Getting my now singular guinea pig a friend?

[Bubble64]

Thank you for the support everyone gave after Jamie passed. It really meant a lot. Sparky is 6 years old and is now without a friend. He seems to be doing well, is perfectly normal and seems happy however I am still wondering if I should get him a friend? He is 6 and I am also aware that I wouldn't want another younger boar to stress him out or disruption him too much. He is in the room with 2 other guinea pigs and can see and hear them clearly so would another board be beneficial to Sparky? If I did choose to get him a companion, I would probably get a younger boar however I am wondering because many rescues seem to have pairs of boars but not any singular boars so it is a struggle to find singular boars and if I do see any for example on Blue Cross, they want the boars to be rehomed with a group of girls. And due to Sparky's age, if I did get another companion, and Sparky passed, I would have the same problem again of trying to find another singular boar that could go with another boar. Would it be possible to put a pair of bonded boars with Sparky? It doesn't seem like a good idea especially since boars do best in pairs not trios so I guess it's also a question about the logistics of boars and how most are either in pairs or looking to go with a group of sows.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I'm sorry for your loss.

No, you cannot put a pair of bonded boars with him. It would be a disaster and you would end up ruining the bond between the bonded pairs and would quickly end up with multiple single piggies.

Some rescues (blue cross being one) will refuse to rehome boars to other boars regardless of the situation and insist they have to go to sows because boar pairs don’t work. It’s obviously not the case at all that boar pairs are a problem so it’s a shame they won’t rehome to other boars but it is what it is on that front with them. You would simply have to rule out using those rescues.
With that said Boars who have already lived with sows are not going to want to live with a boar again anyway.

So you do have two choices:
- find him a younger friend; that’s fine to do. I bonded a bereaved 6 year old with a 2 year old and they got on brilliantly for the next six months until the 6 year old passed away.
This does mean you are committed to the continual cycle of piggies; however some rescues would let you return the younger piggy to them to be rebonded and rehomed once your older piggy passes away if you don’t wish to continue your piggy cycle.
Have you actually spoken to the rescues with the on the phone? Or did you just check their websites? I ask this as not all rescues will advertise their single piggies online and you have to call them to discuss your situation in needing a single for a bereaved boar.

- If you wish to end your piggy cycle, then given you do still have other piggies that he can live next to, then you could leave him single but with the continued interaction between the bars.

It really rather depends on how you feel about the piggy cycle or whether he is actually ok by himself with side by side interaction with the two you’ve already got