How can you keep lone Guinea pigs as happy as possible

[maria.patey.1]

i know its best to keep Guinea pigs in pairs, but I only have room for one. Are there any tips for keeping a lone Guinea pig as happy as possible?

 

[pigger123]

Re: How can you keep leon Guinea pigs as happy as possible

How much room do you have? The minimum cage size for a single pig is 7.5 square feet, which is a size that you can also keep a bonded pair of females in. Essentially, if you have enough space for one, then you also have enough space for two.

 

[LoveMyHerd]

Re: How can you keep leon Guinea pigs as happy as possible

Oh, at first I thought you meant move to Paris from Leon because guinea pigs like it better there! lolSilly me. Well, the best to do for your lone-pig is get him a friend. If that is out of the question, which it shouldn't be, try sewing him some snuggly things out of fleece. (Beds, cuddle cups, pillows, pom poms, fleece forest.)
Good luck!

 

[maria.patey.1]

Thanks sorry about my spelling

 

[kimzano]

I have same concern , but i have 3 kids , and our piggy Chloe does get alot of attention. My fear If I get another, is that they won't want to bother with " us" humans anymore. Because that's what happened when I got two rabbits.

 

[kimzano]

We give her lots of floor time, and I leave music on for her often.

 

[CavyHouse]

Sometimes your piggy will be friendlier with you if they're happily bonded. A depressed solo piggy may hang in the corner of the cage and not bother to come out.

 

[CavyMama]

How big is the cage you have your pig in now?

 

[pinky]

I've had lone guinea pigs that wouldn't tolerate others. I currently have one that lives alone. She's sweet as can be with us. She comes out to greet us, loves being pet and enjoys time out of her cage with us. If we even move her cage near the others, she goes crazy. At first we thought it was because she wanted to be near them but when we tried introducing her to them, she went into instant attack mode. My neutered male has gotten along with every guinea pig we've ever introduced him to but she immediately went into attack mode on him, He went running until he had no place to go. We had to put a pigloo over her to get her off of him. My senior female cried when she went after her which was surprising since the senior female has always been my dominant pig. All four of mine are afraid of her. A lone pig can live a happy life as long as you interact with them and keep them busy. It helps to keep them in the room of your home where's the most foot traffic.

 

[Soecara]

I have same concern , but i have 3 kids , and our piggy Chloe does get alot of attention. My fear If I get another, is that they won't want to bother with " us" humans anymore. Because that's what happened when I got two rabbits.

I understand why that is a concern of yours, but on the flip side (sorry if this sounds a bit rude but I can't think of a nicer way to phrase this) that is completely selfish and does not take into account the best interest for your pet.

I can say that with my pigs that were at one point a solo pig but then found a friend, they do become less dependant on you for attention (for one of my boys this meant he stopped begging for me to pick him up and take him out of the cage all of the time) but they still are just as friendly as before. They all still come to the front of the cage and beg for food (some do become a little less willing to be caught and picked up, but hey that is just a guinea pig thing), they still let me pat them when they are in their cage (not all of them, but if they let me when they were solo they still do now). They are also happier, they run more, they eat faster (and are less picky with their veg), they talk to each other. I have never once regretted introducing a solo pig to a friend (even if it didn't work out, I would just try again with a different friend).

Yes there are very rare special cases where a guinea pig truly can not be housed with another guinea pig, but even they benefit from the company of their own species, so they are best kept in a cage right next to another cage with guinea pigs in it so they can see them and talk to them if they want to. On the flip side many people say their guinea pig can not be housed with other pigs after only trying one, two or three other pigs; They call them unbondable when that might not be entirely true given the very small number of other guinea pig they tried them with.

 

[pinky]

I understand why that is a concern of yours, but on the flip side (sorry if this sounds a bit rude but I can't think of a nicer way to phrase this) that is completely selfish and does not take into account the best interest for your pet.

