Bioactive Guinea Pig Enclosure

[PiggieTrio]

I have two females and one male guinea pig. I have a 32 ft.² enclosure or cage for them. I have seen many bio active and naturalistic set ups for hedgehogs, hamsters, gerbils, and reptiles. But would this work for guinea pigs? Guinea pigs in the wild are natural borrowers and I would like to give mine enough substrate to borrow and also have clean up crew to eat droppings and uneaten food. As well as live plants to encourage natural behavior such as burrowing, foraging. etc. Let me know your thoughts and concerns. I want to make the best decisions for my guinea pigs. And give them the best quality of life and the most natural environment possible.

 

[Swissgreys]

Please bear in mind that the guinea pigs we have as pets are very different to their wild ancestors.
Guinea pigs are not actually natural burrowers and prefer open, grassy plains, and use rocks and tunnels made by other animals to shelter.
They themselves are not well equipped to dig or burrow.

Bio active cages are a great idea in theory, but rarely work with domestic pets who are very far removed from their ancestors, and it is almost impossible to set up a complex eco system (which a good bio active set up needs) in a domestic environment.
There are many guides on our Forum for the safe and healthy keeping of modern day domesticated guinea pigs.
If you are interested in learning more this is where I would start.

Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides

 

[Siikibam]

Foraging and other natural behaviours can be encouraged by scatter feeding their veg and pellets, and also putting piles of hay in the cage rather than in hay bags.

Live plants I wouldn’t have in their cage. Even those they can eat - dandelions, herbs etc. Some are high in calcium so should be fed sparingly.

Something I couldn’t figure out is who the clean up crew is that would eat poo and uneaten veg?

 

[Sweet Potato]

Piggies poo a lot so you would need a unhealthy amount of bugs to munch through all that also piggies are prone to bumble foot and therefore need dry clean bedding rather than soil or grass. Guinea pigs live longer in captivity than in the wild partly because of the nice clean controlled environment we can provide.so I would see bioactive as a step backwards. In the summer some people give there piggies time on a lawn or put trays of grass in their enclosure for short periods of time to encourage natural foraging. Although bioactive can be a good option for some reptiles I feel it rarely works for mammals although a naturalistic approach can work for hamsters and girbals and could work for Guinea pigs if done well.

 

[PiggieTrio]

Foraging and other natural behaviours can be encouraged by scatter feeding their veg and pellets, and also putting piles of hay in the cage rather than in hay bags.

Live plants I wouldn’t have in their cage. Even those they can eat - dandelions, herbs etc. Some are high in calcium so should be fed sparingly.

Something I couldn’t figure out is who the clean up crew is that would eat poo and uneaten veg?

I scatter feed my piggies pellets. And as for the cleanup crew I plan to use a variety of safe warm spring towels isopods etc. to hopefully keep up with the guinea pig droppings and uneaten food

 

[PiggieTrio]

Piggies poo a lot so you would need a unhealthy amount of bugs to munch through all that also piggies are prone to bumble foot and therefore need dry clean bedding rather than soil or grass. Guinea pigs live longer in captivity than in the wild partly because of the nice clean controlled environment we can provide.so I would see bioactive as a step backwards. In the summer some people give there piggies time on a lawn or put trays of grass in their enclosure for short periods of time to encourage natural foraging. Although bioactive can be a good option for some reptiles I feel it rarely works for mammals although a naturalistic approach can work for hamsters and girbals and could work for Guinea pigs if done well.

I had planned to give them mini surfaces where they could get off of the soil. Such as artificial light weight rocks, pieces of wood, etc. Would this be sufficient enough to prevent bumble foot?

 

[PiggieTrio]

Please bear in mind that the guinea pigs we have as pets are very different to their wild ancestors.
Guinea pigs are not actually natural burrowers and prefer open, grassy plains, and use rocks and tunnels made by other animals to shelter.
They themselves are not well equipped to dig or burrow.

