Advantages of a Boy or Girl Piggie??

[HappyHopperz]

Hi! I am in the near future constructing my first C&C and am planning on getting 2 - 3 guinea pigs. I would have loved to adopt, but the last guinea pig rescue on Minnesota closed recently, as I spoke with the owner. (Lovely Cavy Rescue) I've decided to get them off CraigsList as my next option. I was just wondering what the advantages were of a sow and a boar. I want to have all the same gender pigs, but am wondering which pair worked best, and what the advantages and disadvantages were to each gender pig. Thank You!

[bpatters]

Read the "Boars Behaving Badly" thread at Guinea Lynx -- you'll get a very good idea of what life is like with boars.

Some people say boars have more personality than sows, and are more cuddly. I have no idea whether that is true or not. But you do have to go through boar adolescence, unless you get older pigs. And you've got to clean their sacs and penis shafts. That's about the only difference in care.

[kourt1313]

That thread may have just turned me off to adopting a friend for Shelby...

[Crystalkate]

My friend has two boars, and I have a sow. She is very sweet and cuddly! She has a lot of girl attitude though at the same time...especially when it comes to cutting her hair, or brushing it. She bucks her back end up like a horse She gets irritated with me. My friends boars are sweet as well, but they try to dominate each other all the time. They even do the mating dance with each other. I prefer my more innocent sow.

[Wildcavy]

We have 2 boars, one neutered, one intact. We also have 2 sows. For us, the Aby sow is the highest maintenance and most prone to getting herself into trouble (chew through coroplast, piling toys and climbing on them to get out of the pen, undoing latches, picking fights, etc.). Our neutered boar is the most easy-going of all four. Our intact boar does require a one-per-week clean, with daily inspections just in case, but he is a lot of fun and the sweetest pig you'll ever meet. He is mostly blind and has some alateral paralysis, but still manages to get some air when he tries to popcorn and can sing and whistle like nobody else can. He isn't particularly smelly, either. He does smell different, sort of spicy, but the only challenge is that he is very bonded with my husband and kind of huffs and grrrs when I get to close to him when he is sitting on my husband. Never bites, though.

I'm not sure if we just have weird pigs or if we are just weird people (or both!) but it is, to me, worth trying to get a companion for your piggy. The thing I like about adoption meets is that you get to introduce your piggies and they can tell you if they might get along, and you know that if something happens later, they will go back to a safe foster home. It's so different for everybody though.

[kourt1313]

I do agree, I think the boars have more personality and spunk to them. I know Shelby will have me laughing my butt off and when I had my girls they were very "you expect me to do something? eww" . That being said though (and this following question may be helpful to the OP), I know pigs all around the same age going through adolescence together can be a nightmare. But what about introducing a boar no younger than 1 year old to a pig not quite hitting adolescence yet? Obviously the same dominance testing will occurr, but is it liable to be more "nasty" between a 2 month old and a one year old or will the significant age difference keep things more at bay? Is it better to wait until after adolesence (which is when, 5-6 months?) to introduce a new (still older) pig?

[SeeSpotSit]

My friends boars are sweet as well, but they try to dominate each other all the time. They even do the mating dance with each other. I prefer my more innocent sow.

Does your sow have a friend? If not, maybe that would play a part in her innocence? I've seen sows together also play the dominance game.

I'm sure there are always variations to both sexes...my little Texel boy is SUPER sweet and cuddly but his Aby brother was the punky, coroplast chewing, demanding loud mouth. I don't love the "spicy" (great way to describe it!) smell myself, so I have thought of fixing my boar and getting him a sow friend since we lost his brother a couple weeks ago.

[Inle_Rabbit]

I have only ever had boars. They have almost always been sweet and cuddly and if they weren’t it was that pig’s personality not his sex. When I was young my brother had a sow, she seemed to have less personality and was a little more vague than my boars but she was very, very sweet. I can’t really say if that was just the way she was or if it was a female thing. I have three boars right now and they initially did all that dominance stuff but they have been together now for a month and things have settled down. Occasionally there is some humping by the youngest one but he is going through puberty I expect by summer most of that will have stopped. Actually the two older ones (1 and 3 years) never do any dominance things at all. A little nosing off over food but nothing more than that. Even introductions were a piece of cake between these 3. I also haven’t noticed anything too smelly about my boars. They smell like guinea pigs and they smell a whole lot less than my neutered rabbits of the past!

