Herds

[HannahMarie517]

So I’ve heard a lot about guinea pig herds and u was just wondering how it works because I’ve also heard that trios don’t usually work out. Also, what’s a good number of piggies for a 16 square foot cage?

 

[Swissgreys]

A lot will depend on your current group and set up.

How many piggies do you have and what is their current cage size?
Whilst it is easy to say you can have x number of guinea pigs in a cage that is a certain size, obviously it comes down to the individual pigs and how they get along.

 

[HannahMarie517]

I have two guinea pigs in two connected 2 by 4s in an L shape (it’s one of those where you can add multiple cages together) plus an extra 2 by 4 playpen

 

[Siikibam]

I think 5 piggies would go in a 16 sq foot cage. But you have to remember that multiple hides and feeding stations would take up space. So it’s more about how much space you can give them given those things.

 

[HannahMarie517]

Is there anyway 5 boars could work?

 

[Siikibam]

You’d need 5 sq metres of space but it would be difficult to balance all those characters. I would strongly advise against trying it.

 

[HannahMarie517]

Yeah I think I’ll just stick with shadow and rusty.

 

[Siikibam]

If you want more there’s no harm in getting another boar pair.

I started with a boar pair and happened to fall in love with a sow pair after deciding I wanted more piggies. There were boars there but they’d had a fallout and were separated and waiting to be tried again. I did consider early on getting the boys neutered then separating them. But they had(still do) a great bond and I wasn’t willing to risk separated piggies if it didn’t work out.

 

[Tangle]

Is there anyway 5 boars could work?

Well, never say never - but its very unusual and if you already have a pair you risk upsetting the existing bond. See adding-more-guinea-pigs-or-merging-pairs-what-works-and-what-not

To have 5 boars you'd need a LOT more space (at 1m^2 per pig for a bachelor herd that's nearly 60ft^2!)

 

[HannahMarie517]

I may get more in the future, but they are already very well bonded (they hate being apart) and I don’t want that to get messed up. I might get a sow pair after having them neutered.

 

[Siikibam]

If you’re not planning to bond them with sows I wouldn’t neuter them. Also remember that sows need to be ideally kept in another room. If not, then far away or underneath the boars.

 

[HannahMarie517]

If I bond them with sows it won’t be for a while because shadow is still a baby.

 

[Siikibam]

If they’re well bonded then leave them in their pair. You may split to bond with sows and it doesn’t work out.

 

[HannahMarie517]

That’s what I think I’m gonna do

 

[HannahMarie517]

Thank you for the advice I honestly don’t know where I’d be without this forum, since this is what convinced me to expand the cage and get shadow. I’m sure rusty appreciates this to (especially since he’d probably still be alone without it)

 

[Tangle]

Stupid question moment...
You mentioned getting a sow pair and then bonding them, did you mean separating the boars so you had two mixed pairs? Initially I read it to mean you were thinking of putting all four together and that's REALLY unlikely to work - I think I just read it wrong but figured better I make myself look daft than to not check

 

[Siikibam]

She meant bonding into mixed pairs.

 

[HannahMarie517]

Yeah and then maybe having the cages connect (but not open to eachother)