need advice please

[Victoria09]

since the passing of my guinea, I decided to adopt 4 guineas, 2 of which my sister wasn't giving enough attention to and the other two I rescued from the shelter, They have been together for a week now, One of them is very small, gets the zoomies and is always hungry, I'm guessing he's a baby or very young, as he's half the size of the others, they all tend to follow and mount him, so I keep him seperated for now. The other 3 do well, they do rumble at each other and some cry. ive heard them chatter teeth and I go and make sure they are not fighting. At night I hear them chase each other around but no serious fighting all thought teeth chattering is still there. They get 1 or 2 hours of play time, and then go back to their homes. Well yesterday I noticed a huge gash bite mark on one of the guineas. and I don't know which one bit him. We did clean the wound and he seems to be fine but its pretty deep. I will be going to get some Neosporin to help. what do I do in this case? how do I find out who is the one that bit him, or if they will seriously harm each other when i'm not around, They been living together for a week now.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I assume all four are male.
If so then this is a major problem. You can only keep boars in pairs. Any more than two boys together in a cage then you are going to get huge fights and broken bonds.

You must separate them straight away.
You need to work out which two get on best and keep them together as pair in one cage.
Any piggy which doesn’t have a compatible partner will have to be kept in separate cages.

So if you can’t make two pairs then you will end up either with:
- one pair and two singles (ie you need three cages)
- or potentially all four will end up single if they all fight (ie you need four separate cages).

Sadly this is the normal outcome from an attempt of a boar quartet (or even a boar trio). They are highly unstable and never work out.

If you can get Two boys together then they need a cage of 180x60cm.
Any piggy which ends up single needs a cage of a minimum of 120x60cm.
All cages need containing a single piggy need to be side by side so they can interact between the bars only. This enables interaction but they can never share any space again.
That includes during floor time - you can’t allow any of them to mix in any space any more

Any serious injury needs a vet to check it. It may need stitches, antibiotics and painkillers etc

The guides below explain more

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

 

[Victoria09]

You say he - are all of them male?
If so then this is a major problem. You can only keep boars in pairs. Any more than two boys together then you are going to get huge fights and broken bonds. Any piggies who are fighting cannot remain together.

You must separate them straight away. You need to work out which two get on best and make them into a pair.
Any piggy which doesn’t get on with others will have to be kept separate.

So if you can’t make two pairs then you will end up either with:
- one pair and two singles (ie you need three cages) - or potentially all four will end up single (ie you need four separate cages).

Two boys together need a cage of 180x60cm.
Any piggy which ends up single needs a cage of a minimum of 120x60cm.

Any serious injury needs a vet to check it. It may need antibiotics and painkillers

The guides below explains why you cannot keep more than two boys together

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

yes all 4 of them are males, when I adopted they wouldnt allow me to adopt a female and male. so I had to get 2 males. and the other 2 I took from my sister were already a pair, I just added the 3rd one to live with them. The 4th one the baby, I have him in his own cage right now, the cage the 3 are in, is a two story cage but none of them go to the top floor.

 

[Piggies&buns]

yes all 4 of them are males, when I adopted they wouldnt allow me to adopt a female and male. so I had to get 2 males. and the other 2 I took from my sister were already a pair, I just added the 3rd one to live with them. The 4th one the baby, I have him in his own cage right now, the cage the 3 are in, is a two story cage but none of them go to the top floor.

I’m afraid this is where there is now a problem. You cannot add any other piggies in with a boar pair. By adding the third piggy, it has caused big problems - It is a recipe for disaster and potentially can now ruin all bonds.
Boars cannot function when there are more than two together.
You have no choice but to separate them immediately, particularly now one has been injured, as per my advice above.

I can assure you the cage you have will not be big enough for three boars. It likely isn’t big enough for two either if it is a commercial cage. A two storey cage does not count towards cage space.
There are no commercial cages big enough for two boars and there definitely aren’t any big enough for three or more.
(For three boars you need a cage of a minimum of 300x100cm on a single level but even that won’t help at all because boar trios face huge a compatibility problems and don’t work).

