1 Singles, pairs or groups?
2 Boars
3 Sows
4 Neutered boars with one or more sows
5 Babies or adults?
6 Adopting or buying?
1 Singles, pairs or groups?
There is in principle nothing in it but personal preference. Guinea pigs are individualists with very distinct personalities, so generalisations fall necessarily short. But there are some aspects that are worth considering when you are thinking about getting your cavies – and please, always get two!
Singles
Guinea pigs are group animals and not designed to be on their own. Please always consider companionship. It is the best gift ever you can make a beloved piggy! But unless you have a baby to find a same sex mate for, finding the perfect mate may not be quite as straight forward as you think. You can also never just stick a new piggy into another one's territory without creating havoc and fights and bites.
Please read these guides here for more practical in-depth information:
Single Guinea Pigs - Challenges and Responsibilities
Pairs
The most common constellation in guinea pigs are pairs; they are usually the most stable as well.
With the right conditions, more boar pairs than not make it through the teenage months but if you want to skip the tricky phase, consider adopting an adult pair of boys or even a pair oldies - they are generally the most laid-back of all piggies. Or opt - if you can - for a mixed gender pair as they are the most stable of all, and you also get the benefit of having a bit of all...
More in-depth information on the particular challenges and benefits of the various pair combinations can be found here:
A Closer Look At Pairs (Boars - Sows - Mixed)
Trios and quartets
Problems and fall-outs in boar trios and quartets make the biggest slice of cries for help in our Behaviour section - for a good reason. Since the bulk of piggies are not stably bonded pairs from good welfare standard rescues but cute little babies bought at shops or backyard breeders for their looks and not for who are they are actually hanging out with, this tends to hit back when the babies hit the massive teenage testosterone spikes. Trios are more often than not a 2-1 combination while quartets end up most often as a 2-1-1 scenario. You see working trios about as often as you end up with all singles.
While more sow trios and quartets work, they can still be beset by outsider issues. It is sadly a myth that all sows will get on.
The best way of creating a trio is the combination of a neutered boar (or as we call them, a 'husboar') with two well bonded sows. Keep in mind that a husboar cannot heal an existing rift; he will sooner or later side with one of the sows.
Sows generally work better in even numbers rather than odd numbers in our experience.
If you want to build up a larger group, please do so slowly and gradually and base the group around a charismatic dominant leader (can be either a sow or neutered boar). Make sure that no new arrival can challenge the top of the existing hierarchy.
Please respect that not every piggy or pair is suited to living in a group. When you have a larger group, you need extra space for hospital cages, space for fallen-out group piggies or failed bonders as well as eventually oldies for whom the group has become too much. You also have to be aware that group life is a dynamic process that constantly develops and changes, and that can take the wrong turn at some point.
More information on small and large group issues in this guide here:
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
2 Boars
Boars are often more relaxed, vocal and cuddly than sows, and they tend to mellow with age. We have got many members who swear by them! Some boars share an incredibly close, loving bond with each other.
However, boars go through a hormonal and often tricky period as sub-adults roughly between 4-14 months of age. Whether a pair makes it to a more settled adulthood together is usually down to whether they turn out to be character compatible in their adult identities. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter at all whether they are litter brothers or age mates! In fact, boars with an age difference have often got a much better chance, as only one boar is going through the big hormones at any given time, especially if one of the boars is a hormonally settled adult. Thankfully, more boar pairs than not make it to adulthood together.
Please note that neutering won’t change the character constellation or curb dominance behaviour, unlike with rabbits; it only prevents guinea pig boys from making babies.
By far the safest way of finding a character compatible boar pair is by adopting an already carefully bonded, stable couple from a reputable rescue.
Boar pairs, trios and quartets
Boars are best kept in pairs.
Trios of different ages have less than a 50% chance of hitting exactly the right balance of personalities and not ending up with some kind of outsider situation. A trio of baby boars has about a 90% certainty of ending up with at least one split during the first year. Boar trios are great when they work, but it is definitely not worth taking the quite real risk of ending up with 3 single boars that won’t go back together again!
Boar quartets are even more unstable than trios with a very high fail rate, unless they are comprised of elderly boars whose testosterone has fizzled out or disabled/carer companions, which have different dynamics.
Boars can work out in large bachelor herds, but that requires experience and lots of space, ideally 10 boars or more with about 1 square metre for each boar. Smaller groups tend to be unstable and very much depend on most boars being very laid-back or submissive.
If you happen to fall in love with your boys and would like more, please rather get another already bonded pair and keep it separately!
For more information on boars, you may find these guides here helpful:
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
3 Sows
Far too many places are still unaware of or plainly don’t give a button about sows being able to get pregnant from 4 weeks onwards (boars start making babies from 3-5 weeks of age)! If at all possible, please make sure that any girls of yours have not been in contact with any boars over 3 weeks prior to you getting them. Please be aware that pet shops in Britain may have their guinea pigs gender separated in the shop, but this is not necessarily the case during transport from rodent farms on the Continent; that is exactly how I got caught out when I went back to having piggies as an adult.