I can say that with my pigs that were at one point a solo pig but then found a friend, they do become less dependant on you for attention (for one of my boys this meant he stopped begging for me to pick him up and take him out of the cage all of the time) but they still are just as friendly as before. They all still come to the front of the cage and beg for food (some do become a little less willing to be caught and picked up, but hey that is just a guinea pig thing), they still let me pat them when they are in their cage (not all of them, but if they let me when they were solo they still do now). They are also happier, they run more, they eat faster (and are less picky with their veg), they talk to each other. I have never once regretted introducing a solo pig to a friend (even if it didn't work out, I would just try again with a different friend).

Yes there are very rare special cases where a guinea pig truly can not be housed with another guinea pig, but even they benefit from the company of their own species, so they are best kept in a cage right next to another cage with guinea pigs in it so they can see them and talk to them if they want to. On the flip side many people say their guinea pig can not be housed with other pigs after only trying one, two or three other pigs; They call them unbondable when that might not be entirely true given the very small number of other guinea pig they tried them with.

I've owned approximately 35 guinea pigs in my life (not including those I fostered or did adoptions for) and have seen the differences in personalities. Some are very social like humans but others aren't. My guess is that those that are extremely aggressive or anti social probably had some sort of trauma early in their life where they had been attacked by another guinea pig and react strongly when they're introduced to others. I've had some that didn't get along with other guinea pigs at first but were able be paired with another but there ARE guinea pigs that will kill another guinea pig if given the chance. Someone who hasn't had a lot of experience with them might not know the difference but I feel that I've owned and fostered enough of them that I can tell when a guinea pig poses a risk to others. The one I currently have was listed on Petfinder. Her owner told me she came from Petland. Both of her ears were significantly chewed up which led me to believe that she was probably attacked by other guinea pigs at some point. As friendly as she is with us, I will NEVER trust her with another guinea pig after witnessing her reaction to my others. Her hair was raised on the back of her neck and she flew at them. She had that classic wide open mouth with teeth exposed. When she was in the cage near them, she'd be climbing up the side to try and get to them. When she's in a separate room, she runs her laps, popcorns and eats and drinks more than when she was near the other cages. She's very smart and does tricks. She purrs softly when we pet or hold her. She loves my son and calls out to him when he's in the room. She spent all of her time biting the bars and jumping at the side of the cage when her cage was near the others. She never settled down. A guinea pig that attacks, unprovoked, poses a serious risk to the others, including killing them. I'd always err on the side of caution when you're dealing with a guinea pig that has actually attacked another guinea pig. I'm not talking mounting or chasing but that rolls around in a ball and attacks with teeth. As much as I'd like her to have a companion, I won't risk her killing another guinea pig. One of my other guinea pigs is a very dominant female. She mounts and chases other guinea pigs. If she doesn't like what they do, she nips or pulls their fur. She doesn't attack them, though. There is a huge difference. My dominant female was even afraid of her. I think it would be irresponsible to house an aggressive guinea pig with another unless you are able to be there all the time to monitor. I don't know about you, but I'd feel personally responsible if a guinea pig died because I forced her to live with one that was aggressive.

 

[LuvCavysLuvCats]

@pinky I may be missing it but I don't see where either the OP or kimzano said anything about them trying their pigs with other pigs and them being dangerously aggressive. All they said was, there was no room for two and they were afraid their pig wouldn't love them as much anymore. That has nothing to do with aggression and both are poor reasons to not try to get their guinea pigs a friend.

 

[pinky]

@pinky I may be missing it but I don't see where either the OP or kimzano said anything about them trying their pigs with other pigs and them being dangerously aggressive. All they said was, there was no room for two and they were afraid their pig wouldn't love them as much anymore. That has nothing to do with aggression and both are poor reasons to not try to get their guinea pigs a friend.

I was responding to @Soecara. You must not have read that comment.

 

[pigmommy89]

I had deemed my Bonnie unbondable because she had the same reaction @pinky described her pig having to others. I tried introducing her to two babies, one of which she tried to kill. Then I tried to introduce her to my main trio and she tried to kill my dominant sow Gizmo. I had resigned myself to having her as a solo pig because of the level of aggression.

She also did not interact with me AT ALL. I never even saw her without forcibly removing her from the cage. She hid all the time and didn't even beg for food. Don't know what happened in her previous home but she had no social skills with people .or other pigs.

