Guinea Pigs from Two Different Places?

[Mikknu]

Hi there guys. This may be a stupid question, but I'm going to ask it anyways.

I've become heavily obsessed with scouring the internet for guinea pigs in my area, due to... well, me being me. Also because I'm being forced to sell my beloved aquarium, but that's neither here nor there. At one of the shelters within 200 miles of me, a bunch of guinea pigs were just rescued from someone who just rampantly let their guinea pigs breed. There are a variety of males and females, of differing ages, and it isn't listed as to who are siblings, who's not, and so on.

I was wondering, is it safe to adopt two different young guinea pigs, males or females, and just... put them together in a cage? From what I've read that doesn't SEEM like the case, but I really can't tell all the cuties apart.

In another example, for those people who just pick two random guinea pigs from a pet store(which I'm really hoping to avoid, everyone I've talked to says their guinea pigs had mites as a kid ), is it safe for those two random girls or boys to be put together right from the get go?

 

[Piggies&buns]

No such thing as a stupid question!

The success of a bond comes entirely down to character compatibility. Just picking two random piggies, then you will have no idea whether the two would like each other and therefore you could end up with two single piggies, then each needing new friends, and then you’ve got two separate cages and four piggies. Being related to each other is entirely irrelevant on whether a bond is a success or a failure.

If you were going to do this, you would have to observe and ask for advice in finding out which two seemingly get on best together and seem to spend their time together as there is then more chance of things being ok in the long run but there is no guarantee. You would always need a plan b of a separate cage if things didn’t pan out.

If they were housed in different enclosures at the rescue then you could ask the centre if they would try a bonding and see what happens, or try to bond them yourself at home and this is where the risk comes in. You then have no idea If they will like each other.

If you were to do a bonding yourself (either with these rescue piggies or shop bought random piggies), then given your cage is new and has not housed piggies before, you could use it as your neutral space but it would mean putting them together straight off and It’s most advisable to have two new piggies who don’t know each other living alongside to each other for a while before attempting the bonding, but if you were to split your cage and have them live like this for a while, it would therefore render the cage no longer neutral and you’d then need another neutral zone to bond while cleaning down the cage to be able to put them in. However, that plan b in case of a failed bonding is needed.

However, presumably the rescue wouldn’t let them be rehomed just yet anyway if they have only just come in - because the females would need to be on pregnancy watch, boys paired up/neutered etc. This could make things easier in the respect that the centre will be assessing which piggies are getting on and potentially meaning you could take an already bonded pair so in that case, they could just go into your cage with no problems.

 

[Wiebke]

No such thing as a stupid question!

The success of a bond comes entirely down to character compatibility. Just picking two random piggies, then you will have no idea whether the two would like each other and therefore you could end up with two single piggies, then each needing new friends, and then you’ve got two separate cages and four piggies. Being related to each other is entirely irrelevant on whether a bond is a success or a failure.

If you were going to do this, you would have to observe and ask for advice in finding out which two seemingly get on best together and seem to spend their time together as there is then more chance of things being ok in the long run but there is no guarantee. You would always need a plan b of a separate cage if things didn’t pan out.

If they were housed in different enclosures at the rescue then you could ask the centre if they would try a bonding and see what happens, or try to bond them yourself at home and this is where the risk comes in. You then have no idea If they will like each other.

If you were to do a bonding yourself (either with these rescue piggies or shop bought random piggies), then given your cage is new and has not housed piggies before, you could use it as your neutral space but it would mean putting them together straight off and It’s most advisable to have two new piggies who don’t know each other living alongside to each other for a while before attempting the bonding, but if you were to split your cage and have them live like this for a while, it would therefore render the cage no longer neutral and you’d then need another neutral zone to bond while cleaning down the cage to be able to put them in. However, that plan b in case of a failed bonding is needed.

However, presumably the rescue wouldn’t let them be rehomed just yet anyway if they have only just come in - because the females would need to be on pregnancy watch, boys paired up/neutered etc. This could make things easier in the respect that the centre will be assessing which piggies are getting on and potentially meaning you could take an already bonded pair so in that case, they could just go into your cage with no problems.

I agree with @Piggies&buns !

