Dont know what to do

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Tracy169

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Hello everyone, I am new here and looking for advice.

I have 2 male Abyssinian piggies, both are neutered and have been for quite some time. There were some young female piggies for sale in my local pet shop, so I decided to get one as a companion for the ones I already had.

This was on Monday of this week, and they are getting along great. However I have been told by a friend of mine who has quite a large herd of piggies, that when the female piggie comes into season, my two males could fight with each other. I told her that my two males have been neutered quite a while ago, and so I didn't think that they would still have 'those type of feelings' any more, but according to my friend she said it wont make any difference., there is a chance that they could fight and more than likely will do.

So please can anyone advise me what I should do for the best? Can 1 female live with 2 males or not? regardless of whether the males have been neutered. I dont really want to take the female piggie back to the pet shop, but at the same time, I dont want to risk my two males fighting over her when she comes into season. I have attached a photo that I took today, where they are all eating along together fine.

Thank you
 

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Unfortunately it is extremely rare that 2 male piggies will live with one female.
There have been a few cases of 2 males living with multiple females, but even these generally fail in the longer term.

I am very sorry, but if it were me I would separate as soon as possible before you risk the boys falling out with each other.
Being neutered doesn't make any difference to their feelings - it just stops them making babies.

You could keep the female and buy another female and keep all four piggies as 2 pairs (male + female), or keep your boys together and get a friend for your little girl.
Or as you also said you could return her to the pet shop.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I really think your friend is right in this situation.
 
Tracy169 said:
Hello everyone, I am new here and looking for advice.

I have 2 male Abyssinian piggies, both are neutered and have been for quite some time. There were some young female piggies for sale in my local pet shop, so I decided to get one as a companion for the ones I already had.

This was on Monday of this week, and they are getting along great. However I have been told by a friend of mine who has quite a large herd of piggies, that when the female piggie comes into season, my two males could fight with each other. I told her that my two males have been neutered quite a while ago, and so I didn't think that they would still have 'those type of feelings' any more, but according to my friend she said it wont make any difference., there is a chance that they could fight and more than likely will do.

So please can anyone advise me what I should do for the best? Can 1 female live with 2 males or not? regardless of whether the males have been neutered. I dont really want to take the female piggie back to the pet shop, but at the same time, I dont want to risk my two males fighting over her when she comes into season. I have attached a photo that I took today, where they are all eating along together fine.

Thank you
Click to expand...

Hi and welcome

In short - NO! It is one of the most straightforward recipes for disaster.
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?

Please remove your sow ASAP and get her the companion she has been with to live with in a separate cage.
OR you pair each boy with with a sow in a separate cage, but you cannot have two boars and one big group for the long term; especially not with just one sow!

You can have any number of sows, but only one 'husboar' per group. Boars don't share sows between them.

In guinea pig society, it is the sows who associate with a boar of their choice to have his babies and bring them up as a minigroup. It is not the boys that choose.
A number of these minigroups settle close to each other in a kind of colony and share feeding time at dawn and dusk in a larger herd to have the protection of numbers while they are exposed. Guinea pigs only live in a larger herd peacefully when they have plenty of space to have these core groups and bachelor boars can get away from each other. That is simply not possible in a traditional cage set-up and definitely not in small groups like yours.
Guinea Pig Facts - An Overview
 
I had 2 boys living with 3 girls for about 2 and a half years and then one of the boars started to bully the other one so I had to split them up. Luckily I have a 2 tier hutch so just took the ramp out and now I have 2 mini heards. The most difficult bit was deciding who was to live with whom. Having more that 1 boar in with sows doesn't work in the long term. I was just lucky it lasted as long as it did. I wouldn't do it again. I just didn't know you weren't supposed to have max 1 boar to sows when I was put in the situation of suddenly having 2 boars and 3 sows due to a pet shop pregnancy.
 
Personally i would split the males and have a mix sex pair. But thats if the male bond is not a very very close one
 
Betsy said:
I had 2 boys living with 3 girls for about 2 and a half years and then one of the boars started to bully the other one so I had to split them up. Luckily I have a 2 tier hutch so just took the ramp out and now I have 2 mini heards. The most difficult bit was deciding who was to live with whom. Having more that 1 boar in with sows doesn't work in the long term. I was just lucky it lasted as long as it did. I wouldn't do it again. I just didn't know you weren't supposed to have max 1 boar to sows when I was put in the situation of suddenly having 2 boars and 3 sows due to a pet shop pregnancy.
Click to expand...
I didn’t know either otherwise I wouldn’t of get her
 
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