Bio active cages are a great idea in theory, but rarely work with domestic pets who are very far removed from their ancestors, and it is almost impossible to set up a complex eco system (which a good bio active set up needs) in a domestic environment.
There are many guides on our Forum for the safe and healthy keeping of modern day domesticated guinea pigs.
If you are interested in learning more this is where I would start.

Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides

Thank you for informing me that guinea pigs rent borrowers in captivity. I tried to do my research on where they actually came from and I really couldn’t find that much information that was up-to-date. Would it be a good idea to turn half of the enclosure into a grass and plant field area and have the other half of the enclosure be fleece and the set up that there are in?

 

[PiggieTrio]

I scatter feed my piggies pellets. And as for the cleanup crew I plan to use a variety of safe warm spring towels isopods etc. to hopefully keep up with the guinea pig droppings and uneaten food

Worms* springtails*

 

[Sweet Potato]

I had planned to give them mini surfaces where they could get off of the soil. Such as artificial light weight rocks, pieces of wood, etc. Would this be sufficient enough to prevent bumble foot?

I doubt it guinea pigs need to be kept on clean dry bedding nearly all of the time. Guinea pigs will usually choose to walk on the softest surface so they are unlikely to just step off the ground to dry their feet out.

 

[Sweet Potato]

Try to focus on what Guinea pigs need and what is best for them rather than aiming to create a bioactive enclosure and then trying to fit what they need into that

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

It is a myth that guinea pig's ancestors were burrowing animals. They lived on the rocky slopes of the Andes and used rock crevices and piggy sized caves for protection from the elements and preditors. This is why they are born fully developed and ready to run like horses and deer. Burrowing animals give birth to less developed young, usually blind and bald and dig special burrows in which to have them, where they are safe and cannot climb out until sufficiently developed.

Providing your piggies with a variety of hides and tunnels will mimic the rock formations used by their ancestors. It is an important enrichment for them and gives them somewhere to hide, as part of their natural behaviour is to run for cover when spooked.

 

[Sweet Potato]

I love the idea of a bioactive enclosure but not for Guinea pigs I hope to one day own tree frogs so I can create a beautiful mini ecosystem for them but i would only ever do bioactive with arborial animals even my snake will never get a bioactive set up. If you want to go for a more natural set up you could make some of the following changes to a traditional piggie set up...
Feed hay from a tray rather than a hay rack,
Give water in a bowl rather than a bottle or offer both,
Stick to a natural colour scheme,
Use bendy bridges with bark on as hides,
Use a range of different piggie safe bedding,
Grow grass and herbs in trays so you can put them in your piggies cage for short sessions,
Scatter feed a wide variety of veggies and dried forage ,
Give your piggies outside time in the summer,
Put logs/sticks/rocks made from piggie safe materials in and around the cage for decoration and enrichment,

I can't think of anything else right now but my point is there are ways of creating a nice enriching environment inspired by the beauty of nature without your piggie spending it's days walking around in a pile of bugs and decomposed poop

 

[Siikibam]

Are the springtail isopods to be out in the cage with the guinea pigs? Or they’re to go in with the waste you clean out?

You could do grass but realise they will munch it down. So it would have to be a sizeable area to make it worthwhile. And you’d have to get them used to grass slowly.

They also shouldn’t be bedded on soil. If that’s not what you’re doing then forget what I’ve said. Have a read of the enrichment guide linked below. I think what’s in there is more likely to be enjoyed by your piggies.
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs

 

[Eriathwen]

I've done bioactive enclosures for several species, and absolutely love them. That being said, no clean up crew I can think of would be able to clear the vast amount of waste guinea pigs produce, it takes long enough to clear a heavy bodied snake's waste and they only go once a month. Springtails and isopods need fairly damp substrate whereas guinea pigs need to be kept dry to avoid bumblefoot, respiratory infections, chills etc. Then there's the plants, it isnt truly bioactive without plants to break down what the CUC breaks down, and any plants would very quickly be eaten, so would likely not be able to do their job successfully, so some level of substrate cleaning would still need doing. You might get away with it in an outdoor enclosure where a natural ecosystem could build up, but in an inside enclosure I wouldnt think it would be possible, with space limitations etc.

