I'm looking for 2 guinea pigs for myself, preferably a male and female. However, I always see loads of contradictory statements some saying males and females should be kept separate and some saying they're fine together. Before I start looking (I'm looking for good breeders too) I wanted to know if they could live happily together or if I should get 2 girls or 2 boys. I love guinea pigs so either way, I'd be happy with any but I was hoping for one piggy litter before getting them fixed (I'm also really worried about them getting neutered).
Male and female guinea pigs together: Yay or nay?
- Thread starter josieesx
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piggyfan
Never put an unneutered male with a female. You have no idea what you are doing. Most sows die during pregnancy or labour and many babies are still born if not miscarried. There are so many guinea pigs in rescue so there is no need to breed. I would look for the nearest rescue were you can adopt an already bonded pair.
I thought that because I thought the male would be too unpredictable around a pregnant female but I was reading online and people were like 'No no, it's fine. They'll be fine' Best ask the right people than rely on those who obviously don't know their stuff
Stewybus
Adult Guinea Pig
If you get an entire (or un-neutered) male & female you will end up with a pregnancy which could be fatal for the female. A pair of males or a pair of females or a neutered male & female would all make good pairs. See this link to see what happens when you mix sexes. This happened in County Durham just a couple of months ago:- http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/ne..._leaves_animal_sanctuary_with_78_guinea_pigs/
Most of these piggies ended up at Bunny Burrows Small Animal Rescue at Richmond North Yorks. I'm currently fostering the only 4 males who were neutered just over 5 weeks ago so are just about ready to be re-homed with females as pairs or trios. 58 females have been on pregnancy watch & have been dropping babies during the last 2 weeks with lots more to come over next 3 to 4 weeks. If you want to get a pair then please contact Gwen at Bunny Burrows. Contact details on the website at http://bunnyburrows.btck.co.uk/
I would suggest either a pair of females or a neutered male with 1 or 2 females.
Most of these piggies ended up at Bunny Burrows Small Animal Rescue at Richmond North Yorks. I'm currently fostering the only 4 males who were neutered just over 5 weeks ago so are just about ready to be re-homed with females as pairs or trios. 58 females have been on pregnancy watch & have been dropping babies during the last 2 weeks with lots more to come over next 3 to 4 weeks. If you want to get a pair then please contact Gwen at Bunny Burrows. Contact details on the website at http://bunnyburrows.btck.co.uk/
I would suggest either a pair of females or a neutered male with 1 or 2 females.
Guinea pig slave
Senior Guinea Pig
Please rescue 
Only this week, a young sow had stillborn pups and to hear of the sadness it brings to the people in the world of rescue who are left to deal with pregnant piggies makes your blood run cold
I recently joined a piggy site to chat about their welfare etc. and was horrified at the ignorance and how many poor piggies suffered at the hands of those owners who want babies and sows over the age of 1 were being bred from..heartbreaking and I cannot go back to that site ever again
Adopt piggies, healthy and supported by the rescue for life x
Only this week, a young sow had stillborn pups and to hear of the sadness it brings to the people in the world of rescue who are left to deal with pregnant piggies makes your blood run cold
I recently joined a piggy site to chat about their welfare etc. and was horrified at the ignorance and how many poor piggies suffered at the hands of those owners who want babies and sows over the age of 1 were being bred from..heartbreaking and I cannot go back to that site ever again
Adopt piggies, healthy and supported by the rescue for life
x
crazygal330
Junior Guinea Pig
If you are seriously interested in breeding then this isn't really the forum for it. I personally don't advocate breeding as there are so many pigs in rescues already as has already been covered. I wanted to just add some questions to think about if you havent already: Why do you want a litter? If its just to experience babies then it really isn't fair on the potential mum to risk her health and life for curiosity. Second question: will you have another friend for the female and male? You can't keep them together once babies are born as mum will get pregnant again as soon as she has given birth and that isn't fair on her. What would you do with the babies? They need same sex company wherever they end up. Do you have a good emergency vet if anything goes wrong during labour- any time day or night? Could you afford that?
Breeding is not just about cute babies, if you wanted to experience babies you could look into fostering a pregnant sow for a rescue as they often get pregnant guinea pigs in.
Breeding is not just about cute babies, if you wanted to experience babies you could look into fostering a pregnant sow for a rescue as they often get pregnant guinea pigs in.
Jerrybelly
Senior Guinea Pig
As others have said - this is a rescue friendly forum so we do not support, or discuss, intentional breeding.
If you are serious about taking in guinea pigs, then please consider adopting them.
Here is a link to a map showing all Piggy Bank approved rescues: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?m...ll=52.643063,-1.230469&spn=6.775737,19.753418
They are all highly recommended and strive to maintain the highest standards in guinea pig welfare
If you are serious about taking in guinea pigs, then please consider adopting them.
