Hi!

mistyhall · Jul 9, 2012

Hi there,

My name is Misty and we are about to adopt our third piggy! We have two males and are taking in a female tomorrow that needed a home desperately (she's been living in a teany aquarium - with rarely any freedom from it

We ordered a large C&C cage today with 2 lofts

and can't wait to get it up for them all... I must admit, until today when I ran across this site, I had no clue how inadequate our current cage has been. Now I am excited to have this new baby in our family!

Our piggies are Gizmo, Gadget and my son promptly named our new lady Gidgette!

I am sure I am going to have to slowly integrate our newbie into the family... the boys have been together a couple years now alone (we just adopted them 3 months ago from another family).

Anyone have any tips for us?

CavyMama · Jul 9, 2012

Are your males neutered?

mistyhall · Jul 9, 2012

My guess is no, the previous owner did not mention it at all.
In fact, I have had a hard time finding a vet in our area period...
You would think being near Nashville and all that is country (farms, etc...)
it would be easier to find one.

mistyhall · Jul 9, 2012

In fact, the previous owner was convinced they were both girls... I really don't think so, they have testicles back there

CavyMama · Jul 9, 2012

If your intention is to have them live together, either the boys have to be neutered or the girlie has to be spayed. Also, it's not a good idea to have two males live with a female as they will likely fight over her. Much easier to have two females live with one male.

mistyhall · Jul 9, 2012

Does age play a factor in that as well. The males are not young anymore... just wondering. And what if there were two females? Does this make any difference? There is another I am considering for adoption...

mistyhall · Jul 9, 2012

My initial intention with our new cage is going to have a divider down the middle until I am 100% sure that the boys and girl(s) will behave well together and they can't make other lil piggies! So I am not very worried about that... but eventually I would like to integrate them all together... seems sill to have a XL C&C cage with two lofts and not allow them all the freedom to enjoy it.

CavyMama · Jul 9, 2012

If you want to eventually integrate them together, the boys need to be neutered. Whether they procreate or not has nothing to do with how they get along, they act on instinct.

Having a divider in the cage will not be a deterrent for the boys. We have heard stories of how boars scaled over a divider or knocked it over completely in order to get to the girls. A divider also is not enough to prevent the boys from fighting in the presence of a girl, regardless of age. If they can see, hear, smell her, they will fight over her.

Wildcavy · Jul 9, 2012

@CavyMama, my understanding from other posts on the forum is that neutering doesn't change the behavior of boars. Is that not the case?

mistyhall · Jul 9, 2012

Thanks! I will keep her out of the habitat until I can get the boys under control

now on to the next dilemna, the continuation of my search for a vet for all of them!

Nix16 · Jul 9, 2012

Is there a shelter in the area, if so they should be able to recommend a vet.

mistyhall · Jul 9, 2012

I didn't think of that... I will look into it!

CavyMama · Jul 9, 2012

Wildcavy said:
@CavyMama , my understanding from other posts on the forum is that neutering doesn't change the behavior of boars. Is that not the case?

Correct. Unlike with dogs, neutering does not affect boar behavior. It will only prevent their ability to impregnate females.

Wildcavy · Jul 9, 2012

Thanks @CavyMama -- I think I misunderstood your original statement (thought it was about pairing the boys, not about putting them in with the female, too).

foggycreekcavy · Jul 9, 2012

mistyhall said:
Thanks! I will keep her out of the habitat until I can get the boys under control now on to the next dilemna, the continuation of my search for a vet for all of them!

Not sure what you mean by "get the boys under control". You will not be able to have two males with one female, even next door, without your boys fighting. And guinea pig fights can be very serious, ending in $$$ vet bills. Even if the males are neutered.

You will not be able to have the males, even just one male, with the female at all. It only takes seconds for guinea pigs to mate. If your female is over a certain age, pregnancy and giving birth can be deadly for her. In fact, 20% of guinea pig pregnancies ends in death.

lissie · Jul 9, 2012

If you are planning for the girl to have her own friend, you will need two cages. Keep the girls in one, and keep the boys in another.

You cannot keep the girls with the boys even if both boys are neutered. Multiple boys + girls mostly end in fights. The rule is one neutered boy with one girl or multiple girls, the other way around won't work.

You can stack the cage like this for each pair of pigs.

mistyhall · Jul 9, 2012

Thanks, I am looking into getting her a friend and making two separate cages... I know I ordered enough to make 2 good sized ones

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