A few weeks after the last failed introduction, I was offered a pair of sows. I said no because I didn't want another cage to clean and I didn't think they would work with Bonnie. The lady agreed to take them back if it didn't work out, so I gave in. The introduction went perfectly. There was a LOT of mounting and nipping, but no all out fighting. And since being with the other girls Bonnie has behaved more like a normal pig. She begs with the other girls and I can even pick her up with no problem.

The point of all this is that I agree with @Soecara. Most pigs can live with others, you just have to find the right one(s).

 

[pinky]

I had deemed my Bonnie unbondable because she had the same reaction @pinky described her pig having to others. I tried introducing her to two babies, one of which she tried to kill. Then I tried to introduce her to my main trio and she tried to kill my dominant sow Gizmo. I had resigned myself to having her as a solo pig because of the level of aggression.

She also did not interact with me AT ALL. I never even saw her without forcibly removing her from the cage. She hid all the time and didn't even beg for food. Don't know what happened in her previous home but she had no social skills with people .or other pigs.

A few weeks after the last failed introduction, I was offered a pair of sows. I said no because I didn't want another cage to clean and I didn't think they would work with Bonnie. The lady agreed to take them back if it didn't work out, so I gave in. The introduction went perfectly. There was a LOT of mounting and nipping, but no all out fighting. And since being with the other girls Bonnie has behaved more like a normal pig. She begs with the other girls and I can even pick her up with no problem.

The point of all this is that I agree with @Soecara. Most pigs can live with others, you just have to find the right one(s).

Lamb Chop is very friendly with us and not aggressive at all. Like I mentioned in another comment, I taught her to do some tricks so she's very receptive to humans. I do believe that an aggressive guinea pig might be that way due to fear. I think they're reacting quickly so another guinea pig can't attack them first. I'm not sure how your guinea pig acted that you felt it could have killed another one but I know Lamb Chop would have had I not separated them. I've seen low ranked guinea pigs run from dominant ones and other dominant ones fight back. Most of the time they're testing the other one and will settle down once one of them concedes. I've also seen extremely aggressive ones attack, where someone has to quickly separate them so they don't do damage. There have been a few threads on here about guinea pigs that have lost eyes or were maimed by others. It sounds like your guinea pig wanted companionship from a guinea pig more than a human and finally found a suitable match. I do think they like some guinea pigs more than others.

I had one other female that was aggressive like Lamb Chop. She came into our rescue with a group of others and was a lone pig. We tried her with every guinea pig we had with no success. We could bring her out with the others but had to keep a space between them. If they got too close, she'd attack. She was caged near the others and, unlike Lamb Chop, was fine as long as there was something separating them. She was also friendly with us. I took this photo of her when she was out with my others. We had to toss a pigloo over her once she went after them.
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[LoveMyHerd]

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Oh my gosh @pinky, what a scary pigture! I seriously think I might have night mares of my girls doing that.

 

[pigmommy89]

That picture looks like Bonnie just before she grabbed Duchess and Gizmo. I also had to use the pigloo to separate.

 

[pinky]

Oh my gosh @pinky, what a scary pigture! I seriously think I might have night mares of my girls doing that.

That posture is a warning sign. You won't necessarily see them do that, even when you have two dominant ones that are competing to be the top dog. Most of the time, they'll face off, mount, chase, nip. When you see the hair stand up on the back of their neck and they hold their head back and start yawning, they're ready to attack. Pikachu was pretty fierce but definitely the sweetest guinea pig to us.

 

[pinky]

That picture looks like Bonnie just before she grabbed Duchess and Gizmo. I also had to use the pigloo to separate.

It sounds like Bonnie was looking for the right guinea pig match. I think in my cases, they both preferred humans and didn't trust other guinea pigs.

 

[Soecara]

@pinky I wasn't referring to you when I mentioned not having tried them with enough guinea pigs before deeming them unbondable. My point was that pigs who are truly unbondable are rare, and that people should not deem a pig unbondable without giving it enough tries.