Getting a group of guinea pigs?

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BecsPiggies

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Hello, I'm looking at getting guinea pigs (my family have had them before) and was looking at having a group of around 4 pigs. Ive read the threads already available on group combinations but just wanted some advice from experienced people who currently have groups please:

If i were to buy baby guinea pigs could i buy a number as a group and introduce them together? or am i better having older guinea pigs? i was looking at a sow group as i know boar only groups don't tend to work but i just wondered what everyone thought?

Please let me know what you think, I'm trying to do all my research and home work before i do anything at all but just wasn't sure how to go about this, thank so much!
 
BecsPiggies said:
Hello, I'm looking at getting guinea pigs (my family have had them before) and was looking at having a group of around 4 pigs. Ive read the threads already available on group combinations but just wanted some advice from experienced people who currently have groups please:

If i were to buy baby guinea pigs could i buy a number as a group and introduce them together? or am i better having older guinea pigs? i was looking at a sow group as i know boar only groups don't tend to work but i just wondered what everyone thought?

Please let me know what you think, I'm trying to do all my research and home work before i do anything at all but just wasn't sure how to go about this, thank so much!
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Hi!

Which country or UK county are you in?

There are currently one or two already bonded groups of 4-5 piggies floating around in rescues, which will be able for adoption again as soon as the lockdown is lifted.
 
Hi I'm in Nottingham but I'm not ready for the guinea pigs yet- we are waiting to move house first but just wanted to get a better idea of what not to do and what to do if we have a number of around 4 :) though i will look for an already established group when i do get them as a possibility- i hadn't thought of that!
We do follow a swiss guinea pig breeder but again i wasn't sure whether to get babies or not
 
BecsPiggies said:
Hi I'm in Nottingham but I'm not ready for the guinea pigs yet- we are waiting to move house first but just wanted to get a better idea of what not to do and what to do if we have a number of around 4 :) though i will look for an already established group when i do get them as a possibility- i hadn't thought of that!
We do follow a swiss guinea pig breeder but again i wasn't sure whether to get babies or not
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Babies are cute babies for just a few weeks, rambunctious teenagers for several months and adults for years. By the time you have settled babies from a background of very little handling and human interaction (which applies to pretty much all UK for sale breeders and pet shops as standards are by no means comparable with Swiss ones), they are no longer quite as cute.
Starting with piggies that that a rescue knows are getting and can already bond for you and that have ideally different ages helps with longer term stability; this way you can also add a neutered boar.
Rescues are certainly willing to help you create a group that is suitable for newbie - and you can have the knowledge that you are not only helping the piggies you adopt but you are also helping those that are their places have a safe future. All rescues are currently struggling as they have lost most of their income/fundraising streams at a time of year when they are extremely busy with adoptions and events.
It is worth contacting rescues early on, so they may be able to create a little ready-made family for you - especially if you are not fixated on a specific date. Many sows coming into rescue are pregnant and there are also single fallen-out boars from mis-matched boar pairs that will find a very happy future as a 'husboar' of their own sow group so you may be able to get a baby or two with their mother in the mix.

Here is our list of those carefully vetted rescues that we can guarantee for you being in safe, welfare compatible and experienced hands at all stages of the rescue process. It is worth travelling a bit further for total peace of mind and a smooth start with piggies that used to handling.
Please be aware that in this country anybody can call themselves a rescue or a breeder without licensing or control, and that the results can be accordingly and any shade in between.
Rescue Locator

The welfare recommendations on this forum are compatible with what the rescues are looking for.
 
