4 males

[OurSmiless]

Hi! I’m a New Guinea pig mom, and I currently have 4 males living together. I have 3 youngsters, who I assume is one 3 month old and two 7 month olds. I also have one rescue who is over a year old. I got the two 7 month olds at the same time and the same place, then the 3 month old about a month later from the same place. They seem to be doing rather well from what I’ve read, they enjoy eating together and get along fine. There are plenty of hiding places, food bowls, water bottles, and space. I’m just curious, will this start going downhill when the youngsters are older? I'm willing to split them up if I have to, I just prefer not to.

 

[Seven7]

Welcome.
I have heard pairs do better when they are boys so two in one cage and two in the other. I have seen many videos where 4 boys fight until they bleed and get severely injured resulting from the bad fights. Not saying yours absolutely will but from what have read and seen boys do better in pairs.

 

[Piggies&buns]

It is very rare for a group of males to make it into adulthood. Two males together is usually the most that works. The cage will need to be absolutely enormous for them to stand any chance but even then there is no guarantee. For a boar pair you need a 5x2 c&c cage (the measurements for which are 60cm foot by 180cm / 2ftx6 foot). The general advice is then for every additional pig add another 60cmx30cm (two square feet) but for boars I would definitely make sure if is bigger than that. It is occasionally possible though - there is a person on here who has a boar trio. I have seen her posts and she says the trio are harder work than her boar pair (ie bickering) but so far so good.
Have an action plan in place to separate them if things do go downhill. It won’t necesssrily be putting them into two groups of two if there is a major fall out though, if things do take a turn then often boys will often never be able to go back together snd will refuse to live together, so it is possible that every one of them will need to be separate which in turn will mean they will then need their own companion.
Read the guides on here on what behaviour to watch out for.

 

[OurSmiless]

They are well on their way to having much more space than what they have now. Currently they have 2 attached cages which are planned to be expanded. Hopefully they will have their own dedicated room when I get into my place. I didn’t want to end up with so many piggies, but after seeing them in horrible situations with no food or whatever, I couldn’t stop myself. That’s how the family started! KitKat, Stinker, Piggy, and Pepsi.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Well done for rescuing them!

 

[Betsy]

I doubt 4 piggies as (@Piggies&buns has said) will work once they go through teenage hormones and reach adulthood. If I were you I'd work out who gets on with whom best as and split them into boar pairs. @Wiebke is the bonding expert. I'm sure she'll be along soon.

 

[Reenie]

As @Betsy has said, it's unlikely they'll stay friendly once they hit their teenage months. I think @Wiebke did a piece on large boar herds, and the guidance was at least 10 boars with at least 1m square per boar - which basically means they'll form smaller groups with their own territory each.
It may be worth doing the split before they fall out (it's a near nil chance of working with 4,for a trio I'd have suggested waiting). If you split into the two pairs who get on best with each other, it will give them a really good chance as over 50% of boar pairs make it.
I'd love to see pics of your boys.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! I’m a New Guinea pig mom, and I currently have 4 males living together. I have 3 youngsters, who I assume is one 3 month old and two 7 month olds. I also have one rescue who is over a year old. I got the two 7 month olds at the same time and the same place, then the 3 month old about a month later from the same place. They seem to be doing rather well from what I’ve read, they enjoy eating together and get along fine. There are plenty of hiding places, food bowls, water bottles, and space. I’m just curious, will this start going downhill when the youngsters are older? I'm willing to split them up if I have to, I just prefer not to.

Hi!

Well done for rescuing them.

Please try to split your boys into two pairs trying to work out which boy goes best with one of the others, latest when the baby is hitting the teenage months and starting to upset the balance. Of your two 7 months olds are good together even in now in the thick of the teenage, then leave them as a pair.

Sub-adult trios have a fall-out rate of around 90% and quartets nearly 100%; success rates are a little better with adult trios and quartets but still well over 50%. Only disabled boar/carer companion combos with very different dynamics and old pensioner groups where the testosterone has fizzled out have better odds.
The most likely outcome is that you end up with one stable pair and two singles, but we have seen a number of cases where none of the boars would go back with any of the others, both in boar trios and in quartets. These are the most unstable boar constellations possible, even more so with young, hormonal boars.
Boars work best in pairs or in large groups with a whole room to allow them to have their own space and be able to get away from each other and preferably a mix of ages to keep testosterone levels down.

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

What to check and look out for in new guinea pigs (vet checks, sexing, parasites&illness)

Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides

 

[MomoMura]

Just thought I'd share my personal experience with boar bonding and husbandry

We tried to make it work as a trio when we purchased our youngest Aki on impulse. It was fine for the first couple of weeks or so, but unfortunately two of the boars (Momo the oldest, and Aki) were not able to settle their differences in terms of who was dominant. Momo wanted to be the dominant pig, but Aki was a tough little pig and needed someone who could put him in his place if need be. Mura (second oldest) would always shut him down really quick whenever Aki challenged him, so they got along great (and still get along great!). Momo, on the other hand, was all talk and rumblestrutting, and so would present dominance behaviors, but when Aki challenged him he always backed off. This went on for a while and eventually it led to a big fight where Momo ended up getting an eye injury. Thankfully he fully healed! But if we weren't there to separate them, I hate to think of how badly they would've hurt each other...

Please don't wait until the piggies inevitably fight each other to separate them! As previous posters have said, it's best to avoid the drama and just split into two pairs that get along great. It will help the pairs bond deeply and prevent having any singles.

As for our trio, we have two cages placed next to each other: a small cage for a single piggy, and a bigger cage for two piggies. Since Mura gets along with everypiggy, he gets to live in the big cage. Momo and Aki switch every 12 hours to spend time with Mura (Aki gets the day time, Momo gets the night time). For floor time, Mura gets twice the time as the other piggies (so if we want 1 piggy to get 2 hours, Mura is out for 4, and the other piggies get switched after 2 hours). The switching method has been working perfectly for us, and piggies are now accustomed to their schedule.

Please keep us updated on how things work out for you, and what solutions worked best for your situation I wish the best for your piggies.