StardustEcho
Junior Guinea Pig
I adopted a newly neutered boar (around 3) a few months ago now and we've had a few medical issues post-neuter preventing an attempted bonding between my girls (all around 2 and a half) and him until this weekend. We finally have the all clear from the vets (
) so I've spent my afternoon/evening attempting to bond him with my 3 girls (they've been side by side since I got him).
Unfortunately it has not gone well. He seems fine with one of the girls, a little humping which she couldn't care less about and eating hay side by side. My middle girl was chattering and there was a bit of chasing from both of them but I believe in time it may well have calmed down. My last girl is the issue. We were there for around 4 hours and she either entirely ignored him or would just chatter madly, go up and rush at him. He darted out of the way for the most part but she did manage to pull some of his hair off. He started off trying to hold his own but after about an hour he'd just clearly had enough and would run whenever she approached. After an unprovoked lunge from her, he started trying desperately to escape the pen and run away. So they've been separated, he's been checked over (no injuries) and he's back in his cage.
Now I have the question of what to do with him. The rescue he's from tried multiple male bondings with him before his neuter and all failed pretty spectacularly, apparently due to over-the-top dominance behaviour from him. They were hopeful he'd get along better with a group of girls, but my girl does not appear to agree. I'm able to enlarge his cage and have him continue living side by side with my girls but I worry that's not enough and I could do better by him. He does seem to be a very human-oriented pig, begging for attention sometimes in a way none of my other pigs do and using me as the favourite nap spot and obstacle course during floor time. It's extremely likely he's never lived with another pig previously, which might explain this love of me. I certainly don't think he's unhappy with his life but I do worry I could do more to get him a friend. I'd really rather not adopt another pig on top of my current 6 but my only other option would appear to be splitting up my girls to pair with him and I'm reluctant to disrupt their bond either. Any advice/thoughts on the various approaches would be great, I just want what's best for him. I did consider seeing if the rescue would be able to find him a home with pigs he'd bond with, but I love him so dearly and I have no desire to add more to the shoulders of the rescue.
) so I've spent my afternoon/evening attempting to bond him with my 3 girls (they've been side by side since I got him).Unfortunately it has not gone well. He seems fine with one of the girls, a little humping which she couldn't care less about and eating hay side by side. My middle girl was chattering and there was a bit of chasing from both of them but I believe in time it may well have calmed down. My last girl is the issue. We were there for around 4 hours and she either entirely ignored him or would just chatter madly, go up and rush at him. He darted out of the way for the most part but she did manage to pull some of his hair off. He started off trying to hold his own but after about an hour he'd just clearly had enough and would run whenever she approached. After an unprovoked lunge from her, he started trying desperately to escape the pen and run away. So they've been separated, he's been checked over (no injuries) and he's back in his cage.
Now I have the question of what to do with him. The rescue he's from tried multiple male bondings with him before his neuter and all failed pretty spectacularly, apparently due to over-the-top dominance behaviour from him. They were hopeful he'd get along better with a group of girls, but my girl does not appear to agree. I'm able to enlarge his cage and have him continue living side by side with my girls but I worry that's not enough and I could do better by him. He does seem to be a very human-oriented pig, begging for attention sometimes in a way none of my other pigs do and using me as the favourite nap spot and obstacle course during floor time. It's extremely likely he's never lived with another pig previously, which might explain this love of me. I certainly don't think he's unhappy with his life but I do worry I could do more to get him a friend. I'd really rather not adopt another pig on top of my current 6 but my only other option would appear to be splitting up my girls to pair with him and I'm reluctant to disrupt their bond either. Any advice/thoughts on the various approaches would be great, I just want what's best for him. I did consider seeing if the rescue would be able to find him a home with pigs he'd bond with, but I love him so dearly and I have no desire to add more to the shoulders of the rescue.
