Tui needs a new friend

LeeLee_:)

LeeLee_:)

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
May 19, 2022
Messages
130
Reaction score
145
Points
300
Location
United States
Poor Tui recently lost all of her cage mates and I don't want her to get lonely. She has never been without a buddy before. She is a non-spayed sow and about 2.5 years old. I will definitely be getting her a friend, I just don't know what age/gender I should get or if it doesn't really matter. She has only ever lived with other sows before (all non-spayed if that matters). Do you think I should get another sow or a neutered boar? If I do get a boar, does she need to be spayed even if he's neutered? Would it be better to get a younger guinea pig, one closer to her age, or an older one? I've gotten new guinea pigs while currently having guinea pigs in the past and never really worried about any of this, but now that I know this pig needs to be able to bond with her so they can stay not-separated I just want to make sure I find her a good match. Before she lived in a herd of 5, not the dominant, but I had to split my herd because of arguments between a few pigs and she lived with a very submissive sow. They did really well together so I'm thinking I should probably try to find another submissive pig but I don't know that much about differences in personality between genders or what age would be best for this. Thanks in advance to anyone with any advice or who even takes the time to read all of this.
 
I saw your other post about what has happened and I am so sorry for your losses. It was an awful thing to have happen.

The only thing that matters for a successful bond is that Tui and the new piggy are character compatible - age and gender does not matter. With that said a neutered boar/sow pair tends to be more stable.

A Closer Look At Pairs (Boars - Sows - Mixed)

Obviously if you decide to get a boar, then he must be neutered and have been neutered at least six weeks prior.
Tui does not need to be spayed - spaying is a major operation and is usually only done for a medical need (ie if a sow has ovarian cysts).
 
Ok, thanks. This is very helpful and I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
 
Good luck finding Tui a friend. I’m so sorry you lost your other piggies.
 
Hope you do find a friend for Tui.
A neutered boar can be a good option, especially if there’s no nearby rescue that offers dating.

When Merab was left alone I ended up getting a pair of baby sows, sisters.
I thought that if Merab didn’t accept them then they would still have each other and either Merab could live as a neighbour or I would rethink.
I was lucky - bonding was almost instant.
 
Ok, so I FINALLY got her a friend… I know it’s been way to long, and I might get criticized for leaving her alone so long, but I wasn’t really in a position to get another guinea pig for a while. Yesterday I adopted a baby girl who seemed like she would be a good match for Tui. The introduction went really well; rumblestrutting was as bad as it got. I had them separated while I was gone today but put them in a cage together when I got home and there have been no arguments. So far it seems like they’ll do really well together! The baby’s name is Ushi (Japanese for cow!) and she’s super cute. Just thought I’d update anyone who might want to know :) I’ll put some pictures in. Ushi is the one with white through her middle.52D3E358-DA31-4E65-B0D8-8F02CF01ECC8.webp789678DB-2656-4F1D-863F-528F09E12A3B.webp
 
Aw, that’s so lovely Tui has a little friend now, happy times for them both and you 😊

Do keep them together as they have to start their bonding right from scratch again if you split them
 
Beautiful!

As Bill&Ted said, once piggies have been put together for bonding once you should not separate them at all, as it ends the bonding process and means they need to start all other again from the beginning when you put them back together.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top