Bonding New boar guinea pig

[Tydil]

Hello ,I'm Zack and I've had a male guinea pig for about 7 months now, before it got too old I felt bad that it didn't have a buddy. So today I got another male. The new guinea pig is very young (2 months) mine that ive had is 9 months, I have a slightly large cage that I could totally block off half and they could still smell each other and see what each other are doing, as well as I have another cage for the new guinea pig. Would it be smarter to keep them separate for a while and have them meet a couple times to get used to each other, or should I use the large cage and block half of it?

 

[Tydil]

in addition the older male is always wheeking in hope of the younger one to respond, is that normal? or a good thing?

 

[Squint96]

Depending on where you got your second pig you are going to want to quarantine him for 2-3 weeks to make sure he isn't sick. I would do this with any pig that didn't come from a very responsible shelter. Even if you got him from a friend he could have a previously unnoticed infection or illness. This means there should be not contact between the pigs for the quarantine period- don't even share towels or toys. After the quarantine you should put both pigs in a neutral area and observe them. Don't separate them unless they begin to fight and draw blood. It can be hard to watch them bicker but unless one is in danger leave them be. Once you think they've settled things out put them in a large enough cage (2X5 or 2X6 would be best) make sure it is completely cleaned out so there is no remaining scent. Keep an eye on them in the beginning and see how it goes.

 

[Sunny]

Agreed with the quarantine.

I just got a new pig, didn't quarantine her. Turns out she has a URI and is now on antibiotics, separated from the others.

I am now a nervous wreck hoping that it did not get transferred to my other pig.

 

[katherineausten]

Yeah I didn't quarantine either and ended up with three URIs! Not very pleasant haha