Can I have 2 spayed females with my two boars?

[mytwomaleguineas]

I currently have 2 male guinea pigs in a 8 by 10 feet enclosure and they are allowed to free roam whenever they want. There are 2 female guinea pigs near my animal shelter and I’m willing to adopt them and give all of them a bigger space. However I’ve read that 2 males with 2 females wouldn’t get along. I’ve also read that they could so I just want to make sure before adding to my herd. Also would I need to neuter the boars and also spay the females, or just the sows? Does anyone have advice? Thanks

 

[Betsy]

From personal experience, having more than 1 boar in with sows doesn't work.

I had a very happy herd of 5 (2 boars, 3 sows) for a year but ONLY because my now Rainbow Piggy Velvet was DA BOSS (cue music From Shower Scene of Psycho). What she said went. No argument. She was there before trouble even started telling piggies off. One day, Christian ( 2nd in command), decided he had had enough of being told what to do and staged a surprise coup and took over. He started to subtly bully Dennis and in the end wasn't letting him eat by jumping in front of the food bowl and generally making poor Dennis's life a misery. Christian didn't fight with Dennis as he was still a bit wary of what Velvet would do.

After I split the herd up, Dennis was much happier. He is with the love of his life and rumbles at her all the time. I never ever heard him rumble at all for 18 months!

Christian and Dennis are brothers who are the result of a shop pregnancy along with their sister Meg. Velvet was Mum. Christian and Dennis were also extremely well bonded. I didn't know that you shouldn't put more than 1 boar in with sows at the time until I joined this forum. They were neutered at 6 months and after the 6 week post neuter wait I bonded the 5 piggies.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please do not attempt to add sows to a boar pair. It is a surefire way to cause huge fights between your boars and break their bond.

if you wish to adopt the sows, then you would need to keep them in a totally separate cage and ideally in a separate room. Boars can be very strongly affected by sow pheromones within the same room as them and the boars can fight over sows and break their bond, even if they can’t physically get to them

 

[VickiA]

This sounds like a recipe for disaster. Sorry to sound dramatic, but that’s the truth. Only one boar can safely live with a group of sows. Any more than 1 boar will cause problems. If you have a happy and stable boar pair I would not jeopardise that at all.
Also, sow spaying is a serious and invasive procedure compared to boar neutering. It’s not something to be undertaken lightly.

 

[mytwomaleguineas]

Please do not attempt to add sows to a boar pair. It is a surefire way to cause huge fights between your boars and break their bond.

if you wish to adopt the sows, then you would need to keep them in a totally separate cage and ideally in a separate room. Boars can be very strongly affected by sow pheromones within the same room as them and the boars can fight over sows and break their bond, even if they can’t physically get to them

Okay! Thank you so much

 

[mytwomaleguineas]

Please do not attempt to add sows to a boar pair. It is a surefire way to cause huge fights between your boars and break their bond.

if you wish to adopt the sows, then you would need to keep them in a totally separate cage and ideally in a separate room. Boars can be very strongly affected by sow pheromones within the same room as them and the boars can fight over sows and break their bond, even if they can’t physically get to them

Okay! I also read to handle the boars before the sows. I’ll also be sure to keep them in separate rooms. Thank you so much for replying!

 

[Siikibam]

Okay! I also read to handle the boars before the sows. I’ll also be sure to keep them in separate rooms. Thank you so much for replying!

Absolutely. Make sure you don’t mix up anything.

 

[VickiA]

Okay! I also read to handle the boars before the sows. I’ll also be sure to keep them in separate rooms. Thank you so much for replying!

You appear to have 2 accounts in breach of forum rules. Do you wish to keep this account and close the other?

 

[VickiA]

@mytwomaleguineas you have logged in but not responded to my query so I shall make the decision for you. I shall keep this account active and close your other account.