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Boars Or Sows? Advice Much Appreciated

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Kirstin-Marie

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Hi everyone,

I'm planning to get guinea pigs in a few months' time and so am currently doing lots of research.

One of the things I'm considering is what type of group to have. I've heard that a group of 3 piggies (1 neutered male and 2 females) can work really well.

I'm also wondering about getting piggies as babies (from a nearby breeder) or from a rescue. If I got them as babies, I'm assuming I would need to have the boy neutered straight away - on the same day.

I like the idea of getting babies as then I would be able to give them only nice experiences! But then of course I would like to give a rescue a good home.

I'd be really interested in people's thoughts and experiences!

Thanks very much,
Kirstin
 
Hello Kirstin. I advise going to a reputable rescue (see the rescue locator on here). The guinea pigs will be health checked, properly sexed (no pregnancy surprises) and you can get ready bonded pairs or groups.

I bought my two sows from a lovely local rescue. They were 5 months old when I got them and they are gradually becoming very tame indeed. Being prey animals this can take some time, well worth the wait though.

Also by getting them from a rescue you create a space in that rescue that can be taken up by another guinea pig in need. Rescues often have babies too if that's what you want.

I had a boar and two sows and it did work well.

Best of luck with your research. This forum is a mine of information and experience.
 
Kirstin-Marie said:
Hi everyone,

I'm planning to get guinea pigs in a few months' time and so am currently doing lots of research.

One of the things I'm considering is what type of group to have. I've heard that a group of 3 piggies (1 neutered male and 2 females) can work really well.

I'm also wondering about getting piggies as babies (from a nearby breeder) or from a rescue. If I got them as babies, I'm assuming I would need to have the boy neutered straight away - on the same day.

I like the idea of getting babies as then I would be able to give them only nice experiences! But then of course I would like to give a rescue a good home.

I'd be really interested in people's thoughts and experiences!

Thanks very much,
Kirstin
Click to expand...

Hi and welcome!

You may find this guide here helpful. It discusses the various pros and cons of the different genders, constellations and age aspects in detail: Boars, sows or mixed pairs; babies or adults?

Personally, I would go rescue anytime! They know the personality of their piggies and can match them up for you. We can also guarantee with the rescues we recommend that all piggies are healthy and fully quarantined, properly sexed and guaranteed not pregnant, and stably bonded. You also get support during the settling in period and have back-up during the whole life of your adopted piggies. That is a lot more service than you get with a shop or breeder piggy - and you also neatly avoid all the usual pitfalls that await the unwary.
Instead of going the cute baby factor, I would pose more weight on matching up personalities well. There will be any number of dumped and/or pregnant sows coming into rescue over the summer holidays, so by autumn you usually have a choice of piggies looking for homes, including rescue born babies, which are often paired up for adoption with an older rescue piggy, so you are likely to get the best of all... ;)

A goodly number of rescues have already neutered boars for adoption, so you do not have to deal with the whole caboodle of finding a good vet that is experienced with guinea pig neutering or small furries' ops in order to minimise the risk of post-op complications, the post-op care and the necessary 6 weeks' wait afterwards to make sure that he is 100% safe to go with sows. The little baby in my avatar is proof that accidents with over 5 weeks post-op boars can and do really happen (dad is not one of my boars, by the way). There is no baby boar neutering (before 3 weeks' of age and the onset of sexual prowess) in English speaking countries, so you'd have to wait until the testicles have descended between 4-6 months of age before you can operate. The adoption fee doesn't usually cover the whole operation and care cost.
It is my repeated experience that all trios are inherently unstable. Even a two sows and 1 boar trio only works if the two sows are good friends and both get on well with the boar. Otherwise, you end up sooner or later with an outsider problem of some kind.

Since we have members from all over the world, we find it very helpful if you please added your country, state/province or UK county to your details, so we can tailor any advice and recommendations to what is available and relevant where you are straight away, instead of keeping it as general as possible. Click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location. This makes it appear on the left in every post and saves everybody time. Thank you!
 
Kirstin-Marie said:
Thank you very much for the advice so far! That's all incredibly helpful.

I'm in the UK :-)
Click to expand...

If you add your county in the way I have told you, we will be able to point you to the best rescues for neutered boars etc. Not all rescues have a boar neutering and rescue dating policy.

Please also be aware that in this country anybody can call themselves a rescue or a breeder without any licensing or control in place - and the results can be accordingly! We have listed the ones we can guarantee for in our recommended rescues locator on the top bar. It is generally advisable to contact all rescues within your reach. Most rescues also have more guinea pigs in than are often shown on their website, so it is usually best to contact them by phone or email if you are after something more specific. It may take a few days and more than one attempt to contact them, as they are usually very busy. Virtually all UK rescues are run on a volunteer basis in their free time.
Guinea Pig Rescue Centre Locator

You may also find our Wannabe and New Owners guide collections interesting and helpful when doing your research:
Quick Information Bundle For Wannabe Owners
New Owners' " How To" Starter Kit
 
I definitely recommend going to a rescue! I got my two boys from a local pet shop at about ten weeks old, and while they only had minimal fuss bonding, they each got back-to-back URIs within the month! Dibbler got sick and then just as he was finishing his meds, Ganon got it. I had to quarantine him for a week to keep it from turning into a feedback loop of sickness!

I love my boys to bits, but the ordeal of traveling by truck from breeder to shop (not to mention spending the whole day in a little box before I could pick them up!) on top of suddenly having to adjust to each other in a new cage in a new home, definitely put a strain on their little immune systems. That's not even to mention what kind of conditions they might have been in with the breeder. I don't even know if they're litter mates (I doubt it since the shop owner said he'd order one brown and one black so I could 'tell them apart').
 
I agree with the good advices written before. I add that at the rescue you will find also young piggies, because many owners buy from shops pregnant females or piggies sexed wrong. The rescue usually feed the piggies in the right way, therefore you have guarantee that your piggie is getting used to the correct diet. The rescue will tell you the age and the healthy conditions of the pigs.
I have chosen two young sows. Consider that in Italy there is only one official rescue and I went to another one 400km far which works with rabbits and had only very few piggies. You are lucky, in your country there are a lot of rescues with a lot of beautiful piggies...
 
I started with 2 girls... Then I got another 2 girls who bonded beautifully and now I have a neutered boy who will (hopefully!) be added to the mix. Sows tend to be more adaptable :)

Rescues always have loads of babies, mainly because there are a whole load of breeders who don't know what they're doing and wanna do it for the cash :(

My first two girls were 6 weeks old when I got them from a rescue so they really were baby babies.

It's also nice to have the support of rescues in the future, if anything goes wrong or need bonding help.

I personally don't like breeders as I've known a few in my time, they're always in it for the money and one that lives near me treats them appallingly. People still buy from her though :( She once had a go at me for not buying her "over stock" and getting new rescue piggies :(
 
If you have the option to rescue, I would definitely advise it... however, I realize it's not feasible in all areas (it really isn't in mine, unfortunately.) Thus far for myself, I have always had females in pairs and it has worked out well. The girls have been pretty easy to bond (we have an older girl and a younger girl all the time, so have been through a few sets of shifting pairs in the past ten years or so.) I would actually love a larger group, but as we travel to the cottage and back all summer we have to keep the number manageable, as we need to be able to transport them and their living arrangement safely and comfortably and two is pretty much the maximum that we can manage that with.
 
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