Little Ones
Forum Donator 2023/24
Recently our guinea pig Peanut passed away which leaves us with a single piggy, Little.
Little is 6, he’s blind in both eyes and can be easily startled by other guinea pigs such as being nervous in case he gets too close and sometimes walking into a hidey he thinks is empty only to get a terrifying shock that it’s not.
The rescue by us doesn’t have any single boars available for boar dating apart from ones from a hoarding situation. In this situation, the guinea pigs were kept separate in 1x1 cages and some could hardly even turn around. These guinea pigs have never had real contact with other pigs aside from through the bars so the rescue have no idea how they’ll react towards other guinea pigs. The rescue stated that Little and the new pig would have to be kept side by side in separate cages and eventually could be introduced to see how it goes and if it doesn’t work out then they’ll have to stay side by side forever. I more or less understand the bonding process and know that the guides on here will help too if needed.
My concerns are:
Dental disease. These guinea pigs were starved before they were rescued. Peanut also had dental issues when he was adopted by us due to never having eaten hay and developing what Simon called tongue pinning. This was sorted within around 3 visits to Simon and never came back. My concern is that these guinea pigs may have this issue along with recurring dental issues due to never eating proper food. Does anyone know if this is likely to happen? I know it can often be luck of the draw too, as Little eventually develop dental issues after being alive for over five years.
Interaction through the bars. Will this be suitable enough for Little? He is easily startled by other pigs so is this perhaps the better option? My other problem is that if the new pig has dental disease, his incisors may snap easily. Peanut also had this problem which meant that when the boys were ever split after operations for a day or two, the bars between them had to be covered because Peanut would otherwise chew them like crazy and mess up his incisors. Am i better off searching further outwards for a rescue that’s able to bond Little with a single boar that they have?
Space. What kind of space would they require? Two 2x4 cages? The rescue said I could keep them each in a 2x2, but is this appropriate? Little isn’t a big mover because of his age.
If there’s any other advice aside from what I’ve written, please let me know as I’m sure there’s other things I meant to write but forgot. But just overall, how good of an idea is this? Would I be making a mistake to do this or even consider this rather than searching for a rescue that will bond Little with another boy?
Little is 6, he’s blind in both eyes and can be easily startled by other guinea pigs such as being nervous in case he gets too close and sometimes walking into a hidey he thinks is empty only to get a terrifying shock that it’s not.
The rescue by us doesn’t have any single boars available for boar dating apart from ones from a hoarding situation. In this situation, the guinea pigs were kept separate in 1x1 cages and some could hardly even turn around. These guinea pigs have never had real contact with other pigs aside from through the bars so the rescue have no idea how they’ll react towards other guinea pigs. The rescue stated that Little and the new pig would have to be kept side by side in separate cages and eventually could be introduced to see how it goes and if it doesn’t work out then they’ll have to stay side by side forever. I more or less understand the bonding process and know that the guides on here will help too if needed.
My concerns are:
Dental disease. These guinea pigs were starved before they were rescued. Peanut also had dental issues when he was adopted by us due to never having eaten hay and developing what Simon called tongue pinning. This was sorted within around 3 visits to Simon and never came back. My concern is that these guinea pigs may have this issue along with recurring dental issues due to never eating proper food. Does anyone know if this is likely to happen? I know it can often be luck of the draw too, as Little eventually develop dental issues after being alive for over five years.
Interaction through the bars. Will this be suitable enough for Little? He is easily startled by other pigs so is this perhaps the better option? My other problem is that if the new pig has dental disease, his incisors may snap easily. Peanut also had this problem which meant that when the boys were ever split after operations for a day or two, the bars between them had to be covered because Peanut would otherwise chew them like crazy and mess up his incisors. Am i better off searching further outwards for a rescue that’s able to bond Little with a single boar that they have?
Space. What kind of space would they require? Two 2x4 cages? The rescue said I could keep them each in a 2x2, but is this appropriate? Little isn’t a big mover because of his age.
If there’s any other advice aside from what I’ve written, please let me know as I’m sure there’s other things I meant to write but forgot. But just overall, how good of an idea is this? Would I be making a mistake to do this or even consider this rather than searching for a rescue that will bond Little with another boy?