tea cup pigs???

[equine chick]

I have a coworker interested in buying some tea cup pigs. Preferably in ohio or pa but she said she will drive anywhere to get one.

 

[Skyesrocket]

According to the pot bellied pig rescues they don't exist. And, I think they may be right. I keep seeing ads for them claiming the parents are only 25-35 pounds. But, they only show pictures of the babies and young pigs, not adults. Pigs grow for 3 years. Some day I'm going to answer an ad and drive out to see the parents for myself. Till then I think it's a way to get big bucks for pot bellied pigs. And, it's too bad because in the end it's the pigs that pay for it. I always see in the ads that you MUST feed the piglets per the breeders instructions for them to be tea cup size. That doesn't make any sense unless they are being unfed as piglets in order to stump their growth.
Tell your friend not to believe everything she hears about them and to be sure to see the piglets in person with the mother. Piglets are born with their eyes open and pretty much hit the ground running, so what looks like a tea cup piglet could be a new born piglet to an unexperienced person.
Having said all of that, pot bellieds make good pets for many people. Myself included. If your friend has the room for a 65-150 pound pet pig they are great! Just warn her that chances are very good that that will be the size of a "teacup" piglet in 3 years.
Check out "pigs as pets" online for more accurate information.

 

[NewHopePoultry]

Theres no such thing as a tea cup pig.
They are small at birth(like half a pound, but mature out to 65 to 90 pounds, not so little.
At birth they can fit in a tea cup,but they outgrow that stage quickly.
Breeders came up with the term tea cup to sell them for more (same with dogs)

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Yea I'm sure people are breeding smaller an smaller pigs but I think they have only got down to about 35 pound full grown. I have yet to see any parents in any of the tea cop pig videos.

Still hopeing to be proved wrong.

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

Your friend needs to ask to see the parents of the pig she wants to buy. People around here always advertise mini or teacup pigs, but their parents are huge. If they won't show you the parents, don't buy the pig unless you want a larger pot belly pig. You can control some of their growth by feeding them right, but a lot comes from the breeding, too.

I breed and sell Pot-Belly pigs. I have one boar who weighs about 65 lbs., one that weighs about 50 lb. My sows range from 35 to 60 lb. They range in height at their shoulders from 11 inches to about 16 inches. They are every bit as wide as they are tall, though.

The piglets are really small for a long time. I have one left from the last litter that is almost 2 months old and she is only about 4 inches tall.

Some of my pigs are small compared to a lot of them, but I do not advertise them as mini or teacup. Mine are normal sized pot belly pigs.

You do have to feed them correctly or they will get up to 150 lb. easy. They really only take about 1 1/2 cups max. of feed per day. They need all the grass and hay they want, and lots of room to exercise to stay healthy. My pigs are in about a 1/4 acre pasture and they run all over it every day! They love toys, DH put some plastic barrels in their pasture once just to get them out of our way, the pigs had a blast with them. They pushed them over and rolled them all over! It looked so funny to see them pushing those 50 gallon barrels around.

ETA: And if you read the fine print on mini pig websites, they say the normal weight is 50 lb.
Jean