RugBurnDogDick: *Ding dong* “Guinea pig police mam can we have a look inside?”
TheLeopardColony: Thanks a lot, now I need a Netflix Original about an elite team of Swiss Guinea Pig detectives who hunt down the monsters keeping only one pig.
Michigander1817: Wait. So you buy 2 guinea pigs. Eventually one dies. You’re breaking the law, so you buy a new one. Then the other one dies. It’s a never ending cycle.
Omnipotent_Goose: I volunteer to be a friend to a lonely Swiss guinea pig.
TooShiftyForYou: Other parts of this law state that if you own a single cat, it must be let outside or be able to see other cats from the windows. Else, if you want an indoor cat only, you have to have two.
As a result, they have matchmaking agencies in place to connect animals that have lost their partner.
[Source](https://www.techly.com.au/2016/03/14/in-switzerland-its-illegal-to-own-just-one-guinea-pig-due-to-loneliness/)
ZXander_makes_noise: Bob Costas once read this off of his Snapple bottlecap while commentating an extra innings Yankees-Red Sox game because he ran out of things to talk about
DesMephisto: Local man takes case to Switzerland court demanding he be provided with a friend
MadiLeighOhMy: I had two Guinea pigs when I was little, Sweet Pea and Pogo. They loved each other so much. Sweet Pea got sick and died…. Pogo, previously perfectly healthy, died less than a week later. These animals do not do well without a friend.
Ascomae: As far as I know, you can rent guinea pigs there, until you last one died.
Iwasateenagecirclrjk: Meanwhile in Peru…
MiloHeller: TIL guinea pig look cute.
biffbobfred: Illinois no longer has any elephants in Zoos. Elephants are very social and you need at least 3. Brookfield lost theirs to some sad deaths and didn’t have the heart to replace them.
MisterMushroom: TIL that I’m secretly a guinea pig
madeyegroovy: Guinea pigs are the best.
4GirlsWorld: I babysat guinea pigs for a friend once and they are very social pets. They talk (squeak) amongst each other. I didn’t know they even made noises before that.
gingervixxen: Interesting! My pig much preferred to be alone. My uncle gave us a younger one and I thought hey now he has a friend! But he was immediately depressed and uncomfortable with the younger guinea pig with him so I ended up separating them. New, younger one ended up sad being alone. Ended up gifting the younger one to my mom’s coworker who had other guinea pigs. Mine cheered up being all alone again!
PS870: Next to women’s suffrage in 1971, nuclear fallout shelters for 110% of the population and explosives in all bridges/tunnels (outdated), this is the most frequently posted TIL about Switzerland.
Threeknucklesdeeper: I believe ducks are kept in groups for this same reason as well.
Samurai_Pizza_Catz: I for one will accept my fate in the inevitable cycle of two guinea pig ownership after one passes away.
Omandaco: Does this apply to people as well?
pizzabeagle: we have 3, and they talk to each other. and they’re cute as hell.
Icegyrfalcon: Always two there are: a master, and an apprentice.
NewMexicoJoe: This is a good way to get too many guinea pigs.
CntrlF8: Go to the store to buy a guinea pig..
me: “I’d like to buy a guinea pig, please..”
them: “You’ll need to buy two. It’s illegal to own just one because they get lonely.”
me: “I know. I’m buying this one because I had two, and one died. The other is very lonely!”
them: “Looks like you’ve got three now, mate.”
poofyogpoof: This is how you get infinite guinea pigs. Maybe it is the key to infinite energy.
malhans: my brother and i once had guinea pigs.
his died from natural causes.
mine died from loneliness. so this is very true.
also i was very torn up
SadBrontosaurus: I used to have two guinea pigs. I let them out and they were running around the livingroom and having fun. Then my mini-dachsund came over and smelled one. It got so scared it fell over and died.
The next day the other one died.
🙁
zAnonymousz: I’ve worked at a pet store for 2 years, and I regularly quote this fact to get those cheap customers to buy two.
I don’t make a commission and don’t actually care about how much money our store gets, I just care about the sad lonely guinea pigs that end up dying young because they need a friend.
SirButtChin: What if you have 3 and one becomes the third wheel?
grundlesbundle: My sisters guinea pig bullied my guinea pig. We had to separate them for a while so mine could get her weight back up. Kodie was cute but I’ll never have another guinea pig.
stink_pickle: IIRC, when one dies, there are guinea pigs you can rent to keep the remaining one company until you obtain a replacement.
Jimmyhornet: Does that then mean that you will always have guinea pigs? Like, you have two, then one dies. You are now required by law to buy another…which will probably be younger. The original, older one dies one day. You need to buy another younger guinea pig now. It’s endless. Unless of course you kill them both at the same time. YOU’RE FREE!!!
I_might_be_weasel: What about keeping a guinea pig with a rabbit companion in hopes of breeding some sort of unholy super pet?
Monkey_Tamer: Its the same with goats where I live(not Switzerland).
LBMC 6.20.170 – Goats—Number.
Exactly (no more and no less than) two (2) live goats may be kept on residential property within the City, except that offspring may be kept on the property for up to six (6) months from birth.
http://www.longbeach.gov/acs/pet-laws-and-licensing/livestock/
qqwerrthjkl: I hope this applies to ferrets too, without special permission (like an aggressive one that prefers solitude)
Caelrie: Meanwhile, they didn’t think women needed the right to vote until 1991.
It’s a weird place.
LaMadreDelCantante: This doesn’t always work though. We had 2 guinea pigs and when one died we tried to get another but the one we still had tried to murder the new one 🙁
kidexz: So if one of them passes away, are you then stuck in an endless loop of having to get new ones when one dies? (No, unless you are a sick fuck there is no second option)
Slackluster: So, when one dies, you need to get a new one to keep the remaining one company. Then when the other old one dies you get a new one to keep the other new one company. It never ends. Once you become a guinea pig owner, you are in it for life.
Scurble: Frig off, Switzerland. I’m not *made* of guinea pigs.
nanoH2O: Now I’m sad. I had a Guinea pig growing up and we only had one. She was probably so depressed because I’m sure us asshole little kids didn’t play with her after the first month.