It is always advisable to have any new guinea pigs sexed by a second independent party upon arrival and then to keep an eye on any sows for the following up to 10 weeks. Mis-sexing still happens as baby piggies are often not quite easy to sex. The safest place for getting sows from is – again – a good standard guinea pig rescue where incoming sows undergo a mandatory pregnancy watch and any baby boars are separated at the correct age.
Sows can have the odd strong season, but they don’t tend to fight and have permanent fall-out as teenagers. That doesn’t mean that you won’t see some strong dominance behaviour from some girls, especially at first, which – like boars – can include mutual mounting when they are in season. Some sows can become more hormonal and crotchety as they get older; nevertheless, fall-outs amongst sows are still fairly rare. Like with boys, sows can have pronounced personal preferences as to who they want to live with. Spaying sows is a major operation and usually only performed for medical reasons.
Here is information on what to expect with sows and on how to sex piggies:
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
Sexing Guide
4 Neutered boar with one or more sows
An increasing number of British rescues have started to have any incoming single boars neutered, so it may be worth looking out for them in your area. Rescues in other countries may also have neutered boars and in some rare cases, spayed sows. It is always worth enquiring!
The trickiest bit with cross gender bondings is the initial acceptance during the introduction; not every pairing will gel, but you will generally know within the first 15-30 monites of interaction whether you have a possible match or not. However, once bonded, mixed gender couples are the most stable guinea pig bond; they can be very loving indeed. Fall-outs are virtually unknown!
In fact, one “husboar” can live with one, two or basically any number of sows! As he needs to get on with every single lady of his in order to mate with them, he acts as the glue of the group and tends to absorb a lot of the tensions that can surface when sows come into season.
If you want to create a bigger group eventually, please do it slowly as your experience is growing and best research into the character and background of any piggies you want to add in order to avoid major upheavals and problems. Dating at a good rescue will make sure that you are saved some potentially big headaches when a bonding doesn't work out!
In case you want to keep both full boars and sows, please keep them always out of line of sight and ideally out of reach of pheromones, either at a distance across a room or the boars above the sows. Some boars can be amazingly cunning, athletic and determined when it comes to sneaking in with sows! Always let the boars have run time before the sows. This also goes for the cage clean.
It is not advisable to have both un-neutered boars and sows if you have small children, who may at some point get the idea that it is fun letting all the piggies “play together”.
Two neutered boars living together with two or more sows does NOT work; you need to split them into two pairs!
2 Boars
3 Sows
4 Neutered boars with one or more sows
5 Babies or adults?
6 Adopting or buying?
1 Singles, pairs or groups?
There is in principle nothing in it but personal preference. Guinea pigs are individualists with very distinct personalities, so generalisations fall necessarily short. But there are some aspects that are worth considering when you are thinking about getting your cavies – and please, always get two!
Singles
Guinea pigs are group animals and not designed to be on their own. Please always consider companionship. It is the best gift ever you can make a beloved piggy! But unless you have a baby to find a same sex mate for, finding the perfect mate may not be quite as straight forward as you think. You can also never just stick a new piggy into another one's territory without creating havoc and fights and bites.
Please read these guides here for more practical in-depth information:
Single Guinea Pigs - Challenges and Responsibilities
Pairs
The most common constellation in guinea pigs are pairs; they are usually the most stable as well.
With the right conditions, more boar pairs than not make it through the teenage months but if you want to skip the tricky phase, consider adopting an adult pair of boys or even a pair oldies - they are generally the most laid-back of all piggies. Or opt - if you can - for a mixed gender pair as they are the most stable of all, and you also get the benefit of having a bit of all...
More in-depth information on the particular challenges and benefits of the various pair combinations can be found here:
A Closer Look At Pairs (Boars - Sows - Mixed)
Trios and quartets
Problems and fall-outs in boar trios and quartets make the biggest slice of cries for help in our Behaviour section - for a good reason. Since the bulk of piggies are not stably bonded pairs from good welfare standard rescues but cute little babies bought at shops or backyard breeders for their looks and not for who are they are actually hanging out with, this tends to hit back when the babies hit the massive teenage testosterone spikes. Trios are more often than not a 2-1 combination while quartets end up most often as a 2-1-1 scenario. You see working trios about as often as you end up with all singles.
While more sow trios and quartets work, they can still be beset by outsider issues. It is sadly a myth that all sows will get on.
The best way of creating a trio is the combination of a neutered boar (or as we call them, a 'husboar') with two well bonded sows. Keep in mind that a husboar cannot heal an existing rift; he will sooner or later side with one of the sows.
Sows generally work better in even numbers rather than odd numbers in our experience.
If you want to build up a larger group, please do so slowly and gradually and base the group around a charismatic dominant leader (can be either a sow or neutered boar). Make sure that no new arrival can challenge the top of the existing hierarchy.
