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Does anyone have both non-neutered male and female pigs that they let play together under close supervision?

kate4001

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Hi. Not really wanting to neuter my two male pigs but I want them to have some friends. I realize that I can’t have anymore male pigs but both my pigs are rescues who are very sensitive to intrusion by me or anyone at all. One of mine can get very stressed out with any small change so I’m afraid neutering him might rock his world and be traumatic for him.
 
Hi. Not really wanting to neuter my two male pigs but I want them to have some friends. I realize that I can’t have anymore male pigs but both my pigs are rescues who are very sensitive to intrusion by me or anyone at all. One of mine can get very stressed out with any small change so I’m afraid neutering him might rock his world and be traumatic for him.
Is it possible for two non-neutered of different genders to be together without immediately humping, and would it be okay if I let mine play with more males, just didn’t keep them together all day only during playtimes. Sort of like at a pignic or something...
 
Guinea pigs who are not bonded and do not permamently live together, cannot meet for play dates. This is not how guinea pigs work. To them any meeting is a bonding session which is then interrupted which causes stress. Being put with other piggies of either sex would ruin the relationship your boys have.
You can’t put more than two boars together without fights occurring.
It would take seconds for a mating between boars and sows to happen.
But also, just the presence of sows around boars can ruin a boar pairs relationship. Being physically put with them would cause them to fight and ultimately destroy their relationship.

They have each other, so they don’t need more friends.
 
Guinea pigs who are not bonded and do not permamently live together, cannot meet for play dates. This is not how guinea pigs work. To them any meeting is a bonding session which is then interrupted which causes stress. Being put with other piggies of either sex would ruin the relationship your boys have.
You can’t put more than two boars together without fights occurring.
It would take seconds for a mating between boars and sows to happen.
But also, just the presence of sows around boars can ruin a boar pairs relationship. Being physically put with them would cause them to fight and ultimately destroy their relationship.

They have each other, so they don’t need more friends.
Thank you for your knowledge that is very helpful and I understand now. Maybe I will wait until my pigs settle in before neutering them and getting them some sisters.
 
No, don't risk it, as soon as I let my freshly neutered male (after 6 week post op wait) out with my female, his first mission was to hump her. I did risk it before this and he tried then aswell, before I knew better.
Thanks for saying your experience!
 
I wonder if I could just get neutered females for them, is it really so bad to have the females neutered instead of the males? I know of a rescue that automatically neuters all the guinea pigs they get so I wouldn’t have to make that decision for them anyway.
 
You can’t have female piggies anywhere near your boys if you wish your boys to remain together. You certainly can’t put sows in the same cage as two boys. Just having a sow in the same room and your boys smelling a sow
will cause your boys to fight with each other and will ruin your boys relationship.

If you really want sows, then you would have to neuter your boys, have a six week wait after the operation for them to become infertile, split them up and put them in separate cages with a suitable character compatible sow each.
Or, you get another pair of boars and keep them in a separate cage to your current boar pair. So you have two separate boar pairs

Spaying sows is a major operation for them. Generally it’s not done as routine, but instead as a medical need. If you know a rescue who routinely does it then that is fine, but you still can’t put sows, spayed or not, in with or even in the same room as, your boys if you wish your boys to be able to stay living together.
 
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You can’t have female piggies anywhere near your boys if you wish your boys to remain together. You certainly can’t put sows in the same cage as two boys. Just having a sow in the same room and your boys smelling a sow
will cause your boys to fight with each other and will ruin your boys relationship.

If you really want sows, then you would have to neuter your boys, have a six week wait after the operation for them to become infertile, split them up and put them in separate cages with a suitable character compatible sow each.
Or, you get another pair of boars and keep them in a separate cage to your current boar pair. So you have two separate boar pairs

Spaying sows is a major operation for them. Generally it’s not done as routine, but instead as a medical need. If you know a rescue who routinely does it then that is fine, but you still can’t put sows, spayed or not, in with or even in the same room as, your boys if you wish your boys to be able to stay living together.
Okay thanks so much for your answer. I am a bit confused because I saw that a plausible grouping for guinea pigs was two neutered males and up to four sows but a minimum of 2 sows, is it just much better with only one neutered male?
 
Okay thanks so much for your answer. I am a bit confused because I saw that a plausible grouping for guinea pigs was two neutered males and up to four sows but a minimum of 2 sows, is it just much better with only one neutered male?

That is not correct information.

You can have only one neutered male in with any number of sows (you can have as many sows as space and character compatibility allows).
If you were to to try to keep two boys with any number of sows, then the boys would fight with each other.
 
I would look at adopting another pair of boars (from a rescue) rather than breaking up your boys and bonding them each with a girl(s). May I ask why you want to split them if they get on well?
 
When you have a boar pair, you simply cannot add any more piggies to them at all. If they are happily bonded, then they need to remain just the two of them permanently.