I have and have had lots of piggies of different ages and from different places living together, but unless I have the option of playing around with different constellations or groups that they can be introduced to, or I happen to have the extra space to go and find a new suitable mate for a piggy I have adopted from further afield if the integration has failed, I work with rescue dating to allow the piggies to work out whether they get on or not. What has looked like a perfect match on paper has far too often turned out to be anything but!

However, being siblings is no guarantee that piggies will get on later in life. In fact, half of my sister pairs have ended up falling out or living in different groups because of their incessant squabbling. the same goes for teenage brothers - if you get two that are fairly dominant, problems are bound to happen.

When adopting over a larger distance (and I have adopted over comparable distances to the one you are planning), I would recommend to rethink your idea of adopting only babies and rather consider adopting a mother-daughter pair (which are in my own experience on the whole a lot more stable as the hierarchy is generally not contested) or an already long term stably bonded adult pair of no longer wanted children's pets where teenage fall-outs between boars are no longer an issue - if you follow out tips of how to best settle them in, adult boars are also a viable option.
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)

Piggies are cute babies for just a few weeks; teenagers for a few months but adults for years. And they are every bit as complex personalities as humans, the more you get to know them.

Please always double-check the gender. In fact you may want to learn how to check the crucial areas that are less obvious but much more telling before visiting a rescue so you are not caught out as you can't just turn around.
Please also be aware that many US shelters do not provide any medical treatment, so you do need to have that sorted out before you adopt.
Illustrated Sexing Guide

 

[Mikknu]

Thank you for your responses @Piggies&buns and @Wiebke! I really appreciate the advice.

To clarify, I am not necessarily intending to adopt the guinea pigs that just came in. Like Piggies said, most of them are on watch, and are available to be met, like for dating or potential future homes I'm assuming, but not adopted atm. It just brought to my attention the question about getting guinea pigs at the same time, as I was confused about it ever since I learned that guinea pigs must be in pairs. I wasn't entirely clear on how that worked, because I know a lot of people just buy a couple from the store.

I've actually got my eye on two different groups of adult pigs right now, but I wouldn't be adverse to teenaged pigs. There's a pair of 1.5 year old boys I like, and a trio of 2 year old girls too. Both are equally adorable, and if they're still available once April comes(I haven't seen any leave the adoption site since December :c), I know it'll be a hard choice.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you for your responses @Piggies&buns and @Wiebke! I really appreciate the advice.

To clarify, I am not necessarily intending to adopt the guinea pigs that just came in. Like Piggies said, most of them are on watch, and are available to be met, like for dating or potential future homes I'm assuming, but not adopted atm. It just brought to my attention the question about getting guinea pigs at the same time, as I was confused about it ever since I learned that guinea pigs must be in pairs. I wasn't entirely clear on how that worked, because I know a lot of people just buy a couple from the store.

I've actually got my eye on two different groups of adult pigs right now, but I wouldn't be adverse to teenaged pigs. There's a pair of 1.5 year old boys I like, and a trio of 2 year old girls too. Both are equally adorable, and if they're still available once April comes(I haven't seen any leave the adoption site since December :c), I know it'll be a hard choice.

The boys are currently just coming out of teenage, so are basically out of the worst but young enough to still have all their adult life in front of them; the same goes for the girls. Not easy to decide...

See how it is when the time comes for adoption! It is easier to start with an already bonded pair if they are available; especially when you don't have a rescue close by and are not yet experienced with piggies.

 

[Piggies&buns]

if they are already together, then you must not separate them and can just bring them home and put them in your cage together.
If they aren’t already together, then you need to introduce and bond them following the procedure in a neutral zone etc.

However, your example of people buying a pair of piggies from a pet store can have its own problems - there is no guarantee of a successful life long bond. Often they are just put in as a pair in an enclosure together as babies, sold on as a pair. Or the other thing that happens is many piggies are together in an enclosure and somebody comes along and just buys two of them most usually based on how they look. In both these cases, they can just be put together in the cage when you get them home because they were already together. But neither of these two ways give the guarantee of a life long bond - people will say their pet shop piggies who always been together suddenly fell out - this is usually because they hit teens and being just randomly housed together with no regard for their characters and suddenly they clash and then you’ve got single piggies.