Canada Help! Is it too late to find a friend?

[Shandamirand]

Well I have had my piggy Hughbert for over 2 months now, and I realize I should have adopted two rather than one. I have heard that males do not get along too well with eachother, and I don't really want to start my own guinea pig farm... is it too late to introduce a new member to the family?

I'm happy to hear anypones input, since i'm still learning about their behavior and what not.

Thanks very much!

 

[Shandamirand]

Here i am replying to my own post! Well i was browsing through some of the forums and found someone witha simular problem, but i've decided to make my own cage, with an alternative divider JUST in case.

But I am still wondering if it would be better to get a male or female friend for my male guinea pig. (If it was a girl she would have to be neutered) Anyways thank you for any tips and advice!

 

[LiciaMommycott]

I ran into the same situation. I got my first pig for Valentine's Day knowing that I needed two pigs but had to slowly work on my husband. A couple of weeks ago I got my way and a second pig. I called the vet to check out the price of fixing pigs and it was $120 for the male or $180 for the female. There was no way I was going to spend that kind of money on a small rodent so we decided to go ahead and try a second male.

Kipper is 5 months old so we decided to get the youngest male we could find figuring he wouldn't be seen as competition. At first we had the new guy (Tiger) in a small cage next to the main one. Then when we introduced them, Tiger immediately dashed over and burrowed under Kipper's belly. When we put them in the big cage together Kipper strutted around grumbling and shoving Tiger around but just a statement of dominance, no violence. We built a sliding divider so we could close them off when we weren't around and until we could see Tiger was gaining weight (we were afraid he was being excluded from the food). Kipper kept breaking into Tiger's section - even after multiple redesigns and reinforcements - and Tiger was gaining weight anyway so we removed the divider after about 4 days. We've had Tiger now exactly two weeks and they seem to be best of friends, although Kipper makes it clear that he is the boss.

Of course, there's probably a lot of piggie personality involved but I would go ahead and give it a try. Consider planning if you are going to be adding even more pigs, though. I understand that you should not have more than one male if your group includes any females so if you're thinking of having more than two, you might want to consider fixing the male and then getting females.

 

[cavylover]

who ever told you males dont get along needs to get a life because i have 9 MALES and every single one gets along.there a page on the guinealynx forums about introducing and i think Cavyspirit has it also

 

[LiciaMommycott]

Clarification: My statement was that you need either all males, all females or one male with a group of females. And, yes, my males get along great - I have only two.

 

[Shandamirand]

So far so good!

Well we picked up a new male piggy, who is younger and so far there has been no agression, just humping each other! We have a divider ready just in case they get too out of hand, but so far their just...having fun? And making a whole lot of weird noises. Although it has only been an hour. But again a pet store owner said it couldn't be done, but I don't think he knew that much about them either.

Thank you for all your input, and i'll let you know how it goes!

 

[cavylover]

number one rule dont buy stuff from a petshop that sells animals
number two rule Dont beleive anything the petshop clerk says

 

[Shandamirand]

Well I think Hughbert pushed his limits with Jackson (our new piggy) and he got quite T'd off, so they are now fighting. :/ So they are currently in the same cage but divided. It could be awhile before they can fully live together. But i will keep supervising their visiting times and hopefully they will become good friends.

And yes i have learned the hard way about pet stores. I don't think they actually hire anyone who knows what they are talking about! I went to the cavy spirit webpage and read up about pet stores that carry animals, and now i know.
Just for an example, i was looking at some guinea pigs in a pet store (I know I know...big no no. Just wish i knew then and not now) But I asked the boy who was in charge of that section, and he couldn't even tell me which guinea pig was male or female, and he didn't even know if they were seperated! How awful! And one of the poor pigs had an eye infection. Made me very sick.

But all we can do is try and break the cycle! (Oh and I also looked up on the cavy spirit website to make sure Jackson was really a boy, and he his thank goodness!)

