New guinea pig

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Hello,

Firstly sorry for always posting and running. I haven't had guinea pigs long enough to offer any real advice to anyone and I always seem to be looking for help!

We got our 2 boy guinea pigs in Sept (as babies - 7 wks old) from RSPCA because they were abandoned. They had lots of pregnant piggies that all had litters at the same time and we took 2. On Sunday there was just 1 piggy left so we said that we would take her. She is beautiful and very friendly.

The RSPCA said they will be fine living together (as the boys have been castrated) but need to be introduced slowly and to start by putting them in cages next to each other. I have done this and they seem really happy (pop corning and squeeking lots and v excited). When I introduce them to each other hwo can I tell if any of them are distressed? Obviously because it is a girl going in with 2 males there will be a lot of interest but when does interest overstep the mark to bullying?

Any help would be great x
 
More than one male should never be housed with a female. Neutered or not, their natural instinct will be to fight over her (possibly to the death!)
One neutered male can live with many females, but not the other way round unfortunatly.

I'm sorry you have been given bad advice, this is not your fault, but please dont leave them together!

Hopefully with some more information and help we can find a great solution for you and your piggies.
 
i can't help much,
but i do know that teeth chattering is a big sign of them not 'agreeing' with each other.
 
Oh my goodness, the RSPCA told you it would be ok to have 2 males with a female? It is their nature to fight over the female, you need to get the female away from them and hope it has not ruined their bond, if it has and they have been fighting, it could be worth pairing one of the males with the female and getting a another female to go with the boar left over.

This is such bad advice, how long have the males been castrated for? do not introduce the female for 6 weeks after their op to avoid the risk of pregnancy.
 
Oh dear!

Not really sure what to do now. The piggies are all in the same room - the cages next to each other and the boys aren't fighting. They are taking an interest in the girl now but not as excited as when she first arrived.

The RSPCA said that she has been put with various groups of guinea pigs including all males before ..... I'm so mad right now.

I have plenty of hutches (one in the garage for wet but warm weather, one of the lawn, one on the patio etc) but now cos it's winter they are in the spare room and there is room for more than one cage (at the moment there are 2 in there) but I can't keep them in separate rooms.

Really not sure what to do but for the time being the boys are snuggled up together 'talking' to the girl in the cage next door.
 
Oh sorry - they have been castrated for ages. We got them in Sept and they had already been done (by RSPCA) before they arrived.
 
I have two cages set up in the same room. One has four females and the other has two males. They are all able to see, hear and smell each other and I have not had any problems with dominance issues, or fighting with any. I think the best thing would be to get another female, or a neuterd male for the female to pair with and leave your bonded males as is. Good luck and keep us posted!
 
Ok, dont panic, if you put the girls cage on top of the boys cage they should be fine. Take a deep breath, no damage has been done yet, just dont introduce them.

You could easily choose to get your new girly a friend, and just keep them as two seperate pairs, but unfortunatly they cant all live together as you were told.

Personally I would be writting to complain to the RSPCA. You have been given some very bad, and wrong advice.

Putting females with neutered males is not a problem, as long as there is not more than one male.

There is one memeber who has more than one neutered male, but her set up is 9 neutered males and 19 females, and they have a MASSIVE area to play in. The main problem with your boys is that they would just fight for possesion of the girl. This is fairly basic knowledge and the RSPCA are at fault.
 
Hi there

I would recommend putting a 'modesty curtain' between the two cages if you are not able to place the cages 2 metres apart. As long as they don't have direct nose to nose contact with the female the boys should settle ok with each other.

I have many males and females sharing the same space, but not the same cage and usually the boys do not get too wound up by the girls being in the same room.

The fact that they are neutered does nothing to alter their instinct to be top pig and fight for mating rights of any females. Only in very rare cases with oodles of space, a large number of females and the right temperaments do mixed sex groups work. Rare enough for me to say not to even risk it, you may well end up with a pair of boys who will not live with each other again, or inflict serious injuries on each other.

HTH

Suzy x
 
Thanks :-)

I think we will look at getting another female to go with her. Our local RSPCA don't (she was the last one which is why we took her!) but may look at other close by ones.

The boys get on so well it would be silly to spoil it and I have moved them so that they can't see her.

Hubby will NOT be pleased! Luckily we have 2 hutches both complete with big runs so it's not as if we will have to buy more.

One more question - While they are inside (over winter) I have a large cage and a run in the spare room. Can they use the same run (but at different times) or will the scent of the female(s) cause problems for the males?
 
Just one more thing - if/ when I get another female will they definitely be friends? I can't go on buying more and more piggies because they don't get on.

Feeling stressed!

Hubby agrees we should get another female to go with our lonely new female but no more (well we haven't room for any more anyway) so I need to make sure they will get on
 
I would put the males in the run first and the female after, changing the floor covering and tunnels etc so the scent of the female, especially her pee, does not wind the boys up.

If you give your location hopefully we can recommend a rescue where you could take your little girl to choose her own cagemate, this way there is very little chance of them not getting along once you have them home.

You will also get rescue back up so if you have any problems in the future you will get the correct advice.

Suzy x
 
Ok thanks. I'm in West Yorkshire but I dont have a car. Hubby does but works needs it for work. I work from home so can't get to many places
 
Thanks - I am going to speak to the RSPCA today and see what they have to say for themselves and will then look into where to find another little girl gp.

The gps have been in the same room all night (girl in a separate cage) and the boys still get along with each other. They are normally very quiet over night but there was lots of excited running around and squeaking last night and they are being noisy this morning.

Hopefully they will settle back down soon.
 
I'm so sorry that the RSPCA have left you in this situation, its lucky you have the extra cages to house another pair, as suggested it is always a good idea to take your piggie to choose their own companion, however if not a piggie train could always be arranged to get her to you. Good luck. x
 
I'm so sorry to hear you were given bad advice (very surprised and disappointed in the RSPCA) . Some rescues help you introduce your current piggy to a new one so it should work out ok. Most rescues are good at pairing up piggies.

I hope things work out for you.

Amy
x
 
Update!

I have moved our new little girl to the living room. The 2 boys have settled right down and are still getting along great (phew) :)

I have spoken to the RSPCA who acknowledge the mistake and they were willing to take her back but we don't want her to go back. She was the last gp they had (which is why we took her!) but they are contacting rescue centres for us and will hopefully find us one to foster so we can check the girls get along. Our girl is very sociable and used to being with other gps and different gps because she was in the shelter for so long. So hopefully when a new little girl arrives they will both get along.

Luckily we already have 2 hutches, 2 runs and a large cage so plenty of room.

Not overly thrilled that they have now taken over both the spare room and the living room but it's the best we can do for now. Once the warmer weather comes the boys love it outside on the patio and the lawn and we shall see what the girls think of outdoors.

Thanks for all your help. Hopefully there wont be any long term problems with our boys as they seem the same as ever now :-)

Thanks again to everyone who helped x
 
Great, you could always pair her with a nuetuered male from rescue if no females turn up, though i am sure one will.
 
I'm a bit confused about the boys being neutered by the RSPCA.

If you got them in Sept and they were 7 weeks old, they wouldnt have been old enough to be neutered. And forgive me if I'm wrong but I didnt think the RSPCA in west Yorkshire routinely neutered their Guinea pigs - there is no reason to neuter unless they want to pair up with a female.

Just been niggling me so had to ask :)
 
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