Wanting to adopt a third piggy, will my two boars accept him?

[piggypuppylove]

Hi everyone! My local shelter has 5 guinea pigs up for adoption! One is a precious baby (male) and one is an adult male. Would it be safe to get the baby and add him to my "herd" or would it be better to get the adult male? Also, how likely is it that my two friendly piggies will take to another addition? If I get the third piggy the cage will be expanded to a 2x5 (2x6 if I can figure out a way to fit it). What do you all think? I'd really love to rescue one of these sweet guys.

[Zuidy]

As far as the age goes, how old are the pigs you have now? If your pigs aren't full grown you should get the old man. He could establish dominance over the little ones (if that's your case) fairly quickly and not (necessarily) violently. If your piggies are OLDER, then get the young'un. This is the same idea, just reversed. (i.e the pigs you have already will establish dominance with the newcomer fairly quickly as well)

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As for if your piggies will accept the new addition, it's......... Honestly it's hard to tell. You have to try it first before we can make any assumptions. In my opinion, I do not think they will have any problem accepting a new friend, and if problems DO arise, the design of the C&C cage makes it very easy to separate them for as long as needed.

HOWEVER, once you get ANY new piggy, you MUST quarantine them from the other pigs, preferably in a different room but definitely in a different cage. This will allow you some time to bond with the pig and not only that, but you can spot illness early before introducing this piggy into your already existing "herd".



Hope I have helped!

[piggypuppylove]

Thanks! Just contacted the shelter and they said that the babies were all girls (originally one was listed as a male). I'm probably going to go down and meet the male today. My pigs are around 2 and this male is younger. I'll definitely quarantine. That will give me time to make a bigger cage!

[piggypuppylove]

Well, I should have known that I couldn't go meet a piggy and not bring him home So...


Meet George! He's pretty timid right now, but he's a sweet guy! Right now he's chillin' out under his hay rack. How long should I keep him isolated from the other pigs? Also, what steps should I follow when he is added to their group? I had two fighters before I adopted my current pigs and they never could be together (though they had never been around other pigs so that could have been the problem). George is a small pig, so I don't think he is very old. Usually pigs that get dropped at our shelter aren't very old. People buy them at Petsmart and then dump them a few weeks later. He was with a female and their 2 babies so I'd say someone accidentally adopted an opposite sex pair, wound up with babies a few months later, and decided it was too much.