is it ok to get a second guinea pig later on after your first one is 4 years old?

Question

I have a guinea pig and he's bored. I want to get him a buddy but he's already 4 and I'm afraid they will fight non stop over territoral issues.

Answer 1

You can get him a same sex buddy or a spayed female.
I'd recommend another male. First consider adopting before you go to a pet store. Quarantine your new piggie for at least 3 weeks, to confirm he's in good health.
When you introduce 2 males -the important thing is to do so on NEUTRAL TERRITORY. Do it outside of the cage-during floor time with veggies/hay and some hidey houses. If you have to introduce in the cage, clean it out first and spray the bottom with vinegar. Rearrange any food bowls, hidey houses, etc. The point of this is so it feels like new territory to your current piggie and he won't feel like guarding it so much.
Once you introduce, separate ONLY if there is bloodshed. Whether it's a male or female, there's going to be some rumble-strutting and mounting. This is to establish the dominance chain and is completely normal. Rumble-strutting is displayed by either males or females. It's long, low pitched purring, with the piggie walking around (it almost looks like crawling because the hips are lower) and sometimes circling the other pig. There's going to be butt-sniffing and lots of chirps, squeaks and other noises while they get to know each other.
Normally they will settle down after about 30 minutes and go about their business. Either exploring the cage or eating hay/veggies.
Good luck and I hope this helped.

Answer 2

I agree with Randc 100%. It gets tiring to here people say ''don't breed your guinea pig until it is over so many months''. The general rule of thumb is a sow should be mated when she turns 3 months old(or reaches 450 grams, whichever comes first). If you are going to keep breeding, breed your other sow(12 weeks old) right now. This arvo when you get home. Don't wait. Then get onto google(preferably with your mum reading over your shoulder) and google ''Dystocia'', and the ages of when the bubs should be weaned(did you know that boar bubs can mate with mum when they are as young as 3 weeks old?). I would seperate your older sow right now from your boar, as it is not a risk worth taking. Was she bad tempered before? If she was, I wouldn't want to breed offspring from her, as piggies are no different to dogs and cats when it comes to breeding for temperment. A bad tempered piggy has a greater chance of producing stroppy and ill-mannered bubs. At 6 weeks into gestation, an experienced breeder can feel flutters in the sow's stomach, and sometimes make out the fetus's shapes. The only sign you will be able to tell right now is if she is skinny at the head and neck, but comes into a ''pear'' shape from shoulders down. Her stomach shouldn't be ''rock hard'', but firm and will still feel softly in areas. Sometimes a hard belly can be caused by internal problems, like worms, or parasites, so please have this checked out if it's really hard and if by 8 weeks you can't feel movement. I hope this helps, but I really think you will have to get an exotic vet to check out your older sow if she is indeed pregnant. It would have helped if you knew about all of this before you assumed it was as easy as putting a boy with a girl(boar with sow), but I'm glad you came on here to ask for the correct info, better late then never. All the best to you and your future piggy babies.

Answer 3

Sorry to hear of your piggie.

Very seldom will an older male piggie accept another male piggie. It's not wise to get a female, babys you know. I used to breed piggies as a hobby and out of 24 there were only 2 males that would live in the same pen without fighting. If you have the room, get another cage with a male pig and put right next to him. Don't set a female next to him it will cause him a lot of health problems. I have males that have lived next to each other for 6 years that will fight if you put them together. I've seen piggies grieve and die also. Some make it OK if you hold them a lot and give them a lot of attention. I just went through that and the piggie is just fine now. He was pretty depressed for a coupe of days. good luck.

www.guinealynx.com...Your piggie will love it.

Answer 4

my question is how long has he been alone ? if he has been alone for 4 yrs then, I would not get a second one . usually at about 4yrs or better most of my cavies don't last long after that age . so, no its not a good idea to have another boar in with another boar . its always a good idea to wait until you buy 2 new young boars or sows and put them together ( after the older boar passes on). usually when we know if our cavies starts to feel lonely we take a blanket and we just watch TV with them and have a healthy snacks he just sits and eats he snacks and watches TV and feels comfort, snug and warm .. they were the best pet and show animals ( at one time we did have 45 cavies) we also had an old swimming pool and just let him be himself we filled it with sawdust to cover the bottom have some old pipe just big enough for him to play hide in seek and some food and water.. they will love it I guarantee it

Answer 5

i would try to find another guinea pig around the same age and just slowly let them get to now each other or also you could get a rabbit to put in with him because they are both very social animals.

Answer 6

I was in a situaton similar where i had two guinea pigs and one died so we had to get a companian, the old and new one got along great but this could be because she was used to having a companian. so u should introduce them slowly and see if the get along

Answer 7

um i had two guinea pigs when one of them died we couldn't get another one so the one that was left started to be lonely so he stopped eating and became like anorexic so she died a week lter so be carefl and really think before you do that we were really sad but i guess guinea pigs have feelings too

Answer 8

At four years, it should be reasonably ok. At first gradually introduce them for small periods of time, then you can move the other one into the cage. If you want, you could also get a rabbit, they get along ok.