Sad Piggy continued

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Misty1

Hey everyone. I know I've put a message on before regarding our guinea pig Scruffy but I'm looking for some advice.
He lost his bunny girl Silver on July 26th and since she passed on to rainbow bridge he has seemed very sad and forlorn. He picks up whenever we go in to see him which we do often. I think he's very lonely without her as they were very close and she was really good with him and would clean him and snuggle up to him at night. They were together for 3 years, since they were 6 weeks old so I guess it must be very hard for him.
Our other guinea pig Tufty lost his bunny friend last December and he has been great since. They, again, were very close and were together since they were 6 weeks old. They haven't been with guinea pigs since but Tufty is much better than Scruffy is on his own.
We have seriously been thinking about trying to put them together but I'm worried as they haven't been with other guinea pigs since they were really young. Tufty is now 2 and Scruffy is nearly 3 so they are close to the same age (only 6 months older as Tufty's bday is March and Scruffys is September). I'm worried that if they fight it may knock Scruffy back a bit. I dont want them to hurt each other or for Scruffy to get even more upset by it. He's still eating and drinking just fine but he always looks so sad when we go to see him. We do have a cage thats about 1 metre by 50cm, formerly a rabbit cage so its only about 6 inch high. Is this suitable to try to bond them or is the area too small? If anyone has any advice about trying to get these guineas together it would be greatly appreciated. Just want our little boy to be happy again :'(
 
How about putting them in the same accomodation (larger cage or a C&C - I think a 1M cage is too small for two piggies if you successfully bonded them) with a divider? We did that with boys that don't get on and they get the company without having to share each other's space! They love being that close, and spend lost of their time snuggled up against the divider. Rabbits and piggies don't speak the same language, so they should have a good chat through the bars :)

Edited to add - two boars need a lot of space - if you did manage to successfully pair them off a C&C cage would be perfect and easily split if you needed to seperate them.
 
oh yeah please dont get me wrong they wouldn't stay in the 1metre cage its just a neutral ground to get them started. if they didn't go then we would try a divider but we would love for them to go together. they would spend all their time in a much bigger hutch, as I've said the 1metre cage is only neutral ground to see if they will go
 
Ah, ok :) this website has some good ideas and advice about how to bond boars and some options you can consider:

http://www.barmy4boars.co.uk/

We have tried to bond Pepe with Dylan time and again as they seem to adore each other - through the divide! They won't bond properly as Dylan was previously bullied and he's fine with Pepe until Pepe starts rumbling, then Dylan turns on him, it's such a shame. Luckily they are only warning nips, Pepe is never harmed, but we tried this evening for the last time, and for several minutes it went great, they chatted and snuggled a bit - then Pepe starts rumbling abd it all goes horribly wrong! I'm sure many people on here can add their bonding stories!

Good luck with your options :)
 
Hi Misty, I think the boys will be great company for each other even if you have to have them separated with a divider.

It's well worth you trying them together first to see if they get on enough to want to live with no divider. You could put them in the 1m with some veggies to distract them & watch & see what happens. If all goes well after about an hour then you can put them together in the cage you want them to live in. If it's a cage one of them already lives in then it will need to be sterilized with baby sterilizing solution (dishes etc. too) so it doesn't smell of the one piggy.

It may turn out they don't get on enough to completely share accommodation but get along fine with a divider between them. Either way I'm sure you will find they will both be much happier to have the company, especially little Scruffy :smitten:
 
Hey everyone
Thanks for all the advice is was much appreciated. We tried to put them together this morning. It seemed to go down quite well at first with them sniffing each other and one of them trying to rump the other (which I understand is a show of dominance). The Scruffy didn't seem to mind him too much but then for some reason he just went for him and they started fighting. I don't think we will try to bond them again.
The question is whether or not they would go together with a divider. I wouldn't know where to start doing this. We only keep them in hutches and I don't think any of the hutches are big enough to allow this to happen. Does anyone have any suggestions for me with regards to cage sizes or where we can get a divided cage?
Many thanks everyone :D
 
Well if there is any way u can have the pigs indoors you could try a C&C cage, this is where you buy your own grids and connectors to make your own cage, then it can be whatever size you can fit and you can use the grids as a divider here is my C&C, obviously it doesnt have to be this size you could make it bigger or smaller
and you can see some other ideas on this link
http://www.guineapigcages.com/

DSC02475.jpg


I got my grids from screwfix, 16 grids and connectors for £18 and you can use lino on the bottom to stop the wee soaking into the carpet, then just put hay or whatever over the top, mine love all the space :)

Love Emma x
 
Hi thanks for the great advice. As much as we would love them indoors we simply don't have the space for them to live in the amount of room they need. We have most of our animals outside apart from our 2 house rabbits. We do have an indoor guinea pig but she has a cage and she is happy on her own now. We would love for them to stay outside with the others but to be able to try and put them together with a separator. I don't know if the cage you have given us a picture for would be able to fit in our shed. It isn't a particularly big shed but it is big enough to house their hutches. I'm really not sure what to do for them. We can't bring them indoor yet but we would love to try a divider in a hutch. I dont know if this can be done though. We will keep that idea in mind definitely thanks very much :D:D:D x
 
Well i think you could possibly put a C&C in a shed, i think the minimum requirement size for 2 pigs is 4x2 grids, mines 3x4 so if that would fit in your shed? i hope you find a solution :) x
 
With a divider too? So an area of 2 x 2 for each piggie? How big is each grid? Also did you get the grids from that website you gave me?
 
No the website is american, i got mine from screwfix which is like a DIY store, You may be able to order some from B&Q i think they're called storage grids or something? Yes i think the minimum is 2x2 for each pig, the grids are about 12" each way i think x
 
So do I need to ask if they make Correx? Is that the type of thing we want? Sorry I'm a bit unwise about these things. I've asked for a few quotes from B+Q but I'm not really sure what to ask sign makers for. Sorry :S thanks for the advice though its great
 
Just ask them if they sell correx it's usually sold from manufacturers in approx 8ft x 4ft sheets - its the same stuff that estate agents make their signs from if the person on the end of the phone sounds a bit confused! Most will charge you a tenner or more for carriage, so if you work out that that the areas of C&C that you want need to be cut down (don't forget to include the area to turn up to make a lip or sides for the tray) they usually let you pick it up and will cut it in half or down to size free of charge. We used Sign Trade Supplies here in Kent 01622 689410 (in Maidstone) and went to pick it up. As I mentioned before they charged £8ish per 8x4ft sheet. Personally I would get more than one to experiment with! To secure the sides / corners when they are folded to make tubs we used Duck strong double sided tape, it's quite adequate and with the grids around it just makes it even more secure.

The link Emma gave is a really good one for inspiration and guidance.
 
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