Needing some help figuring out who to pair with my male guinea.

[fudosfur]

Hello everyone! I dont ever really create posts on anything so forgive me if this isnt formatted or worded very accurately. I have a male guinea pig and ive had him for about a month now. hes been alone (and i know what youre gonna say, they shouldnt be alone and their social) ive had guinea pigs in the past and experienced having two males that are very territorial with each other and not very tameable to me as an owner, i surrendered them to my father because i have little sisters but i work at a pet store and grew a strong connection with my current little guy.
I dont feel very fond bonding him with another male as i fear it may change his personality, so i was wanting to get him neutered and introduce a female, i already have one in mind as i usually work with our guinea pigs regularly so theyre already warmed up to humans for new houses (if that makes sense) and we just got in a female that reminds me a lot of my male at home. i would love to bond them but want to get a second opinion as i tried to research something more specific to my situation but havent found much thats close enough to what I'm dealing with

 

[fudosfur]

just to be clear i give him attention daily and know/knew that they were social animals upon buying him but i fear it couldnt be enough attention? I'm not very good at reading guinea pigs moods but his teeth chitter a lot and i know that this is a sign of stress and/or discomfort but he does it sometimes when i interact with him through the cage and even if i take him out for cuddles and i recently read that they can get depressed when alone but that if theres a lot of socialisation and stuff happening outside of his cage and if he can see people it helps a lot, on top of me handling him at least an hour a day. but i still want to give him a buddy just to make him happier or happy for the time that me and hubby have work and go to sleep y’know?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum

Yes he does need a friend - human interaction isn’t enough.
It is perfectly fine to bond two males though - you may choose that you don’t want to but the reasons you state are not reasons to reject a boar companion. There are many many of us on here who have very happy and successful boar pairs and actually prefer boar pairs due to the fact boars tend to mellow out and become much more friendly than sows. Sows can get cranky as they age and their hormone levels never lower whereas with boars as testosterone fizzles out with age, they tend to become much friendlier.

If they didn’t seem like you could tame then, then that largely is because that is the way piggies are - most don’t want to be held and cuddled - it has nothing to do with their sex.

Boars are more territorial by nature and he will be territorial with a female too.
Two boars also need a lot more room and is there isn’t enough room then that can make things worse.

Bonding him with another piggy of either sex will not change his personality - he is who he is and that isn’t going to change. However when a piggy is alone they are relying solely on a human for interaction (there is no mutual communication though so it isn’t a substitute). When a piggy has a friend they are less likely to want their interaction to come first and foremost from their human - they will choose their piggy companion first. However is he likes cuddles now then he will still like them in the future, it is just that you will need to have those cuddles with both pigs at the same time!

The bonding which fails between previous males is because the two pigs are not compatible. However that isn’t exclusively a male thing - a bond between a male and a female and two females will also fail is they are not compatible.

When bonding a neutered boar with the sow, it is the sow which needs to accept the boar so until he is neutered and six weeks post op safe you won’t have any idea on whether they are compatible and whether a bonding will work out.
So even with a boar/sow pairing, if it fails then they would need to live side by side in separate cages.

This guide explains how to do a bonding on neutral territory

Thread 'Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics'

Jan 23, 2019

1 Introduction
2 Pre-bonding
- Quarantine and sexing
- The need for a plan B
- The rule-breaker: Youngsters under 4 months (sub-teenage)
3 Setting up an introduction
- Getting to know each other
- ‘Buddy baths’ – why not
- Scent swapping - why not
- Setting up a neutral bonding area
- How to start the bonding
4 Acceptance phase: Do we like...

• Wiebke
• Replies: 7
• Forum: Behaviour, Bonds and Species Understanding

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