Need advice on Guinea pig dating

pigglewiggles

pigglewiggles

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Hi Everyone,
I have a lone boar and my mum has 3 baby boars. I would like to let my boar choose a companion from the 3 baby's but not quite sure how to go about it. I was going to put them all together and see which one he gets on with best but I've got a feeling its not as simple as that. The baby boars are 3 weeks old on Monday ( 14th September) so will need to be separated from mum and sister, should we do the dating straight away or give them time to adjust to being without mum? The remaining 2 boars will both be neutered, then one will be bonded with my mums girls and the other one will be bonded with my sisters girls.20200831_145218.webp
 
Put him with one at a time in a neutral zone following the bonding guides, and see which one he chooses. Once he has chosen one they need to remain together from then on in a large enough cage (6ft x 2ft for two boars). Babies are often accepted by older piggies.

You can bond your boar with one of the babies straight away.

The other two babies will need to remain together until they are old enough to be neutered at around 4-6 months of age. They then need to remain away from sows until six weeks after they’ve been neutered to become infertile before bonding with sows.

How did your mums piggy come to have babies?

A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
 
Thank you.
My mum wanted a few more piggy's and because i didn't have any luck in finding my lone boar a companion at any of the rescues that i tried she decided to have some baby's. Her boar has now been neutered.
 
pigglewiggles said:
Hi Everyone,
I have a lone boar and my mum has 3 baby boars. I would like to let my boar choose a companion from the 3 baby's but not quite sure how to go about it. I was going to put them all together and see which one he gets on with best but I've got a feeling its not as simple as that. The baby boars are 3 weeks old on Monday ( 14th September) so will need to be separated from mum and sister, should we do the dating straight away or give them time to adjust to being without mum? The remaining 2 boars will both be neutered, then one will be bonded with my mums girls and the other one will be bonded with my sisters girls.View attachment 153428
Click to expand...

Hi!

Please make sure that your mother's boar is over 6 week post-op before he goes back with any sows. The little baby in my avatar picture is the surprise legacy of a supposedly safe over 5 weeks post-op boar (not one of mine), just to prove that particular point. It can and does happen!
Neutered / De-sexed Boars And Neutering Operations: Myths, Facts and Post-op Care

You can either put them all together in a pen and see which one your boar is getting on best in comparison; gradually taking out the babies that are too bolshy or not interesting for your boy (give them at least half an hour together before starting the elimination process) or try them in sequence. Either way works.

You can find a video of my Dylan dating two baby brothers from a surprise local pet shop pregnancy in our baby bonding chapter in the bonding guide, which looks at the special aspects when bonding piggies with babies.
You may find the guide very helpful in being able to pick up on the more subtle interactive signs to help you make your decision anyway.
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
(The other boy then went onto a rescue where a bereaved boar coming in for dating a new friend fell in love with him instantly after failing to accept any of the adult boars for dating.)

PS: Please always double check the gender before bonding, including feeling for the presence of a tiny penis ridge bump and by looking into the slit; those are areas are much more gender defined. Sadly especially baby mis-sexing is very common, even from people you'd expect to know better. :(
Illustrated Sexing Guide
 
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Thank you for your reply's. I will definitely make sure they are boars before I begin the bonding process, believe me I don't want any surprises. My mums boar will be waiting the full 6 weeks, she has noted the date on the calendar.
I think I will put them all in together. Should the baby's come to my house or should I take my boar to my mums for the bonding?
 
pigglewiggles said:
Thank you for your reply's. I will definitely make sure they are boars before I begin the bonding process, believe me I don't want any surprises. My mums boar will be waiting the full 6 weeks, she has noted the date on the calendar.
I think I will put them all in together. Should the baby's come to my house or should I take my boar to my mums for the bonding?
Click to expand...

I would take your boar across but stage the bonding in a neutral area away from any sow pheromones. You should know within 30-60 minutes which baby boy is the one that vibes best. Try and have a gander at Dylan's baby dating video because it may really help you with working out which one is the right one as it contains plenty of cues. That bonding session started with the two babies chasing a dumb-founded Dylan around the run for a solid 5-10 minutes before they got down to the real bonding!

There will be the one boy who is clearly happy to hang out and play with his new uncle and snuggle up with him, tell him how much he loves him etc. ;)
 
pigglewiggles said:
Thank you for your reply's. I will definitely make sure they are boars before I begin the bonding process, believe me I don't want any surprises. My mums boar will be waiting the full 6 weeks, she has noted the date on the calendar.
I think I will put them all in together. Should the baby's come to my house or should I take my boar to my mums for the bonding?
Click to expand...
Just to pick up on something in your reply. The baby can’t go in with the females until 6 weeks after the neutering op. What date has your mum written in the calendar?
 
The date on the calendar is 6wks post op for my mums adult male. She has two girls (one of them is mum of the baby's) which will be with the baby female and then once the baby male's are old enough to be neutered + 6wks later one of them will be bonded with the 3 girls and the other will be bonded with my sisters girls. The 3rd one will be bonded with my male. My mum also has another two girls and the adult male will live with them after 6 wks post op (the date on the calendar) hope this makes sense.
 
pigglewiggles said:
The date on the calendar is 6wks post op for my mums adult male. She has two girls (one of them is mum of the baby's) which will be with the baby female and then once the baby male's are old enough to be neutered + 6wks later one of them will be bonded with the 3 girls and the other will be bonded with my sisters girls. The 3rd one will be bonded with my male. My mum also has another two girls and the adult male will live with them after 6 wks post op (the date on the calendar) hope this makes sense.
Click to expand...

So - your mum has two girls and then the baby sow. They will be together as a trio initially. One of the baby boars will then be neutered and bonded to live with them to make a quartet.

She also has another separate pair of sows, and the adult boar is going to be living with them at 6 weeks post op.

presumably if none of these bondings come off (if the sows won’t accept a boar), then the adult boar and the baby boar can live together (if they are character compatible)
 
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