rabitgrl
New Born Pup
I am sure this topic has been brought up many, many times. I am just looking for advice on our specific situation.
We brought home our first ever guinea pig about two weeks ago. We got Nibble from someone looking to re-home him on craigslist. The young couple that had him did not provide a lot of details. They had gotten him and his brother, when they were about 6 months old. They believed he was born around the first of the year, making him roughly 9 months old. They had already re-homed his brother, due to the two fighting. They described their fighting as "trying to kill each other".
All I have read Leads me to believe we should try to give him companionship of his own kind. I live in the state of Oregon, and neutering guinea pigs is not common, or affordable, so my only real option is another boar. We do not really have guinea pig rescues here, so dating is pretty much out of the question. There are a lot of 6month-2 year old guinea pigs available on craigslist regularly. So, if I were to get him a companion I would most likely just have to pick one and hope they could get along. Based on online research it seems very likely that two randomly paired boars will often not get along, and would possibly need to be housed separately the rest of there lives. I have to admit that I am not very excited about this possibility.
Since I have never seen Nibble with another guinea pig I have no clue if he is dominant, or what part he played in the fighting with his brother. It did sound like both parties were equally aggressive, but again, I really don't know.
Just to let you know what Nibble is like, and his current situation: he is very loved. I am a stay at home mom of two young girls, and we are home quite a lot. Nibble's cage is in our living room, where we spend most of our time. We leave the door to his cage open when we are home, and he comes to the door to be petted, and to squeak for veggies. He jumps around very excitedly when the children talk to him. He also makes little cute noises when we come home from being away, or get up in the morning. We get him out of his cage once or twice a day for petting, and let him run around a bit. Really though, he seems to prefer his cage, and mostly tries to hide when he is let loose on the house. He was not handled a lot at his previous home, so he is sometimes reluctant to be picked up and held. He has gotten a lot more comfortable with us though. He has never bitten, or shown any aggression with us. He spends most of his days munching on hay, laying around, and squeaking for veggies, with the occasional frisky spell where he runs and jumps around.
I am just wondering what others would do, or have done in similar situations?
We really do want him to be happy. I just wonder if getting another boar will make him happy, angry, or ? I would just like to get as much information as possible, and hear personal stories of what worked or did not. Then I will feel more informed and able to make the best possible choice for him.
Thanks for any thoughts you might have,
Sarah
We brought home our first ever guinea pig about two weeks ago. We got Nibble from someone looking to re-home him on craigslist. The young couple that had him did not provide a lot of details. They had gotten him and his brother, when they were about 6 months old. They believed he was born around the first of the year, making him roughly 9 months old. They had already re-homed his brother, due to the two fighting. They described their fighting as "trying to kill each other".
All I have read Leads me to believe we should try to give him companionship of his own kind. I live in the state of Oregon, and neutering guinea pigs is not common, or affordable, so my only real option is another boar. We do not really have guinea pig rescues here, so dating is pretty much out of the question. There are a lot of 6month-2 year old guinea pigs available on craigslist regularly. So, if I were to get him a companion I would most likely just have to pick one and hope they could get along. Based on online research it seems very likely that two randomly paired boars will often not get along, and would possibly need to be housed separately the rest of there lives. I have to admit that I am not very excited about this possibility.
Since I have never seen Nibble with another guinea pig I have no clue if he is dominant, or what part he played in the fighting with his brother. It did sound like both parties were equally aggressive, but again, I really don't know.
Just to let you know what Nibble is like, and his current situation: he is very loved. I am a stay at home mom of two young girls, and we are home quite a lot. Nibble's cage is in our living room, where we spend most of our time. We leave the door to his cage open when we are home, and he comes to the door to be petted, and to squeak for veggies. He jumps around very excitedly when the children talk to him. He also makes little cute noises when we come home from being away, or get up in the morning. We get him out of his cage once or twice a day for petting, and let him run around a bit. Really though, he seems to prefer his cage, and mostly tries to hide when he is let loose on the house. He was not handled a lot at his previous home, so he is sometimes reluctant to be picked up and held. He has gotten a lot more comfortable with us though. He has never bitten, or shown any aggression with us. He spends most of his days munching on hay, laying around, and squeaking for veggies, with the occasional frisky spell where he runs and jumps around.
I am just wondering what others would do, or have done in similar situations?
We really do want him to be happy. I just wonder if getting another boar will make him happy, angry, or ? I would just like to get as much information as possible, and hear personal stories of what worked or did not. Then I will feel more informed and able to make the best possible choice for him.
Thanks for any thoughts you might have,
Sarah
