Hi everyone! So recently a friend of mine gifted me a male piggy, so I went ahead and bought another male, since there aren't any adoption centers anywhere near where I live. One of them has already been in the house for a month, while the other one just recently came home. And just now after investigating about piggy bonding, realized it's really hard to bond two makes. The first one seems very dominant, and the other one we haven't had the chance to see their personality, but he seemed pretty calm. Any tips appreciated, or if you can tell me your own experience with bonding two males. Thanks in advance!
Male bonding tips
- Thread starter Hirse
- Start date
Roselina
Forum Donator 2025/26
Hello I have 2 boys that are bonded
Boys make lovely companions and it is a myth that you can’t bond males
There IS a process to follow and you will need to quarantine your new boy for about 2 weeks I’ve added the link to help you with the bonding process
Behaviour, Bonding & Bereavement Guides
Good luck and I’m sure others will be along to offer advice and help
Boys make lovely companions and it is a myth that you can’t bond males
There IS a process to follow and you will need to quarantine your new boy for about 2 weeks I’ve added the link to help you with the bonding process
Behaviour, Bonding & Bereavement Guides
Good luck and I’m sure others will be along to offer advice and help
Welcome to the forum
I agree - it is a myth that it’s hard to bond boars. It’s no harder than bonding two sows and the process is exactly the same.
I am a boar keeper myself.
The key to any bond is character compatibility: they either have it and they will be fine together; or they don’t have compatibility and then they won’t be fine - exactly the same as with females.
You have to first make sure the cage you intend them to live in is big enough.
Two boys together need a cage of 180x60cm. Boars are more territorial and need a lot of room so any smaller than 180x60cm and it won’t be big enough and lack of space can lead to problems.
You also need to make sure you have multiple of everything.
All hides need to have two exits : don’t use any hides with only one door as it can mean one can trap the other inside and then they can cause fights.
We also say not to use food bowls or hay racks - add loose piles of hay on the cage floor so they can get inside the hay piles and forage freely (hay racks restrict their ability properly forage) and scatter their veg and pellets into the loose piles of hay. This is a great source of mental stimulation and entertainment. It also means the dominant piggy cannot food hog as it is scattered everywhere around the cage.
Now to the bonding itself.
You need to put both piggies in separate but side by side cages for a couple of days so they can get to know each other between the bars. If they have already been side by side then you can go ahead straight to bonding them. It’s particularly important that you do bond them promptly if they are babies (or even if one of them is a baby) as babies should be alone and will appreciate the interaction and companionship quickly.
You then pick the day you are going to bond them.
On bonding day, you need to put both piggies into a neutral territory pen (somewhere neither of them
Sees as their space). Don’t add any hides to this neutral space, just put in hay and water.
They need to stay in the bonding pen for several hours but ideally overnight - provided all is going well.
While they are in the bonding pen, you need to ensure the cage they are going to live on together is clean.
If all goes well during the time in the bonding pen, then you can move them to their cage together. You can add hides to the main cage at this point. It will then take a further two weeks for them to fully establish their relationship.
If things don’t go well in the bonding pen and the bonding fails or if there are fights, then it means they are not compatible and won’t be able to live together. You will then need to keep them in separate but side by side cages permanently. You will not be able to attempt to bond them again
This is the guide which explains the bonding process more fully
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours
These guides explain boars more specifically
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
I agree - it is a myth that it’s hard to bond boars. It’s no harder than bonding two sows and the process is exactly the same.
I am a boar keeper myself.
The key to any bond is character compatibility: they either have it and they will be fine together; or they don’t have compatibility and then they won’t be fine - exactly the same as with females.
You have to first make sure the cage you intend them to live in is big enough.
Two boys together need a cage of 180x60cm. Boars are more territorial and need a lot of room so any smaller than 180x60cm and it won’t be big enough and lack of space can lead to problems.
You also need to make sure you have multiple of everything.
All hides need to have two exits : don’t use any hides with only one door as it can mean one can trap the other inside and then they can cause fights.
We also say not to use food bowls or hay racks - add loose piles of hay on the cage floor so they can get inside the hay piles and forage freely (hay racks restrict their ability properly forage) and scatter their veg and pellets into the loose piles of hay. This is a great source of mental stimulation and entertainment. It also means the dominant piggy cannot food hog as it is scattered everywhere around the cage.
Now to the bonding itself.
You need to put both piggies in separate but side by side cages for a couple of days so they can get to know each other between the bars. If they have already been side by side then you can go ahead straight to bonding them. It’s particularly important that you do bond them promptly if they are babies (or even if one of them is a baby) as babies should be alone and will appreciate the interaction and companionship quickly.
You then pick the day you are going to bond them.
On bonding day, you need to put both piggies into a neutral territory pen (somewhere neither of them
Sees as their space). Don’t add any hides to this neutral space, just put in hay and water.
