New Piggie Options...

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Griffindor717

Griffindor717

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Hi everyone :) I know that every pig is different and it's impossible to comment on different situations when you don't know the pigs in question, but any generic advice would be very gratefully received! I still have my lonely 7 month old girl, who's best friend died a couple of weeks ago. The options for finding her a new friend are pretty limited and I don't want to leave it too much longer in case she gets too used to being a grumpy loner and doesn't take to a newbie at all. The local(ish) rescue is an hour and a half away and unfortunately aren't bonding at the moment due to illness, so after lots of research my options seem to be either buying a baby female from Pets at Home (as I've read babies seem to bond better with females), or rescuing an older male from a slightly further away Pets at Home (and getting him neutered!), in the hope that my girl gets on with him. As she's so young herself I really have no idea what is best for her, but she always seemed the friendlier of my two so I'm cautiously optimistic that she might make friends easily. Any guidance anyone has would be amazing :) Thank you <3
 
I don't have any experience with bonding pigs, but I personally would opt for the younger female.
If you're worried about her being alone too long, getting an older male and then still having to wait another 6 weeks post neutering would draw it all out even longer.
 
I agree. Personally I would go for the female but do you have a back up plan incase the bonding fails?

One of the reasons why I would go for the female is because it would be a great shame if you put the boar through the neutering op if things didn't work out.

Again though, if you went for option 2, do you have a back up plan if the bonding were to fail?

It really is up to you at the end of the day. But whichever decision you make, please make sure you are able to keep the new piggy if things do not work out.

Unlike the majority of rescues, sadly, pets at home will not take the Guinea pig back if she / he fails to bond x
 
Claire W said:
I agree. Personally I would go for the female but do you have a back up plan incase the bonding fails?

One of the reasons why I would go for the female is because it would be a great shame if you put the boar through the neutering op if things didn't work out.

Again though, if you went for option 2, do you have a back up plan if the bonding were to fail?

It really is up to you at the end of the day. But whichever decision you make, please make sure you are able to keep the new piggy if things do not work out.

Unlike the majority of rescues, sadly, pets at home will not take the Guinea pig back if she / he fails to bond x
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Thank you for replying Claire :) I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do - I would keep any pig that I bought or adopted and keep it side by side with my current pig if bonding didn't work out. Not sure if my girl would be happy with the long journey to the nearest rescue where they do bonding dates. And they aren't open to pigs for a few weeks yet any way.. I really don't want to have to buy a baby girl piggie, I'd much rather adopt, but there are zero rescues with any guinea pigs in my area. Do you think my girl would hang on until the rescue is reopened?
 
You could get the boy and after quarantine put him in a cage next to each other till he was safe after neuter.Male female bonding are the most stable.That way you are still rescuing.I would be worried that the boy would end up living on his own because a lot of people don't know about boar dating and think that introducing a boar to another boar can't be done.I have taken in two boats for that reason and neutered both.One has ten wife's the other is in with a baby boy (unplanned pregnancy)
 
madguinealady said:
You could get the boy and after quarantine put him in a cage next to each other till he was safe after neuter.Male female bonding are the most stable.That way you are still rescuing.I would be worried that the boy would end up living on his own because a lot of people don't know about boar dating and think that introducing a boar to another boar can't be done.I have taken in two boats for that reason and neutered both.One has ten wife's the other is in with a baby boy (unplanned pregnancy)
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Thank you :) I'm trying to find a single male that could be neutered or is already neutered - I've read that this might be the best match, but I really don't know quite what to do!
 
Good idea or you could go both options. Get a little girl, I find babies bond quick & get a neutered male because they bond very quickly & get another baby girl as 3 can be risky. So it's 2 or 4.
Let us know how you get on.
 
Tiamolly123 said:
Good idea or you could go both options. Get a little girl, I find babies bond quick & get a neutered male because they bond very quickly & get another baby girl as 3 can be risky. So it's 2 or 4.
Let us know how you get on.
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Thank you :) I'm going round in circles really - there is a solo male for adoption an hour from home, but will need neutering. No idea what to do for the best, in case they don't get on! Has anyone had experience with introducing neutered males to females? Is it more certain they will bond than if I got a baby girl? <3
 
No bonding can be 100% guaranteed but yes, a sow and neutered boar will generally get on. I have however had a failed bonding with a sow and a neutered boar, but she had been bred from before coming to me so didn't feel comfortable with boars. I have on the other hand had successful bonds with my Enoch who has sadly gone to the bridge (he lived successfully with my group of girls) and my current neutered boar, Edward is happily living with Emma and Ellen.
BARC rescue did the recent bondings though so maybe @pig in the city can advise?

It has to be said though that I have never had a problem bonding female babies to existing adults so it really is swings and roundabouts I'm afraid where there are no guarantees x
 
Claire W said:
No bonding can be 100% guaranteed but yes, a sow and neutered boar will generally get on. I have however had a failed bonding with a sow and a neutered boar, but she had been bred from before coming to me so didn't feel comfortable with boars. I have on the other hand had successful bonds with my Enoch who has sadly gone to the bridge (he lived successfully with my group of girls) and my current neutered boar, Edward is happily living with Emma and Ellen.
BARC rescue did the recent bondings though so maybe @pig in the city can advise?

It has to be said though that I have never had a problem bonding female babies to existing adults so it really is swings and roundabouts I'm afraid where there are no guarantees x
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Thank you Claire :) I suppose it boils down to either the quickest solution (buying a baby girl) or what my conscience would rather I do (adopt a single male and get him neutered..). These things are sent to try us...! Ideally I'd love to wait until my localish rescue reopens but it will still involve a 3 hour round trip and probably a lot of stress for my current girl. Maybe I'll look into how much neutering the lonely Merthyr Tydfil male would be, and go from there..
 
Griffindor717 said:
Thank you Claire :) I suppose it boils down to either the quickest solution (buying a baby girl) or what my conscience would rather I do (adopt a single male and get him neutered..). These things are sent to try us...! Ideally I'd love to wait until my localish rescue reopens but it will still involve a 3 hour round trip and probably a lot of stress for my current girl. Maybe I'll look into how much neutering the lonely Merthyr Tydfil male would be, and go from there..
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All you can do is explore your options :)

Just to point out though that when my piggies went to BARC for piggy bonding, that was also at least a 3 hour round trip and all piggies were fine so phase don't let the travelling put you off.

It's also worth researching a good neutering vet in advance if you choose to go down the neutering route.
 
I have had two boys neutered.Cost was about 50 quid each.Heathcliffe had complications so had to stay in vets for couple of nights, he wasn't pooing or weeing very much but Kyle came through it no problem.I did use a vets recommended by a rescue that has done numerous small animal castrations for them.Kyle has bonded with all of my girls no problem.He started with three I think and now has ten with him.
 
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