Please respect that not every piggy or pair is suited to living in a group. When you have a larger group, you need extra space for hospital cages, space for fallen-out group piggies or failed bonders as well as eventually oldies for whom the group has become too much. You also have to be aware that group life is a dynamic process that constantly develops and changes, and that can take the wrong turn at some point.
More information on small and large group issues in this guide here:
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
2 Boars
Boars are often more relaxed, vocal and cuddly than sows, and they tend to mellow with age. We have got many members who swear by them! Some boars share an incredibly close, loving bond with each other.
However, boars go through a hormonal and often tricky period as sub-adults roughly between 4-14 months of age. Whether a pair makes it to a more settled adulthood together is usually down to whether they turn out to be character compatible in their adult identities. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter at all whether they are litter brothers or age mates! In fact, boars with an age difference have often got a much better chance, as only one boar is going through the big hormones at any given time, especially if one of the boars is a hormonally settled adult. Thankfully, more boar pairs than not make it to adulthood together.
Please note that neutering won’t change the character constellation or curb dominance behaviour, unlike with rabbits; it only prevents guinea pig boys from making babies.
By far the safest way of finding a character compatible boar pair is by adopting an already carefully bonded, stable couple from a reputable rescue.
Boar pairs, trios and quartets
Boars are best kept in pairs.
Trios of different ages have less than a 50% chance of hitting exactly the right balance of personalities and not ending up with some kind of outsider situation. A trio of baby boars has about a 90% certainty of ending up with at least one split during the first year. Boar trios are great when they work, but it is definitely not worth taking the quite real risk of ending up with 3 single boars that won’t go back together again!
Boar quartets are even more unstable than trios with a very high fail rate, unless they are comprised of elderly boars whose testosterone has fizzled out or disabled/carer companions, which have different dynamics.
Boars can work out in large bachelor herds, but that requires experience and lots of space, ideally 10 boars or more with about 1 square metre for each boar. Smaller groups tend to be unstable and very much depend on most boars being very laid-back or submissive.
If you happen to fall in love with your boys and would like more, please rather get another already bonded pair and keep it separately!
For more information on boars, you may find these guides here helpful:
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
3 Sows
Far too many places are still unaware of or plainly don’t give a button about sows being able to get pregnant from 4 weeks onwards (boars start making babies from 3-5 weeks of age)! If at all possible, please make sure that any girls of yours have not been in contact with any boars over 3 weeks prior to you getting them. Please be aware that pet shops in Britain may have their guinea pigs gender separated in the shop, but this is not necessarily the case during transport from rodent farms on the Continent; that is exactly how I got caught out when I went back to having piggies as an adult.
It is always advisable to have any new guinea pigs sexed by a second independent party upon arrival and then to keep an eye on any sows for the following up to 10 weeks. Mis-sexing still happens as baby piggies are often not quite easy to sex. The safest place for getting sows from is – again – a good standard guinea pig rescue where incoming sows undergo a mandatory pregnancy watch and any baby boars are separated at the correct age.
Sows can have the odd strong season, but they don’t tend to fight and have permanent fall-out as teenagers. That doesn’t mean that you won’t see some strong dominance behaviour from some girls, especially at first, which – like boars – can include mutual mounting when they are in season. Some sows can become more hormonal and crotchety as they get older; nevertheless, fall-outs amongst sows are still fairly rare. Like with boys, sows can have pronounced personal preferences as to who they want to live with. Spaying sows is a major operation and usually only performed for medical reasons.
Here is information on what to expect with sows and on how to sex piggies:
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
Sexing Guide
4 Neutered boar with one or more sows
An increasing number of British rescues have started to have any incoming single boars neutered, so it may be worth looking out for them in your area. Rescues in other countries may also have neutered boars and in some rare cases, spayed sows. It is always worth enquiring!
The trickiest bit with cross gender bondings is the initial acceptance during the introduction; not every pairing will gel, but you will generally know within the first 15-30 monites of interaction whether you have a possible match or not. However, once bonded, mixed gender couples are the most stable guinea pig bond; they can be very loving indeed. Fall-outs are virtually unknown!
In fact, one “husboar” can live with one, two or basically any number of sows! As he needs to get on with every single lady of his in order to mate with them, he acts as the glue of the group and tends to absorb a lot of the tensions that can surface when sows come into season.
If you want to create a bigger group eventually, please do it slowly as your experience is growing and best research into the character and background of any piggies you want to add in order to avoid major upheavals and problems. Dating at a good rescue will make sure that you are saved some potentially big headaches when a bonding doesn't work out!
In case you want to keep both full boars and sows, please keep them always out of line of sight and ideally out of reach of pheromones, either at a distance across a room or the boars above the sows. Some boars can be amazingly cunning, athletic and determined when it comes to sneaking in with sows! Always let the boars have run time before the sows. This also goes for the cage clean.
It is not advisable to have both un-neutered boars and sows if you have small children, who may at some point get the idea that it is fun letting all the piggies “play together”.
Two neutered boars living together with two or more sows does NOT work; you need to split them into two pairs!
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