Hi newby with a couple of questions hope this is in the right place!

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MrsB

MrsB

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Hi we've had various pairs of male Guinea pigs and the odd other male added here and there although only in our adult years did we ever have a GP lol! We have always rescued/rehomed and that applies to all 90% of our animals. We now have 3 children, 1 dog, a bunny, hamster, 2 hens left atm and 2 gorgeous little baby GP's.

We weren't exactly planning on getting any more just yet and made our previous giant home made hutch into nesting boxes for our hens - oops lol! But the local vets had been handed over 3 GP girls that needed to find a home before being PTS :( My sister took them and 2 were pregnant! They were found by a dog in the woods and handed in by it's owner. There were 4 but one was dead :0 Anyway the remaining 3 sowa found a forever loving home with my with my sis and the 2 pregnant sows had 2 boys each :(|).

I bought this hutch pre-loved in mint condition http://www.petsathome.com/shop/poppy-den-guinea-pig-and-rabbit-hutch-by-pets-at-home-16028

I then chose one boy from each litter and bought them home 2 days ago yay x) they were 3 weeks old. I'd really like to get 1 or 2 more and assume this space is ok (they will all be out in a large out door run on nice days only until spring/summer too). They are in another small hutch in our garage over night btw atm. The thing is they are 2 three week old boys what age would be most appropriate for them to mix with another male or 2? I doubt very much I'd find a neutered female or 2!

Thanks :)
 
You cannot have more then two boars living together as they will fight. You can only have two boars or one boar and as many sows as you like providing the boar is neutered. Well done for rescuing these little ones.
 
Unfortunatly male GPs can and should only every realy be kept in pairs. This hutch is also not big enough for more than two piggies. :)

Guinea pigs can be kept in bigger groups if
1. All in the group are female
2. there is one neutered male and many females. (no more than one male should every be kept with females as they will fight. Neutering does not change guinea pig behaviour)

I would however love to see pictures of your cuties and i hope you will be satisfied with just the two!
 
wrong answer! ....ok well not the answer I was hoping for lol! Really gutted now I'd got my hopes up for a few more already!
 
Sorry. :/ I know its gutting, I have a boar pair and am a little sad that i cant expand (not that i have the room anyway, mallethead)

However, if you try to keep more (especially in that hutch-which is perfectly fine for two dont get me wrong) They will very likely fight, and when they fight they can actually kill eachother, and even if they only wound eachother they will have to be split (possibly to 3 single piggies) and will need expensive vet treatment.

Sorry to crush your hopes. :/
 
Just a question as I dont know the answer (we are an all girly household apart from OH) but could you keep two separate boar pairs?
 
You could do but not in the same room as your sows or they will go crazy!
 
Yes. :) Boars do very well in pairs, provided they are well bonded. However it is usualy best to keep them out of sight of the sows. (People keep them right above sows sucessfully though - however i wouldnt necessarily recomend this for teenage boars.)
 
piggyfan said:
You could do but not in the same room as your sows or they will go crazy!
Click to expand...

Usualy we agree (atleast roughly) tonight we seem to keep contradicting eachother! mallethead :))


I guess it depends who you ask! :))
 
Do you mean could I do this? If so I suppose so but I have to say it's not what I was after, I wanted to keep lots of piggies together (well ok 4!)

My only option really is getting my 2 boys neutered and getting 2 girlies (or more right?!).

I know its like all ops. ie not without risk so will need to be considered and only really needs consideration if we def. would like more GP's. What age can boys be neuterd and how pricey an op. is it roughly? Thanks for your replies btw loving navigating and reading around this site it's fab. x
 
Hi forgot to say that's interesting re boars as I have successfully had young boars together non litter brothers fairly young. I introduced other rehomed boars months later and they fought and fought quite badly, the worst was a torn ear and they had to be seperated which wasn't my ideal, nor my own pig getting a torn ear. I'm not sure how I introduced them now ie neutral space or if I just went for it but the rescue place told me to use vicks on the pigs to mask their scent-this obv. did not work! I have kept my own pigs for more than 10 years I have been here a few hours and learnt sooooo much already thankyou x

ps also suprised you say this hutch is only good really for 2 Guineas as those indoor cages are much smaller and people keep two in them. Mine will be out on good days once they're a bit older.
 
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#I'm sure you will discover indoor cages on this site are rarely smaller than 120x60 (which is the rough size of your hutch) - Or atleast the one the link was too.

You could split up your boys and put them with girls, but you would need a new hutch. And the hutch you curently have could still only have two piggies in it, the new one could be as bit as you like though, and possibly have more. (i have no ideas about neutering costs sorry.)
 
People keeping two piggies in a cage smaller than that haven't been educated by the people here on the guinea pig forum. :)

Boys need to be 4-5 months and of a certain weight to be neutered, it costs around £45 per pig depending on the vet. You should make sure your vet is experienced in guinea pig neuters because it's a more complex operation than for animals such as dogs and cats. As such it also carries more risks, from what I've read on this forum it seems it's not really recommended unless you don't have another option. Though of course opinions will differ. I know the feeling of wanting more pigs (or small furries generally) but if your boys stay happily bonded it seems a shame to split them up for the sake of getting more. If you're willing to keep two separate male/female pairs could you not have two separate male pairs?
 
I have only been keeping piggies since Aug 10 so can only go by my own experience.
We had 2 pairs of girls and a pair of boars all from babies at the time.
When the boys hit teenage years the fought and one had a cut lip. They were housed in 3 hutches in their shed. So put it down to them smelling the girls. Got both boys nuetered at a cost of £55 each (they were 6 months old) and now they live happily with 3 sows each.
They are so addictive so can understand why you want more. Each time my friend breeds babies i am very tempted.
 
Hi all thanks to you all for all of your replies. I would have though myself my hutch was ok for two and you guys say it's ok which is good. But I was told by another pig owner it was large for 2 (maybe she meant height wise?) and sorry I was going on the inddor hutches I've seen available for sale which to be perfectly honest seemed far to small to me unless just used to bring piggies in over night or something.

The 2 pregnant sows and the other female found dumped were all housed together in the same hutch by my sis as they were found this way so gave birth together (not sure if this is correct to do or not but the vets advised her?). Theye have therefore been together since birth alhough are not litter brothers. I find it interesting that my sis says they would suckle from eachothers' mother -Guinea pig wet nurses how fab :))

I would love more I really would but as they can't be 'done' for another 4 months or so anyway so plenty of time to think and sum it all up. I do not want to split them up though at all and from what advice I have recieved keeping 2 neutered males amongst females is still a no no as they will still fight so it seems to be a no brainer and I will have to get girlies next time, lots and lots lol! I don't wish to keep more than one group of pigs just now personally, no.
 
Bless you, i made exactly the same mistake when i had my first 2 g.pigs, i brought 2 boars and as i got the guinea pig bug i wanted more pigs but realised as you did that i could not put my existing boys in with any other boys or girls. I then decided to but a gigantic hutch called Molly's mansion and brought 5 girls and adopted 1 neutered boar. Over time this brood has been growing as i kept geting more rescue pigs and now have had a very expensive purpose built shed and run made which houses 13 of my guinea pigs. In the meantime one of my original boys died so i got he surviving boy another baby male friend and then the 2nd original boy died which left me with a young male, so i had him neutered and he lives indoors with 4 wives. You can see how addictive this is. My daughter also had a lone female (does not like any other pigs) that lives in her bedroom with her.
Be warned! it sounds like you are getting the guinea pig bug xx
 
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