[Gpdd] ANNOUNCE New baby Piggyfriend

[Penny Charlesworth]

He is here, my new baby boar. A sweet little fellow, just five weeks old, with a Saffron coat and beautiful ruby eyes.

A lady who wanted to breed her two Saffron sows was hoping for a few little girls amongst the litters but what did she get? Six, yes SIX, baby boars. So she contacted our Rodentologist to see if she knew of anyone who could offer some homes. She always insists that she is not a rescue but invariably knows of a piggy in need. My new boy Dorian needs someone with whom to bounce around with so I said that I could take one.

The lady who had rescued Dorian and Pandora's mother lives near the breeder of the Saffrons so she collected one and took him to our Rodentologist, from where I picked him up on Saturday evening.

I found out more of his story. These poor piggies live outside in hutches covered with tarpaulin and, as it has rained non-stop all month, the babes have not been handled. I can imagine their owner dashing outside with a brolly to feed the piggies and, hopefully, clean them out but they have not been used to what I consider a normal piggy life in an indoor pen.

My new little boar is, unsurprisingly, very nervous and skittish. I had hoped to put him straight in with Dorian, who, having been handled from day one, is very forward and outspoken. Dorian rushes to the front of his pen every time I go near and stands up like a toddler with outstretched arms so that he can be picked up and cuddled. I could imagine him eating all of the veggies whilst the new boy hid in the hay so the little one is in my hospital cage for the time being until he gets used to being here.

This cage is portable unlike my static pens so I can slide it along in front of the pens for him to see/smell other piggies. He hides for most of the time until he thinks that there is no-one around, when he believes that it is safe to sneak out a grab a veggie chunk. He clears up all of his food overnight and, if I creep very quietly up to the cage I can see him nibbling his hay. I saw him peering out of his cage at a group of sows in the next door pen. Pandora came up to the front to see him. She was very scared when she first arrived, but being with my outgoing girls has brought her out of her shell and I hope that the company of my herd will do the same for my new babe.

He has never heard any of the indoor noises that the other Piggyfriends take for granted. He didn't think much of the vacuum cleaner but I told him that it needs to be done or else I will end up knee deep in spilled hay. He didn't like the dustbin lorry coming this morning either.

I will post a link to some photos soon. I need someone to hold him tight whilst I take a pigture but my son and husband both have colds and the little fellow needs to be kept germ free. If I just sit him on a towel as I usually do for photos, he will run off and disappear behind the furniture. Sometimes I take pigtures when the piggies are in their pens but this cage has a lid so it is not that easy.

It is just as well that I did not collect him from the Saffron breeder myself as I would have wanted to bring all six home and into the warm and dry. The current Piggyfriends herd comprises many more boars than usual and I just do not have the room for more boars.

I do hope that the others all find good homes. My Rodentologist refrained from telling the breeder what she thought of people who keep their piggies in hutches in the garden in the cold and wet but she did tell her that she only ever rehomes to indoor homes so I imagine that the breeder got the idea. She's very tactful.

I was about to type that I hadn't named the little fellow as yet. I can see his cage through an internal window at the back of my desk where I am sitting now and Hope is having a chat with him, which has given me an idea. I do not watch much television but I do like an English hospital drama called Holby City ( although I cannot watch the scenes with the all too realistic operations ) and my favourite character in this series is called Elliot Hope, a plump and kindly doctor, the sort that you could trust in an emergency. I think that I will name the new babe Elliot as I like the name anyway.

So please welcome baby Elliot, the newest in the Piggyfriend clan.

Penny.