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Not Sure What To Do About Our Boar

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Kerrie74

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Hello,

as some of you will know we had to have Sheamus pts because he had bladder stones and his health had gotten worse (still angry at the vets that were meant to look after him), we're now left with a single boar called Big E. He seem's ok, he's eating, he was doing laps around his cage this morning, luckily I haven't washed the beds yet so he will still smell Sheamus (was reading @Wiebke post about grieving), we've also been handling him more which oddly enough he seems to be enjoying (very odd for Big E lol).

@Wiebke suggested moving his cage next to the girls but I'm not sure if there's enough room in my bedroom, I even went in with a tape measure earlier. I would prefer he stayed in a 2 x 5 cage with him doing laps.

I really don't want to adopt another guinea to be honest, this is our second guinea that has had to be put to sleep since February but I know that we need to do what's right by Big E.

The problem I'm having is, I checked your locator for rescues that do dating the problem is yet again they are miles away from us, same as the vets that know about guinea's.

What I want to ask is... if can make the room for Big E's cage and we can put him down next to the girls would we still need to adopt a mate for him?

I feel totally gutted after losing Sheamus, he was a massive part of our lives, we got him with Big E and had them for over a year now, as I said above, I am really not happy with any of the vets that saw him, the last one even tried to say that even if he did get through it all he could get stones back... I told her had been reading on ways to prevent them. In my opinion my son should have been taken seriously about Sheamus' weight loss from the start and the PDSA bet should have booked him in for surgery asap rather than waiting almost a week... yet another one of our guinea pigs let down by vets.. Sorry about the rant but it really had put me off having any more guinea pigs.

Thanks in advance

Kerrie
 
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Horrible experience for you - I am so sorry.

We had a similar situation a few years ago. We had two brothers - Harry and Smudge. Sadly Smudge died from a respiratory infection and we were very worried about Harry being on his own but he coped in the short term with a lot of tlc.We then got two little girls which we kept next to him so they could touch noses and hear each other. That seemed to work and he was quite content.

Good luck with big E
 
Thank you @katew :) He does look a bit lost bless him, but is acting normal enough, I will have to try and rearrange the cages, I do have an idea that I can try.
 
No, as long as Big E could live next to the girls with interaction through the bars, you would not need to boar date him, which is why I suggested it in view of you not having access to a good rescue for boar dating or a good vet for neutering.

Would it be possible to go creative with arranging both C&C cages so gain more space by creating two story cages instead of than just on one story ones? I you could post the dimensions you have available for both cages, maybe we can help you work something out that suits both groups?
 
That would be great thank you @Wiebke

At the moment Big E is in a C&C which is above the girls C&C, they are both 2x5 cages.

Did you need any other measurements?

It's due to us moving to a bungalow which is a tad smaller than our last home, in our last home it probably would have been easy to put Big's next to the girls due to us having a large living room there. Since moving here our three sows and two (now one) boar are in my bedroom and the little boys are in the living room.

Thanks again.
 
Would it be possible to create a hay loft / kitchen area on the other floor for each cage, so the piggies can interact on two floors? I.e. Big E gets a cellar bedroom and the girls have a hay loft next to his, so they are able to do the same things together, as they would if they were living in a bonded group.

That would mean that you could utilise the same foot print but allow the piggies to see and sniff each other and all you need is to work out ramp access and use four more grids to separate the compartments.

Big E will want to sleep next to the girls, so if you could create a sleeping area with that in mind, that would be great. ;)
 
Hmmm, sounds like a good idea @Wiebke there is a space in between the cages. I've just took a pic so you can see it :)

There is a little problem, we tried putting a ramp in Big's and Sheamus' old cage and non would go up it! Awkward boys lol.

 
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I would think that the company of sows will be a powerful incitement to using a ramp; if necessary break the ramp up, either on top of a grid or a suitable hidey, so it is not as steep.
It took my piggies some time, but eventually all were using theirs when we had double story C&C cage.
 
Ok thanks, I'll see what I can figure out with the cage :)

Just take your time to think through different models and see how practical they are re. access and usability. The more Big E can interact and coordinate his life with your girls, the happier he'll be (i.e. sharing hay, eating and sleeping next to each other).

You can always open a thread in the housing section to ask for other members' tips and solutions.
 
Thanks. Yeah I'm trying to figure out how to do it :) I posted on a already open thread there which has pics of people's C&C cages :)
 
You may want to start your own thread, as that will attract more interest. Just have a look through other people's cages and their solutions. Some have found pretty creative ones!
 
Ok will do :)

I've noticed some really great looking cages, I love the ones where they incorporate cupboards/drawers.
 
Tacked together bookcases can also serve as multi-story cages with extra storage space.
 
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