MichelleM
Junior Guinea Pig
Back in November, Ganon, the last of our original pair of boars passed away at age 7, almost a year after his brother Dibbler. February last year, we adopted Nes (1 year old at the time, now 2 years old). He and Ganon were snuggle buddies until Gan-Gan passed.
In December, we adopted Merlin, a 1 year old boar, to be a companion for Nes. They had a bit of a rough bonding, as Merlin had been a single all his life and was fear-aggressive, but they seemed to settle a bit and were housed together for about a month. But the chasing never seemed to wind down and Nes became reclusive. We thought Nes might be ill. The vet cleared his health, but Nes didn't seem to want to leave the top story of their hutch, while Merlin had full reign of the downstairs and the connected pen. We tried a trial separation with Merlin in a separate, but adjoining C&C cage, and Nes almost immediately perked back up. We tried a few more times to bond them over the next couple of weeks, but they simply did not like each other. While Merlin was happy to be neighbors, Nes clearly still wanted a companion he could snuggle with. We decided to let the matter be for a bit; I thought about maybe adopting another boar from the shelter (Nes & Merlin came from the same rescue), but I didn't want to risk having 3 guinea pigs who didn't get along.
Then about a week later, my aunt texts me. A friend of hers had a 3 year old boar named Mac who had recently lost his brother, and his owner was developing an allergy. Since I've become The Guinea Pig Lady in my family, she asked if I'd be interested in adopting him. Husband was immediately on board, because a guinea pig needed help. We decided to give Mac a try with Nes with the back up plan of taking him to the rescue who knows us, since we know they'd be able to find him a home.
Luckily, Nes & Mac became instant friends! While Mac is a year older, he's very small, only 2/3 the size of Nes, so dominance was established very quickly with no arguments from Mac. Two boars barely a year apart who both lost their brothers and have a three-letter name; it was meant to be!
Now all 3 piggies are very happy. Nes & Mac have snuggle buddies again, while Merlin has his own space and neighbors he can interact with!
From left to right; Mac, Nes, & Merlin
In December, we adopted Merlin, a 1 year old boar, to be a companion for Nes. They had a bit of a rough bonding, as Merlin had been a single all his life and was fear-aggressive, but they seemed to settle a bit and were housed together for about a month. But the chasing never seemed to wind down and Nes became reclusive. We thought Nes might be ill. The vet cleared his health, but Nes didn't seem to want to leave the top story of their hutch, while Merlin had full reign of the downstairs and the connected pen. We tried a trial separation with Merlin in a separate, but adjoining C&C cage, and Nes almost immediately perked back up. We tried a few more times to bond them over the next couple of weeks, but they simply did not like each other. While Merlin was happy to be neighbors, Nes clearly still wanted a companion he could snuggle with. We decided to let the matter be for a bit; I thought about maybe adopting another boar from the shelter (Nes & Merlin came from the same rescue), but I didn't want to risk having 3 guinea pigs who didn't get along.
Then about a week later, my aunt texts me. A friend of hers had a 3 year old boar named Mac who had recently lost his brother, and his owner was developing an allergy. Since I've become The Guinea Pig Lady in my family, she asked if I'd be interested in adopting him. Husband was immediately on board, because a guinea pig needed help. We decided to give Mac a try with Nes with the back up plan of taking him to the rescue who knows us, since we know they'd be able to find him a home.
Luckily, Nes & Mac became instant friends! While Mac is a year older, he's very small, only 2/3 the size of Nes, so dominance was established very quickly with no arguments from Mac. Two boars barely a year apart who both lost their brothers and have a three-letter name; it was meant to be!
Now all 3 piggies are very happy. Nes & Mac have snuggle buddies again, while Merlin has his own space and neighbors he can interact with!
From left to right; Mac, Nes, & Merlin