 

[Tara95]

I know I'm a little late to the party but this sounds really good to a certain extent! You can still create a more naturalistic set up, but you'd still need to clean them out regularly! You could have lots of naturalistic (wooden) tunnels for example. You could forage for natural leaves like apple branches, grass, dried nettles etc and hide these in their enclosure to encourage natural foraging. In the summer you could allow them to have lots of outdoor grass time in a fairly big outside run with a lid as they would have had in the wild to a certain extent. I quite often put little pots of herbs and give them a little pot to eat (and then remove this after about 10 minutes) one time I left the plant in for a bit too long and Winston managed to pull the plant out of the pot and eat all the roots. My sows never tend to bother with roots atall, it looked like a really wild and natural behaviour though. Luckily he was absolutely fine but I wouldn't risk it again. I'd be interested to know how you've got on making it more naturalistic!

 

[Little Ones]

Would this be sufficient enough to prevent bumble foot?

I am also late to the party, I thought of commenting when it was all going on but didn’t for some reason lol and it seems like the user fled after the initial responses.
I think it’s an interesting discussion and someone may come back to it in the future. To me, this specific quote above says it’s all.
If you’re putting anything in your cage which could give your guinea pigs bumblefoot or any other illnesses then just don’t do it. The point of this type of enclosure, I’m assuming, is that it should be better for them to live in. But if you’re looking at putting something in there that causes bumblefoot and then are asking how to stop them getting bumblefoot then surely the obvious idea is to remove what would cause the bumblefoot in the first place? It seems very counter productive and nothing about this type of enclosure seems to hold the guinea pigs welfare at the core and instead focuses on what the human wants to believe is ideal when it’s so clearly not the case. The environment we all keep our piggies on works, I think all our happy, healthy, senior piggies are proof of that. Every piggy I’ve had that’s been transferred from shavings to fleece has popcorned at how comfortable and nice it feels on their feet. I think that’s also proof of what piggies prefer.

 

[Sweet Potato]

I am also late to the party, I thought of commenting when it was all going on but didn’t for some reason lol and it seems like the user fled after the initial responses.
I think it’s an interesting discussion and someone may come back to it in the future. To me, this specific quote above says it’s all.
If you’re putting anything in your cage which could give your guinea pigs bumblefoot or any other illnesses then just don’t do it. The point of this type of enclosure, I’m assuming, is that it should be better for them to live in. But if you’re looking at putting something in there that causes bumblefoot and then are asking how to stop them getting bumblefoot then surely the obvious idea is to remove what would cause the bumblefoot in the first place? It seems very counter productive and nothing about this type of enclosure seems to hold the guinea pigs welfare at the core and instead focuses on what the human wants to believe is ideal when it’s so clearly not the case. The environment we all keep our piggies on works, I think all our happy, healthy, senior piggies are proof of that. Every piggy I’ve had that’s been transferred from shavings to fleece has popcorned at how comfortable and nice it feels on their feet. I think that’s also proof of what piggies prefer.

Agreed your desire to have a cage that is pretty, natural looking or interesting to maintain should always come second to the needs of your piggies. I find this a very interesting thread as I am trying to work towards more natural and enriching environments for my animals especially my snake but I'd never really thought about how unnatural the homes we make for our piggies are.

 

[Little Ones]

Agreed your desire to have a cage that is pretty, natural looking or interesting to maintain should always come second to the needs of your piggies. I find this a very interesting thread as I am trying to work towards more natural and enriching environments for my animals especially my snake but I'd never really thought about how unnatural the homes we make for our piggies are.

