possibly rehoming more, girls boys and space questions :)

[Connie]

I have a very general preemptive question about piggies here for those of you who dont know me I have two boys (sugar and spice - pictured on the left) at the moment. I love love looooveee having them, and I have been a member of this forum for a while. They currently live on vet bed with a hay area (I'm thinking of changing to foam bedding am testing it for the floor of the hay area at the moment.) They have a nice big cage, its about 2m by 70cms at the moment while I'm at university.

University isn't working out very well for me and I am not enjoying it, as such I will probably be moving back home at the end of march semi perminantly (as in I am ofcourse more than welcome there with my piggies but eventually I hope to move out into rented accommodation.) Their cage at home is very slightly smaller than they cage at university (at present) however I am planning a rearrange when I get home. The cage will be lifted up onto a table and will have roughly the same area accept it will be square. Now this leaves room for a cage the same size underneath....

Provided I get a job, I maybe me looking at addopting more piggies. Now for the question... this gives me roughly 13sq ft of space. How many piggies would rescues be happy to rehome into this senario? also, should I be looking at keeping the boys on the top or bottom if girls were to be living in the other cage? how hard is it keeping both boys and girls?

Would rescues say boys are harder to rehome than girls? I realllly dont care what sex of piggy I end up with just that I can give some piggies a home (possibly) so would it be better to rehome more girls as a group, or just to have another pair of boys if they are tricky?

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

if your new piggies are girls i would deffinately keep them at the bottom and the boys in the top, other wise there would be a risk of nice girly smelling bits of hay, etc dropping down into the boys cage and exciting them!

there seem always to be more boys than girls looking for homes, partly i think because girls can be kept in bigger groups so it is easier for people to add to their numbers.

if going for a group of girls 13 sq ft would be enough space for 4

i have quite a few piggies, some pairs of boys and some mixed groups ( girls with a neutered male) and dont find this causes any problems so long as i handle the boys first and dont let them any where the girls have been. to be honest i think a pair of boys having a little rumble dance or teeth chatter are more likely to upset a second pair of boys than is the presence of girls nearby (but out of sight). that said if they have lots of space (such as 13sq ft for each pair) with several hidey houses, tunnels etc, i dont think 2 pairs of boys would be a problem

 

[Connie]

Thank you very much for the advice, I love having my boys and I'm confident at dealing with boar "needs" as it were. The idea of a small group of girls does appeal to me a lot as well though, partly because if I were to loose one of my boys I could have the other neutered and possibly put in with the girls. Whichever sex I go for I think I would be looking to re-home some older piggies, at least the age of my own.

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

it sounds as if which ever you go for they are going to have a fab home if at some point in the future you do end up with a single boy you can always take him boar dating, which is a service many rescues now offer and he will be able to find himself a lovely new buddy

i'm sorry uni didn't work out for you, its not for everyone, i never went and have no regrets. good luck with the job hunting x

 

[Connie]

yeah that is always an option, however i am also quite aware that in say 5+ years time i may be looking at starting my own family, hence why i dont want to be taking on piggies who are likely to be living longer than that my current pair are already two and this suits my life at the moment quite well,

Thankyou for the comiserations, it has been a great experience and I met my wonderful boyfriend here but unfortunatly I have been having quite a few issues which I will probably start another thready about

 

[katiepops]

Hi Connie, nice to see you back on the forum but sorry to hear things aren't working out for you at Uni.
I agree, if you get girls put them at the bottom. I remember when some of the girls bedding dropped into Gerry's pen below, he wheeked the house down. It was lovely to see him popcorning away but he got very over excited!
I know from my experience talking to the rescue I support that whilst any piggies being adopted is fantastic news, adopting a pair of boys frees up more rescue space. The hutches are a really good size so extra girls can always be squeezed in because they can accommodate more than a pair where as the same hutch will only hold two boys. I have a soft spot for pairs of boys. My two pairs of boys have the closest relationships, much more than my mixed couples / groups. It's all about the right matches, I've had brothers that hated each other but the ones that have met through dates at the rescue have the closest bonds. Gus and Jacques haven't been together very long at all but already they are smitten with each other and follow each other round. Bob and Spike sleep with their heads on each others bums, if that's not close I don't know what is! lol
According to guinea pig cages 13sq ft is fine for 3-4 pigs. I changed mine to a square and find they use the space much more than the same surface area in a long rectangle.

 

[SDRB_TP]

Not very much I could add to those answers haha! But thought I'd just link a website I found useful (click here), although of course bigger is better! Also, it's very sweet of you to be wanting to re home older piggies, as as you can imagine they aren't in high demand. :-)