Introducing small young sow to boar

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Coriroc

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Hello all, hope I've put this in the right place. I had a look around and it seems OK and I couldn't find anyone else asking the same question.

At the moment I have a 20 week old male guinea pig (Beatle) from a rescue home. We initially kept him with a rabbit, which was a mistake and he has since been separated. (It was actually worse for the rabbit, who got humped fairly ferociously most of the time!) So I wanted to get him a companion.

After going around the pet rescue they said I should get Beatle neutered and put him with a female. So we bought a female (Gem), whom I picked out as 1) being completely adorable and fluffy 2) being pretty much the bottom of the pecking order. They've been in a C&C cage for 2 weeks with a divider down the middle, and also some newspaper/a fairly high wall, after we discovered Gem could fit through the squares of the divider - fortunately before she snuck through to Beatle! This discovery led me to weigh her - at age 9-11 weeks she was ~ 300g and basically had come from the shop very thin. Her weight is on the way up pretty fast but I'm a little concerned at introducing the two because of the size difference. I had planned to put them together in another couple of weeks (to let male guinea recover for 4 weeks from neutering). Does anyone have any particular experience/opinion on the matter?
 
Hi & Welcome,

Has your boy been nuetered already? You need to allow 6 weeks from the operation before you think about introducing them as they can still be fertile for up to 6 weeks after the op.

xx
 
Thanks :)

I'd been planning to introduce them 4 weeks after Beatle was neutered, which is what the vet said. I've seen recommendations of 3-5 weeks but not 6 before! We can wait, although poor old Beatle keeps wearing himself out talking to her through the wall and chewing the coroplast.
 
Several members on here will tell of their direct experience of having 5+week post op pigs becoming dads, so it really isn't a good idea to put them together before six weeks have passed.
 
Hi! I have an over five weeks post neutering op surprise baby from a newly rehomed sow to prove that specific point. The only boar she was ever in contact with was a supposedly safe 5week+ boar for a couple of days on the lawn. While you are comparable with human protection after 4 weeks, a boy is only a full 100% safe after 6 weeks post op. In your case, it will give you more time to beef up your little girl; you certainly do not want a risk a pregnancy with her!

As to introductions, age and size don't make a difference; the above mentioned baby (and her mum) were introduced to my 1500g hunk of a patriarch and the rest of the group as soon as the baby had been weaned by her mum at 4 weeks old. He was comparatively gentle with her - she was too agile for him most of the times anyway...


Ideally, Gem will let her "husboar" mount her at least once if not repeatedly as a sign of acceptance even if she is not in season. Prepare for a lot of squeaking, bum sniffing, chasing and mounting - and clouds of testosterone! (Make sure that you have your windows open!) And however rough it looks; you will have to sit it out if it is not outright fighting aggression.
Here are more tips: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38562
 
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Thank you all for the advice! I'm so glad you let me know before I put them together (as adorable as their black fluffy babies may have been). We'll wait the 6 weeks to be safe. The boar was absolutely miserable by himself but at least having her in an adjacent cage means he has a wall to have conversations with.

And thanks for alleviating my concern about the weight issue. Gem is going up pretty fast and the extra couple of weeks should do the trick nicely.
 
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