I like the idea of natural environments for pets, particularly reptiles as I think it works more for those type of pets. Not so much for the other common pets like piggies/rabbits/hamsters. I just don’t think it works. It seems like a step back as everything we do for our piggies is to prolong life and maintain health and happiness. I think if someone wants to make a natural looking cage for a piggy then the way to go is use wooden items rather than the colourful items. Soil, a cleanup crew, and some plants that will be eaten in minutes is probably the worst way to go about keeping piggies. Also seems like more effort than its worth when you can get a cage liner and a sweeping brush for about £25.
It is something I’d never even thought about though until I read this. I do wonder if OP tried it. I can’t imagine it would’ve gone any differently to how the other members predicted it to go, though

 

[Tara95]

Agreed your desire to have a cage that is pretty, natural looking or interesting to maintain should always come second to the needs of your piggies. I find this a very interesting thread as I am trying to work towards more natural and enriching environments for my animals especially my snake but I'd never really thought about how unnatural the homes we make for our piggies are.

Agreed. I think mine prefer the more naturalistic wooden bridge hideys compared to the others. They enjoy their longer tunnels that I guess would mimic the natural burrows of the wild. I always found in the summer they enjoyed grass time particularly in a run where they would be able to fully show their natural behaviours; grazing on grass all day, foraging, being in fresh air.

But it's an interesting debate as nowerdays keeping your guinea pig outside in your garden is frowned upon compared to having them indoors. But I've read a few threads by @TEAS, where it has been suggested that keeping them outdoors is better for them as they are exposed to a more natural wet diet, having staples such as grass and not hay which can be very drying. I have read by the threads by TEAS that have suggested this wetter diet could dramatically reduce UTI's and ofc, stress can be a major factor If they're inside and regularly handled which can contribute to illness (as I've read).

But equally they love their fleece and cushions which would not be around in the wild. They also love when their cage is cleaned out (popcorning with excitement) which suggests they do not like an unclean environment, which is how I imagine the wild would be like. I don't think these animals ever really thrived in the wild, I think they are too easily eaten by too many natural predators and they haven't got alot of defense mechanisms (if any) and are generally terrified. As well as this, there are too many complications with pregnancies past a year for example. I think there's needs to be a mid point established which I think is what most of us have been doing?

And there's also that debate about whether it is really best for them to be picked up regularly/everyday as it does cause them alot of stress. Plus they are generally unfortunately children's pets and children are terrifying lol. Gosh I feel sorry for these animals.

 

[Little Ones]

Agreed. I think mine prefer the more naturalistic wooden bridge hideys compared to the others. They enjoy their longer tunnels that I guess would mimic the natural burrows of the wild. I always found in the summer they enjoyed grass time particularly in a run where they would be able to fully show their natural behaviours; grazing on grass all day, foraging, being in fresh air.

But it's an interesting debate as nowerdays keeping your guinea pig outside in your garden is frowned upon compared to having them indoors. But I've read a few threads by @TEAS, where it has been suggested that keeping them outdoors is better for them as they are exposed to a more natural wet diet, having staples such as grass and not hay which can be very drying. I have read by the threads by TEAS that have suggested this wetter diet could dramatically reduce UTI's and ofc, stress can be a major factor If they're inside and regularly handled which can contribute to illness (as I've read).

But equally they love their fleece and cushions which would not be around in the wild. They also love when their cage is cleaned out (popcorning with excitement) which suggests they do not like an unclean environment, which is how I imagine the wild would be like. I don't think these animals ever really thrived in the wild, I think they are too easily eaten by too many natural predators and they haven't got alot of defense mechanisms (if any) and are generally terrified. As well as this, there are too many complications with pregnancies past a year for example. I think there's needs to be a mid point established which I think is what most of us have been doing?

And there's also that debate about whether it is really best for them to be picked up regularly/everyday as it does cause them alot of stress. Plus they are generally unfortunately children's pets and children are terrifying lol. Gosh I feel sorry for these animals.