[Crystalkate]

Does your sow have a friend?

She did! I got a 8 week old sow for her a couple weeks after I adopted her. She wanted nothing to do with her. They constantly fought. It may be because Carliee was over a year when I adopted her, but I don't know. My friend wanted a pig, so she took Gizzy to her house and now all is happy. Carliee is just going to have to be the only pig I have. I make sure I give her lots of love and play time so she doesn't get lonely.

[Cavalicious]

I've had two boars for the past month. One is considerably older than the other and after reading about adolescent boars going through puberty on this site, I'm glad I listened to the rescue person when she suggested that I pair a young boy who is suspected to be the son of the older boar I liked. The older one is considerably bigger, too and has proven to be the dominant. I think I'm lucky that the little one just wants to follow him around and mimic him as opposed to fighting. They still do a lot of that head raising, but the rumblestrutting has stopped as well as the mounting by the bigger one.

I have no idea if roles will reverse once the baby matures, but they've established their territory in the cage already with no problems.

When I asked the rescue person about adopting the three that were already living in one cage and if it was easier, she tried to dissuade me. I think the reason is because when you put an established trio into a new cage/home environment, there will be new issues because new territory will be fought over. This just seems like common sense, but whoever has a clear cut reason why I expect will chime in.

[kourt1313]

I've had two boars for the past month. One is considerably older than the other and after reading about adolescent boars going through puberty on this site, I'm glad I listened to the rescue person when she suggested that I pair a young boy who is suspected to be the son of the older boar I liked. The older one is considerably bigger, too and has proven to be the dominant. I think I'm lucky that the little one just wants to follow him around and mimic him as opposed to fighting. They still do a lot of that head raising, but the rumblestrutting has stopped as well as the mounting by the bigger one.

Awesome, that's exactly what I needed to know! The one I'm looking at is a year old and a big guy from what the rescue says. I haven't gone to see him yet (only saw a photo) as Shelby can't go meet him since he's still under treatment for mites, but I'm praying this guy will still be available when we can go look. *keeping fingers crossed*

[spy9doc]

OK...I'm going to jump into this discussion because I too need some input. My Chester is a 14 mo. old neutered boar who has been living alone since his brother died last year. Most of you know that I have been planning to get him a roommate for months, but have not yet acted on those intentions.

He has the most wonderful laid-back personality and I think that he would love to be a big brother. I have been adamant about getting a young cavy as a roommate in hopes that it would rejuvenate Chester and teach him how to play again.

I was initially planning to get a young sow, but do I want the moodiness of her cycles of heat? OTOH, a young boar will be going through puberty and I'm back with the issue of cage marking and the nasty smell that accompanies it.

I have a friend with 27 years cavy experience, and she swears that neutered boars make wonderful nursemaids for young cavies. In her experience, they are patient, tolerant, and will teach the little ones all about life.

Anybody in my situation with thoughts to share?

[kourt1313]

OK...I'm going to jump into this discussion because I too need some input. My Chester is a 14 mo. old neutered boar who has been living alone since his brother died last year. Most of you know that I have been planning to get him a roommate for months, but have not yet acted on those intentions.

He has the most wonderful laid-back personality and I think that he would love to be a big brother. I have been adamant about getting a young cavy as a roommate in hopes that it would rejuvenate Chester and teach him how to play again.

I was initially planning to get a young sow, but do I want the moodiness of her cycles of heat? OTOH, a young boar will be going through puberty and I'm back with the issue of cage marking and the nasty smell that accompanies it.

I have a friend with 27 years cavy experience, and she swears that neutered boars make wonderful nursemaids for young cavies. In her experience, they are patient, tolerant, and will teach the little ones all about life.

Anybody in my situation with thoughts to share?

