Hello.
I would appreciate some help please.
Do neutered boar guinea pigs get on well with a group of female guinea pigs? Do boars always become the boss guinea pig over the female that's boss? Do female guinea pigs sense your a male and let him be the leader?
Will he calm the group down and make things better for them all?
And would a 2x6 c and c cage be o.k for four females and one neutered male?
Can a male live next to the females before being neutered and during the six weeks after the operation?
Sorry for a lots of questions.
Hi!
You can only ever have one boar with any number of sows. He can help to smooth out some issues like drawing off a certain amount of seasonal bickering but he cannot heal underlying issues and make feuding sows get on. And he will definitely not interfere with any hierarchical contests inside the sow hierarchy.
Where a boar comes in the overall group hierarchy depends very much on his personality; I have both patriarchs and I have submissive 'husboars'. Ideally you build up a group around a leader, whether that is a dominant sow or a patriarch. Any later bonding where the existing hierarchy (especially the leadership) is challenged is highly likely to fail in my own (ample) experience. Especially adult or even more so dominant older sows won't accept any potential rival to their leadership.
If you have problems with your sows, please have them checked for ovarian cysts. These are often at the root of interpersonal issues in adult and older sows. But adding more piggies to an already fraught situation is not going to help.
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
If you still want to introduce a husboar, then the by far safest way is by dating your sows under expert supervision at a good standard rescue that offers this service, ideally with a younger submissive boy.
You can never tell before a bonding whether it is going to work out. I have had too often introductions that looked perfect on paper but went pear-shaped within a matter of minutes of them being face to face. So if you want to do this on your own, you always have to have an alternative solution at hand.
Recommended Guinea Pig Rescues
Guinea Lynx :: Rescue Organizations
The correct minimal space for a quintet is 2x7 ft, ideally more.
In a C&C cage, this would be a 2x6 or a 3x4 grid cage.
Cage Size Guide
Please take the time to read all the green information links in this thread, including the ones in the previous post.
