Guinea Died :( how to introduce a companion to his friend

[ninja]

I found one of our Guineas dead yesterday - it was a real shock - he was only just over 2. I'm dreading telling DD's when they get back from their Dad's later

I don't want to leave the other one alone for too long (and the girls are going to ask) so I wondered if there's any way of introducing another guinea to a 2 year old male?

I'm happy to get him neutered and wondered if introducing a female would be best - Could I introduce an adult so they're a similar age?

I'll ask at the rescue centre too - but thought it'd be useful to have as much information as possible before I contact them as the girls will just want to dive in.

[ninja]

bumping this as I'd really like some advice

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Aww very (one of our guinea-pigs was called Ninja- he was DS pig (hence the name, DS used to do karate ) but he was a very hands off owner so I reclaimed the guinea as mine )

I've been in your situation twice.

We had two adult boars (about 3 yo) and one died. We got a tiny boar piglet to match up. They got on well, the older boar relinquished his Alpha Boar crown as the piglet got bigger. There was the inevitable rumble-strutting and the occasional barney. The young boar tended to dominance mount the older one (we never had that with the brothers) but he just got snapped at, no fighting.
We had a fight with the two brothers when they had a combination of too much coriander in a small space. We learned our lessons

When the piglet was a year old he was bereaved.as he was a very dominant type we didn't trust him with a piglet so we got two sows (same Rescue as he came from) and kept them side-by-side seperate ,had him neutered and waited till he was sterile.
In this time they were able to chat but not allowed together. By the end of his waiting time we let them touch noses when we held them.


We were prepared though if neither of these pair-ups worked that we could side-by-side if we really had to. (It's not ideal but they have company to chat to)
We had to buy a run for GP3 (boar) until he could join the girls. And they had a large safe cage in his Pighouse, he had the rest of the space. We had an elaborate system of catch the boar first and put the girls to bed first so there was no chance of them escaping with him.

Our girls are the same age as him and had piglets in Rescue (they were part of a huge Rescue intake) so they were a bit fiery but have settled down really well.

We had a boar alone for about 6 days until we got our cagemates. You'll find alot of places will be reluctant to rehome but if you explain the situation, they might boar-match your little piggie in Rescue over Christmas. Or I;d hope let you take a matched pig with you.

Good Luck and Off to the Bridge .

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

And though I had mainly sows as a child (I had a boar as my first pig) it was a learning curve with boars (they are scrummy and cuddly though)

The sows are so flipping messy though.
I have to give fresh paper and hay daily in the indoor sleeping cage and the outdoor haybox.
They just pee'n'pooh far,far more than the two boars ever did.

But we luffs them

[ninja]

see - I had 2 girls before and they were so much less messy - my boars poo for England! They are very sweet and poor boy keeps looking for his friend.

I'll ask the local rescue (where we got them) about possible matching. I don't really have the space for side to side as they're indoor guineas (I might try and put them outside this summer as we have a shed with a run next to it) but it's so bloomin' cold here in the winter ...

Good to here success stories though, I think the rescue (woman with her yard and garage completely full of rabbits and guinea pigs) will be only too happy to help me find one! The only worry is we'll come back with rabbits too!

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Maybe my sows are spectacularly manky (though when we kept the two girls in one cage, one of them, I reckon my girl, used to poo in the corner all neatly. I'm sure it's DD guinea that's the mucky pup. Our boar is quite fastidious really .It's the amount they pee )

I've never had an eye for rabbits , our main worry was coming home with more guinea-pigs than we planned. We went for 2 sows but I could've been persuaded to take 3 if there was a bonded group.

Most boars will take a little boar piglet on happily. When we got GP3 (our piglet) my DD wouldn't entertain the idea of having GP1 castrated. He was a 3 yo but healthy.

Castration is a big consideration but we've got all our pigs the same age now , otherwise you have a never ending cycle of young pig/older pig

[millimat]

Aww sorry to hear that.
Apologies for shortcut but I've copied this of mine from another thread.
We had the same situation when over off our 5 month old boars became poorly and died. I hated setting the other one alone. We struggled to find any local rescues that could boar match so ended up nervously at pets at home. They were brilliant. They let us try lots of different young boars and we watched to see who seemed ok together.
That was in August. We have two very happy Guinea pigs - one is huge compared to the other, but they don't have any fighting and I'm glad we risked pairing him up. There's not a huge difference in age so no guarantee who will outlive the other.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Tiny baby piglet boars are sooooo cute

Not trying to influence you, oh no

[ninja]

Rabbits because we had 3 who died in the summer - I loved watching them chase around the garden (and get in the pots and eat EVERYTHING! )

I know a baby would be lovely, but I'd rather not have this happening again in a couple of years.

I'll try and contact the rescue today - we may go to pets at home to buy some donations for the rescue so could speak to them too. I have to say all the animals look really happy in our local one. They have a huge, clean enclosure

Thanks for the help, right back to more cuddles for chocolate (the remaining guinea) .

And, no - they both poo everywhere, lots of wee too!