Please put your sisters pair back in one cage together and see if they still have a functioning bond between just the two of them. If they do still get on, then make sure they are living in a cage which is 180x60 (70x24 inches).
If they don’t get on any longer (adding a third piggy to a bonded pair can ruin the original pair’s bond) then they will also need to be separated from each other.

The third piggy you added to your sisters pair needs to be removed immediately and put into a separate cage.
You can then try to a neutral territory bonding between the third piggy and the baby who is already separated and see if they can get on and live as a pair. If they do then they also need a cage or 180x60cm (70x24 inches).
If they can’t then they also need to be kept separate from each other.

Any single piggies need a cage of at least 120x60cm (48x24 inches).

It’s good they wouldn’t let you adopt a male and a female if your males are not neutered.

 

[Victoria09]

I’m afraid this is where there is now a problem. You cannot add any other piggies in with a boar pair. By adding the third piggy, it has caused big problems - It is a recipe for disaster and potentially can now ruin all bonds.
Boars cannot function when there are more than two together.
You have no choice but to separate them immediately, particularly now one has been injured, as per my advice above.

I can assure you the cage you have will not be big enough for three boars. It likely isn’t big enough for two either if it is a commercial cage. A two storey cage does not count towards cage space.
There are no commercial cages big enough for two boars and there definitely aren’t any big which for three or more.
(For three boars you need a cage of a minimum of 300x100cm on a single level but even that won’t help at all because boar trios face huge a compatibility problems and don’t work).

Please put your sisters pair back in one cage together and see if they still have a functioning bond between just the two of them. If they do still get on, then make sure they are living in a cage which is 180x60 (70x24 inches).
If they don’t get on any longer (adding a third piggy to a bonded pair can ruin the original pair’s bond) then they will also need to be separated from each other.

The third piggy you added to your sisters pair needs to be removed immediately and put into a separate cage.
You can then try to a neutral territory bonding between the third piggy and the baby who is already separated and see if they can get on and live as a pair. If they do then they also need a cage or 180x60cm (70x24 inches).

If they can’t then they also need to be kept separate from each other and all other piggies.

Any single piggies need a cage of at least 120x60cm (48x24 inches).

It’s good they wouldn’t let you adopt a male and a female if your males are not neutered.

The two that came from my sisters house they still cuddle together and stay besides each other, The 3rd one is now in his own cage, The baby gets a long really well with the 2 pairs already. but I will see about pairing the baby with the 3rd adult and see how well they bond.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Good, I’m glad you’ve been able to separate them promptly.
Do check all cage sizes - space is so important to boars.

This is the bonding guide which explains how you need to go about introducing the baby and the third piggy to each other.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours

Of the baby and third piggy make a pair, then ensure you don’t allow each pair to interact with each other during playtime. You need to make sure they stay in their respective pairs and don’t mix.

 

[weepweeps]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Years ago I had two boars and the pet shop told me they liked to live in big herds (which they don’t). So I got two more and just put them straight in altogether. Well it was a complete disaster. The original two fell out and were separated with one each of the second pair and then they all fell out too. So we ended up with four cages. I hope you can get two stable pairs

 

[Mrs Tiggy Winkle]

yes all 4 of them are males, when I adopted they wouldnt allow me to adopt a female and male. so I had to get 2 males. and the other 2 I took from my sister were already a pair, I just added the 3rd one to live with them. The 4th one the baby, I have him in his own cage right now, the cage the 3 are in, is a two story cage but none of them go to the top floor.

Female and a male who isn't neutered is a recipe for 25 guinea pigs within a short space of time, so a rescue refusing that is normal. I'm surprised they allowed 2 males in addition to the 2 males you already had w/o giving some pretty strong cautionary remarks though.

I'm sorry things aren't going to work out the way you hoped. Guineas are so adorable that of course we want more and more and wanting to rescue more is understandable but not always doable.