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Dominance How compatible are 3 male guinea pigs?

abbiemath753

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We currently have 2 guinea pigs who were in the same cage together when we got them so they never had a problem being introduced. Now we are looking to grow our herd, and want to keep the genders the same for (hopefully) less dominance issues and of course unwanted pregnancy. Would adding another male be an issue? Or should we just introduce them correctly and slowly and hope for the best?
 

bpatters

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You shouldn't do it at all. Three boars almost NEVER works out, and if you do try to introduce another, you may ruin the relationship between the two you've got. It's also possible to wind up with three solo pigs, none of which will live with another pig.

If you want to add more pigs, get another cage and just let them live in two cages. If you want a lot of pigs, start a herd of sows.
 

ZiggyPig

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[MENTION=35161]Guinea Pig Papa[/MENTION] I believe has ended up with two and one as he has 3 boars.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Indeed I have, @ZiggyPig. I attempted to bond a senior boar with two very young babies, three weeks old when they came home and already very bonded to each other, and that remains true to this day. Everything went absolutely perfectly until one hit puberty, and decided he wanted to be the boss. While his bonded brother was fine with this, my senior wasn't, and was repeatedly chased and hurt. He's almost 6 with other health issues and I didn't want him seriously injured, so I separated. They still can see, hear, and talk to each other, but there's no risk of injury now.

Long story short, just don't do it. While it works once in a blue moon (maybe not even that often) it just isn't worth the risk.

My avatar pic is actually the three of them living together, literally just days before the proverbial crap hit the fan.
 

Soecara

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As someone who recently had a successful introduction with three boars (I am still unwilling to say it is a completely successful boar trio as only time will tell if things go well in the long term, but so far all is going well) even I must echo what has already been said.

The risk is almost never worth it, if it goes wrong it can go really wrong. With boars if things do go pear shaped they can get very bad very quickly, they could suffer bad injuries (which have the potential to turn fatal if they get the wrong wound in the wrong spot) even if you are right there to stop them. Unless there is a very compelling reason to try three boars together and you know the temperament of all three very well it just isn't worth it, you would be much better of with separate cages and separate pairs if you would like more guinea pigs.

If you would like to read about the specific situation that lead me to try a boar trio, and how it went, I have a thread about it here https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/117430-Inders-intro-to-possible-new-cage-mates

However do keep in mind even though this particular introduction went well for me I have had more than a few failed intros in general, some resulting in pretty nasty wounds. One of the members on this forum recently lost a guinea pig due to injuries sustained in an introduction gone wrong which I will share the relevant links to.
It starts with this thread https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...emis-and-Luna!?p=995221&viewfull=1#post995221
The news of the passing was shared in this thread https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/117397-Goodbye-Artemis
This is also a follow up thread to that unfortunate situation https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/117403-Advice-for-helping-solo-pig
 

Jewelsw

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I had two male adults and a male baby everything worked out fine, my baby this morning died of sickness but the three were perfect toegther
 

bpatters

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One of them was a baby. You wouldn't know until he hit the full throes of puberty whether things were going to work out or not.
 

Jewelsw

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True, but since he was a baby he would have grown up already knowing the other two so introduction wouldn’t have been a problem it would just be a matter of if he would stay in his place, but we will never know
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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True, but since he was a baby he would have grown up already knowing the other two so introduction wouldn’t have been a problem it would just be a matter of if he would stay in his place, but we will never know

Unfortunately, you're misinformed. I've just recently tried two babies with a senior boar. It worked fine, just like yours, until puberty hit one of them. It failed miserably immediately after. They were both three weeks old when they came to live with my old fella, so they were all together right from the beginning. And it was one of the babies that caused the problems, NOT the senior. Puberty hit at around 5 months old.
 

Pammers2169

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I took a bonded pair of boars from a family that no longer wanted them. They are about two years old and lived together from the start, in a small cage. They were pet store bought and had only room for a pigloo and water bottle. They were in good health and one was super social. Once I moved them to a C&C cage they had a terrible battle and Rocket was a bloody mess. I had to separate them. It really made me sad to separate them and I wouldn't risk changing anything between two bonded males.
 

lisa325

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Just putting my two cents in.........This is something I would never try. Everything might be just fine at first, but puberty is a whole new ball game and things can get pretty nasty. Then you have to worry about having separate cages to house them in. I have 2 boars who lived in harmony for the first 6 months of the younger ones life, then everything changed, they spend every day out of their cages separated by C&C cubes, but when we go to sleep they each go in separate cages. I plan on trying to reintroduce them once the younger one gets past puberty, but it's upsetting having to keep them separate, and all this is with just 2 boars, so there's no way I would attempt it with 3.
 
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