New baby boar?

Status
Not open for further replies.
LittleEskimo

LittleEskimo

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Jul 26, 2011
Messages
2,548
Reaction score
8
Points
525
Location
Kingston Upon Thames
on the 10th one of my piggies passed away after days at the vets. I have been left with a situation with my pther piggy :/ since his buddy has gone hes gotten very lazy/bored and doesn't seem to be eating as much as usual (although that could be because I am used to feeding two instead of one)
He will eat. But just not as much.
I have given him a teddy and he seems to enjoy pushing it around and nibbling and sniffing it but other then that he just lays down in his cage with nothing to do. I try to spend time with him but with college it can be hard.
I am not sure if I want new pigs just yet...but if I decided too would I need babies?
McMac is 2 years old and is a boar. I don't know if I am happy with getting him neutered so I will have to stick to getting boars.
What would your opinions/experience be? should I? and do I need babies to make bonding easier? Thanks, its been really difficult to decide what to do for McMac since his friend Momo passed...
 
I remember the situation with Momo, RIP little guy :(
I would look into if there are any rescues your way that offer boar dating, one of my boys lost his cage mate at 18 months, they were bought together. That was february this year and I found out about boar dating a couple of months later and we got fuzzy a friend in June, a baby boar who was six weeks, which has proved very successful. Fuzzy was getting lazy too and this has given him company. A baby boar often works best because the heirachy is already established. The younger one will try to ascert himself when he becomes a teenager but as the other one is much older, a lot of the time this passes over. I would maybe google rescues in your county and see what they can do. We took my elder boar to the rescue and he was paired up with Tyler, some rescues may have several baby boars and your boy would be able to pick his own cagemate out of a bunch. I would look at this first before neutering and also to find him some company.
If you can travel a bit too, it really is worth it. My nearest is an hour and a half away by car but I've since been back for more :))
Good luck, hopefully someone on here knows your area a bit better than me. :)
 
Yeah ive been looking at a couple of rescue websites in my area but none seem to have quinea pigs or if they do they are a couple of years old :/ Hmm
I am more then willing to travel but its whether the pigs can cope lol
 
They travel ok to be honest, I know weikbe is in coventry and went up to scotland for a piggy, thats like 7 hours lol! Maybe have a trawl through the rescue section on here and see if there any listed or post another thread? I'm sure there's someone somewhere! :)
 
My Rebel (3 weeks old) is in with Bart (over 5 years old) Bart is a lazy so and so at the best of times. He lies there whist Rebel clambers all over him. It's just temporary until he is old enough to be neutered as I'm hoping to have all 4 piggies (2 sows) living in one big hutch.
 
LittleEskimo said:
Well if they are good for travelling that means I can widen my search :)
Click to expand...

Personally I'm not sure it's a good idea for a baby guinea pig to travel very far (in one journey)....but an older pig should be fine.

As reputable rescues are relatively few and far between, it's not uncommon to hear of forum members travelling for many hours to get new rescue piggies but I imagine that the very long distance journeys aren't done all in one go and require a stop off (just in case you're planning a trip to Scotland lol!)

From what I understand, introducing a baby boar (say 5-8 weeks old) can work out well because an adult pig will usually take on the "Daddy" role and the baby pig will usually just accept, right from the start, that the Daddy is the dominant one in their relationship. As time goes on and the baby hits the hormonal "teenage" months, he may not bother to challenge this hierarchy and may just remain submissive and continue to accept that the older pig is "boss", in which case things continue to work out well.......but (and it's a BIG but!) if the younger pig decides that he does want to challenge the set-up, then that's where things can (and do) go wrong. If the younger pig fights for dominance and the older pig doesn't give in, then they will most likely fall out and it could get very nasty indeed, epecially if you're not there to break things up.

Basically a baby boar and adult boar pairing can work but there's always a risk of it breaking down when the baby's hormones kick in. There will be lots of people on this forum who have experience of this kind of pairing either working or not working. (Me, I have bonded a bereaved adult boar with a baby boar but they fell out in spectacular fashion (most likely due to hormones) and had to live separately and receive Vet's treatment for nasty injuries.)

I would advise that, if at all possible, it's better to find a really good reputable piggy rescue which can arrange some (adult) boar dating for McMac, rather than getting a baby boar. If you let him choose his own friend, one who is already past the notoriously problematic hormonal stage, then I think this is generally the best chance of a successful boar pairing. An experienced rescue will be able to supervise the initial bonding and know the signs to look for, to ensure that McMac is happy. Of course there are never any guarantees that bonded adults won't fall out in future, but if adult boars do accept eachother and become friends, then it's apparently fairly unlikely that they won't remain so.

I know how much McMac means to you so I'm sure you'll try your best for him x
 
Whee all hope you can find a solution for McMac xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>
snuggles and loves and girlie kisses for McMac xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top