Bonding advice needed!

[wheek!guinea]

Hello my lovely UK friends !

I recently adopted Glacier, a 2 month old boar, and we have a few potential guinea pals to bond with already. Here's a video of my sweet boy at his recent Vet visit, while we were waiting for the vet to come in to the room (he has a little bit of Conjunctivitis and there was hay in his carrier don't worry )

One owner is looking to re-home two babies only a few months older than Glacier. The owners are currently trying to figure out the sex of the two babies. I have sent them resources on how to figure out the sexes as well before their vet visit. If either one is male, how would I go about arranging a safe play date, with COVID-19 being rampant? I'm in the U.S and our state went into complete lock-down before I had the chance to visit shelters. Although I'm considered an essential worker, and have to interact with the public, I am still very paranoid about going to someone's house and infecting my loved ones or spreading it; as I'm sure anyone would be right now. I know there is no telling what will happen, but any advice on how to go about this, would be extremely helpful.




I've read all of the threads about bonding in this forum, along with other additional research but still had questions. During quarantine are the piggies allowed to have their cages next to one another or should they be separated into different rooms completely? I've seen advice for either option, but wasn't sure what the piggy experts recommend .

Anyways, if the pair of babies happen to be girls or none of them bond, I still have other play dates waiting to be arranged.


I know boars should only be in duos! ❤

 

[Wiebke]

Hello my lovely UK friends !

I recently adopted Glacier, a 2 month old boar, and we have a few potential guinea pals to bond with already. Here's a video of my sweet boy at his recent Vet visit, while we were waiting for the vet to come in to the room (he has a little bit of Conjunctivitis and there was hay in his carrier don't worry )

One owner is looking to re-home two babies only a few months older than Glacier. The owners are currently trying to figure out the sex of the two babies. I have sent them resources on how to figure out the sexes as well before their vet visit. If either one is male, how would I go about arranging a safe play date, with COVID-19 being rampant? I'm in the U.S and our state went into complete lock-down before I had the chance to visit shelters. Although I'm considered an essential worker, and have to interact with the public, I am still very paranoid about going to someone's house and infecting my loved ones or spreading it; as I'm sure anyone would be right now. I know there is no telling what will happen, but any advice on how to go about this, would be extremely helpful.

View attachment 136842


I've read all of the threads about bonding in this forum, along with other additional research but still had questions. During quarantine are the piggies allowed to have their cages next to one another or should they be separated into different rooms completely? I've seen advice for either option, but wasn't sure what the piggy experts recommend .

Anyways, if the pair of babies happen to be girls or none of them bond, I still have other play dates waiting to be arranged.


I know boars should only be in duos! ❤
View attachment 136841

Hi and welcome

I am sorry for the bad timing. Most rescues have stopped adopting out, especially in lockdown areas. Dating is no longer possible, either, as it countervenes any measures to slow the spread of Covid-19.

With young guinea pigs under 3-4 months, you have to weigh up the risk of an infection against the need for companionship. Quarantine needs to be conducted in a different room. Your choice is to whether they can do this with a suitable companion (who you may then also have to treat) or alone; before they can be safely brought into the piggy room and at the worst live next door to your existing piggies for company in the meantime.

I feel for you, having had to improvise with a single boar of mine after a long planned adoption for next week has been postponed until such a time as it is safe for a socially distanced handover - but that is more likely a matter of several months than weeks as we are only at start of the steep infection curve here.

 

[wheek!guinea]

Hi and welcome

I am sorry for the bad timing. Most rescues have stopped adopting out, especially in lockdown areas. Dating is no longer possible, either as it countervenes any measures to slow the spread of Covid-19.

With young guinea pigs under 3-4 months, you have to weigh up the risk of an infection against the need for companionship. It needs to be conducted in a different room. Your choice is to whether they can do this with a suitable companion (who you may then also have to treat) or alone before they can be safely brought into the piggy room and at the worst live next door to your existing piggies for company in the meantime.

I feel for you, having had to improvise with a single boar of mine after a long planned adoption for next week has been postponed until such a time as it is safe for a socially distanced handover - but that is more likely a matter of several months than weeks as we are only at start of the steep infection curve here.

Thank you, I know it's super difficult right now and nobody planned on this horrific event to happen . You're absolutely right though! I don't think jeopardizing anybody's health is worth it. The good news is that he gets tons of love and affection and either my boyfriend or I are at home with him. On the bright side, it gives him time to get 100% better and gives me more time to do more research on proper bonding.