Throughout my life I have had a lot of different animals. The most amazing animal I had for a pet is a potbellied pig. Pigs are right up there with the dolphin on the intelligence scale and after being around one for a while you can tell they are very smart. Not only are they smart but they are a very sensitive animal, they can be happy and sad just as we are from time to time.

Potbellied Pigs will keep you on your toes and when your back is turned they are like a two year old. Just like humans they need to keep busy. We have trained ours to do little tricks and after they learn a trick they n ever forget. When they become an adult they slow down some. I have found out you never under estimate them when your back is turned they will run over and nip the other pig on the bottom. Just like children they will bicker with each other and pick at one another. They have their own sibling rivalry squabbles but they always make-up and snuggle to each other.

Pigs are herd animals and they have to have as much interaction as they can get. I have one pig that is a couple months younger than our granddaughter and them two are buds forever. If she is around he is not far from her. He is gentle with her as a baby, she loved his nose and no matter what she did to him, he would never move, he just laid there and took it.

All of our pigs are at the adult age and they weight from 120 bounds to 180 pounds and they are 4 years old. I have found that when the potbellied pig craze started in the 90’s breeders would never show what a potbellied pig looked like as an adult. Therefore people buying them were not correctly informed about how big they got or how to feed them. Well the same goes on today and it is so sad for the people and pigs. You have pigs that are sold as micro, mini, etc that given enough time will be from 100 – 200 pounds. Yes, this is still miniature pig compared to a farm pig. But they wanted a 40 pound pig at adult. This rarely happen but genetics will give a small one now and then but for the most part they will be up to almost 200 pounds.

Please note you have seen a baby potbellied pig grow up in pictures. He is 8 years old now. When they were first brought to the U.S. the life expectancy of one was 20 years but with genetic now days it is showing to be less.

I think the most important thing I have learned from having a pig as a pet is there will never be a day go by that as long as they are in my life, I will not come home to a lonely place.

I hope you will make an exception for Hammy to stay with his loved ones. He has lived 14 years and they don’t deal well with change.

Thanks for taking time to address this issue and I hope you will give Hammy a chance.

Thanks,
Becky Birkhimer
Piggy Place

Please help Hammy by contacting
S. Ford Cell: (303) 720-9106
Email: sford@c3gov.com

Subscribe free to the exotic pets newsletter. It is quick and easy Just glance to the right or scroll a bit to the bottom and subscribe. I will only bug you once a week :) Be the first to be in the know! Your information is always private!

I am also the Bird editor if you enjoy pet birds subscribe to the Birds newsletter. Birds BellaOnline

Join Exotic Pets Bellaonline on Facebook and Twitter - be sure to click the "like" (just look under this article a bit above the newsletter subscribe. Exotic Pets Facebook

Exotic Pets @ Twitter

Potbellied Pig Behavior and Training: A Complete Guide for Solving Behavioral Problems in Vietnamese Potbellied Pigs, Revised Edition

Ferrets: A Complete Guide available in paperback and Kindle. By Diana Geiger (me:) Five star reviews!





Ferrets: A Complete Guide - Paperback

Ferrets: A Complete Guide - Kindle

PDF Version Ferrets: A Complete Guide (Access to free PDF Reader)
Ferrets: A Complete Guide