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can i put brothers together?

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mazb

mazb

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I have 2 male guinea pigs age 13 weeks and 2 male guinea pigs 3 weeks old all from the same mother and father (who are now divorced !) so in effect all brothers , will it be ok to put all of them in same hutch as i am running out of room now i've seperated the mum and dad into single cages or would it be better to put the younger ones in with their dad ....all advise greatly received .... all cages are next to each other so they can communicate now with each other
 
Ooh - hope someone can advise shortly.
Boars rarely live harmoniously together in a group so pairs are the best option - they will fight for dominance when they get to the hormonal stage at around 4-6 months potentially you could end up with multiple single piggies if fall outs occur :...
Do you breed seeing as you have two very young litters - we are a pro rescue forum :)
 
I would strongly advise against placing all 4 brothers together - males 'teenage' months when they have strong hormonal surges and therefore are more likely to fight with other males is generally from 3-15 months of age. To have 4 pigs going through this stage together is almost guaranteed to end up with fighting, injuries and potentially 4 singles males that will not tolerate living with another male.

The pigs would be better off being kept in pairs, though you may be very lucky and find that if they are housed with dad that they will accept him as the dominant. Very few trios make it through the hormonal months so be prepared to split them up again in the near future.

Please do not house the males too closely to mum, her scent especially during her season (every 17/18 days) is likely to trigger dominance issues with the boys and the possibility of a fall out is higher.

Mum will need lots of feeding up to recover from back to back pregnancies and, hopefully, a female friend of her own.

Suzy
 
I'd stick to pairs only for boys, Three's rarely and i mean RARELY work and a four i think is unheard of. Is the dad neutered ? could he not go with the mum ? if not you could find him another friend and also the mother another female friend but try to keep them all in pairs.
Also be careful about housing them to close to females this may cause them to fight over her as a female when she's in heat.
 
I have still fingers on one hand free to count those boar trios that have made it through the stroppy months between 4-14 months old without separation and a quartet is even more unstable!

You can put the babies with dad, but expect that you will most probably end up with either one boar terrorising the others or one boy being bullied by the other two somewhere down the line.
 
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thank you i will put them in with dad till i can get another cage sorted this weekend , i need them away from the mother as i don't want another litter !
 
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