Hester
Junior Guinea Pig
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2018
- Messages
- 11
- Reaction score
- 11
- Points
- 85
Hi Everyone 
Me and my partner aren't new to guinea pigs but we wanted a bit of advice on a problem we haven't had before.
So we had a trio of brothers (all adopted together), which got on lovely for about a year and a bit (they have a nice custom big cage with lots of open hideys and toys etc, and a run outside too).
In the past 6 months we noticed one of the brothers was being a little too aggressive to the most submissive one, to the point where we had to separate him and he now lives in his own cage above the remaining two. We've always had groups of boars up until now and they've been fine since they were all adopted together/brothers but we know that sometimes relationships can fall apart even after you think it's all fine
But anyway, in the past month we've noticed our lonely boy is just constantly chewing the cage bars (it's one of those c+c cages where you can build it however you like).
We thought if he could still hear the other piggies he wouldn't feel as lonely, but it just seems to make him sad as he's constantly trying to get to them (we assume).
I work from home, any they're all in my studio room as it's the only room big enough to house their cages, so he does get lots of cuddles and play time but we're worried that's not enough for him.
Our question is, we really want to see him with a friend, but as he's housed in the same room as another pair of boars, does that mean a female is completely out of the question? (we've never had female piggies before, but we realise that some neutering would have to take place if we did!). He's a very submissive piggy so we thought maybe a younger male would be fine but since we've never dealt with a fallout before so it's just a case of asking around to see what people think?
Also, we really don't want to move any of them into a different room since our other rooms don't have enough space to fit the sort of cage we think is appropriate for them.
Summary:
Our lonely piggy, Maynard, is just under 2 years old, very soft natured, but lives about 2 feet above his brothers...we really like the idea of him having a lady friend, but is this possible? (we've read that the pheromones could cause a rift between the other brothers, etc). Should we get him a young male friend instead? Basically, we're just wondering what the options are...we tried re-bonding the group but it's just not possible and we hate seeing him so sad!
Any suggestions will be appreciated Thank you xx
Me and my partner aren't new to guinea pigs but we wanted a bit of advice on a problem we haven't had before.
So we had a trio of brothers (all adopted together), which got on lovely for about a year and a bit (they have a nice custom big cage with lots of open hideys and toys etc, and a run outside too).
In the past 6 months we noticed one of the brothers was being a little too aggressive to the most submissive one, to the point where we had to separate him and he now lives in his own cage above the remaining two. We've always had groups of boars up until now and they've been fine since they were all adopted together/brothers but we know that sometimes relationships can fall apart even after you think it's all fine
But anyway, in the past month we've noticed our lonely boy is just constantly chewing the cage bars (it's one of those c+c cages where you can build it however you like).
We thought if he could still hear the other piggies he wouldn't feel as lonely, but it just seems to make him sad as he's constantly trying to get to them (we assume).
I work from home, any they're all in my studio room as it's the only room big enough to house their cages, so he does get lots of cuddles and play time but we're worried that's not enough for him.
Our question is, we really want to see him with a friend, but as he's housed in the same room as another pair of boars, does that mean a female is completely out of the question? (we've never had female piggies before, but we realise that some neutering would have to take place if we did!). He's a very submissive piggy so we thought maybe a younger male would be fine but since we've never dealt with a fallout before so it's just a case of asking around to see what people think?
Also, we really don't want to move any of them into a different room since our other rooms don't have enough space to fit the sort of cage we think is appropriate for them.
Summary:
Our lonely piggy, Maynard, is just under 2 years old, very soft natured, but lives about 2 feet above his brothers...we really like the idea of him having a lady friend, but is this possible? (we've read that the pheromones could cause a rift between the other brothers, etc). Should we get him a young male friend instead? Basically, we're just wondering what the options are...we tried re-bonding the group but it's just not possible and we hate seeing him so sad!
Any suggestions will be appreciated
Thank you xx
