Does Anyone Have 5 Boars Successfully Living Together?

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Laura mason

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I currently have 3 boars successfully living together. I was just wondering if anyone has 5? I've seen a pair in Assisi needing rehomed and am debating whether to try and bond them with my 3, who were originally a pair and then I bonded another. Also if you do have 5 what size is your cage? X
 
I am not sure about this, but I know boar trios are notoriously unstable, so if it were me I would be extremely wary about upsetting an already delicate balance.
But well done on managing to get three living together - apparently that is quite a feat!
Would it be possible to keep your 3 boars as a trio and then rehome the others to live as a pair (in a different cage to your trio)?
 
Swissgreys said:
I am not sure about this, but I know boar trios are notoriously unstable, so if it were me I would be extremely wary about upsetting an already delicate balance.
But well done on managing to get three living together - apparently that is quite a feat!
Would it be possible to keep your 3 boars as a trio and then rehome the others to live as a pair (in a different cage to your trio)?
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I would love to! I just don't have anymore room to put another permanent cage :(. I have 2 stacked 2x9's in our only free room in the house. I also have 2 woofs so wouldn't be happy having them downstairs....although I would love all my piggies downstairs! One of the ones needing adopted has health issues (not sure what as I didn't want to contact them unless I came up with a solution as to where I could house them), and the website says needs to be kept on fleece in a large cage. Looks like I won't be able to take them :(. Such a pity as they will probably find it harder to rehome them with the wee man having problems :( X
 
These are my three boys. They actually get on really well! Your probably right about not upsetting the balance! Just wish I could find a solution to take the other ones X

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Rescue guinea pigs are very hard to find here, and even harder to get.
We were turned down by our nearest rescue (still over an hour away) for having children under the age of 12 living at home!

But then I read posts like this and I think it is probably a good thing, otherwise our house would be over run with them.
I am just like you - would love to offer a home to everyone.
 
Swissgreys said:
Rescue guinea pigs are very hard to find here, and even harder to get.
We were turned down by our nearest rescue (still over an hour away) for having children under the age of 12 living at home!

But then I read posts like this and I think it is probably a good thing, otherwise our house would be over run with them.
I am just like you - would love to offer a home to everyone.
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My local rescue were fine with me having children, I have 2 girls ages 6 and 2. I think when they saw my cage and how enthusiastic I was about them they soon realised they were for me and not the girls lol. I don't think having children should stop you being able to rescue Guinea pigs...although I understand they don't want people choosing them as pets solely for their children, but there are many people with children who still take good and proper care of their piggies and can offer good homes! I started with 2 pet store pigs and my obsession started from their. I adopted after that. I'm not sure about where you are but you still pay here to adopt...only its called a donation. They ask for a donation of roughly £20 per pig....so a lot of people choose to just go to pet stores as its the same price and there are no questions asked...plus you get babies X
 
I am in Switzerland and the 'problem' is that there are just very few guinea pigs in rescue, so they can afford to be pretty picky about homes for the very few animals they have to rehome.
This is a wonderful thing obviously, and probably due in part to the early neutering policy they have for all boars.
All boars not destined for breeding are neutered at 2 weeks old, so there are very few accidental litters, and no pregnant animals are sold in pet shops due to mis-sexing by inexperienced staff.
 
Swissgreys said:
I am in Switzerland and the 'problem' is that there are just very few guinea pigs in rescue, so they can afford to be pretty picky about homes for the very few animals they have to rehome.
This is a wonderful thing obviously, and probably due in part to the early neutering policy they have for all boars.
All boars not destined for breeding are neutered at 2 weeks old, so there are very few accidental litters, and no pregnant animals are sold in pet shops due to mis-sexing by inexperienced staff.
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That's actually amazing! It would be good if all places done that! There are far too many animals needing rehomed! Our local rescue is never without Guinea pigs! :( x
 
I've also managed to have a trio of boys in the past. All down to personality mix which is rare to get right. I'm basing mine on pure luck!

