Adding new guinea pigs

T

Talin

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Sep 7, 2019
Messages
30
Reaction score
6
Points
75
Hi, I just bought two guinea pigs last week and want to add two more, suggetions online tell me to keep the new additions in a seperate cage for weeks but I don't know why exactly, plus since my guinea pigs are new to my place still would it be bad to add more since I believe they're still adjusting? Thry love their home and always run and popcorn when they see me but they still don't like to to be touched, and they definitely run off when I make sudden movements, I hope that's temporary
 
Are you pigs Male or female? If they are female, then adding more is fine, in theory, to do. Many females can live together in a herd quite happily. Remembering that any new pigs might not get on with your pigs etc and they simply not want to bond. There’s always a risk when you choose new pigs, rather than the pigs choosing their own new friend, that they just won’t like each other. When adding new pigs to your existing pigs, you must always be prepared for any new bondings to fail and must be prepared to have two separate cages so that they can live in permanently separate pairs if they don’t like each other.

If they are Male, then you cannot add any more pigs into the cage with them. Only two males can live together, any more than that and they will fight.

Letting pigs live next door to each other before doing the formal bonding can be helpful as it gives them all a chance to get to see who the neighbours are before being put in the same enclosure.

there are many guides in the bonding section which can help you so do take a look
 
Great advice there from @Piggies&buns but I just wanted to add that we also recommend that new piggies live seperately for 2 weeks as a quarantine precaution, just in case they have brought home and diseases that could infect your original pigs- 2 weeks is roughly how long it might take for any nasties like rimgworm to show symptoms...
 
Piggies&buns said:
Are you pigs Male or female? If they are female, then adding more is fine, in theory, to do. Many females can live together in a herd quite happily. Remembering that any new pigs might not get on with your pigs etc and they simply not want to bond. There’s always a risk when you choose new pigs, rather than the pigs choosing their own new friend, that they just won’t like each other. When adding new pigs to your existing pigs, you must always be prepared for any new bondings to fail and must be prepared to have two separate cages so that they can live in permanently separate pairs if they don’t like each other.

If they are Male, then you cannot add any more pigs into the cage with them. Only two males can live together, any more than that and they will fight.

Letting pigs live next door to each other before doing the formal bonding can be helpful as it gives them all a chance to get to see who the neighbours are before being put in the same enclosure.

there are many guides in the bonding section which can help you so do take a look
Click to expand...
They're all going to be female
 
Talin said:
They're all going to be female
Click to expand...

Then that makes it possible to add more, but it doesn’t guarantee success. Bonding still needs to be done very carefully, with character compatible piggies. You must always have a plan b ready so you can separate piggies (often permanently) in case of fall outs. The other key to successful bonding is to ensure your cage is big enough. If you use c&c, then you will need at least a 2x6 grid c&c cage for four piggies to make sure they have enough space. Lack of space will likely result in fights, fall outs and separated piggies.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Then that makes it possible to add more, but it doesn’t guarantee success. Bonding still needs to be done very carefully, with character compatible piggies. You must always have a plan b ready so you can separate piggies (often permanently) in case of fall outs. The other key to successful bonding is to ensure your cage is big enough. If you use c&c, then you will need at least a 2x6 grid c&c cage for four piggies to make sure they have enough space. Lack of space will likely result in fights, fall outs and separated piggies.
Click to expand...
The cage I have currently is actually too big for the two I have, I was anticipating getting more in the future and thought to make the cage too big for just two. It is a c&c cage and I am adding a second layer. They love all of the room, they popcorn a lot and do zoomies when I show up. would this be enough room for 4 guinea pigs? it takes up half of my room so it's pretty big

P.S. I am still building their cage, it's gradual because of cost
 

Attachments

  • 20190928_153340.webp
    20190928_153340.webp
    52.3 KB · Views: 11
  • 20190928_153323.webp
    20190928_153323.webp
    86.8 KB · Views: 11
The recommended size for four piggies would be 12sq feet minimum (2x6 c&c grids). As said above, character compatibility is what will decide whether they can live together or not.

If there’s a rescue somewhere nearby, maybe you could take your girls and have them choose their own friends. That’s a good way of forming a bond between piggies
 
Siikibam said:
The recommended size for four piggies would be 12sq feet minimum (2x6 c&c grids). As said above, character compatibility is what will decide whether they can live together or not.

If there’s a rescue somewhere nearby, maybe you could take your girls and have them choose their own friends. That’s a good way of forming a bond between piggies
Click to expand...
Not that it's an issue but why that specific size? Can too big of a cage stress them out or something? Nust wondering cause I never read the reasons. And I've seen multiple different sizes as examples, even smaller than the one you recommended
 
Talin said:
Not that it's an issue but why that specific size? Can too big of a cage stress them out or something? Nust wondering cause I never read the reasons. And I've seen multiple different sizes as examples, even smaller than the one you recommended
Click to expand...

Cage size is about quality of life, but also ensuring each pig has enough territory so they don’t have arguments and cause bonds to fail. The recommended size for four pigs is a 2x6 or 12 sq ft but anymore than can be offered in addition is always a benefit. Upstairs loft spaces don’t count towards the cage size as guinea pigs are ground roaming, and is instead just s bonus space.
Too big a cage won’t stress them out, it will just mean they have the most fantastic life they can have. My boys have approx 30 square feet between just the two of them - that is way over the recommended size but the change in their activity and excitement levels is fantastic since I had been able to give them the entire space and it is so lovely to see them running about!
 
Hi, I currently have two sows, one is 3 months old, second is just two weeks behind. I want to add another sow. Should I only add a pig that's about the same age as the two? Or is it also ok to add a sow that's younger?
 
DariCreme-Raito said:
Hi, I currently have two sows, one is 3 months old, second is just two weeks behind. I want to add another sow. Should I only add a pig that's about the same age as the two? Or is it also ok to add a sow that's younger?
Click to expand...

itll be best if you could start your own thread for this as it is not a straightforward answer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top