You’re right, Simon has theorised that a wetter diet is better for guinea pigs as they, on the whole, don’t consume enough water due to their primary food source being hay. To help combat this, you can soak the veg in water before you give it to them. This helps to add some back into their body. It’s meant to help with all bladder problems really, UTI, IC and I imagine stones in the long run.
Very true about the clean cage too, my late Peanut loved a clean cage. I dare say it was one of his favourite things ever. The last day he was alive, we put in a new cage liner and even in his really poorly state he got up and ran around on the new liner. I miss that little guy so much. Piggies really don’t like sitting around in their own mess one bit!

 

[Tara95]

You’re right, Simon has theorised that a wetter diet is better for guinea pigs as they, on the whole, don’t consume enough water due to their primary food source being hay. To help combat this, you can soak the veg in water before you give it to them. This helps to add some back into their body. It’s meant to help with all bladder problems really, UTI, IC and I imagine stones in the long run.
Very true about the clean cage too, my late Peanut loved a clean cage. I dare say it was one of his favourite things ever. The last day he was alive, we put in a new cage liner and even in his really poorly state he got up and ran around on the new liner. I miss that little guy so much. Piggies really don’t like sitting around in their own mess one bit!

Aww bless him, I'm sorry about your boy, I'm sure he had a great life! and thank you for the tip about soaking the veg in water, I will start doing that especially as they're not getting much grass due to winter atm. Another query I've got about the wild is online it says there would always be one male to atleast 5-10 sows. What happened to all the other males? As naturally there should be an equal population of both genders and especially as sows would not have lived more than a few years in the wild due to pregnancy complications at an older age etc statistically there would be alot of males to females.

 

[Sweet Potato]

Agreed. I think mine prefer the more naturalistic wooden bridge hideys compared to the others. They enjoy their longer tunnels that I guess would mimic the natural burrows of the wild. I always found in the summer they enjoyed grass time particularly in a run where they would be able to fully show their natural behaviours; grazing on grass all day, foraging, being in fresh air.

But it's an interesting debate as nowerdays keeping your guinea pig outside in your garden is frowned upon compared to having them indoors. But I've read a few threads by @TEAS, where it has been suggested that keeping them outdoors is better for them as they are exposed to a more natural wet diet, having staples such as grass and not hay which can be very drying. I have read by the threads by TEAS that have suggested this wetter diet could dramatically reduce UTI's and ofc, stress can be a major factor If they're inside and regularly handled which can contribute to illness (as I've read).

But equally they love their fleece and cushions which would not be around in the wild. They also love when their cage is cleaned out (popcorning with excitement) which suggests they do not like an unclean environment, which is how I imagine the wild would be like. I don't think these animals ever really thrived in the wild, I think they are too easily eaten by too many natural predators and they haven't got alot of defense mechanisms (if any) and are generally terrified. As well as this, there are too many complications with pregnancies past a year for example. I think there's needs to be a mid point established which I think is what most of us have been doing?

And there's also that debate about whether it is really best for them to be picked up regularly/everyday as it does cause them alot of stress. Plus they are generally unfortunately children's pets and children are terrifying lol. Gosh I feel sorry for these animals.

I think handling your piggie can be a bit of a cycle, the less you handle them the less used to it they are and therefore handling them for health checks vet visits etc will be very stressful. It may not be a popular approach but I do believe in handling piggies little and often until they are used to it. Spud loves lap time now, Gundham tolerates it for a while until he gets bored.

I agree the boys love a clean cage and comfy fleece. But they also enjoy wooden things to chew on and lots of places to hide. So there definitely are elements of a natural approach that work for them just not a carpet of poop and bugs.

 

[Hath]

All I can think of is the amount of poop. I can see it when my piggies are on the grass in summer. They poop so much in a half a day I have to move their large run and the poop surprisingly doesn't dissolve as other animal poop would. In fact, I've seen some going mouldy in the damp grass without sunshine. That is what puts me off from using pernament runs. Or my boys just poop too much...?

