Rehoming rehome in west PA area

[holbay42]

i live in Johnstown, PA, which is in western PA. I bought a second guinea pig in January for a buddy for my first pig but they don't get along. It's getting to be a lot to maintain two cages and I feel like I could take care of a single pig better than two pigs. I could do a really big cage for one pig rather than two smaller cages for two pigs. I don't want to give one up but if I find someone who will take care of him better than I do, maybe i'll feel better about giving him away. I'm willing to drive about 1 1/2-2 hours to give him a good home. He's about 7 months old. is there anyone who wants to adopt a pig in the western PA area?

 

[partygirlha]

I don't have room for another GP, and I'm not in W. PA but a bit of avdice (if you want it)
I toop have two GP's who I hoped would get along - but one very bag fight needed multiple vet visits I will never try to house them together. What I did was to make two cages that stack (off set a bit so the bottom cage gets light). i alrterante play time and cage level. So each pig spends a week on the top level before going to the bottom level. They don't get play time together so they do't have as much play time each - but by alternating they still get a lot of out of cage time. often I'll leave the bottom cage open when I'm home so whome ever is on the bottom can wander out at will (GP safe area).

This is by no means perfect, but it works for me and when I adopted Smoky I knew I was aking acahnce that he and Piglet would not get along and I'm dedicated to making it work.

I'm not saying that you should not look for a new home for one pig, justthat until that happens there are ways to make life better for eveyone.

 

[holbay42]

i get what you're saying. I'm a little hesitant about levels. seems like a lot would be involved in cleaning. Took me a lot of trial and error with just a one story cage to get to a point where cleaning is now easy. and i know guinea pigs are creatures of habit, i wonder are your upper and lower levels identical? and also, even when one smells the other, they're teeth chatter and they'll start rumbling and swaying hips, so I don't know if they would just get used to each others smells or if I'd have to wipe down the entire wire cage part every time I switched them.
what kind of setup do you use to make cleaning the bottom level more efficient?

 

[holbay42]

also, it's getting expensive. twice the pellets, twice the laundry detergent, twice the veggies, twice the hay, twice the bedding- and i have to use the expensive bedding becuase it mattes down. the cheap stuff gets flung all over the room.

 

[holbay42]

I''m from Middle Taylor but I lived in Richland through 12th grade and now I'm back in Middle Taylor. Thanks. Too bad you don't still live here! I wish I knew someone that had guinea pigs around here.

 

[holbay42]

I love my pigs and don't want to give one away unless he'll be treated better than I treat him

 

[FlowersGrandma]

I don't want to discourage you from doing what you feel is best, but are you sure they can't get along? Rumblestrutting, humping and yes, even occational teeth chattering are perfectly normal behavior for two males. They are trying to establish dominance, and as I have said before, my two do that on a regular basis (i. e. hourly some days)

Unless there was bloodshed it's possible that you are just sensitive to their normal behavior and are assuming they can't live together. The hip swaying and teeth chattering is perfectly normal. You might try cleaning the cages really well, and trying to reintroduce them again. Try the buddy bath again. And this time, let them work it out, no matter how bad you want to intervene, unless one is in danger of being seriously hurt.
My two have lived together for a year. They peacefully coexist. Notice they are not snugly with each other. The other day during floor time, they went head to head. Teeth chattering, humping, boar stanking. But a few minutes later, they were eating hay together like nothing ever happened.

Good luck either way. I know it's hard to make this kind of decision.

 

[holbay42]

yes there was bloodshed the first time i put them together. they started off with the normal teeth chattering. and actually one was launching towards the other periodically and would take mouthfuls of hair out of the other. so there was a l lot of biting and then finally they went into an all out brawl and it looked like a big ball of guinea pigs rolling around, they way they were going at each other.

which is why i really don't want to risk one getting seriously injured if i try again.

 

[FuryanGoddess]

How are the pigs doing? Do you think that they just don't like each other or that maybe he's a bully? I'm close to you and we have a lone piggie now, but he's only 9 wks old and I don't know if we should get him a friend or now. He seems happy... how do you know if they'd be better w/ a friend?