 

[LiciaMommycott]

I too got my piggies from the pet store before realizing that (1) you could even get them anywhere else and (2) the issues with pet stores. I do understand the reasoning behind boycotting petstores that sell animals but I do have to stick up for my local PetCo's (one in Mission Viejo, CA and the other in Lake Forest, CA). They, at least, are better examples of how a pet store ought to be. The pigs are all healthy, kept two to a cage, seem to have a constant supply of fresh veggies, and sexed properly. In addition, the worker in that section knew each pig by personality, was enthusiastic about them, affectionate and cuddled them, etc.

Although I feel the shame of being ignorant and not rescuing pigs in need, I am also glad that my local pet stores do not seem to be the horror stories of many others.

Also, I am very glad that PetSmart, although it does sell small animals, will not sell cats or dogs and only adopts them out.

 

[supertramp]

In defence of a few petstores, Notcutts pet centre seems quite good. Admittedly the clerk guy told me that it was quite often tricky to introduce a new pig to another one, especially males but still. When I enquired about getting a female, he said he wouldn't let me just take one because there were only two females left and he didn't want to split them up. I thought that was kind of sweet.

 

[cavylover]

Females are the easiest to introduce in my experience.Almost everytime Ive show'd a new sow to a sow they got along.Males ive only had one problem .Loner pig you might say.But its not to to bad he still lives with 2 others but fights abit.Gets his ass kicked everytime but keeps tryin to be dominent

 

[cornhill]

mates

Here i am replying to my own post! Well i was browsing through some of the forums and found someone witha simular problem, but i've decided to make my own cage, with an alternative divider JUST in case.

But I am still wondering if it would be better to get a male or female friend for my male guinea pig. (If it was a girl she would have to be neutered) Anyways thank you for any tips and advice!

I have a male and a female. I had pickles (the male) fixed. They get along fine.

 

[GuineasGalore]

I've heard that you can take your two piggies to a "neutral" cage or area (one that doesn't have a lot of one guinea's sent) and have them get together for a couple minutes under supervision a couple times a day, then increase the length of time until they're comfortable with each other. Of course sometimes there's a personality difference so it doesn't work...

Me and my friend went to look at petcetera for a guinea pig, the person who was in charge of them didn't know squat! (and they gave them water in bowls, in which were floating who knows what) The only problem for me adopting a guinea pig from the shelter is that our shelter is really small and doensn't have many animals to choose from (only two guineas last time i checked and one was really old) So we went to a breeder and that worked out a lot better because the lady was really knowlegable about piggies

 

[Treen]

This page has lots of great info on introductions https://www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm#Introductions.

The only problem for me adopting a guinea pig from the shelter is that our shelter is really small and doensn't have many animals to choose from (only two guineas last time i checked and one was really old) So we went to a breeder and that worked out a lot better because the lady was really knowlegable about piggies

Personally seeing an older animal would make me want to adopt it even more - I'd want to offer it a lovely home to live out the remainder of its days, however many were left. I always look for 'who needs a home', not an agenda of appearance or age.

This is a rescue friendly board, so please save your compliments for breeders for places where they don't worry so much about the overpopulation of guinea pigs and the fact that many are sitting/ dying in rescues and shelters because of breeders.

 

[GuineasGalore]

Good site (i think i'll save that one)

i'm not saying breeders are better than adopting, i'm just pointing out that it's better to go to a reputible breeder who knows what they're doing than going to a petstore. (besides there aren't many adoptable piggies around where i live...which is good i suppose)

 

[jennz11]

Male guinea pigs do not get along

 

[kurzon]

My 3 male pigs get along just fine. In fact, they start crying or wheeking if one of them gets separated. They are very attached to each other. If you add another pig later on, generally it's best to get a younger male so that they don't fight over dominance.

 

[Treen]

Male guinea pigs do not get along

Actually, many, many people (like kurzon) have two or more males living happily together. Both in groups that have been together since birth, and those introdcued as adults.

The most common reason people believe males cannot live happily together is that they house them in cages that are far too small. They need a little extra space, or situations that could be diffused by one moving away from the other may turn in to aggression. Give them a good cage following the size recommendations on this site and thousands of people who hold the belief that males can't get along would see what a difference good care can make.