They need to stay in the bonding pen for several hours but ideally overnight - provided all is going well.
While they are in the bonding pen, you need to ensure the cage they are going to live on together is clean.
If all goes well during the time in the bonding pen, then you can move them to their cage together. You can add hides to the main cage at this point. It will then take a further two weeks for them to fully establish their relationship.
If things don’t go well in the bonding pen and the bonding fails or if there are fights, then it means they are not compatible and won’t be able to live together. You will then need to keep them in separate but side by side cages permanently. You will not be able to attempt to bond them again
This is the guide which explains the bonding process more fully
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours
These guides explain boars more specifically
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Hello everyone! Thanks a lot for your tips. Just today, I put them together for the first time. I put them with a lot of hay and no hides in neutral territory, and left them for an hour. They mostly just chattered at each other, with both trying to establish dominance over each other. There weren't any real fights, and they mostly followed each other. I ended up putting them back to their cages out of fear they would start fighting each other. They didn't really fight and did most of the friendly stuff like washing themselves next to the other, sniffing bum, sniffing near other nose, etc, but neither of them really wants to give dominance to the other, but were getting more vocal as time went on and sometimes got more aggressive when pursuing the other to attempt to mount. No chinning happened. I plan to try to bond a few more times, but wanted to ask if the bonding still has any chance?
Idris
Junior Guinea Pig
Patience! As others have posted regarding the process but please try not to separate and start all over again. We do the side by side for a day (cage divider between them), swap sides for another day then remove the divider. To some extent you have to hold your nerve while they are chasing, mounting, teeth chattering etc.
Be ready with gloved hands (thick gardening/ski/motorbike ones) in case you need to separate them if they get into a whirl or biting each other.
Plenty of hay, treats etc and there will likely be calm periods between rumbling and mounting etc. If there’s no fighting then hopefully they will get along but also be aware that moving to the new cage can also trigger a fresh round of antics.
If they can’t get along then they could still co-exist but with a divided cage. Good luck. Our two still bicker and mount but are generally good with each other.
Be ready with gloved hands (thick gardening/ski/motorbike ones) in case you need to separate them if they get into a whirl or biting each other.
Plenty of hay, treats etc and there will likely be calm periods between rumbling and mounting etc. If there’s no fighting then hopefully they will get along but also be aware that moving to the new cage can also trigger a fresh round of antics.
If they can’t get along then they could still co-exist but with a divided cage. Good luck. Our two still bicker and mount but are generally good with each other.
Bonding boars is a one time event that has to be seen through to conclusion in one single meeting (whether that is success or failure). You can only separate during bonding if they have an actual fight, in which case the bonding has failed.
There is no option of bonding ‘a few times’ as that isn’t bonding - short repeated meetings only amounts to playdates which piggies don’t do and cannot do anything with - the repeated introduction and separation means they never get far enough into the process each time to be able to form a bond before being separated and progress being lost again. The stress of meeting but never getting anywhere can cause what might have been a successful bonding to fail.
Acceptance is the first stage and takes around half an hour. Establishing dominance is the second stage and can take many hours more. As you only had them together an hour in total, they had only just started trying to establish dominance so we can’t comment on whether they would have a managed it and whether the relationship stands a chance. It does sound that acceptance did occur though.
Unfortunately, their separation does mean progress has been reset and they will be back at the beginning of the process now.
Do put them back on neutral territory and leave them in the bonding pen together all day (and even all night if necessary). It’s so important that you don’t panic that they will fight as they establish. If you start first thing in a morning then you will know by night time whether things are ok between them so they can happy be left overnight without worry.
Once they have been in the bonding pen long enough and all has gone well you can move them together to their permanent cage.
In an uncomplicated bonding where acceptance and dominance happens without any issues I still don’t move from the bonding pen to the main cage anything before 6 hours together, but it can be as much as 12-24 hours in the bonding pen if it had taken longer to establish dominance. Moving to the cage will cause a new round of dominance so it is important that you leave them in neutral territory for as long as possible (hence the advice to be in neutral overnight if necessary) - the longer they have been together before you move them, the further they are into the establishing of their hierarchy and the less disruption moving them will cause (it will still cause disruption but move too soon and the effect can cause an issue) so do not rush them. They will then spend the next two weeks in their main cage finalising the details of hierarchy.
If they do actually have a full on rolling around fight (not to be confused with dominance which can look rough to us but it is normal to them and should not be interrupted) then use thick gloves to separate them. If they fight it means they have not been able to establish dominance and they will need to be permanently separated.
We do not recommend any side swapping or scent swapping of divided piggies as it can cause territorial conflict when they meet. If they smell another piggy in their territory and then meet the piggy with that scent it can cause them to immediately be on a bad foot and view the other as an intruder.
We also don’t recommend just removing the divider of separated piggies as allowing them to wander into each others half can also be viewed as a territory invasion and risk a fight.
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours