My Husband Wants a Pot Belly Pig

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

My DH seems to have become enamored with the idea of getting a pot belly pig. i know virtually nothing about them. Does anyone here have them, or have had them? Would love some input on their boarding and care and the pros and cons of ownership. Also, might seem like a silly question, but what does their poo look like? Is it like dog poo or pellets like a rabbit or llama?

Thanks for any input, suggestions, advice, etc. And, Merry Christmas to all!

 

[Bammony]

We had one. She was just the sweetest thing. Her name was Petunia and she'd come in the house and lay down in front of the fire by my dad. Their poo is logs, like dog poo. Sweet little animals. I say you let him have his pig!

 

[redhen]

i have 2 of them..a great place to go for help is piginfoandchat..its a yahoo group...nice people there..very willing to help people...

 

[Chirpy]

I've never had one but my hubby and I researched them extensively years ago.

They are very, very smart and love attention from their people.

The only reason we ended up not getting one was because we found out that almost all of them grow from that cute little puppy size animal to a HUGE pig size animal! We wanted to have them in the house with us and decided we didn't need a full size pig in our living room... we had a tiny yard at the time.

Do lots and lots of research and asking questions (as you are here) before you decide to get them. My understanding is they are one of the most given up animals once they reach maturity.

edited for English

 

[Samarai Jenn]

I had one when I was younger, we had one in the house, and 3 out in the barn. The males smell horrible if you don't get them fixed. They are very smart animals, and are able to be potty trained. We had ours trained to go in a litter box. She would follow us around everywhere, much like a dog.
I've tried to talk Sam into getting one, but he won't go for it...Lol.

 

[Haviris]

Well I am a new PBP owner, and I had no idea I'd get so attached! My piglet will be 8 weeks old tomarrow, I didn't get her to be a house pig, but so far that is were she is and at this point I've desided if she doesn't get distructive and uses her litter box (or goes outside to potty) I plan to let her stay inside! And as long as she stays non distructive I don't really care how big she gets. Most the ones I see these days are alot bigger then the ones I had when I was a kid, I'd guess Hilda's parents to be around 60lbs which I don't think is to bad at all, still smaller then two of my three dogs.

From what I have learned they make better pets if they are fixed (male or female). And for me the food was a challenge to get, I had to order it and it wasn't cheap (and she doesn't like it). May be easier for you (where you are will make a difference). They can be housebroke and kept inside, or they can be kept outside, good fencing is important, they like to root and if they root against the fence lines it can cause a problem. You will need a way for them to keep cool and a warm barn/shelter.

Right now having Hilda is alot like having a puppy, she has an area of the livingroom blocked off for her, it has a bed, food bowls, and a litterbox. She spends most her time sleeping on me, she's very sweet and affectionate. For a while I was the only one see liked and would scream her head off if anyone else tried to hold her, but I've worked to socialize her with as many other people as possible and she's now very tolerent of other people petting her, yesterday she suprised me by letting a girl she met for the first time hold and cuddle her (don't know if they are all like this, seems like one we had as a kid was friendly with everyone from the start and one other didn't care for anyone (even me who raised him)). She gets some free ranging time, she likes to harrass the cats and one of my mom's dog is her favorite to play with.

I don't know if that helps at all, but that is my newbie experience!

 

[Chirpy]

Oh my goodness, Hilda is toooo cute! If only they'd stay that little.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Oh I know!! Horton's pic in my avatar is him at 3 weeks old when we got him. Now he is about 13 or 14 weeks (I'd have to do some searching to figure out for sure...I'm so bad with dates!) and he is a big boy!! I'll find his most recent pic and edit this post.

Ok, here are some new pics of our 'baby'. He is such a sweetheart, and we just love him to death!! I say definitely get one, you will not regret it!

Extreme close-up!!

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Wow, thank you all so much. What adorable piggy pictures! It sounds like they will all have different personalities, and spay and neutering is a must. My fear is that my husband will think this is a really cool idea, get a pig, and then i will end up being the one taking care of it. Were it me, i would want to get a miniature sheep and an alpaca. But if we got those and a pig all at the same time, and they could be friends, that might work out.

It sounds like first order of business is to build a pen and a shed for it to sleep in. We really don't have room for a house pig. Redhen, i'll check out that chat group. i also found a couple other site links to read. Or, actually, i'll forward the info to my DH so he can read up. That's the ticket. Thanks all!

 

[Haviris]

This may be a good bargaining chip for you! You get what you want and he gets what he wants, I'd research and see how compatable they are together and that may work out great! I know Hilda is very social w/ people and the other animals and I think would be very unhappy being left w/out some kind of campanion. I almost bought two, but now that she may stay inside I'm glad I didn't.

I'm crazy about Hilda, you may find you like the pig alot better then you think. I'm definately bias, but I think she's the cutest thing ever! They grow so fast and I am really going to miss her being this little.