The RSCPA Walsall in Birmingham (off the M6) will rehome countrywide if you can come for a pick-up and pass a home check by your local RSCPA branch.
They currently have got a very pretty bonded quartet of young adult sisters that are ideally looking for a home together. Not sure whether they used yo live with one of the neutered boars or not - you may have to ask. But the girls are used to being pets so you would have an ideal start.
MEG_AMY_JO_AND_BETH - Walsall Branch - Detail - rspca.org.uk - RSPCA
 
Thank you for the information i will take a look into it and keep those rescues in mind when i come to getting them
 
Wiebke said:
The RSCPA Walsall in Birmingham (off the M6) will rehome countrywide if you can come for a pick-up and pass a home check by your local RSCPA branch.
They currently have got a very pretty bonded quartet of young adult sisters that are ideally looking for a home together. Not sure whether they used yo live with one of the neutered boars or not - you may have to ask. But the girls are used to being pets so you would have an ideal start.
MEG_AMY_JO_AND_BETH - Walsall Branch - Detail - rspca.org.uk - RSPCA
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They are a lovely group of girls. I saw them earlier this morning. Online.
 
Piggylove82 said:
They are a lovely group of girls. I saw them earlier this morning. Online.
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I so wish I had the space for them, but I am full up! I became aware of them when I did the Adoptables adverts for the current issue of Guinea Pig Magazine, where are they featured.
 
BecsPiggies said:
they are very cute!
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The 'Little Women' are ubercute indeed! Well worth making it a day out.

Please be aware that all RSPCA centres are entirely run by volunteers in their free time, so it can take a few tries to get hold of them. Especially at the moment when they are understaffed but still have all the animals in rescue and more emergency/neglect cases coming in all the time...
The adoption process can take about 3 weeks until the paperwork is cleared, especially if you are first time adopter because the RSPCA paperwork is now centralised. But you can definitely enquire now...
 
Thank you :) would i be better having a boy in the group (neutered) or is just sows ok? i was particularly interested in buying from the breeder i follow too but would consider an already established group its just i liked the swiss guinea pig breed for their curliness! and was worried if i bought all babies how that would go but as you said they aren't handled either
 
Please be aware that we are a pro rescue, anti intentional breeding forum. There are already far too many piggies in rescue awaiting good homes through no fault of their own for us to advocate buying a group of piggies from a breeder.
Our experience of breeders on here is not great. Breeders will tell you anything for a sale or to get rid of old stock. I would never trust a breeder that a group was safely sexed and properly bonded, whereas I would recommend any of our approved rescues on the locator to correctly sex them, tell you all about the group dynamics and not pass you off with any health issues.
 
ok no problem, i just liked the breed that was all but i see what you are saying. It wasn't that i wouldn't adopt piggies i just wasn't sure on how to create a group if i did purchase babies too as i said i would definitely look at the rescues
 
I have a lovely herd of five.

Jingle and Mistletoe from a rescue. I added Cufflinks (neutered boar who came from a lovely lady on gumtree, I had him neutered and he lived next to the girls for six weeks before I bonded them).

P_20180128_110534.webp

I then added young Rosie (lilac and orange) and her sister, Cherry blossom, from a rescue as well as two single elderly sows who had both been bereved and whose owners asked me to take them in. Here are Rosie and Cherry B.

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here are the older ladies (rip) who spent their old age happily in the herd!

Primrose and Tani

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P_20180607_131930.webp
 
aw i love them! thank you for the pics! that's good to see maybe i could start off with a couple and then grow the herd like you have, i just wasn't sure how to approach putting them together but i think maybe starting with a pair and adding would be better :) Little Rosie is so cute! x they all look very happy x
 
BecsPiggies said:
aw i love them! thank you for the pics! that's good to see maybe i could start off with a couple and then grow the herd like you have, i just wasn't sure how to approach putting them together but i think maybe starting with a pair and adding would be better :) Little Rosie is so cute! x they all look very happy x
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I have three guinea pigs now, but a while back I had six. I started off with three and ended up with 6 😂
 
Haha that's probably going to be me! we are finally buying a house soon so ive been waited forever to get piggies and i knew i wanted a little herd so I'm very excited! they are so lovely
 
BecsPiggies said:
Haha that's probably going to be me! we are finally buying a house soon so ive been waited forever to get piggies and i knew i wanted a little herd so I'm very excited! they are so lovely
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Would u be getting long haired guinea pigs or short haired?
 
