I have a lonely cavy

LilPigSqueak

Post   » Sat Sep 02, 2017 1:30 pm


I have an 18 month old piggy (Squeak) who lost her sister (Bubble) a few months ago, I was wondering whether she'd get along with another piggy. She used to bully her sister, she'd nip her, chase her around and she'd steal her food. I don't know whether that's just guinea pigs playing but Bubble wasn't feeling very well and this just got worse and worse. We had her checked up by the vet and the vet couldn't see anything wrong with her but we always knew something wasn't right. Bubble wouldn't run like her sister did when we had them out in the run (we have a massive indoor one) and she was too weak to fight back with her sister. We bought the piggies from pets at homes and we never saw their parents, could Bubble have possibly gotten anything bad from her parents?

We try to cuddle Squeak every day, but sometimes were just too busy so we would like to get her another piggy to keep her happy. I was wondering whether she would get along with a younger female or a neutered male? :D

Thank you for reading this, hope to hear from someone soon!

JX4

Post   » Sat Sep 02, 2017 1:53 pm


You could go to a rescue and see what they have. They will often let you bring your pig in to see how she gets along with any of the others, to see if she does OK.

We have one neutered male with 5 females. It works great, except he is obviously the lowest in the pecking order. I don't know if that's usually the case with neutered males with females or not, but it is certainly the case with ours. When they were younger, the girls seemed to let him think he was boss even though he wasn't, but now they don't even pretend. He is the last one to get a crack at fresh hay, for example.

LilPigSqueak

Post   » Sat Sep 02, 2017 1:59 pm


Thank you, that sounds like a good idea. I'll go to the local rescue!

JX4

Post   » Sat Sep 02, 2017 3:56 pm


Before you put your girl in with any rescue pigs to see if they get along, make triple sure you are putting her in with another female or a neutered male. It's easy to mis-sex young guinea pigs if the person doesn't really know piggies very well. Intact males will eventually have a testicle sac that drags the ground almost, but young intact males whose testicles haven't "dropped" into a well-defined sac can still get females pregnant. And it only takes mere seconds to impregnate a fertile female.

Also your pig is more likely to get along at first with a much younger pig, but be aware that when that younger pig hits its "teen years" it will undoubtedly "test the limits" as any teenage human does. You will see squabbling at that point as the pigs test each other to see who will be dominant. As long as they aren't drawing blood, they are fine. It will look and sound a lot worse to you than it does to them.

LilPigSqueak

Post   » Sat Sep 02, 2017 4:47 pm


I have checked my local rescue's website and at the moment they have three, six-month-old piggies who are all female.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sat Sep 02, 2017 6:23 pm


Sounds like something worth investigating to me.

JX4

Post   » Sat Sep 02, 2017 7:57 pm


Sure does. At six months they are entering their "teen years," so expect some squabbles. They *will* have some dominance competition, probably even when initially meeting at the Rescue. Bring veggies and/or fresh hay and make some piles, it might help.

LilPigSqueak

Post   » Sun Sep 03, 2017 5:15 am


When do guinea pigs get out of their "teen years"? Thank you for all the help.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Sep 03, 2017 11:24 am


Perhaps at a year of age? Guessing it will depend on the guinea pig too. What do you all that have lots of guinea pigs think?

JX4

Post   » Sun Sep 03, 2017 5:46 pm


We have three parents: one dad and two moms. They were all supposed to be female, but one wasn't. He got neutered as soon as we realized he was male, but the deed had already been done, lol.

We ended up keeping four babies total, all female. They got the attitude of a teenage girl at about 6 months. Some of them were done with it by 12 months, but a couple still sported that 'tude until 18 months. One of them in particular (Squeaky) was a real snarky little thing. She bullied the others (not to the point of blood, just throwing her weight around) and even made it clear she had one favorite human (my younger daughter) and didn't like being held by anyone else. Now that she is 2.5 years old, she is pretty mellow and likes being held by all of us. In fact, a couple of her sisters now push *her* around sometimes. Go figure.

Just know that squabbles will happen, and you don't need to intervene unless you see blood or one pig is being deprived of food or water (a reason you should have two food bowls and two water bottles) or is being held "prisoner" in a one-entrance hidey hole (a reason you should only have hideys that have two entrances). They will sometimes be quite noisy about it and chase each other around the cage (a reason you need a larger cage). They will eventually calm down. We grew out of our teenaged hormone-induced angst, and so will they.

LilPigSqueak

Post   » Wed Oct 25, 2017 5:36 pm


I bought another piggy from a rescue, she is called Maria (soon to be called Pumpkin), she's 8 weeks and she is very shy so I am leaving her to settle in for another week. She is in a separate cage to Squeak and we will leave it that way for another few week. Would you recommend this strategy?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Wed Oct 25, 2017 8:34 pm


No. At that age I'd go ahead and introduce them if they're both healthy.

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