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Adopting Single piggies? what should I do?

Simpsonspiggie8

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hi guys, So right now I have a single guinea pig who is very dominant and also a bit aggressive. Heres some back story on her. I Had 2 guinea pigs and then I decided to add a third to make a trio, So, I went to a rescue and got a new female guinea pig, I tried to bond the new One (Cookie) to my other 2 girls and bonding was pretty rough there was a lot of fighting, but it all settled down and they were living together for like 2 or 3 weeks but then the fighting started again. Cookie was the main aggressor and she ripped half of my guinea pigs ear off, so I separated them and the after a couple of days I re introduced them using a buddy bath and then that introduction went fine but the next day Cookie ripped a hole in my guinea pigs lip. Cookie was only aggressive towards my dominant guinea pig , not my submissive one, so I was thinking about getting a baby guinea pig to pair with her, She is currently all alone in a 2x5.5 C&C cage. Do you think it is a good Idea to try her with a baby or should I just leave her alone for little bit and see how she does? Also I looked at every rescue within 100 miles of me , And also every rehoming website and there are no baby guinea pigs available so, should I wait to see if potentially a guinea pig comes up for adoption or should I just get one from a pet store ( I am very, very against pet stores but I know of one that breeds their own guinea pigs so I guess thats less bad than an animal mill but still worse than adopting) I don't know what to do because I don't want to keep her alone but I also don't want her to potentially Injure another guinea pig. Any advice would be helpful thanks :)
 

amp2375

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I don't think a baby pig would be a good match. She will probably be aggressive toward a baby since she's bigger.

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk
 

lisa325

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Simpsonspiggie8 Not sure what part of New York you're in, but there's a rescue in Midland Park, NJ that has babies. It's called Helping Hand Guinea Pig Rescue.
Maybe your dominant pig would do well with a baby, maybe not, there's no way of knowing til you try. As long as you're prepared for another possible cage set up if things don't work out.
 

Simpsonspiggie8

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I definitely don't have another cage if another pig doesnt work out because I already have a 2x7 for my girls and then I had to move a ton of stuff to make room for a 2x5.5 for cookie the guinea pig cages take upmost of my room Lol And also It wouldn't be fair to have a third cage in my room because it takes away from the floor space that my free range bunny has , So, Should I just leave her as a loner pig or should I take my chances with a baby and possibly have to give her back to a rescue? its such a difficult choice I really want to do the right thing for my piggies
 

Mickeys Piggies

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I definitely don't have another cage if another pig doesnt work out because I already have a 2x7 for my girls and then I had to move a ton of stuff to make room for a 2x5.5 for cookie the guinea pig cages take upmost of my room Lol And also It wouldn't be fair to have a third cage in my room because it takes away from the floor space that my free range bunny has , So, Should I just leave her as a loner pig or should I take my chances with a baby and possibly have to give her back to a rescue? its such a difficult choice I really want to do the right thing for my piggies
I know what happened when Richie met the first pig I chose to pair with him, they came to our house with 10 other pigs in carriers so we had different options if something didn't work. That way its not settling in, finding a new owner and lots of stress for everyone involved. I would try to find a local rescue to see if they'll be willing to do a few play dates before you adopt a piggy. I hope that helped. If you either can't do that or she just doesn't behave well with others then its time to consider her living alone.
 

Flowergarden

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I definitely don't have another cage if another pig doesnt work out because I already have a 2x7 for my girls and then I had to move a ton of stuff to make room for a 2x5.5 for cookie the guinea pig cages take upmost of my room Lol And also It wouldn't be fair to have a third cage in my room because it takes away from the floor space that my free range bunny has , So, Should I just leave her as a loner pig or should I take my chances with a baby and possibly have to give her back to a rescue? its such a difficult choice I really want to do the right thing for my piggies

Please don't leave her alone if you haven't exhausted all other possibilities.

If you get in contact with the suggested rescue, you can explain your situation and lack of space for a third cage, then ask them if they would be prepared to take the new pig back if the bonding doesn't work out. Many rescues will guarantee that they take back the pigs they adopt out in order to make sure that they will always have a good home.

You could also look for a neutered boar. I know they are quite rare, but it's worth kepping an eye out as a male is much more likely to be able to stand up to a dominant sow, and bond with her, and if they bond successfully they are likely to have a very strong permanent bond.
 

onefutui2e

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Most rescues should have a policy whereby you can "return" an animal.

For my own story, I tried to adopt Magneto a friend six months ago. It didn't work out according to plan as they kept fighting and drawing blood against each other (there's a whole thread on this that you can find). In the end I opted to split them up after two weeks with the fighting not slowing down. I debated returning the other pig, but ultimately I kept them both and made them neighbors with each other; they each have their own Midwest habitat cage. They seem to tolerate each other more this way, and Magneto is much more lively with a buddy around (I had him for three months prior after my friend gave him to me). I can even take them both out and give them floor time together for a short amount of time (they get along when there are noms to be had).
 
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