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Help With Housing Two Single Guinea Pigs

Cheesybiscuit

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Hi -

I posted a thread last week about my two boars, who'd been fighting:

Not Sure If I Should Separate My Boars

Although nothing else happened between them, we have decided to separate them, as they kept looking like they'd fight again and one of the bites ended up infected, so, after a discussion with the guinea pig specialist at the vet, she said that as blood had been drawn if it was up to her she'd keep them apart. Sadly, this is what we've decided to do - but we can't risk any more blood shed!

However, this has left us with a bit of a problem regarding housing and how to keep them both together where they can see each other but not get at each other. ((One is currently in the outside cage, one in the indoor pen as needed antibiotics).

The outside cage we currently have can have a divider put into it, but it's not going to offer enough space as a long term solution as when it's in two it won't offer enough running room.

The guineas currently live outside and it's not really practical to put two cages near to each other where the cage currently is - they're near the house at the moment so we can keep an eye on them, but there's not space for another cage there. We could get another outside cage but they'd have to be moved far from the house for the two cages to be near to each other which I'm not comfortable with, plus it's nice to have them nearby to give cuddles etc.

The other option is bringing them inside but we don't have tons of space inside the house and I think they'd both now need quite a large cage near to each other to get both the space/stimulation they require. I wondered if anyone else had this problem and how they'd got around it? I'm sure there must be a solution, I'm just struggling to work out what it is, especially when they can't live one cage on top of another!

Thank you for you help :)

(I've had a look at the cages in the forum section and need to go back for a better look, but they seem to be for lots of guineas living together.)
 
The minimum cage size for a single piggy is 120cm x 60cm, they can touching in any way necessary but as long as part of one cage is next to part of the other. If you’re thinking c&c cages then they would need a 4x2 cage each (one 4x2 c&c which measures 150cm x 77cm) or equivalent floor space

I think having hutches outside is tricky to get them positioned to allow good through the bar interaction, but I’d think the best you could do is two hutches facing each other but with enough of a gap between so you can open the doors, which obviously means they are going to be quite some distance apart and given they can only see a short distance in front of them, they would lose visual contact. The alternative would be to have one 8ft hutch divided with mesh down the middle so each piggy has 4ft x 2ft. An 8ft hutch would have to be custom made though as you don’t find them mass produced.
Do you have plans for bringing them indoors if the winter is too bad for them to stay outside, this goes back to the two 4ft x 2ft cages that you’d need in that instance.

Long term, are you planning on bonding then with a new friend each? I only ask as it may influence any of the more expensive housing decisions you make
 
Long term, we don't know what to do. We're hoping that seeing each other will be enough interaction for them and we don't need to get more guinea pigs, but I think the pig who ended up getting bitten would love a friend, he's bouncy and inquisitive. The pig who did the biting, I'm not sure what's going on with him. He hasn't seemed happy since he arrived months ago. He spends all the time hiding in the dark in his hidey, only comes out for food, and was aggressive to his brother, drawing blood, so I'm not sure he's going to get on with another gp, he might just be one who needs to be alone? He's very antisocial and seems very nervous all the time despite lots of love and cuddles and food offering. It took him ages to come and accept food from us.

I'm also apprehensive about getting more gps in case the same thing happens again!

I just don't know what to do, we had lots of boars when I was younger and none of them ever fought, and we were told they were bonded :(

If you can offer any advice at all about what to do I'd be grateful.

The plan was for them to live outside most of the time but come in when it's cold, but space is a real issue for us inside and will require furniture removal and all sorts to fit two cages in. Not impossible, but logistically tricky now they can't share a space...
 
I've seen on another sticky thread about boars falling out and how to proceed and it says "A double or triple tier 2x3 C&C grid cage (105 x 70 cm) with a ramp and a hayloft on the other level for interaction can be a solution if space is very cramped, but more ground space and adjoining cages or hutches with a mesh window between them would be better to help keep the bond alive."
Can someone explain how this would work please? I'm struggling to visualise it.
 
Have you thought about an L shaped cage inside? That way it could go around some furniture potentially? Our boys live to together but it is something I have thought about if the worst were to happen!
 
We have, it's still going to be tricky space wise as our house doesn't have any convenient nooks or crannies, sadly. We could fit in a 2 x 3, possibly a 2 x 4, so if we can make this work somehow with an upstairs level that might work.
 
The upstairs level wouldn't contribute to cage space, would neutering and pairing with girls be an option? No need to have cages adjoining in the long run, only until they're 6 weeks post :)
 
Thank you. Unfortunately more guinea pigs is not an option, we don't have space. We need to find a solution to make it work with these two!
"A double or triple tier 2x3 C&C grid cage (105 x 70 cm) with a ramp and a hayloft on the other level for interaction can be a solution if space is very cramped" - I got this information from a sticky on the site, which was why I was wondering if this might work for us.
This is so hard :(
 
Long term, we don't know what to do. We're hoping that seeing each other will be enough interaction for them and we don't need to get more guinea pigs, but I think the pig who ended up getting bitten would love a friend, he's bouncy and inquisitive. The pig who did the biting, I'm not sure what's going on with him. He hasn't seemed happy since he arrived months ago. He spends all the time hiding in the dark in his hidey, only comes out for food, and was aggressive to his brother, drawing blood, so I'm not sure he's going to get on with another gp, he might just be one who needs to be alone? He's very antisocial and seems very nervous all the time despite lots of love and cuddles and food offering. It took him ages to come and accept food from us.

I'm also apprehensive about getting more gps in case the same thing happens again!

I just don't know what to do, we had lots of boars when I was younger and none of them ever fought, and we were told they were bonded :(

If you can offer any advice at all about what to do I'd be grateful.

The plan was for them to live outside most of the time but come in when it's cold, but space is a real issue for us inside and will require furniture removal and all sorts to fit two cages in. Not impossible, but logistically tricky now they can't share a space...


Sadly bonds can break for several reasons so it is possible they were bonded before you got them, but that their bond was not as stable as thought - an underlying rift can come to the surface, a move to a new home for example exacerbating the issue

If you don’t want more piggies, then it is fine to keep them single but they do need to be next to each other. Finding them a friend obviously means you remove the issue of keeping two cages side by side, but you’ve then got four piggies! You can keep bonded pairs in stacked cages to save floor space - so one pair at the top, one pair at the bottom. It would have to be a 2x4 c&c for a pair though.

I've seen on another sticky thread about boars falling out and how to proceed and it says "A double or triple tier 2x3 C&C grid cage (105 x 70 cm) with a ramp and a hayloft on the other level for interaction can be a solution if space is very cramped, but more ground space and adjoining cages or hutches with a mesh window between them would be better to help keep the bond alive."
Can someone explain how this would work please? I'm struggling to visualise it.

I can’t picture this either.
 
I assume what they’re saying about the stacked C and C cage is something a little like mine, only with the bottom divided in half and probably a longer base? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Or a shared hayloft in the middle with a grid dividing it?

08241862-A4CD-470B-97B0-FADD5F2C62CC.jpeg
 
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