Your boys look very settled together so I agree. I wouldn't upset the already delicate dynamics.
 
Yeah I'm going to take your advise and leave my boys as they are. I also have a herd of females in the same room as the boys so I should probably just be happy they all get on! Still trying to work out how I could maybe squeeze another 2x5 in somewhere lol...maybe I should move to a bigger house....or extend! Lmao.
I think my trio is down to pure luck also. My first two boys are very laid back, and the new one made it perfectly clear he didn't want to be boss. I didn't realise trios were rare....if I had of known at the time I probably wouldn't have tried....although glad I did now :).
Do you think if I had the 2 boys in a separate cage in the same room it could still cause problems?
Thanks for all your input guys x
 
Laura mason said:
Yeah I'm going to take your advise and leave my boys as they are. I also have a herd of females in the same room as the boys so I should probably just be happy they all get on! Still trying to work out how I could maybe squeeze another 2x5 in somewhere lol...maybe I should move to a bigger house....or extend! Lmao.
I think my trio is down to pure luck also. My first two boys are very laid back, and the new one made it perfectly clear he didn't want to be boss. I didn't realise trios were rare....if I had of known at the time I probably wouldn't have tried....although glad I did now :).
Do you think if I had the 2 boys in a separate cage in the same room it could still cause problems?
Thanks for all your input guys x
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Two boys in a separate cage would be fine :)
 
Laura mason said:
Yeah I'm going to take your advise and leave my boys as they are. I also have a herd of females in the same room as the boys so I should probably just be happy they all get on! Still trying to work out how I could maybe squeeze another 2x5 in somewhere lol...maybe I should move to a bigger house....or extend! Lmao.
I think my trio is down to pure luck also. My first two boys are very laid back, and the new one made it perfectly clear he didn't want to be boss. I didn't realise trios were rare....if I had of known at the time I probably wouldn't have tried....although glad I did now :).
Do you think if I had the 2 boys in a separate cage in the same room it could still cause problems?
Thanks for all your input guys x
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Two boys in a separate cage would be fine :)
 
Your as bad as me trying to find any bit of floor space you can :D

Two boys in a separate cage will be ok, I adopted two 6 week old boars last week and chewy went crazy all day wheeking for them he drove me crazy lol but luckily he has calmed down now and just chunters back too them :D but if your lads are in the same room as girlies already and there's no issues I wouldn't see any problems. I wouldn't dare have a girlie in the same room as chewy my word he would go insane bless him!
 
Laura mason said:
What if the cage was right beside them? Would that still be ok? If the correx on that side was higher so they couldn't see each other would that help? X
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My boys are all next to each other and they can all see each other, you may get some rumble strutting until dominance has been sorted @Wiebke is the one to ask on that front!
 
Anarchybmc said:
Your as bad as me trying to find any bit of floor space you can :D

Two boys in a separate cage will be ok, I adopted two 6 week old boars last week and chewy went crazy all day wheeking for them he drove me crazy lol but luckily he has calmed down now and just chunters back too them :D but if your lads are in the same room as girlies already and there's no issues I wouldn't see any problems. I wouldn't dare have a girlie in the same room as chewy my word he would go insane bless him!
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Lol I know. It's a bit crazy really, surely I already have my hands full enough. I just dote on them tho and think if I could give them a good home then why not. My first 3 girls I got were crammed into a 100cm cage with no hay, nowhere to hide (no room to put anything to hide!), and the cage was so dirty I couldn't get my dustpan through the bottom of the shavings and the smell of ammonia stank my house out for hours :(. I was a little worried it might upset my boys but they didn't even seem to notice! Only time I noticed the boys acting differently was when I introduced 2 more girls to the 3 I already had. The girls were sorting their dominance issues the first couple of days and the boys took to shredding the newspaper in their hay part of the cage. I've never seen them do this before....or since lol....maybe taking it out on the paper instead of each other?. I then introduced a neutered male to the girls and thankfully the boys were still fine. I also had to swap the cages around and put the girls at the bottom so I could open up the cage and let them roam around freely since there are 6 . Obviously I scrubbed everything but I was a little nervous they still might smell them and go crazy. I'm very careful about keeping their beds etc separate and each cage has their own stuff which doesn't get mixed. In saying that they have to share a run (at separate times....and I always put the boys out first), but not sure if they would still smell them the next time they are out? But hasn't caused any issues X
 
