Keeping Males and Females together

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sarsmccabe

Hi, I need some advice........ i have had female guinea pigs in the past and never had any problems but my partner bought me two males in January as a suprise. We have had nothing but problems since and they have just been neutered. I was wondering how many males can be kept with females? I no that a lot of websites etc recommend having one boar with 2 sows but would it be possible for me to keep two boars and 2 sows together? Has anyone done this?
Thanks x
 
No, you can't keep two boars and two sows together. The boars will fight, even if they have been neutered. A boar and sow can pair up if that's easier for you? Then you'd still have two pairs. If you feel you can't split the girls up I suggest rescuing a lady friend for the boar on his own.
 
Hi welcome to the forum :) I agree with Starla, would be a very risky thing to do ::)
 
Thank you for the advice. I no one of my boys is a bit of a bully so he needs to be seperated from his brother. I will just need to have two pairs. Will they get on in a run together? This is all new to me as i have never had boars before. x
 
to be honest i dont think i would even put them in a run together, hopefully somebody whose had this problem before will be along to offer advice :)
 
I have kept more than one boar in a herd but they've been quite docile and laid back - I think any that were a bit more feisty should be single boars in the herd.

Sometimes it depends on the amount of space you have i.e. the more space the better!

Good luck O0
 
Thank you so much. they seem to be alot calmer since the operation. How many females did you have with the males?
x
 
You could divide the run in half, if possible? Then a pair could go either side. If the boars can smell sows on each other they'll be mightly mad with each other ;D
 
It's like lions one male for a gang of females. Neutering doesn't change their behaviour either.
:)
 
yeh i can divide the run as its huge. and now they have had their op i wont have to worry about any little babies.
 
Been thinking about splitting the males up and putting them with females and then slowing introducing them back together in a few months when they are past the 1 year stage. The cages are indoors and will be kept side by side. Is this a good idea?
 
Personally if i were in this situation i would just bond a boar and sow up and they usually love each other for the rest of their lives like an old married couple and i think that would be the best option O0

I also dont see why people say ' no you cant house 2 boars with 2 sows' whether they have had experience doing this before or not however many a times they have done it :)

It just depends on the boars or sows personality :D
 
Thank you for your advice. I just think i will pair them up and see how that goes. Just want my boys to be happy with each other but if it comes to it they will just need to have a female for company. x
 
iloveanimals said:
Personally if i were in this situation i would just bond a boar and sow up and they usually love each other forthe rest of their lives like an old married couple and i think that would be the best option O0

Persoanlly i also dont see why people say ' no you cant house 2 boars with 2 sows' whether they have had experience doing this before or not however many a times thy have done it :)

It just depends on the boars or sows personality :D
Click to expand...

Totally agree!
 
yeah :) if not them the 2 boars can be together and the 2 sows can stay together but to me that would of been a waste of time and money and pain for the boars imo O0

1 sow to 1 boar would be great :smitten:
 
Hi
Just wandered where you kept the 2 boars before you had them both neutered ? were they in the sows cage/hutch :)
 
they were and still are together. They cuddle up together happily but just once in a while carl with push lenny out his house, of nudge him away from the food bowl and they constantly want to "make love" with each other. Hence my vet suggesting the op. They still try and "make love" with the occasional nudging, thats why i thought having females would give them a different focus.
 
Oh i see so were they with the sows before being neutered ? If so the sows may be pregnant :-\
 
i dont think there are any sows yet ILA, if the boars are happy together couldnt they stay together? mounting each other is a dominance thing, theres no need to get them neutered and seperate them if they arent fighting :)
 
they seem happy together, just the odd nudge on occassions and the odd showing of teeth but thats not that often. Would like the girls to be living with them but so many people have said against this.
 
Two's company, three's a crowd?! :)

If the boys are happy together then that's fine - if not then put a sow with each. Nice thought to have them all together but unfortunately you can't explain to them that this is what you want and neutering doesn't alter their behaviour with boars.

Good luck!

Sophie
 
I have three girls that live together also a neutered boy and girl partnership. At the weekend or when its nice they all have a run out together Murphy thinks he is king when he is with the four girls. He loves it Trinny and Susannah keep him in line if he gets a bit too excited over them he loves it. :smitten:

Defo think a boy girl partnerhip is good... Having said that my girls all get on great and Jimmy and Joe are a dream together never once have they had a scuffle I do think this is because they are both so layed back and Joe has no interest in girls what so ever. :smitten: He just loves his mum :smitten:

When they are out in the runs side by side Joe never looks at the girls Jimmy strutts his stuff wiggling his bum at the girls through the mesh! he is such a lad ;D


Hope you work out the best partnerships for your piggies :smitten:
 
Thank you for that advice. Lenny is really laid back and loves me cuddling him. Its carl who seems to want to play with lenny all time and he cant be bothered. Thats why i thought the company with the girls would be great for him as he wouldn't have any competition from lenny.
 
If the boars are good pals just keep them together. The neutering option is only an idea when boars won't live together any longer. Mounting and rumbling is natural boar behaviour, think of it as playing! If they start fighting, then it's a good idea to have them neutered and place with a girl each.
 
they have been neutered just now debating how to get them with the girls.
 
I think it is a good idea that you had your boars neutered in any case. If they were to fall out with each other in time to come, then you can just split them up, and put them with a girl each straightaway. If you hadnt neutered them, they would have to be seperate for some weeks from the girls, so they would be quite lonely for a while. You wont have that problem. O0

Or even further in the future - if one of them dies, for example of old age, you can put the remaining one with a sow, as from what I have heard, the older the boar, the more difficult to pair them up with another boar. However if you hadnt neutered your boar, he might at that point be too old to have the operation done (the older the higher the risk), and he might end up spending the rest of his life alone.

So I think you having neutered them is an investment in their future happiness :)

As for keeping more than one boar in the presence of females... I personally wouldnt risk it. Most males would start arguing over the females, this is only natural. The only cases were I have seen it work out was if one of the boars was really laid back and easygoing, or if there is really LOADS of space. A friend of mine has quite a large setup, and she tried it; for a while it went well, nothing happened apart from the occasional teeth chattering of the males, but most of the time they just kept out of each others way. But in the end they DID fight, and I think it is just not worth the risk. Boars want girls of their own, and I think that should just be accepted like that. I think most of our boyfriends and husbands would agree ;)

So what are your options.

You could either just keep your two boars together, and see how they get on. You can always get two sows to make up two seperate groups once the boys HAVE fallen out. If you are lucky, they might never.

Or you get the sows straight away and have two groups. What I would NOT advise is having the 2 sows together, and the two males in a seperate group - even just the smell of females nearby might start fights between them.

so either keep the situation as it is, or make to sow+boar groups, but I personally do not think anything else would work.
 
I just dont no what to do for the best, I could make up two groups and hope that works out. we are in the process of building a big C&C cage for them and one of our boys is very laid back so the 4 together could work. If it didnt we could just make two smaller cages for them of out them back in th cages we already have x
 
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