MelyH
Junior Guinea Pig
I recently posted I wanted to bond a third boar into my pair and I was advised to stay away from it as most trios fail. Well my husband being stubborn as he is insisted on attempting although I warned him of the consequences he went ahead with it.
With hesitance on Saturday I washed all guinea pig fleece and bedding and my husband increased the guinea pig play pen by a couple feet to make a large 5 ft by 3 ft live in play pen (we plan on building a two floor C and C in a couple weeks. Although I wanted to observe the quarantine, Lionitus came from a guinea pig rescue where he was well taken care of so I knew he wasn't sick.
I had already introduced my trio on neutral grounds with plenty of hay and lettuce and only one fight broke out and I also had them next to each other for a week letting them get to know each other.
My already bonded pair are 7 and 8 months old with Reptar, the youngest being the alpha. Our third adopted piggy is 1 year and 4 months old and much bigger than the Maximus and Reptar.
We put them together and immediately Reptar, my alpha wanted to smell Lionitus but for some reason wasn't threatened by him. Maximus immediately returned to being the bottom piggy and also went about his business. Turns out Lionitus, even though bigger, is a huge coward and doesn't like confrontation. We haven't seen any mounting and Reptar just gets aggravated when it's eating time because he has to be the first to the food and the one that selects his chunks of lettuce before anybody else. We also tend to hear them chatter their teeth when two want to be in the same hut. Reptar tends to go into whichever hut he wants and Maximus and Lionitus have to choose whichever Reptar isn't in. I find it funny that the youngest and smallest is the alpha.
I don't want to declare this a success until Lionitus comes out of his shell and we can see his personality more. I think right now he is intimidated and once he becomes comfortable he will show his true personality. If this is a success I think I will attribute it to their personalities and not anything we did. Just thought I'd share since I know I found this subject and boar behavior really intriguing.
As you can see, even when there is bickering food is always sure to make everybody happy.
With hesitance on Saturday I washed all guinea pig fleece and bedding and my husband increased the guinea pig play pen by a couple feet to make a large 5 ft by 3 ft live in play pen (we plan on building a two floor C and C in a couple weeks. Although I wanted to observe the quarantine, Lionitus came from a guinea pig rescue where he was well taken care of so I knew he wasn't sick.
I had already introduced my trio on neutral grounds with plenty of hay and lettuce and only one fight broke out and I also had them next to each other for a week letting them get to know each other.
My already bonded pair are 7 and 8 months old with Reptar, the youngest being the alpha. Our third adopted piggy is 1 year and 4 months old and much bigger than the Maximus and Reptar.
We put them together and immediately Reptar, my alpha wanted to smell Lionitus but for some reason wasn't threatened by him. Maximus immediately returned to being the bottom piggy and also went about his business. Turns out Lionitus, even though bigger, is a huge coward and doesn't like confrontation. We haven't seen any mounting and Reptar just gets aggravated when it's eating time because he has to be the first to the food and the one that selects his chunks of lettuce before anybody else. We also tend to hear them chatter their teeth when two want to be in the same hut. Reptar tends to go into whichever hut he wants and Maximus and Lionitus have to choose whichever Reptar isn't in. I find it funny that the youngest and smallest is the alpha.
I don't want to declare this a success until Lionitus comes out of his shell and we can see his personality more. I think right now he is intimidated and once he becomes comfortable he will show his true personality. If this is a success I think I will attribute it to their personalities and not anything we did. Just thought I'd share since I know I found this subject and boar behavior really intriguing.
As you can see, even when there is bickering food is always sure to make everybody happy.
) Please keep us updated!