 

[Sweet Potato]

All I can think of is the amount of poop. I can see it when my piggies are on the grass in summer. They poop so much in a half a day I have to move their large run and the poop surprisingly doesn't dissolve as other animal poop would. In fact, I've seen some going mouldy in the damp grass without sunshine. That is what puts me off from using pernament runs. Or my boys just poop too much...?

A healthy piggie is a constant stream of hay in poop out. My dad visits me every Friday and he genuinely thought that the days worth of poop that's there on a Friday night was a whole weeks worth

 

[Little Ones]

Aww bless him, I'm sorry about your boy, I'm sure he had a great life! ❤ and thank you for the tip about soaking the veg in water, I will start doing that especially as they're not getting much grass due to winter atm. Another query I've got about the wild is online it says there would always be one male to atleast 5-10 sows. What happened to all the other males? As naturally there should be an equal population of both genders and especially as sows would not have lived more than a few years in the wild due to pregnancy complications at an older age etc statistically there would be alot of males to females.

Looking from other animals in nature, I assume the males will either fight to the death until there is one sole survivor boar, that they just fight and whoever loses leaves, or that males live separately from females. Elephants are kind of similar, they live in a matriarchy. They raise the males but once they’ve grown up, they leave the herd and live solitary lives.
We know that a boar herd is possible if there are around 20 boars. It could be that guinea pigs in the wild didn’t live in large herds but rather 1 male and somewhere around 5 females. This would mean that a male that’s been cast out of a herd due to losing as toughest boar could use pheromones to track down another herd to try and join.
There’s also the issue that if a boar is cast out and needs to find another herd, it’s likelihood of surviving solitary long enough for this is probably quite slim which would drastically diminish the numbers of boars out there.
I could be wrong, but these ideas are what we see in other animal herd so who knows. Piggies also probably looked a bit different before they were domesticated too. Whilst the original wild Guinea pigs and our domesticated guinea pigs are both still guinea pigs, I imagine there are very little similarities overall between the two now.

 

[Tara95]

Looking from other animals in nature, I assume the males will either fight to the death until there is one sole survivor boar, that they just fight and whoever loses leaves, or that males live separately from females. Elephants are kind of similar, they live in a matriarchy. They raise the males but once they’ve grown up, they leave the herd and live solitary lives.
We know that a boar herd is possible if there are around 20 boars. It could be that guinea pigs in the wild didn’t live in large herds but rather 1 male and somewhere around 5 females. This would mean that a male that’s been cast out of a herd due to losing as toughest boar could use pheromones to track down another herd to try and join.
There’s also the issue that if a boar is cast out and needs to find another herd, it’s likelihood of surviving solitary long enough for this is probably quite slim which would drastically diminish the numbers of boars out there.
I could be wrong, but these ideas are what we see in other animal herd so who knows. Piggies also probably looked a bit different before they were domesticated too. Whilst the original wild Guinea pigs and our domesticated guinea pigs are both still guinea pigs, I imagine there are very little similarities overall between the two now.

Thank you for your response seems like a plausable answer. Maybe there were exceptions they're highly sociable animals I doubt there would be lots of lone boars in the wild or maybe there would've been like there is today or perhaps that's just down to human error. I suppose there's alot more space in the wild and perhaps they would fight to the death. I'd be interested to know @Wiebke @Piggies&buns thoughts on this. The numbers just don't add up for there to always be one boar to 5 + plus sows in the wild especially as sows are more prone to an early death through pregnancy complications later in life etc.

 

[PigglePuggle]

I believe in the wild there are teenage bachelor gangs of boars, as there are with elephant males- the key thing is huge amounts of space allowing a lot of flexibility over who to hang out with and how much time spent together. And in the wild in more marginal habitats with fewer resources, piggies often live as just a boar-sow pair or a boar-sow pair trio, in a territory about 10 square metres, then they might share an extended common grazing area with other small families- I read a research study on this, very interesting, nowadays its quite rare that a wild habitat is richly provisioned enough to support a big herd so teenage daughter piggies get chased off the parental patch to go find their own boar and territory... I think for a bachelor boar group at home they would need maybe 20 or 30 square metres of space, with no ladies in sniffing distance? Possibly @Wiebke has tried this, but it really does need huge amounts of space?