Here is a link to a map showing all Piggy Bank approved rescues: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?m...ll=52.643063,-1.230469&spn=6.775737,19.753418
They are all highly recommended and strive to maintain the highest standards in guinea pig welfare
madguinealady
Senior Guinea Pig
please don't breed. I got a shock when I realised how many are in rescue. You can get babies from rescue as well if that is what you want and if you get from a rescue pair will already be bonded and health checked
I will be monitoring this topic closely. If you want to talk about breeding, please do it on another forum. If you kindly read the forum rules again, I have copied a small part into this post
So please bear it in mind and stick purely to the topic of piggie welfare. For the record, I have 2 girls who live in harmony with a neutered male, so the answer to your question is yes, boys and girls can live together.
So please bear it in mind and stick purely to the topic of piggie welfare. For the record, I have 2 girls who live in harmony with a neutered male, so the answer to your question is yes, boys and girls can live together.
Guinea-pigGaga
Teenage Guinea Pig
Evidently, you do not have the experience, knowledge, or maturity to even begin to consider breeding! Likewise, it is clear that you would like to have a litter purely for the experience, which is extremely selfish!
Furthermore, a 'good' breeder would not allow you to purchase one of their animals if they knew of your intentions!
However, if you do decide to breed, please ensure that you have the contact details of, and means to travel to a cavy savvy veterinarian, regardless of the time of day, or night, and that you have adequate finances to afford any veterinary fees you may incur - If you decide to breed, as other members of the forum have continually reiterated, there is a good possibility that you will experience costly consequences, and potentially fatal complications (Sows often experience complications during, and after pregnancy/labour)!
Personally, I would recommend that you adopt two guinea pigs from a rescue, either a pair of females, or a neutered male/female combination - Males can live quite happily together, but it is not uncommon for males to have issues at some point, and I would be concerned that you would not be able to handle this behaviour, should it occur!
Furthermore, a 'good' breeder would not allow you to purchase one of their animals if they knew of your intentions!
However, if you do decide to breed, please ensure that you have the contact details of, and means to travel to a cavy savvy veterinarian, regardless of the time of day, or night, and that you have adequate finances to afford any veterinary fees you may incur - If you decide to breed, as other members of the forum have continually reiterated, there is a good possibility that you will experience costly consequences, and potentially fatal complications (Sows often experience complications during, and after pregnancy/labour)!
Personally, I would recommend that you adopt two guinea pigs from a rescue, either a pair of females, or a neutered male/female combination - Males can live quite happily together, but it is not uncommon for males to have issues at some point, and I would be concerned that you would not be able to handle this behaviour, should it occur!
teadragon
Adult Guinea Pig
I'm not sure why neutering a guinea pig would worry you more than having your sow have a litter: A reputable vet who is experienced at performing a neuter will have an 80% or more rate of success of the neuter, this percentage means the boar has survived and experienced no post-operative complications as a result of being neutered. A sow has an 80% of surviving giving birth to her pups, this figure does not include any successful births (they are delivered by the sow) where at least one pup has something wrong with him or her. It's a risky and often upsetting endeavour in reality, especially for someone who is inexperienced in guinea pig care.
The safest decision would be to adopt two same-sexed guinea pigs from a rescue. If you'd like to experience young guinea pigs you can request two babies as guinea pig pups hit the ground as a miniature adult so you won't miss out on anything which happens when the pups are younger than 6 weeks old.
It's likely the reason you have read people telling you that males and females should be housed separate is because you've read articles either written by someone who is wrong or because the author of the comment is warning against breeding. The "perfect" groups are a neutered boar with a group of girls, though two boars and two sows get on wonderfully. If you choose to have an un-neutered boar and a single sow they would spend the majority of their time living apart in separate cages, even if you chose to breed against our advice and especially if the sow (irresponsibly) became pregnant to avoid the sow from becoming pregnant too young, too old or having back to back pregnancies which would be detrimental to her health.
The safest decision would be to adopt two same-sexed guinea pigs from a rescue. If you'd like to experience young guinea pigs you can request two babies as guinea pig pups hit the ground as a miniature adult so you won't miss out on anything which happens when the pups are younger than 6 weeks old.
It's likely the reason you have read people telling you that males and females should be housed separate is because you've read articles either written by someone who is wrong or because the author of the comment is warning against breeding. The "perfect" groups are a neutered boar with a group of girls, though two boars and two sows get on wonderfully. If you choose to have an un-neutered boar and a single sow they would spend the majority of their time living apart in separate cages, even if you chose to breed against our advice and especially if the sow (irresponsibly) became pregnant to avoid the sow from becoming pregnant too young, too old or having back to back pregnancies which would be detrimental to her health.
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