Rosacnunez7
New Born Pup
Hello , I have 4 guinea pigs 2 cages at the moment and was wondering what cage or house you guys would recommend to house all of them together?
4 guinea pig housing
- Thread starter Rosacnunez7
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Welcome to the forum
Could you tell us what sexes and ages the piggies are please?
This will have a bearing on our advice going forward - for example, if they are all male, then they cannot be put together at all (boars can only be kept in pairs). If you were to attempt to four males in one cage you would end up with fights and potentially all four of them falling out and having to live in four separate cages as it can break all bonds.
If they are all sows, then they can in theory live together but whether they actually will is another matter. They can only go together if they are compatible. Older bonded sow pairs are less likely to want their pairs disrupted so they also may never want to live together. If they are younger, you have a better chance but again its down to compatibility so there is no guarantee, but it’s also easier if one pair is younger than the other.
The recommended cage size for four sows is 7ft x 2ft (210x60cm).
Could you tell us what sexes and ages the piggies are please?
This will have a bearing on our advice going forward - for example, if they are all male, then they cannot be put together at all (boars can only be kept in pairs). If you were to attempt to four males in one cage you would end up with fights and potentially all four of them falling out and having to live in four separate cages as it can break all bonds.
If they are all sows, then they can in theory live together but whether they actually will is another matter. They can only go together if they are compatible. Older bonded sow pairs are less likely to want their pairs disrupted so they also may never want to live together. If they are younger, you have a better chance but again its down to compatibility so there is no guarantee, but it’s also easier if one pair is younger than the other.
The recommended cage size for four sows is 7ft x 2ft (210x60cm).
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Rosacnunez7
New Born Pup
They are all males 2 are a year old and the other 2 are about 3 months old.
Then I'm sorry to say you cannot put them all together in one cage. They will need to be kept in separate cages living as separate pairs permanently.
Boars don’t work in anything more than pairs. Its incredibly difficult to get the character compatibility right as they generally cannot form a hierarchy properly. As I said above, if you were to put all four of them together, then there is a risk that they wouldn’t go back to their own pairs and you would then run the risk of needing four separate cages so they can all be kept away from each other.
We would never recommend attempting to put four together but the space required is huge - a cage measuring at least four metres by one metre so that each piggy had at least one square metre of territory. Space alone isn’t enough though as character is the most vital factor, so even if you can provide them at least a four metre by one metre cage, there is still no guarantee things would work. It’s even less likely to work when the ages of your piggies are considered - the two youngest will soon by hitting their teens.
The guide below offers further information on boars and why adding to a boar doesn’t work.
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Boars don’t work in anything more than pairs. Its incredibly difficult to get the character compatibility right as they generally cannot form a hierarchy properly. As I said above, if you were to put all four of them together, then there is a risk that they wouldn’t go back to their own pairs and you would then run the risk of needing four separate cages so they can all be kept away from each other.
We would never recommend attempting to put four together but the space required is huge - a cage measuring at least four metres by one metre so that each piggy had at least one square metre of territory. Space alone isn’t enough though as character is the most vital factor, so even if you can provide them at least a four metre by one metre cage, there is still no guarantee things would work. It’s even less likely to work when the ages of your piggies are considered - the two youngest will soon by hitting their teens.
The guide below offers further information on boars and why adding to a boar doesn’t work.
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
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Why were you thinking of putting them all together?
Sadly this will not be possible, but maybe if you tell us more about your current cage set up we can help you make the most of the cages that you do have.