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Togepi

Togepi

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I already have two young guinea pigs, I've had them for almost a month and love them to bits :))

I'd love to get a third, do you think this is a bad idea? Should I let them settle a little more first or would they even reject a new piggie?

Thoughts please :)
 
What sex are they? Providing you get the balance right, I think being new, it could work better than trying to add one to an established group. There are people on here with more knowledge in that respect but if I was to do it, the younger the better for me. I couldn't add to mine now, they are nearly 2 already! :o
 
Are they males or females? With males I would advise not to get a third and add to your existing pair. They will very likely end up fighting

If they're females, then introducing a third might work, but it always seems one piggy gets excluded.
 
They are both boys.

Adding to them while they're young sounds like a good idea. I'd love to have more than three but I have them in an indoor cage as we don't have a garden yet. They're going to get bigger too, we'll be moving soon though :)

If I was to get another one it'd have to be a little dude, don't have room for baby piggies yet :))
 
Why not get 2 brothers so they don't exclude one another and see how that goes? Providing you have the room. :)
 
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My advice about adding to a pair of boars -DON'T

More often than not having more than a pair of boars leads to everyone falling out and that will leave you with single piggies living seperatley.
Also your boys are still young and any day now they will be both going through the stroppy hormonal stage and 2 piggies sorting out the hierarchy is enough to contend with at the minute.

There is an exception to the rule and some people have successfully kept 3 boars together, sometimes they seem to work at first but a lot of the time they have fallen out.
The key element for boars is lots of space, they can bicker over space, houses, food bowl etc.
A massive factor is personality, if one piggie is laid back and it isn't in his nature to want to be top boar, the other piggie can take top postion easily. Its when 2 boars are quite dominate and they both want top postion that squabbles, and even fighting starts if they cant sort it out.
Also with a trio I have often heard of one getting bullied to the extent he wasnt allowed to eat.

Good rescue places will bond boars so they are matched on personnality and not just pot luck that they like each other. We call this 'Boar Dating' and it is very successful in finding boars 'friends' not just cage mates that tollerate each other.

I rehome boars from a rescue I foster for and I recommend at least a 5ft by 2ft cage minimum for 2 boars, although my own boars are housed in much bigger C&C type cages.


Here is a brilliant site about BOARS http://www.susieandpigs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/optionsmenu.htm
 
Talking from experience - IT'S HARD WORK!

Three boars means keeping a constant eye on them to make sure they are ok and if things do go wrong you need to sort them out ASAP.

Adding two young boars (now 8 weeks old) to my older piggie (3 years old) has not been easy and it will continue to be difficult for a good few months yet as they are hormonal and humping my older piggie left right and centre.

This has meant my older piggie has to have extra attention (not that I mind) and at the moment he's being hand fed as he's under some stress.

They ALL do love each other, but they do have fall outs and things.

I would WAIT until you move before you got any more piggies, and if you do, rescue a bonded pair and keep them living SEPERATELY from your already bonded pair.

That is of course if you have the room. If you don't have the room or the time stick to your two and lavish attention on them :)

Please don't rush into anything.
 
Boars are best kept in pairs. Adding a third is a recipe for disaster during the stroppy hormonal months. Have a look through our behaviour section posts and you will come across quite a few cases of people who thought it would be great to add to their cute youngster and then found out the hard way that they were anything but once the hormones started to hit!

There are a few trios and even less quartets, but most of them comprise boars of widely different ages and with exactly the right character mix. It is not something to be undertaken lightly or without a good deal of experience. Some people have got lucky by having started out with the right character constellation, but your chances are pretty slim. Most people with bigger boar groups that I know of have lots of boars and have been able to switch around until things were working out.

If you want more boars, it would be better to wait until your boys are over a year old and have made it past the stroppy hormones intact as a pair. If you have a fall out in the time between 4-12 months old, you may be looking for new mates for your boys anyway, and it can snowball from there! In my personal experience, adding a third piggy to an established group is the trickiest bonding anyway, as you are very likely to end up with an outsider problem sooner or later.

The best way to rebond permanently fallen out boars is by boar dating at a reputable rescue that offers this service or by having your boys neutered and then living with a sow or two each.
http://www.susieandpigs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/optionsmenu.htm
 
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