Wapsell Cavies (BCC registered stud prefix)

This is Wapsell Connie, a mainly black smooth pet sow born on 10 February 2008.  She will cost £10 and needs a companion sow to live with.  Connie is Andy Pandy's daughter, so she carries Teddy from his Asterex lines.

Connie shares her accommodation with Cookie, and Gillie, so either of these sows would be very suitable if you do not have another sow already.

This is Wapsell Cookie, Connie's sister, who was also born on 10 February 2008.  She is for sale for £10 and will need a companion sow to live with.  Cookie is one of Andy Pandy's daughters, so she too carries Teddy from his Asterex lines.

Cookie has quite a few buff/gold markings including a large splodge of gold on her nose, so she is easy to tell apart from Connie.

This is Wapsell Gillie, a pink-eyed lemon/lilac argente sow who was born on 4 February 2008.  She will cost £10 and needs the companionship of another sow to live with.  Gillie has a 50% chance of being a Teddy carrier but we cannot guarantee she is.  Only a test mating to a Teddy boar could prove she is a carrier, if one of the resulting babies were a Teddy.

Gillie is only distantly related to Connie and Cookie.

This is Wapsell Graham, a mostly black smooth boar for sale for £10.  Graham was born on 4 February 2008 and is a brother to Gregory, Geoffrey and Gillie.

Graham lives with Monty.

This is Wapsell Morgan, a beautiful, smooth cinnamon agouti sow aged 9 months.  She is for sale as a pet for £10, having bred one litter of four babies.  Morgan is Grenfell's mum and she was born in June 2007.  Morgan is a Teddy carrier who also carries lilac.

Morgan is looking for a pet home where she will be pampered and have the companionship of at least one other sow. 

If you keep your guineapigs indoors, they won't smell.  Unless you were planning not to clean them out very often, of course.  It's up to you.

We have a pet boar for sale for £10.  Not the crossbred black self born on 4 December 2007, who is pictured here on the right - he has been sold. His father, Wapsell Monty, a crossbred smooth cinnamon agouti born on 4 June 2007 is still available.  Monty carries Teddy and lilac.

Monty lives with Graham.

While we are usually happy to sell our surplus stock, we are unwilling to deliver stock (except sometimes to a show we may be attending).

Guinea pigs - alone and with rabbits

We will not sell our pigs to people intending to keep them in the same hutch as a rabbit.  Rabbits are bigger and stronger, and have different needs.  The pig may be hurt by the rabbit if they do not get on.  Next to being dropped by a human being, the most usual reason for fractures in guinea pigs is often a kick from a rabbit.  Rabbits also routinely chew the coat of their guinea pig companion.

Few guinea pigs are happy to live alone, and for this reason we will always enquire whether a prospective buyer already owns guinea pigs if they want to buy only one of our pigs.  Guinea pigs are herd rodents, completely dependent on the companionship which can only come from at least one other guinea pig.  They are not born with any ability to speak "rabbit" and do not get any form of "companionship" from a rabbit.  Feeding is problematic, too:

• Rabbit food contains too little vitamin C and also excess vitamin D. 
• Some rabbit pellets contain coccidiostats; these are unnecessary drugs for guinea pigs and have been associated with stunted growth and sporadic deaths when fed to guinea pigs. 
• If you must keep rabbits with your guinea pigs, it is better to feed them both a guinea pig mix which will be suitable for both species.  But please don't buy the guinea pig from us.
  

Bedding

We use chopped cardboard as bedding in our caviary - sold under the brand name of 'Ecobed.'  There are many suppliers in the UK because it is usually used for stable bedding where horses cannot be kept on wood shavings.  We pay £6.40 per 22 kg.  Each hutch unit is covered thickly with newspapers, then a layer of Ecobed chopped cardboard, then a bundle of hay is placed at each end of the housing unit for nestling into and eating.  The hay is replenished daily.  We find the housing units are dryer and cleaner this way, and a proportion of dry chopped cardboard can be re-used after the weekly clean-out, making it very economical.  Hay fed daily is vital to guinea pigs' welfare; they eat it and love to burrow in it.  Denied hay, guinea pigs will eventually stop breeding.

However, there are many other bedding possibilities which can be chosen so you may wish to refer to the links on our "care for your guinea pigs" page.  We do recommend you avoid wood shavings and sawdust, though, because:

• Sawdust is so fine it can get into the guinea pigs' eyes and cause problems. 
• Shavings may give off pine resin fumes at low levels, depending on the source. Hardwoods are unsuitable.
  
• Straw is far too harsh, and can cause eye injuries.

Space

We think the permanent living quarters' floor space should never measure less than 4' x 2' (for two pigs), or 6' x 2' for three pigs, and so on.  Upstairs floorspace doesn't count because guinea pigs are not great climbers!  Two square feet per pig, and no pig kept on its own, is not too much to ask.

Basic daily food and water needs

• Guinea pigs need a bottle of fresh water clipped to the hutch door [please don't be tempted to use additives, or anything other than clean tap water - the pigs hate it, and reduce their water intake accordingly!],
• a proportion of fresh vegetables (roots like carrots, beetroot and greens like cabbage, sprout leaves, broccoli), and
• grass and hay every day to ensure they obtain sufficient vitamin C in their diet. 
• In addition, a proprietary guinea pig cereal mix/pellets or goat mix is also recommended. 

Water bottles can be kept in excellent condition by soaking them in Milton sterilising fluid every week, which kills the green algae and any bacteria.  Buy two bottles and you can rotate them.

Please check the "care for your guinea pig" page for web links to sites devoted to the care and welfare of these charming pets.

We're sorry we don't have any more youngstock for sale at present. You might like to try the main UK website for many other cavy breeders:

http://www.cavybreeder.co.uk

Last updated: 5 May 2008