside she was selling some to the Reptilarium near Mont St. Michel as live food. He also mentioned she was finding it difficult to cope with them all. Debbie was always a supporter of animal rights, I think that was why she was vegetarian and we made up our minds to go and rescue as many as we could.
The conditions in which they were kept were really bad. Open ended hutches outside in -10C with frozen water and frozen carrots. We took all the young GP's and the pregnant females. I think there was about 15 or 20 in all. We couldn't possibly take them all, especially as the breeder was charging us for each GP (even at a discount). We cleared out a bedroom, put down a tarpaulin, laid down a bed of straw, erected an enclosure and co-opted some cat carriers as temporary housing. There were I think five pregnant females who gave birth to three or four GP's each plus the other young ones. After more research we became adept at GP sexing (GP's can become impregnated again soon after birth so it's imperative to seperate the males and females).
We advertised them for rehoming and got a really good response from both the ex pat community and the French. We were left with about 10, I seem to remember. They became part of (and to a large extent took over) our lives. We purchased cages and later on a large hutch, for their winter quarters which we moved into our large sun porch. We collected some concrete rabbit hutches, erected them on the lawn and constructed a covered run for them. This became their warm weather home. Mucking out was at least a weekly task, as were health and dental inspections. Debbie became more and more expert in GP diet and health, more so than our local vet. (Some of you may recall her postings on AngloInfo on GP matters as "Nutty Ma")
Eventually their numbers dwindled as we were determined to keep the males and females separate. However, when Debbie passed away we still had about 8. Sarah (Debbies daughter) took the last two males back to the UK with her and I think the last female died about a year after Debbie.
In all this, if a child showed an interest in a small caged animals, I'd recommend these over hamsters. They don't bite and a friendly creatures who will sit on your lap quite contentedly. I miss their 'wheeking' when it was food time but don't miss the mucking out....
I'll try and post one or two GP photos as well....
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