If you want more piggies and your boys are happy with each other , then the best thing to do is to get another separate boar pair. Each pair needs to remain separate at all times - never physically allowed to meet, no floor times together etc - but the presence of a separate boar pair won’t harm the relationship of your current boar pair.

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
 
I had 2 boars with 3 sows for 18 months but it only worked because my Rainbow Piggy Velvet was :yikes::yikes:DA BOSS:yikes::yikes: (cue music from the shower scene of Psycho). When Christian staged a surprise coup and became top piggy he wouldn't let Dennis eat and would physically jump in front of Dennis when Dennis went to eat anything. Christian wouldn't pick a fight with Dennis cos he was still a bit afraid of Velvet. I had to split up the herd. So it doesn't work. You need 1 boar only if you introduce sows.
 
That is not correct information.

You can have only one neutered male in with any number of sows (you can have as many sows as space and character compatibility allows).
If you were to to try to keep two boys with any number of sows, then the boys would fight with each other.
Okay thank you I understand now. I would never want to split my boys up but I have this vision of putting my two midwest cages together so that if I split them up and put them with sows in each cage they would still see each other. It raises the possibility of splitting them up for me since they fight every 2 minutes as it is. I was told by the rescue when I got them that they worked together well but one of them was still a baby and now that he is older I figure he puts up a harder fight with dominance-have you heard of this? Is this something that will stop once my youngest reaches 1 and 4 months or something to where he is full grown? Also, is it the worst thing ever to split boys up that have been together, especially since my baby grew up with one? As I type this they are literally fighting right now. They steal each other’s food and can be very hostile but sometimes they cuddle.
 
When you have a boar pair, you simply cannot add any more piggies to them at all. If they are happily bonded, then they need to remain just the two of them permanently.

If you want more piggies and your boys are happy with each other , then the best thing to do is to get another separate boar pair. Each pair needs to remain separate at all times - never physically allowed to meet, no floor times together etc - but the presence of a separate boar pair won’t harm the relationship of your current boar pair.

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Thank you, I seem to have been missing this information when I adopted them, I was under the impression I could just add to their cage.
 
What do you mean when you say fighting? As for food stealing, that’s entirely normal.

Rumble strutting, humping, mounting, chasing and teeth chattering are all normal dominance behaviours. If one is younger than the other then there is a chance that the younger could try to take over once they reach their teenage phase.
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
 
I had 2 boars with 3 sows for 18 months but it only worked because my Rainbow Piggy Velvet was :yikes::yikes:DA BOSS:yikes::yikes: (cue music from the shower scene of Psycho). When Christian staged a surprise coup and became top piggy he wouldn't let Dennis eat and would physically jump in front of Dennis when Dennis went to eat anything. Christian wouldn't pick a fight with Dennis cos he was still a bit afraid of Velvet. I had to split up the herd. So it doesn't work. You need 1 boar only if you introduce sows.
Thanks for these details on how it would really be, really convinces me not to do it!
 
Okay thank you I understand now. I would never want to split my boys up but I have this vision of putting my two midwest cages together so that if I split them up and put them with sows in each cage they would still see each other. It raises the possibility of splitting them up for me since they fight every 2 minutes as it is. I was told by the rescue when I got them that they worked together well but one of them was still a baby and now that he is older I figure he puts up a harder fight with dominance-have you heard of this? Is this something that will stop once my youngest reaches 1 and 4 months or something to where he is full grown? Also, is it the worst thing ever to split boys up that have been together, especially since my baby grew up with one? As I type this they are literally fighting right now. They steal each other’s food and can be very hostile but sometimes they cuddle.

You need to be sure of what behaviours you are seeing.

What do you mean they are fighting every two minutes? Are they having physical fights which draw blood? If so, then they need to be immediately separated and must never be together again.

If you have however misinterpreted their behaviour and they aren’t fighting but are instead exhibiting normal dominance behaviours then there isn’t a problem between them. Stealing food, chasing each other, mounting is all normal behaviour. It’s not fighting. It’s normal for a teenage guinea pig to become hormonal and exhibit more dominance. They do this right up until 14 months of age, but normal dominance will continue throughout their entire lives.

How old are your piggies and how long have they been together?
 
What do you mean when you say fighting? As for food stealing, that’s entirely normal.
They go around in circles making those growling noises and squealing, one will shift the house another is in to wake them up and have them come out. I’m not sure if they are even bonded but I was told they were, maybe she meant something else. This rescue was also shady because they would let you get one guinea pig only and keep them in a too small cage.
 
They go around in circles making those growling noises and squealing, one will shift the house another is in to wake them up and have them come out. I’m not sure if they are even bonded but I was told they were, maybe she meant something else. This rescue was also shady because they would let you get one guinea pig only and keep them in a too small cage.

how old are they?
How long have they been together?
 
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