Question about adding guinea pigs

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I'm new to the site and I am not yet a guinea pig owner, but I'm adopting 2 beautiful males from a shelter that's about 2 and a half hours away :)

Anyways - I am only going to start out with them, and I *may* want to add more eventually. How exactly would I be able to do this?

I'm starting out with a 2x4 c&c cage so I definitely plan on making it bigger if I want to get more, but would I have to get some grids to seperate the new pig/piggies, until they're used to seeing each other and then take it out and let them find their way to each other? By then I will have a 2x6 c&c cage, possibly with an upper level too, or I might just make two 2x4's and put them together in an "L" shape maybe..

I'm new to this, how would I go on about it? Could I even add 2 females, if I were to get the males neutered? Would that cause problems between all of them? And if I just added two more males, they would have to be younger to *maybe* help with the dominance issues?
 
Males dont live in trios of groups, it causes 'gang warfare' lol. They will always be fighting each other for dominance I'm afraid.

You cannot have more than one neutered boar to a number of sows. If you were to have two boars in with girls then they will have bloody fights and will very likely hurt each other in a fight over who gets the girls I'm afraid.

If you want more piggies then you could rescue a neutered boar and add females in with him.

x.
 
Hi samisshort and welcome to the forum, its fantastic that you have come here for some advice. Unfortunately though if you are adopting 2 males you will not be able to add any more pigs to that pair. More than 2 boys together usually fight and even the most experienced of guinea pig owners have been unable to keep more than 2 boars together at one time.
Obviously you can not add females to and boys that have not been neutered and even if you did neuter them you could still not add females to 2 boars as they will also fight.

The best guinea pigs to get if you want your herd to grow is females and eventually introduce one neutered boar.

sorry if this has come as a disapointment to you
 
Hi samisshort and welcome to the forum, its fantastic that you have come here for some advice. Unfortunately though if you are adopting 2 males you will not be able to add any more pigs to that pair. More than 2 boys together usually fight and even the most experienced of guinea pig owners have been unable to keep more than 2 boars together at one time.
Obviously you can not add females to and boys that have not been neutered and even if you did neuter them you could still not add females to 2 boars as they will also fight.

The best guinea pigs to get if you want your herd to grow is females and eventually introduce one neutered boar.

sorry if this has come as a disapointment to you
 
Ohh, thank you for the replies then!

I guess I'll just stick with the two little guys that I am adopting. I'll be perfectly content with that!
 
Ohh, thank you for the replies then!

I guess I'll just stick with the two little guys that I am adopting. I'll be perfectly content with that!

You can always add another cage......and then adopt another pair....:)) (I started off with two males, added a third, failed bonding, and now have two boars bonded, one neutered male and a sow........all in the space of two years!):))
 
Maybe I'll try that then when I'm used to my piggies first :) I'm hoping to adopt them by next month! I've got the application ready and everything.. I really hope I can get them! They're so beautiful, and their description sounds exactly like the piggies I'm looking for :)
 
Unfortunatly abi is right, you can keep males in pairs, or on their own with neutered sows.
However, you could get another pair of boys to live beside them in another 2x4, just they wouldnt all share the same space :P

Sorry to disapoint you
 
As far as boars are concerned, they generally work best in pairs.

Trios are great when they work, but more often than not you end up with fights and separations.

You can always get another pair of boars. If want to branch out into girls, please keep them out of sight of any boars - they (or better their pheromones) can spark fights. http://www.susieandpigs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/optionsmenu.htm

Please also take into account that more piggies mean more cleaning and higher vet cost. Lots of piggies are a delight, but they are not cheap and quite a time commitment, especially when you are swatting up for exams etc!
 
Ah, okay. I'll just keep the two males I'm getting, and then I suppose later on if I decide to get more, they'll be in a seperate c&c cage!

First I'll wait awhile and just see how the two boys go. And every week I'll be putting down money so when they need a trip to the vet, I'll be able to afford it :) I have support from my mom and boyfriend as well xx
 
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