Though I don't have experience with more than one pig yet, I've been told by numerous people that have had experience with multiple pigs that the smell is really what you make of it. If you clean the pigs and their bedding properly and regularly, the smell should never be that much of an issue and on the other hand, if you don't clean regularly, yes it will be noticeable and a problem, just like with any other pet. Again though, this is just what I've been told, I have no experience with multiple pigs just yet. Just want to make that clear

[Inle_Rabbit]

Buddy is going through puberty right now and he either isn't that stinky or isn't spreading boar scent around. When I first introduced Buddy last month Eddy Pig (the boss, ~1.5yr) spread his scent all over the place. After one day of that he was done and they have not done it since. Although this is my only experience with a young/borderline baby guinea pig it has been a very positive one. I added Buddy to an older established bonded pair. Both Eddy and Ben (3yr) just accepted Buddy. There was no nosing off, rumble strutting, or humping of Buddy instead Eddy and Ben did that to each other but established their same hierarchy they had before Buddy was introduced. Buddy was just now at the bottom. When I added Buddy he had not dropped yet, just in the last 2 weeks he has and there has been another change. Mostly it is Buddy being a punk at floor time humping everyone until they get mad at him. In the cage all is still peaceful. They have a lot to do and two stories which I personally think adds interest for them. All three share 1 hay bin, 1 food cup and 3 water bottles. Buddy follows Eddy around like a little lost puppy and I have even seen Eddy grooming Buddy. He's been a very good surrogate papa pig. I will see how it goes as Buddy gets a little older but right now it is very smooth sailing. It may help that both Ben and Eddy is fat, lazy guinea pigs that are lovers and not fighters.

[bpatters]

Spy9doc, sows' heat cycles aren't usually troublesome at all. Sometimes I never know when mine are in heat, other times I'll hear a little rumbling at each other, but that's it.

Kourt1313, we're not talking about cage smells from hay, pee and urine. We're talking about boar stank, where the boar flips his sac inside out and marks his territory all over the cage. Believe me, dirty cages smell way better than that.

[kourt1313]

Kourt1313, we're not talking about cage smells from hay, pee and urine. We're talking about boar stank, where the boar flips his sac inside out and marks his territory all over the cage. Believe me, dirty cages smell way better than that.

Right, I understand. I have friends that have had multiple boars (one had 4) whom I've talked to about boar behavior and this is what they have told me. Again, that's why I said this is only what I've been told, I have no personal experience in the matter. Yet.

[Paula]

I've had multiple boys and multiple girls (intact and not) and can firmly say I strongly prefer boys to girls. Boys tend to be more people oriented, whereas girls are more herd oriented and generally seem to prefer to be left alone (in my experience). "Boar stink" is not pleasant but nothing terrible, and the more comfortable and familiar boys get with their environments, the less likely they are to feel they need to mark their territory in such an undesirable way.

I've only ever had a handful of boys who couldn't be paired with another male. As long as you pay close attention to personalities, pairing up boys shouldn't be too difficult. I wouldn't recommend keeping more than two adult males together, though, unless they've been raised together from a young age, but that's just been my experience.

[spy9doc]

Believe me, dirty cages smell way better than that.

How right you are! When they were both going through puberty, I literally had to clean the cage top to bottom every single day. I thought I would be bankrupt from the cost of bedding.

The rank smell immediately disappeared when the dominant one, Bubba, died last year. Thanks for the input. I had just presumed that a feisty little boar would go through puberty and might feel the need to challenge Chester for dominance because he is so mellow.

I'm not really anticipating a problem with either a boar or sow, just based on a recent experience. I accepted a sow about Chester's age with the understanding that I could return her. I brought her home and put them together in neutral territory. At first, Chester ignored her. I then rubbed them against each other briefly so the scent would be familiar. She was quite passive and pretty well just sat in one spot. He gave her a couple of cursory humps just to show her who's boss, and eventually settled down to cuddle for the car ride. Alas, she just wasn't right for us and I returned her that same evening.

When I find an Abby of the right age and temperament, I doubt that the sex will matter. BTW, is there any merit in taking Chester to meet potential matches, or can one really determine any degree of compatibility based just on the meeting?

[spy9doc]

I've had multiple boys and multiple girls (intact and not) and can firmly say I strongly prefer boys to girls. Boys tend to be more people oriented

Thanks for the feedback, Paula. You just reinforced what my friend with the 27 yrs. experience says......she by far prefers boars.

[ellisa]

I have a question too! I hope it's okay to ask it on this thread.

When Penny is done being treated for possible mites, I would like to adopt her a friend. I've never had sows before. Would it be best to get her a friend that is younger or older than she is? She is quite laid back. She loves to look at my dogs and sniff at them, and it always excited when they enter the room. From this, I think she would do very well with another pig. She is shy but very friendly. I was thinking a friend younger, but I'm not sure.

Thanks and sorry for asking this on someone else's thread!