separating baby piggies

[holliesky12]

hey guys hope all is well !
on the 12th of October i had the surprise of my life, my lovely girl allice gave birth to 2 guinea pigs ( she was unknow pregnant when we got her ) She blessed us with 1 boy called Derek and 1 girl called Meredith ( greys anatomy fan here ! )
so my current group is Alice, Rosalie , Nala , Derek and Meredith. It is 3 week tomorrow and i have a separate cage ready for tomorrow. My plan is to neutered him when he comes of age and put him back with the group. So my question is Nala is spayed is it worth keeping Derek and Nala together to prevent loneliness. They will still be in the same room and still see each other and all of that. I just don't know if its fair on Nala and would they re bond ?

 

[Pantalaimon]

I am not really sure I understand what you are asking.
Are you asking if it is better to neuter your sow to keep with your boar or neuter your boar? (I apologise if I have got that totally wrong)

Neutering a healthy boar is a fairly low risk, non-invasive surgery while neutering a sow is much less safe and very invasive. You don’t need to neuter your sow if your boar is neutered, only one needs to be neutered.

You should separate as soon as possible. Baby boars should be separated at 250g or 3 weeks of age, whichever comes first. Beyond this there is a risk they will breed their mothers, though their sisters are at low risk for another couple of weeks (do not keep them together though!)

Depending on how much experience and how comfortable your vet is, they may be able to neuter your boar quite soon. In some areas of Europe baby boars are neutered at just a few weeks old but many vets in the rest of the world will not do this despite the many welfare advantages.

Depending on how long you have to wait to have him neutered, he could be put in a (very secure) cage directly beside theirs so that he still gets interaction through the bars. At his age social interaction is crucial for him to be happy, safe and most importantly to learn how to interact with others before he becomes too big.

 

[Piggies&buns]

As she is already spayed, technically he can be with her - on face value it seems like a great solution, meaning he won’t need to be alone at all until the time he can be neutered.
I guess there is always that risk they won’t be accepted back into the herd so it’s whether you can manage the possibility of two separate cages long term should that occur
@Wiebke would be best to advise.

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

As Nala is spayed and part of the group he is living with it would be much better for him to live with her until old enough to be neutered than to live alone. Piggies who have been living harmoniously together as a group but have been separated will usually bond back together ok when reunited.

 

[Pantalaimon]

Apologies. It seems I may have misread the original post. I hope I didn’t cause any confusion, I think I read the word “is” as the word “if”.