hi

[jessie74]

Well hello, I'm totally new to this website and forum and the whole deal so I'm trying to figure it all out here. About me and my piggies...
I'm 33, married with a 12 year old son and a husband just getting used to the idea of more than 1 pet. I adopted a 1 1/2 year old guinea pig from the local Humane Society just over a year ago. His name is Dorian and he was one of a pair that they had to seperate due to fighting, his former mate was adopted by someone else. He has been alone since I brought him home and I recently rescued Marlin from a pet store. I say rescue because they basically gave him to me, quote 'just to get rid of him'. Well couldn't leave him there! I've had Marlin for a week now and of course they are still in seperate cages. They are both males, Dorian is now 2 1/2 and Marlin is about 1 1/2 (best they could tell me). I'm a little nervous about introducing them to each other because of their ages and Dorian's history of aggresion. Long story short...I stumbled across this site while looking for new cage ideas and advise on uniting my piggies. The information here is amazing and the cages ideas phenominal! As a matter of fact I have about 20 of these cubes at home I use as closet organizers but never would have thought to build cages with them. Anyway, thats me and my piggie story. Any helpful advise is greatly appreciated!

[CavyHubby]

When you build your C&C cage you could build 2 cages joined and see how they react to each other? Normally an older pig will take to a younger one, because their is no domanance issue.

Safe Journies
Samuel

[envisionary333]

Welcome to the forum! Introducing two males can be tricky, but if you follow a few basic tips your chances of success are very high. The most important thing is to introduce on neutral territory so that neither of the piggies feel the need to be territorial and start a fight. Sometimes there will be a little scuffling as they get to know each other, but you should always leave them together to work it out on their own unless their is bloodshed. Keep an oven mitt, dustpan, or towel handy to break up a fight if you have to. Here's a great link for more info: http://www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm#Introductions.

[jessie74]

Thanks so much for the helpful advise; a joined yet divided cage sounds like a great idea and one I'm sure I'll use! Thanks!
I've read a lot on this site about the older getting along well with the younger...my concern there is that Dorian, the older piggie, is actually much smaller than Marlin, the newer and younger one.
Hopefully keeping them seperated but within sniffing distance will work well. I'll keep you posted!

[Tulia&Susie]

Having them in joined cages but separate could be a good idea and bad. The main thing about quarentine is to avoid illness and to let them get confortable. If you quarentine him right beside the other one...if the new one had an illness that you didn't know of, the older one would get it.

[clotho]

Hi and welcome to the forum! I'm so glad you found this site! It's an awesome source of information. You can do a search on the forum and find other threads about almost anything you're looking for.

I would stick to the quarantine in separate cages - separate rooms - for at least 3 weeks - just to make sure your new piggie is healthy. Then try the ideas on the link envisionary gave you. The introduction may go smoothly and you might be able to put them together right away. Just make sure all scents are gone from the cage before you put them together. Remember with boars, the bigger the cage the better! Also, if you have a big enough cage, you can always split it into two if they truly fight. Then they have some companionship by being next to each other, but can't hurt each other. However, you should familiarize yourself with normal behaviour. Some of it seems bad to us, but it's only natural for the piggies and they should not be separated. Only if there is true fighting and bloodshed should you need to separate. Once they establish who is in charge, the arguing should settle down, although some rumblestrutting and mounting is normal and can continue indefinately.

I have three males together and one of them rumblestruts every single day.

[jessie74]

Thanks to everyone for the helpful advice...it came in very handy. The piggies are united and very happy with each other. They share, play and run around the new 3 level habitat we built them. The main level is 2 x 5...the second level is 2 x 4 and the hay loft is 1 x 2 squares. Plenty of room for 2 piggies! Now my son wants to get another 1...or 2...LOL. And my husband, who is not a pet person, spends more time playing & talking with them, adjusting their habitat and hand feeding them than I do! Neither of them are litter trained and they are not getting into the idea at all. Cleaning a cage of this size I find takes about an hour to an hour and a half...then there's their laundry.... But certainly well worth the effort. Truly glad we found this site! OH...and the boys have renamed Marlin - Bruce.