Cage Separate Male and Female housing

[twopigsinapod]

Hi everyone,

I have a couple questions for those who have built a custom wood cage before. I have two pigs, a female and a male. Daisie is 7 and Spike is going on 2. I am keeping them separate currently and will continue to do so for the obvious reason. The problem is while their set ups are within about 5 inches of each other, I would like to construct a cage using plexi glass as the divider down the longer side. This way they could see each other up close and not cause any trouble. I would use a wood frame with plexi glass sides and divider down the middle. The flooring would be their coroplast pans, dropped in on their respective sides. My questions would be:

-How tall should I make the barrier (plexiglass) between these guys- does 18" give me enough height to not worry about Spike turning into Tarzan?
-Does this provide adequate ventilation for them?
-Should I put a hinged top on this with a wire type grid so it can breathe but offer an extra level of precaution?

These questions may seem crazy-but I want to do this right the first time!

 

[Onetwo]

18 inches should be good but from personal experience its very hard on the GPs to live next to eachother and not be able to interact. The boar is still young enough to get neutered. Or you could keep them on opposite sides of the room and get a same sex buddy for each. Nutering is beneficial to a male because it lessens the chance of impaction and other health issues. I would be worried about ventilation. You could make a cubes and coroplast cage and add in a plexi glass side that they would share, but I wouldnt make the whole cage plexi. This site has tons of great info. Check out the alternative cages pics and the nutrition section. Be sure to read all the stickies (the perminant threads at the top of each section. THey are packed full of great info...

 

[twopigsinapod]

Thank you! I like the suggestion and I will go with that idea. I wish I could keep 4 pigs, however, I simply don't have the space for an adequate cage so each has enough room. My female is a rescue from a big box pet store (they had an adoption section and had her in a small cage with no fresh fruit, almost no water, and some questionable "food"). She is a pip and I love her, not sure why anyone would want to give her up. The male is a rescue who belonged to a friend of mine. She asked me to pet sit during a vacation she went on and the two quickly became neighbor friends. When her vacation ended I couldn't separate them. They even teamed up to create sounds I'm sure the next town could hear when the fridge opens at carrot time. So, had my situation been perfect I would have gotten a female but I figure this is better than keeping them apart.
On the subject of neutering- I have heard it is rather unsafe and can easily lead to fatality. I'm not sure what I would do if this happened I think Daisie would be quite lost and lonely.

 

[HannibalLecter]

My female is a rescue from a big box pet store (they had an adoption section and had her in a small cage with no fresh fruit, almost no water, and some questionable "food").

Fruits should NOT be fed on a daily basis as they're more treats only, due to high sugar & acidic content, same with carrots that also are high in OA & Vit A. Please read through the diet & nutrition section, especially Ly's diet chart. Daily staples are two kinds of leafy greens - minimum two leaves, handful of cilantro, 1/8 green/yellow pepper & zucchini. These should be fed on a daily basis & make a good base for a healthy diet. Once the pigs are used to this, you may add rotational veggies & fruits per Ly's chart or sample menu's. ptimist:
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/diet-nutrition/22156-read-me-guinea-pig-nutrition-charts-poisonous-plants-list.html

I think it's really great for you to rescue that lovely little girl & planning a proper sized cage, but I also find it sad that neither of these pigs have any friends to properly interact with. Pigs are highly social herd animals & need "hands on" interaction with their own kind. A barrier between single pigs, especially grids could cause obsessive chewing which could break their teeth.
Perhaps get in touch with a good cavy savvy exotics vet whom is used to neutering, and discuss the potential risks to get more familiar with the subject?

 

[Onetwo]

Not sure who told you that neutering was dangerious but it is not as bad as you've heard. As with any surgery there is always risks. At least this way they will happily be able to live out their lives together. If one or the other passes you'll have the option of getting a same sex or different sex piggy.

Definately make sure to check out the diet section is fantastic...