I think short haired guineas or i don't mind fuzzy or fluffy ones but i do prefer that than really long haired ones :) ill just have to wait and see who needs a home when i get them haha
 
The important thing to remember is that the success of any bond (pairs or groups) comes entirely down to having the right match of characters between the piggies. If you’ve got youngsters who hit teens (likely at the same time) and both turn out to be dominant characters and neither backs down, then you’ve got trouble, separated piggies so more cages, and then needing to bond each piggy with a new piggy etc. It certainly doesn’t happen all the time, it’s not all doom and gloom but it is a scenario which we see.
Rescuing an already established pair/group is the best way to ensure you don’t encounter such problems.

Same goes for when adding more piggies to a bonded pair - you need to find the right piggies to match in with your bonded pair and again, this is where a rescue centre will help to ensure the right piggies are found.

You’ll find this link below useful
Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?

Also consider cage size, a group of four piggies require a big space Cage Size Guide
 
Neville’s Nest in Leicester is a good place for rescue piggies - all mine have come from there bar one.
 
I am going to speak to rescues too when the time comes and i have 3 mid west cages ready to connect up =24 square feet in total for 4 but i will be as careful as possible and look to rescues to help find me a suitable match at all times- I have had a look at the Cavy corner place in Doncaster near me and have book marked them to start with when I'm going to get them
 
It is much harder building up a group from scratch as you end up sooner or later with problems. Group life is a dynamic and not a static process; it is also much more complex than you imagine!

If you can start out with a ready made stable group, then it is much better. They can teach you a lot so you can learn at pace and don't have to pick up from a crash landing as soon as get lift off.

I second @VickiA 's experiences. We have seen so often members insisting that they had a 'good breeder' just around the corner to then having to help them with parasites or ringworm, mis-sexed pairs, already pregnant sows (if they were very unlucky, with dead babies thrown in), very skittish piggies etc.
Good salesmanship and online presence doesn't necessarily equal a good product in my own experience, whether that is breeders or 'rescues' not on our list.
Unlike with a good rescue that has a mandatory quarantine and vet care, a pregnancy watch for any incoming sows over 4 weeks, careful character matching and proper sexing, with a breeder or the free-ads the risks are all on your own side; including with breeders selling at shows (we have got several member t-shirts from that category in our forum cupboard, too!)
This is our most recent and so far most tragic epic breeder piggies saga so far if you want to get an idea of what you could potentially get into with several sows if just one of them was mis-sexed or if any boar babies hadn't been separated at 3 weeks of age: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/two-pregnant-guineas.177667/

Personally, I am great fan of 'husboars' (neutered boars living with one or several sows). I currently have got 9 of them. My largest group consisted of one patriarch and 13 sows at the height of it. But sow groups work on their own, too.
The problem is, you can't just chuck two pairs together and expect them to get on. And not every added sow will work out, either.
What you can't see in this line up is my elderlies group of 'retired' large group sows (with their own 5 years old neutered boar) and my cataract group, again an off-shoot from the large group with piggies who couldn't hack it.
IMG_4053_edited-3.jpg
 
I just read that a neutered boy works well too and so that may be better as you've said. Ill see what ready done groups are available and speak to rescues about sorting that when the time comes and the best way to go about it as i would love a herd of piggies and don't want to do the wrong thing at any point
 
I would say don’t restrict yourself to a particular breed. But look more at where they’ve lived and whether they’ve been bonded etc and health checked ready to go. Buying from a shop Or breeder can be difficult particularly if you They don’t get on when you try to bond. And I think a rescue will also offer support after adoption.

Those girls look soooo cute! If I had room and funds for vets I would definitely take them on 😉
 
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