Advice: Should I get her?

[TheJiraks]

I currently have two non-neutered males. They are in seperate 2x4 C&C cages because of fighting. (Yes blood was drawn more than once so let's not get into that again!) Our neighbor had two females, but one passed away a few months ago. My wife found out that although he does take really good care of the remaining girl, he really doesn't want her anymore. So I have the following questions now:

1) Assuming she is fixed because mine aren't, would it be a good idea for me to take her in and put her with one of the boys? (We don't have room for a third cage)

2) If she's not fixed, should I get her fixed so that I could take her in?

3) Do males and females typically get along better than male-male or female-female pairs?

Depending on your answers, I might have a few more questions. Again, I just want to emphasize that I DO NOT want any type of hanky-panky going on between the males and the female. And the neighbor takes really good care of her. He just made the comment that he does not want another pig (so she will stay alone) and when she is gone he will not get anymore. If I could take her in to provide her with a good home and some guinea pig companionship, I would like to do that.

Oh and one last question. If this did all shake out and it looked like it would be good for all pigs involved...anyone have any good ideas on convincing my wife to let me? She must have already seen the gears in my head turning because she told me about the neighbor's pig and immediately followed with "DON'T get any crazy ideas!!"

[Paula]

To take her in and have her live with one of your males, you'd have to have her spayed, or the male she's going to live with will have to be neutered.

Whether or not a male/female pairing works depends nearly entirely on the female. It doesn't always work.

Does this mean you'd have one male living with a female and one male living alone? Or would you try to find a female companion for the other male too?

[ferndalezoo]

I would probably consider neutering one of your boys, rather than spaying the girls. She wouldn't be able to live with both males, obviously, so I'd pick the one you think is most likely to get along with her.

[TheJiraks]

The cages we have now are 2x4 C&C cages.

I would put her in with one of the males and the other male would be by himself. It would take a miracle for my wife to agree to a third pig, a fourth would absolutely be out of the question. If you check out my profile though, you'll see that the cage setup we have means the pigs are close enough not to get lonely.

ferndalezoo, is there a medical reason to neuter the male instead? I was thinking more along the lines of, if she is spayed she could go in with either male. So if we got her and found out she didn't get along with the male we put her with, we could move her to the other cage with the other male.

Thank you both for quick your quick replies!

[Paula]

Neutering is generally less invasive than spaying. But there are risks to both surgeries. One of the downsides to neutering, is you have to wait a while before the sperm dies in the reproductive tract before he can live with females. When females are spayed, they can move in with a male pretty much immediately.

For me, I wouldn't get one a companion and leave the other alone, even though they can see each other. I had this situation a while back where I had two males who drew blood and had to be separated. Fortunately, two spayed females became available so they each got a girlfriend. If I could only have gotten one a friend, I wouldn't have done it.

[TheJiraks]

Thanks Paula. That's the kind of advice I was looking for. A fourth pig would be out of the question, so maybe trying to get the girl wouldn't be such a good idea...at least for my family and my pigs.