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Help with sexing, feeding, and info on neutering my new pups

TheGuineaPigGal

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Actually, funny you should ask...a member on here actually just recently posted about this. My understanding is the males fought at first resulting in one male being injured. Then one male climbed the grid divider (yes, a determined hormonally charged male CAN and WILL do that) and went into the females cage to mate.

Always important to have a sturdy lid on the females cage to prevent this or space between like you have now.

Sooo... probably not a good idea to have them side by side if you can work it out another way.

You say the boys are each in a 2x3 now separately. Anyway you can make that a 2x6 with a 2x2 or 2x3 offset loft? The loft would give them some extra alone space when needed. I advise to use 2 ramps for any loft. You can also configure the 2x6 into an L shape if you don't have the length in the space you have them in now for 6 grids long.

You can look through some pictures here on the forum. There are lots of creative shapes of cages that conform to space requirements. Post a picture of your situation and I will make some suggestions as well.


Haha, yes. don´t make the same mistake I did.
 

PiggyLove23

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Sorry for going AWOL again.

Anyways, I didn't really explain my plans very well, so I believe you misunderstood. I don't mean directly next to each other with one small C&C wall in between. I meant they'll have floor time and have both cages in the same room, but each cage would have some sort of barrier around it so when the other pigs come out, they can't see them. There would also be a lid on each cage.

Would that work?

And if we find a good cage arrangement for both sets of pigs, how do we even get the two boars to get along, anyways? Whenever they see each other, they don't stop teeth chattering, and I'd bet that if they were put in the same room then they would never stop fighting. I don't really understand how this could work.

Thanks again!
 

Smileandnod

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Good idea not putting the "teenage" boars (they are about 7 months now, right?) right next to the females.

I have never seen squabbling between guinea pigs not resolve itself if there is enough room for them to have their own territory and reasonably get away from each other's sight for a while. That is why I recommend at minimum to have a 3 grid wide cage and two levels with 2 ramps. Some guinea pigs just require much more room than the minimum. I have one sow who will draw blood on any guinea pig she is housed with if she doesn't have a minimum of a 3x6 cage with a top floor of at least 2x3 with two ramps. She is very territorial. She now lives happily with several guinea pigs in a 6x6 lower level with a 2x10 L shaped upper floor. She has her own space whenever she needs it without having to stare at anyone by being stuck on the same level.

They are also asserting their dominance at this age so you will naturally hear rumble strutting and see them try to get on the backs of each other.

Just make sure they have the room to get out of sight and away whenever they need to. Be creative ...
 

PiggyLove23

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Ok, so do you think this layout for the pigs would work out, or should I make the male cage larger? I'm not sure if I can do a 3x6, but maybe a 3x5? I could definitely do a 3x4 with the 2x3 loft, though.


What should the strategy be for reintroducing the male pigs? Should I put them in a neutral zone as though they've never met before, or what?

And yes, they are about 8 months old now.
 

bpatters

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PiggyLove23

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See https://www.guinealynx.info/introductions.html for how to introduce them. Absolutely treat them as if they've never met before, and at that age, be prepared for some dominance squabbles.
Ok, thank you! Once we have the cage all set up, we'll introduce them probably using a buddy bath and a nicely sized neutral area. I'll let you know how it goes.

Can you see the attachment now? I just wanted to make sure this layout was ok before I bought all the coroplast and extra grids for the loft.
Screenshot 2021-01-02 at 21.50.33.png
 

bpatters

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If you can do a 3x5 without a loft, I think that would be better than a 3x4 with a loft. If you do decide on a loft, make two ramps for it so neither of them can get trapped.
 

PiggyLove23

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All right, I'll discuss with my parents what size they think would be best for both us and the pigs. We can probably make a 3x5. I'll set up the cage next week and let you know how the introduction goes!
 
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