Adding A Third?

[Sach15]

Hiya
Me and my mum rescue all our animals, only time we've had anything from babies is our kittens which were neglected and was given to us for free! Anyway, so we took in a female Guinea pig in February and she was alone for a month until we decided to get her a friend (we were worried because of how dominant she was) and went to a breeder and took in one that had been abused by the person who the breeder sold the Guinea pig too. When I saw her she was bald on her back and her back legs from overbreeding and she really skinny. We fattened her up and her hair grew back and she looks like a proper Swiss and her and our other Guinea pig got on really well! We think it's because of how placid our Swiss was!
By shock, last week our first Guinea pig was found dead in their cage the next morning. We were devastated and it was such a shock as she was around 2/3 years old. So now our Swiss is on her own and while we have spoken to the breeder we got her from has a sow retiring next week which were going to have, but another breeder has gotten back to me saying that she also has a retired sow for sale and I'm more than welcome to come round and take a look.
Now the question is, is 3 better than 2? Or should we just stick to having two?

 

[sport_billy]

Hello

Welcome to the forum

Sorry for the loss of your piggy. Please feel free to leave a memorial to them in our Rainbow Bridge Section.

I would see how the two go before getting a third piggy. Three piggies do require a much bigger cage than two for a start, bonding two piggies will probably be easier than bonding two.

Have you thought of going to a guinea pig rescue? Guinea Pig Rescue Centre Locator

Let us know how you get on, what is your piggies name?

Lee

 

[Sach15]

They do have quite a big cage anyway and they have a massive run and hutch in our garden (we're planning on sectioning a grass patch for them as our garden is over 100ft long) the other one is a Swiss like our one at the moment, her names Elsie, but the other one we've got coming is a lilac satin so now we're wondering whether to just keep Swiss's together!
Just don't know what to do. I feel like the bigger the herd the better they'll get on. Elsie is very placid and we call her potatoe as she literally just sits there and squeaks

 

[Wiebke]

They do have quite a big cage anyway and they have a massive run and hutch in our garden (we're planning on sectioning a grass patch for them as our garden is over 100ft long) the other one is a Swiss like our one at the moment, her names Elsie, but the other one we've got coming is a lilac satin so now we're wondering whether to just keep Swiss's together!
Just don't know what to do. I feel like the bigger the herd the better they'll get on. Elsie is very placid and we call her potatoe as she literally just sits there and squeaks

Would it be possible to stage a meet&greet at the breeders to see whether they get on or not? Not all piggies click necessarily; trios are particularly prone to an outsider problem of some sort unless the character combination is just right. Breed doesn't play into it; it is the mix of personalities/mutual liking that decide whether a piggy bond is a happy one or not.
When it comes down to the crunch, piggies are like people working at an office - it can as easily go wrong if the chemistry is not there; if they can choose who they want to work/live with, you are onto a winner.