 

[Wiebke]

Looking from other animals in nature, I assume the males will either fight to the death until there is one sole survivor boar, that they just fight and whoever loses leaves, or that males live separately from females. Elephants are kind of similar, they live in a matriarchy. They raise the males but once they’ve grown up, they leave the herd and live solitary lives.
We know that a boar herd is possible if there are around 20 boars. It could be that guinea pigs in the wild didn’t live in large herds but rather 1 male and somewhere around 5 females. This would mean that a male that’s been cast out of a herd due to losing as toughest boar could use pheromones to track down another herd to try and join.
There’s also the issue that if a boar is cast out and needs to find another herd, it’s likelihood of surviving solitary long enough for this is probably quite slim which would drastically diminish the numbers of boars out there.
I could be wrong, but these ideas are what we see in other animal herd so who knows. Piggies also probably looked a bit different before they were domesticated too. Whilst the original wild Guinea pigs and our domesticated guinea pigs are both still guinea pigs, I imagine there are very little similarities overall between the two now.

Boars to my knowledge will only fight over a settled territory when they are living with sows in a defined group; these territories are comparatively small. They will also in most cases not fight to the death - this only happens if a full-on bite accidentally hits a vital spot.

Bachelors will rather form more loose associations. Some of the more socially minded boars will act as 'uncle boars' to newly weaned boys that had to leave their family group and will bring them up throughout the formative 'school' weeks between weaning and teenage. This is one of the newer insights into guinea pig life that is not controlled by human intervention.

While boar groups are more stable in larger numbers you can find boar associations from about 4-5 boars and more that like to hang out together and give each other company. Crucial for the smaller groupings to work is that the boars actively and voluntarily want to be together and that they can move away whenever there are major conflicts - that is the big hurdle with small pet boar groups. Space is the most crucial factor in avoiding fights and violence. In most cases, boars measure up to each other peacefully.
I know for sure that the husboars in my room have worked out a hierarchy between them. I have had the occasional cage invasion when a connector got loose from too much rattling but I have had full-on bites only once, and that was involving a boar known to overreact when feeling threatened. From where the mutual bite wounds were located, he must have holed up in a hut with only one exit and attacked becuause he felt cornered. I have had on occasion had to move neighbours into pens without direct contact in the wake of an invasion because of some seriouslt hur feelings between them.
But the vast majority incidents don't involve violence; especially the older boars get and the less high the testosterone levels.

It is important in this context to make the distinction between wild guinea pigs (cavia aperea) and domesticated guinea pigs (cavia porcellus) and keep in mind that guinea pigs have been domesticated and bred out for about 3000-6000 years. There are distinct genetic differences that can only be explained by human intervention and changes in the body that clearly reflect living in a very different environment.
Domestic guinea pigs have for instance ca. 10% less brain but that is due to their much smaller territories so they need less 'taxi driver' memory storage; but they clearly outperform wild piggies in the complexity challenges that a human controlled environment requires.

However, social observation research into natural guinea pig behaviour is only very new and still very much ongoing.

 

[Tara95]

Boars to my knowledge will only fight over a settled territory when they are living with sows in a defined group; these territories are comparatively small; they will also in most cases not fight to the death - these only happens if a full-on bite accidentally hits a vital spot.

Bachelors will rather form more loose associations. Some of the more socially minded boars will act as 'uncle boars' to newly weaned boys that had to leave their family group and will bring them up throughout the formative 'school' weeks between weaning and teenage. This is one of the newer insights into guinea pig life that is not controlled by human intervention.

