Newly Rescued Male Skinny Pig - Need Advice

[Ram_Stag1702]

Hello everyone! I'm looking for some advice regarding our recently rescued young male skinny pig. We found him in fairly undesirable living conditions and since we've had our two female piggies for just over 4 years and they are our little loves, we decided to bring him home with us to give him a better life. We already had a smaller crate that he could live in, since we need to keep him separated from the females (he's not neutered). I have a couple of questions regarding his care and enrichment, and also avoiding any kind of accidental pregnancies. We know that guinea pigs need companionship from each other in order to be the happiest and healthiest. Would having him live in his own separate space, but letting them all socialize regularly (and supervised) be enough socialization for him to live a fulfilled life? Or does he need to be living WITH another male? Also, does letting the three piggies socialize while supervised still pose a problem for potential pregnancies? We've only ever owned females, so we've never had to worry about these sorts of things and aren't sure about how quickly the, shall we call it, "mating dance" of the guinea pigs can take place...like, if we just make sure that he's not mounting either of them when they're together, is that ok? We really do want to give this sweet little man a great life, but we're not in a position to get another male to be his companion. We just knew we needed to get him out of the situation he was in immediately and that we'd figure out the best route to take once we got him to safety. Any and all suggestions or input would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

 

[fluffysal]

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of boars. I have no experience with mixing genders but it's a big no to supervised floor time. I think he can live as a through the bars neighbour but you need to make sure it's very secure as the boys can be very determined. I don't know if he'd get too frustrated though? Is it possible to get him neutered?

 

[Ram_Stag1702]

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of boars. I have no experience with mixing genders but it's a big no to supervised floor time. I think he can live as a through the bars neighbour but you need to make sure it's very secure as the boys can be very determined. I don't know if he'd get too frustrated though? Is it possible to get him neutered?

Thanks for your response! I'm currently looking into getting him neutered, but it's already sounding like it's incredibly expensive. It would be something we'd have to save up for. Unfortunately, because this was a more spontaneous situation than usual for us, there wasn't really time to consider the costs of that procedure ahead of time. But we're absolutely looking into it as a future potential so he can go play without worry. I just want to make sure he's getting what he needs up until then.

 

[Piggies&buns]

It’s lovely you’ve taken him in.

He needs to live in a very secure and lidded cage beside your girls. A determined boar can and will climb bars to get in with girls.
He must not be physically with your sows, not even supervised, at any time - he will mate with them in seconds and there would be nothing you can do to stop it.
His only interaction with them can and must be through bars only.
His cage needs to be a minimum of 120x60cm.

If you can get him neutered then that would be good. He would need to still be kept away from them for six weeks after he is neutered while he waits to become infertile.

 

[Ram_Stag1702]

It’s lovely you’ve taken him in.

He needs to live in a very secure and lidded cage beside your girls. A determined boar can and will climb bars to get in with girls.
He must not be physically with your sows, not even supervised, at any time - he will mate with them in seconds and there would be nothing you can do to stop it.
His only interaction with them can and must be through bars only.
His cage needs to be a minimum of 120x60cm.

If you can get him neutered then that would be good. He would need to still be kept away from them for six weeks after he is neutered while he waits to become infertile.

Perfect - thank you for the advice! And I'm VERY glad I asked about letting them be together even with supervision. Sounds like that's the worst idea! We'll make sure he's next to them, but completely unable to get to them until we can get him neutered. Luckily, both the girls' cage and his are roomy and very secure.