~1.5 year old boar without cagemate

[Oleboleskole5]

Hello!
We recently lost one of our beloved boars, and now the other one is lonely.
We have had troubles with Guinea pig bonding in the past, so we want to take extra precautions before we introduce a new piggy to the cage.
We aren’t sure whether our remaining piggy is submissive or dominant. To me it looked like a constant yet peaceful stalemate.
How do we go about introducing a new piggy to the cage without either one getting angry or getting into fights?

Do note that I live in Denmark. The market is very small and tends to be catered towards the wants of the buyers and sellers rather than the guinea pigs themselves.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry for your loss.

Any bond comes down to character compatibility so the two piggies have to like each other to be able to form a bond. If they are not compatible and don’t like each other then the bonding will fail and they will fight.
There is no way to know beforehand which way a bonding will go.

If you don’t have the option of going to a rescue centre (I have no idea what would be available to you in Denmark), then simply you would have to try your piggy with a potential new friend and see whether they like each other. If they do then that’s great. if they don’t bond and you are already committed to keeping the new piggy then you would have to have a plan b of them living side by side in separate cages.

The bonding itself is a specific process - you cannot and must not just put a new piggy directly into the cage of your piggy. That will be seen as a territory invasion and will cause a fight.

You have to have the two piggies living side by side for a while to get used to each other. You then put both the piggies on neutral territory to bond. If all goes well after a day in a binding pen then you clean out their permanent cage and move them to it together.
If it doesn’t go well in neutral territory then the bonding has failed and they cannot go into the same cage together at all.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

 

[Oleboleskole5]

I’m sorry for your loss.

Any bond comes down to character compatibility so the two piggies have to like each other to be able to form a bond. If they are not compatible and don’t like each other then the bonding will fail and they will fight.
There is no way to know beforehand which way a bonding will go.

If you don’t have the option of going to a rescue centre (I have no idea what would be available to you in Denmark), then simply you would have to try your piggy with a potential new friend and see whether they like each other. If they do then that’s great. if they don’t bond and you are already committed to keeping the new piggy then you would have to have a plan b of them living side by side in separate cages.

The bonding itself is a specific process - you cannot and must not just put a new piggy directly into the cage of your piggy. That will be seen as a territory invasion and will cause a fight.

You have to have the two piggies living side by side for a while to get used to each other. You then put both the piggies on neutral territory to bond. If all goes well after a day in a binding pen then you clean out their permanent cage and move them to it together.
If it doesn’t go well in neutral territory then the bonding has failed and they cannot go into the same cage together at all.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

Thanks for the reply!
For how long should we keep the piggies next to each other? Is there any way of knowing how long they need to be next to each other?
Should this pre-bonding be done on neutral ground too, or is it important that one or both piggies have their own territory? We don’t have another cage of proper size at hand.
Again, thank you very much!

 

[Piggies&buns]

You keep them side by side for as long as it takes for a new piggy to settle in and for territorial behaviours to settle. There is no strict answer - could take a week, could take a month - it has to be played by ear.

You will have a period of needing to have two cages so they can be side by side. Those cages aren’t neutral because they are not where you do the bonding.
You need a third space which is neutral for the bonding to be done in.