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introducing young baby guinea pigs to an adult

4 replies

Piggysmalls · 20/05/2019 21:34

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately lost my (favourite) piggy to kidney failure recently and am looking to add a friend for the remaining one (who was originally a new friend for recently deceased pig after his cage mate died- does the cycle ever end?). Anyway, I am utterly sick of going out to get a new buddy when ever one shuffles off, was wondering if anyone had any experience adding two young sows (who will in theory grow old together) with a neutered adult boar? He’s about 2 and a half and pretty chilled, or is that crazy and should I just hold out for a single pig that’s similar in age to him? Appreciate any thoughts but I am reluctant to get a single younger one as I’m going to be back here in a few years! I’ve only ever kept pairs of boars together so appreciate any thoughts :)

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Piggysmalls · 21/05/2019 15:55

hopeful bump anyone out there? :)

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 21/05/2019 19:23

When my GP3 (huge Rex boar) lost his stepdad , he was just under a year old. We didn't want to put a tiny piglet boar with him (he was lovely but very full on and about 3lb weight)

I got him 2 sows ( about 10 months) who had just weaned their piglets , so they were a tad wild (they'd been part of a Rescue of over 240 piggies)

We had him castrated and put them side-by-side while he went sterile and they got to hear each other chattering.

They were 6 weeks side-by-siding, we put our 4x2 cage in the Pighouse and made sure he was taken out first and put in last so they were safe in the cage , but in case one managed to escape , he wasn't waiting Grin

We did the same when we got GP6 (GP3 died and we all missed a boar) he'd been neutered two weeks prior so he only needed a month side-by-siding.

But - our next two sows wouldn't bond with our pigs and it was only when we were down to one boar/one sow that they got together. GP8 wouldn't bond !
(The last pigs didn't ever breed whereas our first sows had before we got them. Don't know if that made any difference )

Is your boar already castrated ?

You need the complete neutral bonding area, huge pile of food.
A bath for them all to make them smell the same . Or you can rub some dirty bedding on from the other pigs to blend their smells.

Sows are feisty blighters , much messier than boars IME . Ours were quite happy to kick out or pee backwards if the boars got too "WayHay"

Mostly it was hopeful purring and rumbling (though it could just be that our neutered boars were very Under The Thumb Grin )

Piggysmalls · 21/05/2019 19:37

Thanks so much for your response! Sounds like quite the herd in your house! He has been neutered before we got him from the rescue, about six months ago so no chance of any accidents! After bathing etc, I was going to put them in a pen with open ended hideys with lots of hay and food in a room that doesn’t usually have pigs in it. If it all goes well, How long should I wait before allowing them to share a hutch? I’ve read a lot of conflicting views!

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Piggysmalls · 24/05/2019 21:29

Thanks again @70isa we brought home two beautiful baby girls from a woman who had an unwanted litter after buying two females from that pet shop... we have called them Síoda (Irish for silk) and Nóinín (Irish for Daisy) and they are getting on brilliant with our big lardy Arkle! He’s taken so well to them! Happy herd in this house :) pic attached is them partitioned and settling in the first night lest anyone thinks we have them housed in tiny accommodation!

introducing young baby guinea pigs to an adult
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