Ophelia

Thank you for your reply @Piggies&buns. With regards to living side by side, we can only offer each 3 x 3 foot which doesn't seem much at all. (Presumably, 6 x 3 foot for a boar as well as a sow together is enough?) The main problem, however, would be if/when we go away as we have to take them to our friend's to stay and that means one Ferplast 160.

As I know nothing of boars, is he likely to be chasing and humping Ophelia all the time?!
 
KHBz said:
Thank you for your reply @Piggies&buns. With regards to living side by side, we can only offer each 3 x 3 foot which doesn't seem much at all. (Presumably, 6 x 3 foot for a boar as well as a sow together is enough?) The main problem, however, would be if/when we go away as we have to take them to our friend's to stay and that means one Ferplast 160.

As I know nothing of boars, is he likely to be chasing and humping Ophelia all the time?!
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3x3ft is 9 square feet so is a little over minimum for a single piggy so therefore perfectly fine to be side by side.
Conversion is a minimum of 4x2ft or 120x60cm for a single piggy (8 sq ft)

6x3ft is more than enough for a boar/sow pair. (They actually only need 5x2ft to meet recommended size so Conversion is - 150x60cm (10sq ft))

The issue does come when you go away then - one 160 cage is not big enough if they have to live side by side
(They would each need their own 120 cage).

Chasing/humping will happen during bonding and the two week period after. However, it is Ophelia who says what goes. A submissive female will allow mounting during bonding. A dominant female will not allow mounting unless she is in season.
An older boar who is used to females is going to be much less excitable bar bonding processes.
A young boar who has never been sows before is going to be a handful to begin with but the sow should put him in his place - he is not going to be thinking with his brain!
 
Thank you for this. Let's hope Ophelia can tolerate the bonding phase. I am glad that she will get a say in the matter!
 
Ophelia is now served critical-care-and-nugget-mush with the addition of diced courgette. It is getting harder, not easier, to get her to accept the critical care. Poor little girl, in order to syringe feed her yesterday evening, the youngest slave resorted to wrapping a basil leaf around the end of the 1ml syringe ... so what Ophelia thought would be a tasty soft leaf turned out to be brown yuck encased in hard plastic. Dastardly. It worked for the first syringe-full but by the time we were attempting the third, Ophelia had perfected the art of nibbling the leaf off around the syringe without the latter going into her mouth. (We do have courgette and pepper at the ready after each syringe.)

So, Betsie returns to the rescue tomorrow and, based on what we have told them about her, they have decided also to try her with a neutered boar.

And that means that we will be bringing home a young boar for Ophelia! He still has a couple of weeks to go post-neutering. I am prepared to be very cautious whilst he is living alongside her before bonding, with no hideys up against the sides of the C&C panels so that there is no chance of him escaping to reach her. Is there anything else that I should be aware of, whilst they live alongside each other?
 
My guinea pigs (two youngish sows) happily lived next door to Cufflinks (young boar) for six weeks prior to his being ready to meet them. They met with no issues at all apart from the odd jet of wee to keep him in his place. May have already said all this on this thread come to think of it!

Hope Betsie finds a lovely boar friend and of course that lovely Ophelia bonds seamlessly with the 1 year old boar from the rescue.
 
Betsie will very soon be living with ‘a big boar’! The match is all lined up.

And here is Ophelia’s new friend. He has spent most of the day hiding but mini-slave witnessed this:

644059DB-B230-4688-B1AA-625BD5C5E8F1.webp
 
The rescue had named him as he had come from a breeding/hoarding situation with well over 100 Guinea pigs.

Mini-slave, however, was looking for a name that would go with ‘Ophelia’.

We introduce you to Hamlet ❤️
 
KHBz said:
The rescue had named him as he had come from a breeding/hoarding situation with well over 100 Guinea pigs.

Mini-slave, however, was looking for a name that would go with ‘Ophelia’.

We introduce you to Hamlet ❤️
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I sincerely hope they have a much better future together than their literary namesakes!

Fingers crossed for an easy bonding and 2 happy piggies. I hope Betsie also loves her intended husboar 🩷💘💙
 
He has just 8 days to go 😀 although it may be longer until we try bonding. I would like Ophelia to get more weight on first.

No longer is she served ‘critical-care-and-nugget-mush’, nor indeed ‘critical-care-and-nugget-mush with added courgette’, but now: ‘copious amounts of diced courgette with lashings of special brown mush’. That balance of ingredients is going down a treat, and there is a higher proportion of critical care to nuggets than before :drool:
 
Qualcast&Flymo said:
I sincerely hope they have a much better future together than their literary namesakes!

Fingers crossed for an easy bonding and 2 happy piggies. I hope Betsie also loves her intended husboar 🩷💘💙
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Yes, we decided to overlook that minor detail and hope that our Ophelia doesn’t drown in her water bowl! We acknowledge that it is rather a ridiculous name but, as mini slave (whose choice it was) says, he’s not going to be bullied for it 😊

(Besides, we hope that Miss Bramble will put a stop to any teasing of the poor boy.)
 
He’s lovely and has been happily chuntering this morning as he explores (although the sound is more like trills). Bianca was like that and sounded like a rattle toy whenever she trotted around.

He has been rumblestrutting as he walks the (short) length of the bars when Ophelia is there. I guess he’s asserting his manliness (or should I worry)?
 
Haha. Saffron did a lot of rumblestrutting round the cage especially when food was available! There is harmony now and they do sit near each other regularly.

I believe that they are sisters (they look alike, not that guinea pig siblings do always match). They were second hand from someone cutting down their numbers.
 
Hamlet sounds very sweet! I hope Ophelia finds it a boost to have her new friend, it sounds very promising. I know you’ve all been through the mill with immense efforts to find her someone, and it must be very draining. Hopefully this all works out well and things can be nice and calm for you all! All the best.
 
LucyP said:
Hamlet sounds very sweet! I hope Ophelia finds it a boost to have her new friend, it sounds very promising. I know you’ve all been through the mill with immense efforts to find her someone, and it must be very draining. Hopefully this all works out well and things can be nice and calm for you all! All the best.
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Thank you for such a lovely message 😊
 
JaseChase said:
Hamlet sounds just adorable 😍 my boys often rumblestrut at each other as a friendly, boarly greeting!
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Ophelia has taken to responding to Hamlets’s rumblestrutting by rumblestrutting alongside him. She will also lie right up against the bars, presumably asserting her territory(?) So I can’t read this courtship. He is clearly delighted, popcorning away after rumblestrutting. But Ophelia? I don’t know. Can you read this behaviour?
 
Mourne lived alongside the Trio for about 6 weeks before the bonding. Mostly they ignored him and his attempts to woo them but they did say hello several times a day.

I had roof grids on the cage, because Mourne's absolutely a climber and without the roof grids I couldn't have given him any hideys with how the space was. Since he never worked out how to move a bendy log tunnel by himself I was safe (and so were the Trio!).
 
LucyP said:
Lovely to see! How are they doing?
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Hamlet is lovely. Yesterday he had gained enough confidence to eat out of mini-slave's hand, and then he put his trusting little front paws on her palm so as to eat out of the bowl on the other side of her hand.

Ophelia took quite a few days to relax once Betsie had been separated from her. She just couldn't settle anywhere. She is much better now and will occasionally make happy little noises to herself. She is maintaining her weight but not putting any on.
 
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