While boar groups are more stable in larger numbers you can find boar associations from about 4-5 boars and more that like to hang out together and give each other company. Crucial for the smaller groupings to work is that the boars want to be together and can move away whenever there are major conflicts - that is the big hurdle with pets. Space is the most crucial factor in avoiding fights and violence. In most cases, boars measure up to each other peacefully.
I know for sure that the husboars in my room have worked out a hierarchy between them. I have had the occasional cage invasion when a connector got loose from too much rattling but I have had full-on bites only once, and that was involving a boar known to overreact when feeling threatened and from where the mutual bite wounds were located, he must have holed up in a hut with only one exit and been cornered. I have had on occasion had to move neighbours into pens without direct contact in the wake of an invasion because of some serious grudge but the vast majority don't involve violence; especially the older boars get and the less high the testosterone levels.

It is important in this context to make the distinction between wild guinea pigs (cavia aperea) and domesticated guinea pigs (cavia procellus) and keep in mind that guinea pigs have been domesticated and bred out for about 3000-6000 years. There are distinct genetic differences that can only be explained by human intervention and changes in the body that clearly reflect living in a very different environment.

Domestic guinea pigs have for instance ca. 10% less brain but that is due to their much smaller territories so they need less memory 'taxi driver' storage; but they clearly outperform wild piggies in complexity challenges that a human controlled environment requires.

However, social observation research into natural guinea pig behaviour is only very new and still very much ongoing.

Thank you for your response, very interesting, that must've been the case as online it always seems to say one boar in the wild to around 5-10 sows but there would always be an equal amount of sows to boars; possibly less sows compared to boars due to pregnancy issues later in life so It doesn't always add up. But like you said maybe sows didn't have as many pregnancy issues in the wild as they are very different. Seems such an interesting topic would love to be able to find out more.

 

[Little Ones]

Boars to my knowledge will only fight over a settled territory when they are living with sows in a defined group; these territories are comparatively small; they will also in most cases not fight to the death - these only happens if a full-on bite accidentally hits a vital spot.

Bachelors will rather form more loose associations. Some of the more socially minded boars will act as 'uncle boars' to newly weaned boys that had to leave their family group and will bring them up throughout the formative 'school' weeks between weaning and teenage. This is one of the newer insights into guinea pig life that is not controlled by human intervention.

While boar groups are more stable in larger numbers you can find boar associations from about 4-5 boars and more that like to hang out together and give each other company. Crucial for the smaller groupings to work is that the boars want to be together and can move away whenever there are major conflicts - that is the big hurdle with pets. Space is the most crucial factor in avoiding fights and violence. In most cases, boars measure up to each other peacefully.
I know for sure that the husboars in my room have worked out a hierarchy between them. I have had the occasional cage invasion when a connector got loose from too much rattling but I have had full-on bites only once, and that was involving a boar known to overreact when feeling threatened and from where the mutual bite wounds were located, he must have holed up in a hut with only one exit and been cornered. I have had on occasion had to move neighbours into pens without direct contact in the wake of an invasion because of some serious grudge but the vast majority don't involve violence; especially the older boars get and the less high the testosterone levels.

It is important in this context to make the distinction between wild guinea pigs (cavia aperea) and domesticated guinea pigs (cavia procellus) and keep in mind that guinea pigs have been domesticated and bred out for about 3000-6000 years. There are distinct genetic differences that can only be explained by human intervention and changes in the body that clearly reflect living in a very different environment.

Domestic guinea pigs have for instance ca. 10% less brain but that is due to their much smaller territories so they need less memory 'taxi driver' storage; but they clearly outperform wild piggies in complexity challenges that a human controlled environment requires.

However, social observation research into natural guinea pig behaviour is only very new and still very much ongoing.

Thank you for your insight! I thought that if anyone here knew, it would be you. The domestication of a species is always an interesting conversation. I think the latest creatures that have been/are being domesticated are hedgehogs, though from the small bits I’ve read about it I don’t think it sounds ethical! But then I suppose thousands of years ago, when guinea pig domestication started (and that of other wild animals) I don’t imagine that could’ve been ethical either.