What do I do?

[Deleted member 145660]

Hi everyone, there’s a Guinea pig at my local shelter who is in need of a home. He was bonded to another one there but unfortunately they separated the pair and one got adopted. I would love to get him and give him a home. I just recently lost one of my beloved pigs (Ozzy) and I only had the two (ace and Ozzy) ace is very crazy and social so we did end up getting him a new friend (Cookie) from this same shelter. I met this piggy that needs a home currently and he is beyond sweet and it’s breaking my heart that he no longer has a friend there. I have another large cage that he could stay in and the one my boys are in right now is a large C&C cage that I can split so they can be neighbors. Ideally I would love to have them all together but I’m worried about a boy trio I’ve heard about situations where they don’t work out. I do have plenty of space and supplies and I can support this piggy. There’s also two more bonded pigs at the shelter that I would love to bring home too which would give me 5 pigs in total. What do you all think? Should I get the one and have three boys? Should I get the three at the shelter and have 5 boys or should I just stay with the two I have? Any advice is appreciated here the pictures I’ve attached are of the bonded pair (Mickey and Lenny, first pic) who need a home and the single one (Ryan, top of second pic) who just lost his friend (Reese, bottom of second pic) I would like to bring home at least Ryan and if you all think it’s possible Mickey and Lenny too.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Whether you get more piggies depends entirely on your personal situation - we cannot tell you whether bringing them home is possible.
Do you have the financial means and space to look after them day to day but also a big enough vet fund to cope if they were to become poorly.
Sometimes a person is better off to give fewer piggies a luxurious life than to overstretch oneself. Remember, we cannot save then as much as we would all love to!

Boars can only live in pairs - please don’t try to put any more than two boars together as it will result in fights and separated piggies.
If you were to get the single boy, then it would be best if at all possible to bond him with another piggy - thereby having four piggies

 

[Deleted member 145660]

Whether you get more piggies depends entirely on your personal situation - we cannot tell you whether bringing them home is possible.
Do you have the financial means and space to look after them day to day but also a big enough vet fund to cope if they were to become poorly.
Sometimes a person is better off to give fewer piggies a luxurious life than to overstretch oneself. Remember, we cannot save then as much as we would all love to!

Boars can only live in pairs - please don’t try to put any more than two boars together as it will result in fights and separated piggies.
If you were to get the single boy, then it would be best if at all possible to bond him with another piggy - thereby having four piggies

I actually just found out that Lenny was adopted too leaving just Ryan and Mickey at the shelter. They were both bonded to other pigs but I would love to try and bond the two with the two I have. If at all possible

 

[Piggies&buns]

I actually just found out that Lenny was adopted too leaving just Ryan and Mickey at the shelter. They were both bonded to other pigs but I would love to try and bond the two with the two I have. If at all possible

Please do not try to put four boars together - it will be incredibly likely to cause fights and potentially even break the bond between your current two. You do risk ending up with four single piggies. Plus the space requirements to attempt it - which we would never recommend - far exceeds normal cage sizing requirements at 400cm x 100cm minimum.
Boars need to be kept in pairs only. If you want four boars, then that must be in two separate pairs for them to be happy

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?

 

[weepweeps]

If you would like to give Ryan and Mickey a home with you that would be great. But please do not bond all four together. A few years ago a pet shop told me that four boys would all get along as they live in herds. This is totally wrong advice and they all fell out and they all lived in separate cages from then on. Very sad and not ideal. Are Ryan and Mickey bonded now or are they living separately at the moment. I’d get the rescue to bond them for you so they are compatible. Good luck.

 

[Deleted member 145660]

Please do not try to put four boars together - it will be incredibly likely to cause fights and potentially even break the bond between your current two. You do risk ending up with four single piggies. Plus the space requirements to attempt it - which we would never recommend - far exceeds normal cage sizing requirements at 400cm x 100cm minimum.
Boars need to be kept in pairs only. If you want four boars, then that must be in two separate pairs for them to be happy

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?

Thank you for your advice! I’ve only ever had two piggies together so this is all a very new thing for me

 

[Deleted member 145660]

If you would like to give Ryan and Mickey a home with you that would be great. But please do not bond all four together. A few years ago a pet shop told me that four boys would all get along as they live in herds. This is totally wrong advice and they all fell out and they all lived in separate cages from then on. Very sad and not ideal. Are Ryan and Mickey bonded now or are they living separately at the moment. I’d get the rescue to bond them for you so they are compatible. Good luck.

Unfortunately they are not already bonded now. The rescue they are at doesn’t seem to know much about piggies as the lady who managed all them just passed. I’m very sad to hear that four piggies cannot all live together but I still would like to give those two boys a home. Now that I know four cannot live together I will definitely be keeping them separate if I end up getting them Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Piggies&buns]

You could, of course, bring home Ryan and Mickey and try to bond them yourself. If it works then you’ve got two separate and happy pairs. If it doesn’t work, then Ryan and Mickey would need to live separately but in side by side cages so they can interact through the bars only, with each cage measuring a minimum of 120x60cm.

 

[Deleted member 145660]

You could, of course, bring home Ryan and Mickey and try to bond them yourself. If it works then you’ve got two separate and happy pairs. If it doesn’t work, then Ryan and Mickey would need to live separately but in side by side cages so they can interact through the bars only, with each cage measuring a minimum of 120x60cm.

If I end up getting them I will probably have to attempt bonding them myself, luckily I’ve been reading lots of the articles on here about bonding pigs lately to make sure Ace and Cookie get along well! I do have a separate large cage that can be all together if they do get along or spilt if they unfortunately don’t end up getting along.