Behavior Could another Guinea pig reduce/stop fighting?

[Africa]

Hi everyone,

I am thinking about adopting another male guinea pig but I need advice.

My two boys are still fighting (drawing blood) even in a really large cage (pic below). I have had to separate them yet again, so they are now in two separate 4x4 cages with a divider in between.

I know that neutering is not going to help with the fighting so I was thinking that maybe another male will help sort out the dominance hierarchy and may create a peace. My two boys have a love/hate relationship and I think because they are just a bad match for one another that maybe another male will stabilize the ranks??

Space is not an issue so do you think this could help or is it too much of a risk?

Thanks so much!


(broken link removed)

 

[CavyCrazyLady]

I have heard of this working. I think the best thing to do would be to go down to your local rescue and do some 'play dates' with a couple boys they have. See if it will work with your two boys and go from there. You can always ask to try and foster first, to see what happends when you get them home.

 

[genuinefairy]

I've done this with my girls. When I first got my 2 girls to introduce to Penny, I found that they were having a few scuffles with Pippy, and she was getting a bit sad. So I went and found a non dominant personality pig and they're friends now, or at least, she's not the odd one out of 3.

 

[Africa]

Thanks guys,

I am keeping my eyes and ears open for another boy I can adopt, I live in a small town and the shelter closest to me doesnt have any guinea pigs at the moment, so I will wait.

I dont want to have a play date though because that will compromise the whole quarantine thing. I guess the only thing I can do is watch to see how the new guinea pig interacts with his current cage mates at the shelter - that is IF he has others with him...

Any other suggestions...? Genuinefairy how did you choose a submissive girl?

 

[Lil Fella's Mom]

A reputable guinea pig rescue will already have done the quarantine.

Another thought, if space is not an issue, you may wanna think about two more boys to be a more suitable partner to either of the ones you have.

 

[Africa]

Thats a good suggestion actually, I hadnt thought of that... I just never thought of myself as having a 'herd' of guinea pigs if you call it that - its because I already go overboard spoiling my two boys, Im scared what it might do to my budget with 4...

But it might make management easier overall and worthwhile for my two boys!

I didnt know that some rescue's quarantine... I will ask them about that.
Thanks for the advice!

 

[genuinefairy]

Well, I suppose I sort of looked at her, and looked at the other girls and did a quick look over to see which ones were the most dominant, and tried to pick a quiet meek sort of one. I suppose I picked right cos she has less of an "attitude" than my boss girls. Does that sort of make sense?