Here is our recommended rescues locator of the good standard rescues we can guarantee for that you are in safe and experienced hands. Most of them offer rescue dating. You may need to wait; there are generally less sows in rescue than boars, and there is more of a demand to adopt sows than boars. But it is well worth not to rush into it, to take your time and to make sure that any core group is stable and gets on well.
If I have learned one thing in well over half a century of bondings, many of them group bondings, you just can't predict the dynamics - it is all down to the interplay of the individual personalities. Always contact all rescues that you can get to in order to have the greatest chance of finding what you are looking for. Be aware that there are always more piggies in the pipeline than listed. And listen to rescue recommendations re. personalities - don't go for looks; opt for the piggies that suit your intension best, but be aware that what looks great on paper may not come off in reality.
Piggies are like people: you can't just stick them together in an office and expect them to become best of friends, preferably instantly!
Our recommended rescues not only offer bonding, they also have a mandatory quarantine and medical care plus a 10 weeks pregnancy watch for any incoming sows, they also only put piggies up for adoption when they are healthy. bonds are carefully matched unless piggies are already stably bonded when they come into rescue.
Please be aware that anybody in this country can call themselves a rescue (or a breeder) without licensing and any checks, and the results can be accordingly.
Recommended Guinea Pig Rescues
Apart from the fact that my own husboars are generally cuddlier and friendlier than my many sows, especially when they are past the big hormones, adopting a neutered boar for any sow group or pair that is open to boys is a way of helping to alleviate the strain caused by pet shops selling far too many unmatched baby boars in too small cages - with predictable results once teenage hits...
PS: I have currently got 6 husboars, but have had a string of them before (adopted from all ages between 5 months to 5 years old), both submissive ones and dominant ones depending on what job/companions I wanted them for.
Fights - if there are any at all - only happen during bonding when two dominant personalities clash and acceptance doesn't come about; and for exactly that you have the rescue dating so you avoid ending up with piggies that do not get on. In all my many bondings (including a fair number of ones that haven't come off as I would have liked), I've never had a fight with bites with a boar involved, only the odd tussle where both parties were doing their best NOT to cross the line in a dominance dispute.
Otherwise I have in around 30 years of living with piggies (and most of them with mixed pairs or groups) NEVER had a fight in which a boar was involved once they had bonded with sows. Fighting sows, yes; ovarian cysts and leadership takeoever attempts happen as they grow older. But never neutered boars - they are generally the peacemakers!
Cross gender bondings are by far the most stable of all piggy bonds with the smallest rate of fall-outs (mostly caused by medical separations or ovarian cysts and pretty much always initiated by sows), and the same goes for groups with a 'husboar'.
Sow groups with a neutered boar mimic how guinea pigs live together when they can choose, so you are very much working with piggy instincts and not against them. It is the sows that associate with a boar they want to procreate with and live with. If you give your girls the option to choose a boar of their liking at a rescue, then you won't get fights. Full stop.
Guinea Pig Facts - A Short Overview
Fighting boars come about because of lack of space and buying piggies for looks and not for mutual liking and character compatibility, which are the key to any successful piggy bond.
When boars measure up the loser will normally move out of the way and go elsewhere. In a small cage this is not possible, so confrontations cannot be avoided. The problem is not the piggies, it is their owners and their providers who fail them big way and then blame the boars for their own ignorance!
