Nee Guinea Pigs Questions

[amorrissett]

Hello all! I currently have two adult male guinea pigs. I am considering getting another male guinea pig, a baby, to the group. I was wondering if anyone had advice because I’ve never had a baby guinea pig. Should I keep him separately from the adults until he is a little bigger? Best ways to introduce him to the other two?

Thanks!

 

[Beemz]

The consensus seems to be that two boars are fine together whereas three tend to fight.

 

[dannif_piggies]

I was going to comment the same opinion as @Beemz obviously there's cases where 3 boars happily live together but it's a lot less common. I personally wouldn't risk damaging an existing bond between your current 2

 

[Sophie B]

There are very few people who have 3 boars, and the general consensus is that it isn’t a good idea and they are very likely to fight, if they do it would break the bond of your current piggies causing more catastrophes...

 

[Merab]

Can’t add to that.
If your boys are happy together leave them.

Welcome to the forum

Please let us see pictures of your boys

 

[Piggies&buns]

Best to leave your bonded boars as they are don’t do anything to risk their bond. Adding another is usually a recipe for disaster. Not only is it likely that any new piggy won’t be accepted, it can destroy the bond of your current two and then all three will end up single and needing to be kept separate, possibility of injuries and vet treatment and then each needing a new friend...suddenly you’ve got three five foot cages and six guinea pigs on your hands!

 

[Wiebke]

Hello all! I currently have two adult male guinea pigs. I am considering getting another male guinea pig, a baby, to the group. I was wondering if anyone had advice because I’ve never had a baby guinea pig. Should I keep him separately from the adults until he is a little bigger? Best ways to introduce him to the other two?

Thanks!

Hi and welcome!

Good that you are asking before getting a new piggy!

Boars work best in pairs. Trios and quartets are particularly prone to failure - up to 90% with sub-adults.
Adding a third can cause the established pair to fight and at the worst fall out with each other if there are any underlying issues between the two.
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?

I would strongly recommend to rather consider adopting another already stably bonded pair from a good rescue with mandatory quarantine and reliable sexing (if you can get to one), so you can neatly avoid all the pitfalls. Since pregnant sow arrivals are not all that rare, rescues do have youngsters as well as adults although they often prefer to pair up a baby with a stable adult to up the chances for them to make it through the baby's hormonal teenage without mishap.
You can always consider having another cage on a table above the original cage.
recommended good standard rescues UK: Recommended Guinea Pig Rescues
recommended rescues in some other countries: Guinea Lynx :: Rescue Organizations

 

[amorrissett]

Hello all! I currently have two adult male guinea pigs. I am considering getting another male guinea pig, a baby, to the group. I was wondering if anyone had advice because I’ve never had a baby guinea pig. Should I keep him separately from the adults until he is a little bigger? Best ways to introduce him to the other two?

Thanks!

Thank you all for your responses, they were very helpful! I will probably not add a third pig to my group so that the guineas I have remain happy.