Introducing two 5 months old male Guinea Pigs to herd of three 4 year old female Guinea Pigs - would that work at all?

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4GPsMum

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after one of our four 4 year old Guinea Pigs (all female herd) passed away recently my daughter is keen to have another pet - and we are considering rescue Guinea Pigs.
idea is to introduce two or three younger rescue guinea pigs to our existiing herd.
The nearest Bluecross seems to mainly have young males (around 3-5 months so assume not neutred)
Just not sure if it would work to introduce male guinea pigs to our existing herd. (have read up more generally about the introduction process)
Any thoughts on this specifically?
 
Boars need to be kept in pairs and away from any females as their hormonal scent will drive the boars to fight. Only one NEUTERED boar can live with a herd of females for this reason

Please do not even consider putting a boar with your female herd unless he has been neutered and had his 6 week safety wait

If older females become pregnant for the first time, especially over two years old, there is a serious risk at birth that things may go very wrong for the mother and her babies
 
Bill & Ted said:
Boars need to be kept in pairs and away from any females as their hormonal scent will drive the boars to fight. Only one NEUTERED boar can live with a herd of females for this reason

Please do not even consider putting a boar with your female herd unless he has been neutered and had his 6 week safety wait

If older females become pregnant for the first time, especially over two years old, there is a serious risk at birth that things may go very wrong for the mother and her babies
Click to expand...
Thank you for the advice. Thought that might be the case.
 
4GPsMum said:
after one of our four 4 year old Guinea Pigs (all female herd) passed away recently my daughter is keen to have another pet - and we are considering rescue Guinea Pigs.
idea is to introduce two or three younger rescue guinea pigs to our existiing herd.
The nearest Bluecross seems to mainly have young males (around 3-5 months so assume not neutred)
Just not sure if it would work to introduce male guinea pigs to our existing herd. (have read up more generally about the introduction process)
Any thoughts on this specifically?
Click to expand...

Hi

You will have to enquire whether single boars at Burford are neutered or not since they do not say anything.
You can never tell with an older sow herd past their ideal pup bearing age since you no longer have the full biological urge of procreating on your side; this kind of single 'husboar' (i.e. neutered boar) intro is very much a case for rescue dating. Two boars with any number of sows are a big no no. The Blue Cross branches do however not offer dating at the rescue so you would be adopting on spec unfortunately.

Introducing two younger sub-adult sows has better promise since that will tap into group dynamics and the younger sows will not be able to challenge for the leadership and upset the existing hierarchy. Brace for quite a bit of dominance from the bottom adult whose standing is the one at potential risk. This is totally normal and should settle over the two weeks post-intro group establishment phase. Take your time with the pre-intro to allow the piggies to settle in and be less stressed in order to minimise fear-aggressive overreactions.
Make sure that you have a plan B (separate cage) in case the bonding doesn't work out, as you should always do with any bondings you conduct at home. There is nothing you can do once piggies decide that they do not like each other - and that can include acute dislike at first sniff as well as love on sniff. Once they have made up their minds, sows won't usually change it.
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
 
I agree with the other comments. Better to hold out for a couple of baby girls, or adopt a single boar and invest in having him neutered.
 
Alternatively you could adopt a pair of boys if you can provide them with a separate room to live in, well apart from the girls.
 
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