Advice for future

[Chappers]

Right, hope I can explain this.

We currently have five boys and we were due to get another in about two weeks. However with two of them having a little spat tonight and of course being aware that boys can fall out, we have been thinking of changing.

We would get a two level cage which means we would have room for ten piggies. So the options are

Get five more boys and have a boy only house, which of course has us worried that they fall out and god knows what we will do.

Get the current five boys neutered and then then get them each a girlfriend.

Can boys and girls fall out as easy as boys do.

 

[Chappers]

That should have been another two level cage to go alongside the three level one we have now.

 

[Doeylicious]

I will be honest, my first thought was My GOD it will cost a bomb to get them all done...sorry! Neutering is around £80-£100 and that's if it all goes well.

However, my strongest pairs are easily my boy-girl pairs, they are simply devoted to each other. That's not to say every girl will easily accept a boy - The Potteries is having issues with one of her sows at the moment, and my Snickers took ages to find her friends.

Its a difficult one I have to say

 

[Chappers]

To be honest, not bothered about the money. It's only money and I might as well waste it on piggies.

The thought of us having to give one of the boys away if they fall out in the next couple of months is the real motivation.

Having five boys/girls pairing would hopefully put us at ease and while they may still fall out, I guess it's not as common.

 

[twiams]

Are they all kept together in a big group of 5 ?
Wouldn't it just make more sense to put them in 2 paris and then bond the single with another boy, save the neutering money for real vets bills put it in a piggy bank or something (:
Neutering is a big surgery and not to be taken lightly, it's not as easy as a dog or cat, and could have fatalities it also requires alot of after care. I don't think you should do it unless one big won't go with another boy.
Do you mind me asking the sizes of your cage/cages ?

 

[Wiebke]

You will frankly need a very good experienced vet for the neutering to minimise the rather common risk of post op complications which can happen weeks after the operation. Additionally, you are facing a full 6 weeks post op wait until a boar is 100% safe to go with a sow. (I have a surprise "present" from a supposedly safe over 5 weeks post boar to prove that particular point!)

Cross gender pairings are usually the most stable of them all; provided that the boars have been each accepted by their future "wife" in the first place, right at the beginning fall outs are extremely rare.

However, with a good guinea pig rescue that offers this sevice, you have the option of taking any fallen out boars there to rebond with a compatible new mate under expert supervision. You will only come home with a new boar if there has been success and you will always have recourse to the rescue if things go wrong. That way, you won't end up with a profusion of single boars!

Even if you decide on going down the neutering route, I would still recommend to date your boys for any girls, too, to make sure that everypig gets on well!

I can warmly recommend this specialist guinea pig rescue here in your neck of the woods: http://www.northeastguineapigrescue.co.uk/

 

[Chappers]

Are they all kept together in a big group of 5 ?
Wouldn't it just make more sense to put them in 2 paris and then bond the single with another boy, save the neutering money for real vets bills put it in a piggy bank or something (:
Neutering is a big surgery and not to be taken lightly, it's not as easy as a dog or cat, and could have fatalities it also requires alot of after care. I don't think you should do it unless one big won't go with another boy.
Do you mind me asking the sizes of your cage/cages ?

Rainbow and muffin are together

Brothers we just got chewbacca and gizmo are together

Snuggles is on his own and was due to be paired up with a baby boy in about a week.

The cages are 4 by 2 and we would have loved to have got them bigger but the sitting room couldn't take it.

We are getting advice of the negpr who are great.

I think we have settled on getting ten piggies in total, but guess its just the option of 10 boys or five boys and five girls.

 

[Chappers]

You will frankly need a very good experienced vet for the neutering to minimise the rather common risk of post op complications which can happen weeks after the operation. Additionally, you are facing a full 6 weeks post op wait until a boar is 100% safe to go with a sow. (I have a surprise "present" from a supposedly safe over 5 weeks post boar to prove that particular point!)

Cross gender pairings are usually the most stable of them all; provided that the boars have been each accepted by their future "wife" in the first place, right at the beginning fall outs are extremely rare.

However, with a good guinea pig rescue that offers this sevice, you have the option of taking any fallen out boars there to rebond with a compatible new mate under expert supervision. You will only come home with a new boar if there has been success and you will always have recourse to the rescue if things go wrong. That way, you won't end up with a profusion of single boars!

Even if you decide on going down the neutering route, I would still recommend to date your boys for any girls, too, to make sure that everypig gets on well!

I can warmly recommend this specialist guinea pig rescue here in your neck of the woods: http://www.northeastguineapigrescue.co.uk/

Everything we do now is with the help of layla at that rescue, she was were we got gizmo and chewbacca from and is going to ring us tonight to discuss the options.

 

[Wiebke]

Everything we do now is with the help of layla at that rescue, she was were we got gizmo and chewbacca from and is going to ring us tonight to discuss the options.

I am sure that between you, you can find the best solution possible. I will be interested to know what you are deciding on!