Small groups, like trios, even more quartets and quintets, are very difficult to get right. Boars work best in personality matched couples or in large groups over over 10 boars with LOTS of space. The only quartets and quintets that have been successful for a few weeks/months or longer have been those with disabled/carer boars that have got different dynamics or golden oldies groups where testosterone is in short supply and personalities have mellowed. In most cases, it goes horribly wrong. As great as the temptation is - please don't risk it! Once boars fall out with each other, they won't go back together. You can keep the new pair next to your trio without problems, as they are not sharing territory and do not impact on the existing hierarchy.
 
Wiebke said:
Small groups, like trios, even more quartets and quintets, are very difficult to get right. Boars work best in personality matched couples or in large groups over over 10 boars with LOTS of space. The only quartets and quintets that have been successful for a few weeks/months have been those with disabled/carer boars that have got different dynamics or retirement groups where testosterone is in short supply and personalities have mellowed. In most cases, it goes horribly wrong. As great as the temptation is - please don't risk it! Once boars fall out with each other, they won't go back together. You can keep the new pair next to your trio without problems, as they are not sharing territory and do not impact on the existing hierarchy.
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Thanks for your input. I'm not planning on adding to my trio now but was wondering whether it could cause issues if 2 new boys were in a separate cage beside my trio? X
 
Laura mason said:
Thanks for your input. I'm not planning on adding to my trio now but was wondering whether it could cause issues if 2 new boys were in a separate cage beside my trio? X
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There may be some initial excitement, but it should die down. If you are unsure, just have the newbies within hearing distance at first and then take it from there. You are bound to see some "boar hakas" (rumblestrutting, squeaking, mounting, cage rattling and bar biting etc.) as the boys mark their territories against each other and weigh each other up through the bars at first, but that will die down in intensity and just become a kind of "hello, I am still there" ritual greeting over time.

Here is my then top boar Hywel winding up new arrival Bedo during cleaning time, to give a bit of an idea.
 
Wiebke said:
There may be some initial excitement, but it should die down. If you are unsure, just have the newbies within hearing distance at first and then take it from there. You are bound to see some "boar hakas" (rumblestrutting, squeaking, mounting, cage rattling and bar biting etc.) as the boys mark their territories against each other and weigh each other up through the bars at first, but that will die down in intensity and just become a kind of "hello, I am still there" ritual greeting over time.

Here is my then top boar Hywel winding up new arrival Bedo during cleaning time, to give a bit of an idea.
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This is what happened with chewy Saturday he was wheeking for England, bar chewing and running round all day! Ted got quite annoyed with him and started nudging/nipping trying to mount him now they can have "testing" times but they were happy until the new babies arrived I asked @Wiebke too see if it was normal and she reassured me it was and too sit it out. Now all is well with the world of piggies they just talk to each other now! Phew!
 
Anarchybmc said:
This is what happened with chewy Saturday he was wheeking for England, bar chewing and running round all day! Ted got quite annoyed with him and started nudging/nipping trying to mount him now they can have "testing" times but they were happy until the new babies arrived I asked @Wiebke too see if it was normal and she reassured me it was and too sit it out. Now all is well with the world of piggies they just talk to each other now! Phew!
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Hywel and Bedo are both neutered boars, but the reaction to each other's presence is still the same...
 
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